Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-11

Continued from Fifteenth Page

| burg that any man ever made, or that
! any man ever will make, / suppose. A
road would be of some service, and a
monument, too. One thing l do know is
! that 1t was settled a long time ago that
! If the federal government wants to help
I build roads it has got the right to do so.
That much Is certain But the practical
! suggestion that l have to make in con-
! nection with federal aid is, that all the
road advocates ought to agree on a
! plan and come here with it,
President Robert p. Hooper of the
American Automobile Association in dis
cusSing the subject makes this comment:
1T is a fact which we cannot deny that
motor vehicle owners are now the most
persistent users of the roads. We are
avowedly in favor of legislation which
shall seek to provide up-tO-date high
ways. including a participation by the
federal government in what can be fair
ly considered as national or interstate
routes. In accentuating the memory of
such sreat man as Lincoln it may be
that motorists are somewhat prejudiced
one studies Roman history his recollec-
ton of Appius Claudius is quickly
, brought to mnd by the famous Appian
way. In like manner, the Lincoln way
would be constant and daily reminder
to thousands of people,"
ITO get an approximate idea of what
seventy-two-mile memorial highway
should cost" says Chairman George &.
Diehl of the A. A. A. national good
roads board, also highway engineer OF
Erie county, n. Y. in which the city of
Buffalo Is located, sis not difficult in
these days of road making. The expert
ence of building similar highways
throughout state aid commemorative
would indicate that most liberal esti-
mate for the construction of btumin-
Gus macadam road from Gettysburg to
Washington would be about $1,5O per
square yard. including grading, culverts,
etc. There are about $4,000 square yards
to the mile in a twenty-four-foot road
making the approximate estimated cost
$2l,OO0 per mile. This for - miles would
amount to S1,512,OoO. Some recent fig
ures supplied by those favorable to an
architectural memorial were sadly dis
torted and magnifed.''
Now that the American automobile has
been SO perfected mechanically that it
meets cars of European manufacture in
successful competition on the continent,
and, for that matter, all over the world,
builders are turning their attention more
than ever to the decorative side of their
business. The conspicuous characteris-
tic of the high-grade cars at all of this
years shows is the evidence they give
of thoughtful attention to identifying
them and increasing their comfort and
the luxuriousness of their appointments.
Not only has American ingenuity and
artistlc AFFINITY been set to work in these
l.6S
gone abroad. in at least one case-that of
the Stevens Duryea-studied what the
builders are doing there and brought 10
this country all the foreign ideas that
seemed worth while adapting them to the
special needs and tastes of motor car
owners here. New standards for fine
cars | ave been set by the big automobile
shows this year, and it is predicted that
which is plainly evident in this develop
ment, will be more and more strongly felt
from now en-.
The difficulties of motoring in Scotland
were intimately illustrated by e. M. New
man in his travel talk on Scotland and
Wales last Sunday night in this city. In
one place in the north of Scotland, he
said. Re had to lead his automobile onto
a freight train in order to get it across
the river, where there was no passenger
bridge In another instance, where both
the train and bridge were lacking he
was compelled to place boa rds across a
small rowboat, run his motor car ND on
: them and ferry it across. The difficulties
of this hazardous undertaking and tie
peril OF rolling the car into the river,
which was always imminent, was wildly
shown in a motion picture which Mr..
Newman took of his improvised ferry
boat in action. The incompara ole beauty
of the lOwands and highlands, and the
interesting seaside resorts of Wales, also
formed part OF this travel. talk
x x x *
The first man to drive an automobile
on the Hudson river thirty miles and re-
! turn is Robert f. Hopkins, a young mil
lionaire O. South Broadway, New York
Mr.. Hopkins accomplished this very dam
gerous feat in Cadillac touring car the
other day, journeying over the river ice
i from TarrytOwn TO Newburg and return
The sixty miles We're covered in three and
one-l alf hours and on more than one oc-
casion during that time the car was
! partly submerged in the water and was
only saved from sinking to the river bot
| tom by opening the throttle and jumping
ahead at fun speed
= \ = ::
| eff every automobile factory in the
United States was to produce double the
number of machines it is now produc-
! ing. and every machine was COM
mercial vehicle. there would then not
be enough made to take care Of the in
crease alone in our commerce at the
present rate of growth. if the govern
ment statistics can be taken as guide"
said w. T. Wright. vice president and
general manager of a prominent auto
mobile company.
The new Year Book of the Depart
ment of Agriculture discloses some
startling figures. 1t shows a wonder
f, full increase in horse stock. In 1900
there We're 100000 horses in the
United States, and ten years later, or
! in 1910. there were 24,000.O00 horses.
These numbers are the largest on
record in the history of the country.
F., Compared with those Of ten years ago,