The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1913-11-05
THE LINCOLN HIGHWAY.

to coast. tonight, will be celebrated
by bonfires and speeches and jubila
ton and wassail, the location of new
road-a road whereon, when it is fin
ished, man with his family may
travel in his own vehicle from Allan
tic to Pacific and back again, with
speed. Omaha and many Nebraska
towns that lie upoin this proposed
great new highway will join in the
celebration.
How many of the celebrators, we
wonder, will realize that this prof.
ect to which they are giving their
support is but the beginning Of an
achievement that will be larger and
more wonderful, more beneficial in it's
results, a hundred times over, than
the Panama canal itself?
The steam railroads have held back
permanent roadmaking in the United
States for almost century. They
must needs come first, in this land of
magnificent distances. But now, at
last, the permanent public highways
are to follow them, and they are des-
tined to do so much as, perhaps more
than, any other influence to deepen
and widen the blessings of our civil
ization. Though in some sections of
the south, and in most portions of the
Atlantic seaboard states, they have
roads," this Lincoln Highway" marks
the real beginning of great national
movement that shall ultimately knit
together not alone all the states, but
all the counties and towns of all the
states.
Good roads are the very foundation
stones of civilization. 1t was The
great highways running into Babylon
that helped Babylon great The Car
tneginians, masters of commerce and
permanent roads. The greatest ma
terial achievement of imperial Rome
consisted of her roads, and parts of
the famed Appian way still remain
and are used for the purpose to whl-
,Aey were originally dedicated. The
stone and macadam roads of France
and England, constantly in the course
Of construction since the Sixteenth
century and earlier done their full
snare % give unity, solidarity order,
security and prosperity to those great
nations
In the United States, because we
ire yet an infant in the family OF
lalions, we developed the big things
irst. We nave built the steam ran
'oads, and without them our national
night and development would AVE
oeen an lmpossibility. But the great
tree permanent highways and their
of feeders, open to the free
use of the public, are yet to be deVel-
oped With the new problems con-
fronting our civilization they are as
accessory as the railroads themselves.
They are needed to bring the country
and the town together, to encourage
Intensive farming, to stimulate Local
markets, to inspire local spirit, to
create communities that will be suffi-
,ient unto themselves by bringing raw
material and factory into juxtaposi-
ion. Their social and political bene-
it's will be on a par with their econ
,mic advantages.
This Lincoln Highway is the be-
,inning; large as it is, small begin
ling. There will be other highways,
rom east to west and from north to
;outh-a great many of them. From
he important centers they will red
ate in all directions. They will be
and connected by feed
,rs." The smaller the political unit
O which the system is applied the
greater will be the immediate and To-
al benefit. Eventually there will be
10 school district, no single farm,
emote from civilization. They will
,e parts of one great whole, and al
ing these arteries will pulsate the
ife-blood of the nation, carrling the
Gods of the farms, the factories, the
hops, the gardens; of literature, the
Lrts and sciences; of progress and
INVENTION and inspiration, to every
art alike.