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Show HEAR MARSHALL ON ROAD POLICY I Vice President Tells Aims ofj Federal Government on Future Aid WASHINGTON, D. C., May 15. In connection with the hearings before the senate postofflce and postroads committee on a goodly number of highway high-way bills, the comments of Vice President Pres-ident Thomas R. Marshall at Hot Springs, Ark., are regarded as heghly significant coming from the former governor of a northern state. The ad-dross ad-dross was delivered at the big joint convention of the United Stales good, roads association and banlchead high-j I way, held at the Arkansas resort, and attended by several thousand delegates mostly, of course, from southern states Tho vice president of the United States was the chief speaker of the gathering, and he thus made pointed roferenco to federal participation in highways improvement: May Be Killing Initiative. i "While I feel that tho general gov-i eminent, by its benefactions to the et- i several states, is usurping the func- I tions and killing the initiative of the I f individual states, I am quite convinced I. . I that tho one good thing which it is L doing in this way is tho building of Wl. good roads. Tho federal government L-i has the cleanest, finest, ablest, and I-i most disinterested roaa engineers an J the world. It has, in my opinion, con- ,j stltutional authority to improve the post roads of the country. But tho aid heretofore given has been gener- ously used in piecemeal by rich counties coun-ties matching their dollars against the i general government's dollars. 1 System for Spending, i "I am quite convinced that tho con- gressional sentiment Is that the sev eral states of this union may as well ! make up their minds that if there is to be further federal appropriation on the fifty-fifty plan, it must bo upon one of two bases: either that the general government shall have exclusive con- trol of all the funds or that the gen eral government will adopt a great trunk system and will construct that system in a state only when the stato has contracted to construct an equal mileage of laterals of like character and durability." I Insist on Knowing. That any future federal appropriations appropria-tions In connection with highways will bo be accompanied by quite definite .' federal insistence as to where and how the money shall be expended in the several states, has been made quite , clear, before the senate committee. While Senator Charles E. Townsend, tho chairman of the committee, is the sponsor of what is probably the measure meas-ure commanding the greatest countrywide country-wide concern, as it calls for a national system in charge of a federal commission, com-mission, other bills by Senator Phipps of Colorado, Senator Chamberlain of 1 Oregon, and Senator Sheppard of Tex as, are certain to receive careful scrut-While scrut-While tho federal aid road act ap-imr- . pealed in greater degree to southern and western that it did to eastern states, northern senators generally are now inclined to oppose continuance in any substantial way and a growing number are for transfering the good roads work from the present unsatisfactory unsatis-factory bureau plan to the dignity of a department, which can function directly. di-rectly. Chairman George C. Diehl of the A. A. A. good roads board, when he appeared ap-peared before the senate committee, thus emphasized tho position taken over ten years ago by the organized motor car owners. Urge National System. "The basis upon which must rest the whole structure of good roads throughout the nation is a national system of highways constructed and: maintained bv a national highway com mission at the expense of tho nation. There will inevitably follow stato and county highway systems built and maintained by the states and counties respectively. These three systems aro fundamentally sound economically economical-ly and will provide all the needed highways for complete national development. devel-opment. "Inasmuch as two years will be required re-quired to perfect a report on the national na-tional system, which, by the way, should include a carefully worked out plan for maintenance, we would urge that the Townsend bill be at once adopted, so that the present rising market of labor and materials should not be used as a pretext for delaying the necessary preliminary work incident inci-dent to this most important national development. |