Show 2 ad BUILD MUST GIVE ROADS ATTENTION ATTENTION taxpayers will face huge road bills bill after war Is over if this Is not done road maintenance must go on uninterruptedly or the taxpayers of the country will have to pay an enormous mil bill for the restoration of 0 the highways after the war says nn an editorial in a recent issue of good roads something like a quarter of a century ago systematic intelligent road improvement was commenced by a few of the states in the northeastern part of the country today there is a highway department in practically every state and in most of the states the department Is one of the major divisions of the government during tills this era cra of road improvement the annual expenditure throughout the nation has grown from an inroad ceva 41 N amp W R I 1 sadly in need ga repair significant sum to a total well over a quarter of a rf fillou dollars to date probably not more than 12 bev alper cen cent t of the count rys road mileage has been surfaced considered merely as a percentage this shoeing Is not encourage encouraging ing but when it Is re remembered that this oue one eighth means au an actual mileage of something over the magnitude of the work accomplished Is better appreciated another fact that must be taken into consideration Is that a large majority of the traffic of the tha country is ar carried on a small proportion of the total mileage and the greater part of the work of improvement has been done on these more important highways some of the money spent for road rad betterment has been wasted some of it lias has been used for permanent work tho the amount involved representing an investment that cannot be lost A very large proportion of the total expenditure has been used for the construction of pavements and surfaces of varying durability and of different needs as to maintenance the money they represent is an investment also end and one that can and will be lost if the UPI upkeep beep of the roads is neglected the count rys roads are worth billions of dollars even if nothing more than their first cost Is taken into account their present value in terms of service rendered Is literally incalculable cu lable tor for without them every activity would have to cease the successful prosecution of the th war Is the chief busl neis of the american people today but that mean that every american hould be fighting or working in a Pl plant antor or on a farm there are countless other activities that tire are contributory to the three obvious essentials senti als and every one of them in turn Is absolutely dependent upon transportation the abe riat nations ions highway system is the foundation of its whole vast and complicated machinery of transportation the flie public highways are indispensable and they must be kept in condition unless all the work we have done is to avail us nothing and the work yet before us Is to be left undone money must lie be spent and labor and materials must be used now |