The suburban citizen., 1900-02-03
GOOD ROADS NOTES
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Bnl For Highway Improvement.


A step that is by all odds the most
pretentious and important in the cause
of good roads that was ever taken by
the l.. A. w. has been arranged for
and was announced recently by Pres
ident KeeLan. 1t is a bill to be iu-
troduced into Congress providing for
An appropriation OF So, 000,00O to be
expended in highway improvement.
Representative Graham, of the Twen-
ty-third District of Pennsylvania, will
present the bill and the active support
Of every officer and member of the
League will be called for TO aid in Sc
curing its passage. The detailed pro-
visions have not been made known
yet, but il ID understood that it will
call for the construction of national
turnpikes between principal cities that
will serve not only for bicycles, auto
mobiles and general traffic, but will
be practicable military roads as we'll.
That is the sense of the bill as inter-
preted by the local officials of the
League, and they commend the move
as one peculiarly pertinent at this
time. While President keenan, is not
personally popular with q number Of
the New York State officials, and they
are not apt to praise his doings, the
same men were quick to say that the
bill was most opportune and, although
it might have had it's conception in
presidential ambition, it was some
thing that would receive their hearty
support. The need for national
highway across the continent has often
been urged. The League has fire.
quently pointed out the shame Of
there not being any such road from
New York to Chicago at least, but in
the meanwhile has concentrated its
attention in local improvements of not
so much importance. Now that the
era of automobiles is at hand it IS
recognized that an effort to get such
highways under way will enlist the
support of this class Of travellers,
while the recent military activity of
the country tends to make more plein
the desirability of good roads. An
official Of the New York State division
said:
Gas I understand il the bill will
propose military highways and this
strikes much higher than a motor of
bicycle and automobile travel. 1t is
fact that if occasion should arise for
the transportation by road of an army
from New York to Washington that it
would founder in the sand before it
egot to Trenton, because the road
would not stand the crunching OF
heavy baggage and artillery wagons,
John b. Uhle, the counsel of this di-
vision, who often rides over this road,
was speaking about this only few
days ago. The point comes that even
as far as we have gone in AUTOMOBILE
ism every one is satisfied that in the
near future all such paraphernalia of
the army as artillery, ammunition,
baggage and commissary wagons viii
'be drawn by motor wagons, and prob
ably heavy siege guns will also.
GAS we are now fixed for roads this
is imp ossible. What L should say IS
first needed is a main road from Bos-
ton to New York and from here to
Washington, by way of Philadelphia.
Then with a military road from New
York to Albany and from there to
Chicago, we would be in fairly good
shape to wait until roads could be
connected with these FROM the far
South and the Pacific coast. This is
a project that probably would receive
the support of every farmer, cyclist,
automobilist, soldier and hobo in the
land, and it should receive the favor
of the legislators; $5,000,000 will not
go far toward doing all this, but
would do enough to show a good be-
ginning, and whatever road was built
would be an object lesson that would
hurry us on toward national good
roads. The idea of foreign invasion
and railroads disabled may be laughed
at, but the idea of foreign war and
need for rapid transportation to the
coast of automobile artillery is not at
all absurd, aud I believe that the de-
mand for such highways will be upon
MS before they could be completed, if
begun tomorrow. This 1 say because
of the rapid strides being made in
automobilism.