The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-12-15
PUBLIC HIGHWAYS
american Highway Association.)

Only Deen IHdue. OFSl WV
miles of roads over which the pub
lie business is conducted require at
tention. In the winter they are IN
many sections impossible and in the
warmer seasons they are but clouds
of dust. Compared with their ma
terial wealth the States, speaking
generally, have been wofully neg
lectful of their interests.
Speaking specifically, and calling
names, the figures show how great
this neglect has been. The i'm
mense State of Texas, with property
assessed for taxation at $2,500,O0O,-
600, has 1891 miles of public
roads of which only 1896 miles have
been improved. In other States a
like condition exists as the follow
ing figures will show:
Nevada, assessed value of pro-
perty, $107,794 1923; miles Of pub
lie roads, 12.757; miles of 'improv-
ed" roads, 81.
Iowa, assessed value, S3,365,930,-
O64; miles of public roads, 104,-
s sS3; miles of improved roads,
Montana, assessed value, $341,-
100000; miles of roads, 23,319;
miles of improved" roads, 95.
Nebraska, assessed value, $685.
974,928; miles of roads, 80,338;
miles of improved roads, 249.
Colorado, assessed value, $422,-
1885,; miles of roads, 30,571;
miles of Improved" roads, 304.
Illinois, assessed value, $2,422,-
361,952; miles of roads, 94,141;
miles of Improved" roads, 5000.
New York, assessed value, SILL
3S5,137,127; miles of roads, 3d.
112; miles of improved" roads, 22,-
Wisconsin, assessed value, $685.
187,7O5; miles of roads, $1,000;
miles of Improved" roads, 11,i63. ,
All of these are very wealthy
States and in some of them at least
there has been much talk by re-
formers and statesmen about eff
cheney in government and the duty
of sharing with the people in the
benefits of wise and economical ad-
ministration. There is no other
matter that more nearly concerns
the people, all the people, the man
with the OK cart creeping to market
and his more fortunate neighbor,
possessed of a high-powered motor
car or prairie schooner alike, than
the Improvement of the public high
ways over which all must travel;
yet the "oficial" figures show that
the u%pbuilding of public highways
has received, generally speaking
again, scant attention. If the rail
road systems were guilty. of such
neglect in the improvement and
maintenance of their lines not only
would the business of the country
be paralyzed but there would be
instant and overwhelming demand
for the revocation of their charters
and the ~penitentiary for their mana
gers. Yet the public roads which
belong in a special sense to the
people are fearfully, not to saw
criminally, neglected. Who are to
blame? The people themselves
and their representatives in the
State Legislatures and in Congress.
Appropriations of millions upon mil
hons of dollars are made for impos-
sible harbors on inaccessible creeks,
money is poured out like water for
rural postal routes over roads that
cannot be travelled, and still other
millions upon millions for expert
mentation in doubtful ventures of
supposedly scientific value; and old
and wasteful methods of doing
things in the name of the people
which no prudent man would do for
himself are followed because there
are armies of political dependents
for whom provision must be made
at the public expense and who are
provided for without regard to the
public interest but at public cost.
1t is not "The Crime of 1873" that
should arouse the indignation of
the people but the crime of three
centuries of neglect which shows
that, with wealth amounting to
$3.50, 900 ,OO0, 900, there are in the
United States today two million
miles of unimproved public high
ways. 1t is the mission of the Am
erican Highway Association to re-
move this reproach from the Ameri-
can Republic, and in its crusade it
invites the cooperation of all who
are interested in the public welfare.
Uniformity and efficiency are the
two great factors in road improve
ment, each so related to the other
that both are essential to success.
There must be uniformity of legis-
lation and administration without
which there can be no efficiency in
I the planning, building and mainte-
. nance Of the public roads. The road
that is built for the benefit and con-
v%enience of a single community and
without regard to the benefit and
convenience of other communities, is
at best nothing more than a single
community road. With the public
roads it is just as it used to be with
the railroads before they were
brought together in great systems by
which the remotest parts of the
country were placed in the closest
possible touch, and district. State
and sectional lines were obliterated
to the ~incalculable advantage of the
whole people. Uniformity in rates,
freedom in carriage, economy in ad-
m~inistration, constant effort, at
enormous expense, in maintenance
have resulted in efficiency of service.
Communities that were ont of touch