El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-04-01
TEXAS NOT To
GET FED HELP
Has Not Qualified For Gov
eminent Aid For State
Good Roads.

: Washington. April Forty of
the As states Will qualify for federal
aid in roads under the Bankhead bill.
recently reported favorabIy to the SEN
ate by its committee on postoffices and
post roads.
Indiana, South Carolina. Georgia.
| Mississippi and Texas are the five
states which have yet to equip them
selves with a centralized direction of
! roads improvement Indiana has an
active campaign in progress which
ought to prove successful, energized in
great degree by the HoosieE State Au-
tomobile association. which is affiliated
with the American Automobile asso-
citation. Indiana is a great automobile
producing state and a large percentage
Of its farmers have adopted the self
propelled vehicle.
South Carolina is giving the question
OF a state highway department serious
consideration. Georgia is in an equally
hopeful condition, while Mississippi in
It's house OF representatives recently
voted against the creation of a state
commission. The legislators opposed
the legislation because it called for an
engineer with a salary Of $500 a year.
Maine pays $4,000 and possesses an UNI
usually competent official
Texas Would Re benefited.
would obtain more federal cooperation
than any other state in the union. its
area taking ii intoNirst place. though
1t falls behind many other states in
population and road mileage. It is a
certainty that Texas will provide a
highway department within three
years. for section 3 Of the senate meas
ure contains this proviso: Except that
amounts apportioned for any fiscal
year to any state which has not a
state highway department shall be
available for expenditure in that state
until the close Of the third fiscal wear
succeeding the close of the fiscal year
made"
The memorandum which accompanies
the SENATE substitute bill contains this
reference to the phenomenal traffic
growth:
'Backwsrdness in the building Of
public roads has been all the more
marked by contrast with the enormous
development Of traffic. Within the
brief period of about 10 years the mo-
tor vehicle has been introduced and
developed until it is now asserted that
there are over 2, 300 600 motor vehicles
IN use, or about one for every mile OF
public road. IL these vehicles are esti
mated to average only 25 horse mower
It would mean total Of over $1,000. 600
horse power brought into use on our
public roads with a suddenness which
has no parallel in Industrial history.
This new and domestic traffic has. bv
it's peculiar effect upon road surfaces
and its great strain upon bridges and
foundations, rendered infinitely more
complex the problem of road construc-
ton and maintenance. which our sys-
tens of management had already
proved utterly inadequate to meet
Cost of Moving Wheat.
Ordinary horse drawn traffic has
also increased to such a point that we
now speak Of tonnage. not in millions.
but In hundreds of millions. and Of the
ton mileage in billions It has been
estimated that to move the wheat crop
alone in 1915 involved the hauling OF
more than 0,000. 900 tons over the pub
lie roads at a cost of over $4,000. 900.
Some conception Of the immensely of
our farm production and the conse-
quent movement Of farm products over
the country roads can be gained from
the estimate prepared in the depart
ment Of agriculture that the production
Of corn. wheat oats, potatoes. cotton
and hay in 1915 aggregated go SOT, 900
tons, while the total agricultural pro-
duction for that year was valued at
nearly $1,000. 100000