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Show PRESENT HIGHWAY PLAN IS FAVORED According to a recent statement Issued Is-sued by the American Association of State Highway Officials, the need In road construction today Is for a continuation con-tinuation of the national road-building plan now under way, and for nationnl finnncial support of such a program until the federal aid system Is completed. com-pleted. The association recommends as the only fair basis for calculating the amount of money each state ought to contribute to the national building program pro-gram a plan having the basic wealth of the nation as a basis rather than any plan based on national wealth. The association says: "States that f put flour in the bin and bacon on the shelf are entitled to equal consideration considera-tion with other states that show on the surface larger cash payments to the federal government's road construction con-struction fund. The only fair method of determining an equitable diversion hf funds is to base the apportionment on basic wealth rather than national wealth. "When the federal government wants funds to meet its obligations, citizens are called upon irrespective of residence to pay according to their means. Probably the Ideal way of considering con-sidering the real business affairs of the nation as transacted under present-day methods would be to disregard all state lines and consider New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Chi-cago, San Francisco, etc., as clearing house centers in a nation-wide plan. "But we have been in the habit of telling what this state does and what that state has accomplished so long that certain results are tabulated by states, when in reality some states would actually starve if it were not for their neighbors. Some of the richest rich-est states in the Union do not actually produce one-half of 1 per cent of the basic wealth so necessary to our very national existence." The association ranks the first 15 states on the basis of basic wealth as follow's: Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Illi-nois, California, Iowa. Oklahoma, Missouri, Mis-souri, Minnesota, New lrork, Kansas, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and West Virginia. As a group, the association asso-ciation says, these states comprise less than one-third of the number of states, but 61.6 per cent of the national basic wealth. These states also represent 64.3 per cent of the national wealth and pay 72.24 per cent of the total Internal In-ternal revenue. The population of these states is 58.7 per cent of the population for the entire country. Kansas and Iowa of this group are excellent examples of the type of state possessing great basic wealth, but much less apparent national wealth, says the report. Iowa with 2.2 per cent of the total population pays only .06 per cent of the total internal in-ternal revenue returned, but produces 3.3 per cent of the national wealth and gives the nation 4.8 per cent of its basic wealth. Kansas gives the nation 3 per cent of its basic wealth every year and Is credited with 2 per cent of the national nation-al wealth,, but is listed as paying only .07 per cent of the total internal reve1-nue. reve1-nue. This is due, the association says, to the fact that these states give much of their basic wealth to other states who pay Internal revenue upon It when it should be credited to the state of origin. |