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Show NEED REFORM I IN ROAD WORK Difficulties Regarding Highway High-way Planning to Be Discussed Dis-cussed at Convention "The nerd of reform In road build-ins build-ins and highway transportation, a subject thnt will receive extended dls cusslon at tho good roads congress to bo held under the auspices of tho Am em an Road Builders association at the 1 olisaum in Chicago. Jan. 17 to 20, la one of vital interest to Ihe pen pie of r ho United Slatos at thin time It is a subject that should receive tbo earnest consideration of every good roads advocate, every statesman and every public official who has the welfare of the country at heart and who wants lo pee the United States lead the world in cheap transportation facilities," declares Samuel Hill, hon orary president of the Washington State Good Roads association For forty years I have been Interested In-terested In highway improvement in the Dnitd Slates, and to ruy mind the most Important thing which the United States needs to do is to correlate cor-relate its transportation system Abroad, in many countries, there Is a cabinet minister who has the title of minister of ways and means of communication. com-munication. Water transportation, rail transportation and bighwav transportation should bo fitted together to-gether in such a way as to best servo the public needs There are materials, ma-terials, but few people can think of them, that do not move over highways before they reach the water r the railroad Destructive competition is unwise and unnecessary America be pan first of all by using highway?. The capital of every state in the union, at one time, except Florida, was located on a water course. The development of steam power caused the abandonment of the policy of highway Improvement Inaugurated with the old Cumberland pike 'Puf flng Billy.' on the Baltlmoro m Ohio railroad, superseded the wagon frain. Today 'Puffing billy' sees comtnn over the hard surface road, provided at public expense, what he regards as a competitor. So far has that fear grown that tho railway men recog nized. when they threatened to strike, that the country could exist without them. I masons, feeling that they had the construction of buildings under their control, diminished the effectiveness of their work and raised their prices, and today the stone cutter is a rarity Concrete superseded brick and stone. It Is well for our railroad brethren to bear this in mind. 'Transportation is the measure of civilization. Every nation has increased in-creased In wealth and Its workers have received high wages, just in pro portion as its transportation systems have been multiplied The lowest wage rate today In the world Is in China. There is not ono single mile of high way In China. The average highway In China is fifteen Inches wide. There Is not one single mile of paved road in Japan . nor one single mile of paved street in Japan. "America's danger is that we will duplicate unnecessary means of transportation. Every one of the three Is essential, but all should be correlated and welded into one machine ma-chine to get the best results. If wo fail to do this we will pa bitterly for It You cannot get along without railways or vaterworks. and latterly we have come to understand what highways mean. "Today England is laying an IS j inch concrete base for all the roads j of England. On top of that they are putting Tarmac Over these roads j I they haul w hat Ibey call steam lor rles or traction engines, each engino nulllnir nerliatis three cars holding 1 five tons each. The railways have complained to parliament, and parliament par-liament is taxing those motor bUBOS, so as to more equitably distribute the burden. "Tho United States has had the i cheapest transportation in the world Outside "of the Great Lakes It has lagfred behind In water transportation and only within recent years, since the American Road Builders association associ-ation was formed, has tho matter ofj proper highway transportation been i taken up. ' With our increased population IIipI problem of the production of food will become acute unless proper study of! soils be made. This is now being un j dertaken by the government, but here totore the matter of road and highway high-way legislation has bepn haphazard without definite plan. There should be undertaken at once by the national government a thoroughly planned sys to mof national highways, and these should he so laid out and constructed as to give the largest possible use of existing railways, highways and waterways. water-ways. There are approximately In the falted States 2.500.000 miles of alleged al-leged highways. There aro .0.00l) miles, substantially, of railways. The cheapest cost of moving a ton a mile on the Great Lakes was nine-tenths pf one mill, as demonstrated in tho move ment of ore by Ihe Albvrt II. V lvin The cheapest form of tiunspoi j'Hon known was on the Chesapeake A Ohio railway, where coal tonnag was moved to tidewater for one mill and a tenth per ton per mile. The cost of moving a ton por mile on the dlfferen classes of highways in the United States has not yet been accurately determined. de-termined. We must elaborate some system of determining the cost of ruak lug transportation. It is a commodity like boots and shoes, dry goods or flour When this cost is determined It must bo ascertained Just what proportion pro-portion of tho tonnage required can most efficiently be moved over the highways, over the waterways and over the railways; and this tonDage, when so determined, must be moved by the least expensive route. The problem la to get Ihe mouth to tho food or the food lo Ihe mouth. "W hen vv.' began hlghwav improve ment in the United States forty years ago, there were approximately sixty per cent of tho people of the United States on the land. Today It Is doubtful doubt-ful If on the farms proper there is to exceed twenty per cent of tho people. Every strong nation has its roots In the soil. The problem Is to put people back on the lnnd and keep them there Otherwise our form of governmcn'. will fall. To keep them there we must give thom goodroads, good telephone service, good rural free delivery and good schools and then find a market where they can sell what they raise at a profit. "Tho trend toward town life has In creased enoi-mously, both here and In other countries. And unless wo can make the comforts of home life on the farm at least equal to those In town, we cannot hope to progress as a nation. na-tion. Tho farmer will no longer consent con-sent to work ten, twelve and fourteen hours a day when the man In town is working eight. With tbo return of our soldiers from the great war, the fact of their unwillingness to return to the land became evlden In other wordB, the habits of the farm boy bad been lost. Unless we are willing to dlscov e-r somo way to restoro labor to the farm, we will be compelled either to import food or to Import labor to produce pro-duce this food. Th permanent importation im-portation of farm labor has always proved disastrous to any nation that has tried It." |