Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-06-27
FROM HALF BILLION TO BILLION
DOLLARS WASTED IN UNITED
STATES By BAD HIGHWAYS.
GOVERNMENT SAYS GOOD
ROADS ARE NECESSITY
Issues Statistics Showing Loss to
Farmers and Distributors Because Of
Poor Hishways-Land Values Rise
With Road improvements-Stro
Argument Presented.

Special to Times Republican.
Washington, June 27.-Between half
billion and billion dollars would be
saved annually in the United States if
every state would improve its main
highways to the highest point Of eff
lciency.
Calculations just made by the Unit
ed States office Of public roads show
that to effect this enormous saving
turnout the country it will be neces-
sary to improve only about 20 per cent
Of the roads.
There are now about 2,15Oooo miles
Of road in the United States. Two
hundred thousand miles, or about 9 per
cent are improved in some manner.
To bring the number Of miles up to 20
per cent it will be necessary to i'm
prove 100000 more miles. While this
task may seem stupendous 1t is esti-
mated that it can be accomplished by
a probable average expenditure OF ST.
900 a mile. or s1,75O.0o0 for a fairly
complete system. Were each state to
put 100000 into the improvement OF
its roads, the work could be accomp-
lished in a very short time.
An Economic Necessity.
"A complete system Of roads" said
Logan Waller Page, director Of the
United States office Of public roads in
discussing the road movement that is
sweeping over the country, as an eco
nomic necessity. A few figures will IL
lustrate the stupendous saving that
could be made.
There are, for instance. nearly half
a million automobiles in the United
States al the present time: their value,
roughly estimated. is close to three
quarters OF billion dollars. There are.
in addition. 10000 900 horses and A..
10000 mules. the number growing
steadily despite the advent Of motor
vehicles. The value of the horses Is
about s2.276.363, 900: the value Of the
mules. s5ooooo.ooo.
Then take the pleasure vehicles
They number 100000. with a value Of
s51,5oo.000. Then take the wagons US
ed for commercial purposes. They
number $4,000, the total value being
s31,4s0,o0o. The wear and tear on
these vehicles as a result Of bad roads
is nearly % per cent A complete sys-
TEN OF improving highways would cut
this loss in half.
Saving in Transportation.
"The great saving in transportation
OF ali kinds OF products. including
those Of the mills as we'll as those OF
the soil would amount to many mil
lions Of dollars annually. In the case
Of the corn crop OF the south alone. no
less than s7.2Oo000 would be saved in
transportation despite the fact that
most Of the corn there Is for home con-
sumption.
Wherever new road is built or an
old one improved the value Of the
nearby land rises automatically. This
increase in itself is sufficient in most
case. to pay for the Improvement The
profit from the country from this
source would be almost inestimable In
fact it is a very conservative estimate
that the saving thruout the country,
from all sources. as a result OF the i'm
provement Of 20 per cent Of the roads,
would be somewhere between half
million and a billion dollars every year
And this saving could be accom- plished
by an expenditure OF 100000 in each
state the first year and much
smaller sum each year thereafter for
maintenance. The whole thing de-
ponds. OF course upon systematization
and all the states working together.
but it would seem that the era Of
road building that has begun Is tend
ing toward these results"