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Show rf POLITICAL ASPiRAKTS MUST MAKE ; PRONOUNCED DECLARATION OF r POLICY Oil HIGHWAY QUESTION 'There Is Little Question But That the People Will Want a Definite Answer to the Good '' Roads Inquiry t: Jt seems th.it there never will be end to the politician's troubles, for it Is always expected of him that he shall; b'je -an ardent advocate of all that. Is! good and a denouncer of all evil. The electorate of the country expect him to I , have a clear vision cf all important! J questions that concern the people and1 dver be ready to expound the true doc-1 trine of progressiveness. Everything i under the sun from the question of j taxes to the minutest detail of specific specif-ic community life, must necessarily! come under his keen observation and, Iho problems completely solved, before (lection, at least. Of course, aftci election he may think as he likes and! do-about as he pleases, fulfilling thoi pre-election pledges that please him' and forgetting those things that are' distasteful to him. j .Vvlt is said, however, that at this par-! ti'c'ular time, he must not overlook the I question of "National Highways," if lie hopes to win at the nominating con-1 Ventions and succeed at the polls next-fall. next-fall. Autoists say so, motor-truckmen' I "declare it and even the man who rides behind Old Dobbin demands it. And, v?hen you come to think about it, good roads of nationwide extension aro things not to be treated lightly, for in the' consideration of that question, A transportation and traveling welfare ' of the whole nation are involved. Good roads form a part of the traffic en-j terprises of the taxpayers and voters of the country; they are veins that H9j feed the commercial arteries of this Mfrj great nation. Hi ' So. Mr. Candidate, if you want to Huj get the votes, you had better be get- MttJ ting busy on 'the national highways' Hfn question and make your declaratfon o I Hfj principles, just as you have, partially, I Rl at least, expressed yourself on the' Wfltl league of nations, capital and labor. taxation, tariff, and other momentuous, questions In a recent communication from Washington, D C, these observations observa-tions were made: Both the dominant political parties in the United States are going to be j asked to put themselves on record -at 'their national conventions on the sujj-1 sujj-1 jocl of a national policy and plan fofc i further highway development f j Those interested in the development of the road as a public utility assert that the need for national highways has grown until today the question has become one of such great importance that a soluttion must be found as sbon as possible, to meet traffic needs The federal highway council, with a large national membership, is now at work seeking to place before the public pub-lic the necessity for national highways in such a light that the people will realize the great benefit that, will be derived by the government construt-ing construt-ing and maintaining a national system sys-tem Tho council also seeks to aid states in providing means ana ways for building their state systems and I necessary connections with the na-1 tionaj system, at the same time aiding county officials in laying out and constructing con-structing county systems to tie up with state systems and the important towns and railroad stations of the county It is thus hoped to provide a general system for the entire country coun-try of national, state and county highways, high-ways, forming a completed mar that will afford adequate transpiration for all the people 0 It has been and is the policy of the federal highway council to advocate a national system of highways to bo built and maintained at tne expense of ' il:o federal government, under the ! supervision of a federal highway com- . mission, and to extend to and continue federal aid after 1021. thereby encouraging en-couraging and assisting the stalesi to connect up their state systems with tho national sysiems, making both more offeetive, and to Issue such literature lit-erature as may be helpful to the counties coun-ties in solving their road problems The federal highway council believes be-lieves that it is the duty of the government gov-ernment to take over about 60,000 miles of the main highways to construct con-struct and rebuild, where necessary, as a national system, the states to take over 240,000 miles as a main state system, and the counties to take over about C00.000 miles of which between be-tween 200,000 and 250,000 miles have been improved, and leaving between 300,000 and 350,000 miles to be improved im-proved The highway problem, during the last century, has grown so extensively that the communities under whose supervision sup-ervision it came could not satisfy its i cods, and it v.-ns necessary for each county to try and supply the want that the community failed to 3ctlsfy. As the country developsd and traffic increased, in-creased, the county could not cover the broad need, and therefore state aid was extonded to the. county by the state. But this In turn did not satisfy traffic demands. Ii was not a great while before, the state realized that a more powerful unit should, step in and take over a certain number of mile3 of road and build a state system, so state highway departments were formed. The need was met as far as state conditions were concerned, but due to the great Increase of traFfic brought about by the advent of the motor vehicle, the government realized that to properly take care and develop interstate traffic on the highways, It would be necessary for the govemmenl to co-operate with 'the states by appropriating ap-propriating money to assist them in their road building program. Congress Con-gress passed an act appropriating a large sura to assist the states in building build-ing their main roads and to properly establish an efficient state highway de- piiruiium. Federal aid has been a great stimulant stimu-lant to the road-building program of the country, and whereas up to tho present time, there has been only a limited amount of road building completed, com-pleted, yet a great good has been brought about by requiring the establishment estab-lishment of a state highway department depart-ment in each state, and by encouraging encourag-ing tho counties to enter on a larger rorul program. The federal highway council is of the opinion that federal nld should be continued and extonded until all .the state highway departments depart-ments have been well organized and on a firm financial and efficient basis, yet it realizes that regardless of how efficient the state highway department tna be, thero still exists a want that it will be impossible for them to satisfy, satis-fy, even with the assistance of federal iid, and that want is a national system sys-tem of highways. A system to be constructed con-structed and maintained by the government gov-ernment under the supervision of a edernl highway commission, whose ole duty it will be to devote their en-?rgy en-?rgy and time to this work, and ad-j minister federal aid. |
