The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-26
FEDERAL AID FOR l ROAD BUILDING |S BANKHEAD'S THEME Senior Senator Says It Is Clearly Constitutional FOURTH SESSION
 OF THE CONGRESS Cannon, Cox, Hudson, Dickinson, Dodge and Others Were on the
 Programme Yesterday
 Morning

With the fourth session called to order l yesterday morning at 10 o'clock at the Jefferson theatre, the fourth National Good Roads congress began the third day of it's convention here. The attendance was somewhat increased over previous meetings and the spirit of the gathering was much more enthusiastic and spon- taneous than on former occasions. Sem ator John H. Bankhead was the chief speaker of the day.
 l The meeting was called to order by President Arthur c. Jackson shortly after | 10 o'clock and the meeting was opened by prayer from Dr. A. J. Dickinson, pastor of the First Baptist church, who, com plying with request from President Jackson, spoke briefly of "The Relation of the Good Roads Movement to the Church"
 The next speaker who was introduced to the gathering was Thomas c. Hudson, commissioner of agriculture of Georgia, who told the gathering that while he knew very little of the technical side of road building, he nevertheless had con cluded from self-evident facts that there is nothing so potent in the development of state as the establishment of high way systems.
 He said the sentiment In favor of good roads was growing stronger every day. As evidence of it's popularity he stated that the convict lease system had been abolished in his state about three years ago aifd the prisoners of the state put to work building the highways of Georgia. Tt makes no difference what the roads cost' he concluded, ''tkey are worth the price,"
 Permanent Good Roads
 Thomas L. Cannon of St. Louis was the next to address the meeting, and his sub ject was Permanent Good Roads, Ways and Means to Build Them In the course of his remarks the speaker said that in order to obtain good roads radi- cal change would have to be worked by the people.
 He asserted that he was in favor of having good roads as a phase of devel- opment under the direction of a special cabinet member of the United States, and that he favored utilizing convict labor on the public roads and thought well of giving the regular army the job of guarding them, while at work and in transit back and forth.
 If this body will go to work for fed eral aid for road building in consonance with both the constitution of the United States and the states themselves, you will accomplish all that I have proposed to you this morning The hour has come when all the people interested in good reads must unite and instruct their rep resentatives in Congres what they want in this line of development"
 Resolutions Introduced
 Following the address of MT. Cannon, James M. Cox of Tennessee introduced set of resolutions commenting the under taking of the Memphs-t Bristol High way association. The resolution was in- troduced in view of the tendency of the southern states to build connecting sys- tems of highways. The resolution was referred to the committees on resolutions for action.
 In terms most laudatory Senator John H. Bankhead was next introduced by President Arthur c. Jackson, who said that the senator from Alabama was the first eminent man to bring the good roads question before the entire people of the nation, and spoke of the lasting monument Senator Bankhead had built for himself in future years by his advocacy of this phase of development.
 My presence here" stated Senator Bankhead Ifs at the sacrifice of other duties I owe the people of Alabama. However to my mind there are certain questions of importance to the people not only of this state but of the whole coun-. try which need my effort more than do any matters before the deliberation of Congress or the Senate.
 Purpose to Accomplish
 q have spoken so often on this sub- ject that I fear the people will think I am talking too much, and will prefer to hear some other speaker who knows more about 1t than I do; but I have purpose to accomplish.
 Every objekt that you can think of has been contributed to by Congress ex- cept the highways. The constitution de- clares that Congress has the power, and the duty is implied, to construct post offices and establish postroads, so there