Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1905-11-03
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1905.
Autom obiles to Have Their Own
Roads

Our eastside contemporary, the Ran.
dolph Herald, in commenting upon the
position that The Register takes regarding
automobiles, says, in referring to the
plan as outlined by this paper, that they
should have their own roads, 'if such
an arrangement was practical, it would
be vastly better for both the autoists and
teams, but it involves too great an ex-
pense, and would be declared chimeri-
cal" We are pleased to see that the
Herald looks at the automobile nui-'
sance in much the same light as does
The Register, and we trust that its timid-
ity will not prevent it from taking an
active part in correcting this evil. The
constituency of The Herald will sup
port its editor in every move he may
make to rid the highways of his section
from nuisance that is fast becoming
intolerable.
Why impracticable the building of
separate roads? Because of the expense?
That is hardly valid reason to advance
in even SO small state as Vermont,
where funds are not over plenty. Pub
lie demands and necessities make prac-
ticable many things which at first
glance seem beyond reason. 4 hundred
instances may be brought forward to
substantiate this assertion. Nuisances,
when they become intoerable, must be
abated, and the matter of dollars and
cents does not enter into proposition
where the life and limbs of human
beings are daily put in jeopardy.
The nuisance of overhead wires has
practically passed out of existence in
this country i'll the larger centers of pop
ulation, while in England and on the
Continent telegraph or telephone pole
is a novelty. The authority of
this paper in making this statement
is Professor Walter E. Howard,
of the chair of history, Middlebury
College, gentleman given TO a
close study of men and affairs and one
whose judicial opinion is well worth
considering and needing. Professor
Howard, unsolicited for an opinion as
to the merits of the case, warmly con-
graduated The Register upon its effort
to prevent the monopoly of the highways
by automobiles, nor did he imply that
there was doubt of the practicability
of the plan, which calls for the building
of separate highways for their exclusive
use. Several other very prominent
citizens have also expressed their enthu-
siastic appreciation of the course of the
Register in this matter.
In an article last week we quoted Hon.
Ezra j. Warner, one of Chicagos best
known men in the mercantile world, as
favoring the construction of separate
roads for motor carriages, and in SO
doing we were well aware that we were
quoting the utterance of a gentleman
not in any way given to making chimer-
ical statements.
We have referred to the removal of
the overhead wires in England and we
are informed by Hon. Mason S. Stone,
our State Superintendent of education.
that the same thing is true on the
continent. Now when such "A nuisance
as overhead wires, behind which is
doubtless one Of the heaviest vested in
terests of the world-the electrical and
allied industries-can not only be abated
but entirely removed throughout am
entire country, does it seem impractic-
able to assert that automobiles can and
will be restricted to certain roads as are
their nearest of kin, the steam locomo-
tives:
The building of separate roads for
automobiles is not in the lest chimercal.