East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1913-08-04
URGES MAKING
ROADS AT HOME
Local Oranges Should Not Neglect
This Important Question Nor
Lose Interest.

That much of the road money
wasted through ineffective methods, is
recognized as "notoriously true" by
the National Grange monthly, which
strongly advises the local oranges not
to neglect the ''roads near at home
while taking an active interest in ac-
complishing great trunk highways for
state and nation" 1t is set forth that
these local roads form a part of the
general scheme of highways and
should receive their fair share of at
tention, though this is not a matter of
national concern; but 1t does believe
that more careful attention to local
roads and road expenditures is imper-
ative. 1t also believes that "every
grange everywhere should be interest
ed in and responsive to the large
grange policy as a whole. for good
roads everywhere, state and nation
al"
The roads of country naturally re-
solve themselves into four classes: To-
cal or township, county, state anI ma
tional, and in their construction and
maintenance the township, county,
state and national each carries its
special responsibility and should be
endowed with its special functions"
asserts Chairman George C. Diehl, of
the A. A. A. National Good Roads
Board.
THE local roads are> of sole inter-
est to the communities, and their cost
should not be passed on to the ma
tional government. Some local roads
in every community become county
roads in their uses, and some county
roads become state roads by virtue Of
the traffic they carry. When these
changes in travel occur then should
also come the change in responsible
ity and administration. Likewise,
some state roads become national in
scope and Importance. They reach
from great center to great center Of
population, and assume predominant
I commercial Importance. While ac-
commodating the travel from the
farms to the market places along their
routes, they also provide for the
through travel. 1t must be remem-
bered that road traffic of today is not
place, but extends from village to viii
lage. from county to county, from city
to city, from state to state.
Motor trucks must be reckoned
with as factors in transportation. Their
economic advantage in short hauls is
causing their adoption by hundreds
where the roads have been improved
and the vast extension of their use
only awaits for the roads to be built
Their fullest utilization will come
when all the main roads of the coun-
try are constructed to accommodate
them. In and near the large centers
of population they are rapidly dis
placing horses in the transport of COM
modities.
Civilization has never witnessed
such change as has taken place in
the transportation of persons and
goods in the past ten years. With the
railroad for the carriage of through
freight, good roads and automobiles
Will round out and complete perfect
system of transportation, and thread
together the energies of the nation,
a happy expression used by President
woodrow Wilson in his address to the
American Road Congress"
This years gathering, in the hold
ing of which the American Automobile
ASSOCIATION co-operates with the Am
erican Highway association, will take
place in Detroit, Mich, during the
week Of September 29, with indica-
tions of being the most comprehen-
sive road convention ever held in this
country. The National Association of
Road Material and Machinery Manu-
facturers will exhibit at this congress.