Imperial Valley press., 1914-02-07

ne cluD dctiNlCleS at tHe pIeSeit
time are centered in Southern Cali
fornia, where road crews are contin-
ually occupied in charting and signing
new roads and boulevards.
A special representative of the club
engages in educating the voters to
pass good roads" bonds, and the chief
engineer gives expert advice on ques-
tions dealing with engineering prob
iems.
With climatic conditions favorable
all the year round touring has become
a reality, and rains in no way deter
The motorists where boulevards are
the rule and not the eXception-in
Southern California. Antagonism dis
played up to not so many years ago
by the farmer to the automobile has
become a matter of history. The
greatest industries in the south have
found and recognized the need of
power driven vehicles. In line with
that discovery came the recognition of
a need for good roads.
And then there was needed some
concentrating influence which would
show to the various communities the
necessity for better highways-how
to get them-and into this breach
stepped the Automobile club of
Southern California. With II of the
representative business men in the
section of the state south of the Te-
haehapi as its directors, the club ha'
become the deus ex machina of the
southland for the motorist.
Since Southern California has come
to be known for its good roads, it has
achieved fame in the motor world, and
it is up to Southern California to pro-
tect this prestige, say officials of the
auto club, for 1915. Mountain roads,
desert roads, valley roads and sea-go-
ing roads have been charted and sign
ed by the touring department of the
club. under the direction of O. K. Par
!ler, chief engineer, and maps are pro-
vided to motorists over practically all
the important routes of the United
States. 1t is significant that an organ
ization of this type of efficiency is be-
hind the good roads in Southern Cal
ifornia.
70 And the roads here are good, say
auto club officials, because the layman
has awakened to the fact that the
highway is accomplishing now for the
community what the railroad and the
electric lines had monopoly on three
years or so ago. No longer must the
farmer rely upon the pleasure of a
crusty depot master to see that his
lettuce is off to the city on an early
train.
No, indeed, Mr.. Farmer packs his
lettuce in crate along with some
beets and carrot or two and trun-
dies them off to market himself in his
own motor car, and then skips back
home, 90 miles, perhaps, to supper.
Five years ago that would not have
been possible, until better roads had
been created by the automobilists.
''The automobile club will do all in
its power to make the visits of the
motorists in Southern California in
1915, pleasant" said Standish l..
Mitchell, assistant secretary, yester-
day, "but in this work we must have
the cooperation of all the motorists
in this part of the state. They can
easily become members of the organ
ization and put their shoulder to the
wheel in the work which 5000 of them
are doing now. The club can be just
as effective as the membership wants"
AS evidence of the vast scope of the
work accomplished in the past year,
club officials point to the fact that 246,-
666 maps of tours were distributed
during the year from the automobile
club headquarters, and twice this num-
ber will go out in 1915, they declare