The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1916-07-11
Over Sixteen Million Dollars Spent
in 1915 for improving coun-
" and state
Roads.
) NINETY PER CENT
Car for Every Mile 81 Read In the.
United States No~.- Great !
Increase In Recent
Years.

Ninety per cent OF the registration
and license fees paid in 1918 by auto
mobilists to the states. or $16213.3s
was spent for the building and main
tenance OF county and state roads. ac-
cording to a compilation Just pub
lished by the ONCE OF public roads,
U. 8. department OF agriculture. In
all, 2.445.664 motor vehicles were
registered In that year and their own
ers paid a total OF $1S,245,713 for
registrations and drivers and deal.
ers' licenses. This is an increase OF
IS, S63,76O over 1914, and an increase
LOT 734,325 in the number Of vehicles
registered. Automobile fees now de-
fray nearly per cent of the total
amount spent on rural road and
bridge building, whereas in 1905 the
income from this source was less than
three-tenths OF per cent OF the total
expenditures.
and registrations is noted by the fact
to require fees, collected only $945.
In 1905 only $4,000 cars were reg
.isteted throughout the entire United
States. BY 1915, however, the num-
her had jumped into the figure given,
SO that there is slightly more than
one motor car registered for each Of
the 2,375,000 miles Of road outside Of
the Incorporated towns and cities.
The relation between cars and road
mileage varies widely in different
sections. There is only one motor
car for every si1 miles OF rural road
In Nevada, but near six motor cars
for every mile Of such road in New
Jersey. There is an average Of one
motor car registration 6or every A
persons in the United States. Iowa
apparently leads, however, with one
motor car for every 16 persons, while
only for every 200 persons Is regis
tered for Alabama.
It must be understood, however,
that the figures of registration do
not necessarily represent a total
number of cars, as some of the states
do not require annual registration,
others group pleasure and CONNER
cial cars and motorcycles in their
accounts, while still other states do
not require registration Of motor
cycles.
There is great inequality in the
registration fees charged by the diff
ferent states. The state OF Yer
mont secured in 1916 gross
revenue OF $3.50 for each motor
car, while Minnesota received
only about so cents annually for each
car. In Texas and South Carolina no
annual registration fees are collected,
the only requirement being a county
fee OF so cents and 81 respectively
for perennial registration. Most OF
taxes on motor vehicles and this adds
Importantly to the public revenue
contributed by the owners Of motor
propelled vehicles.
In the use of fees, however, there
seems to be general policy of ap-
plying the major part of the money
collected from Automobiles directly
to road betterment In AZ Of the
states Of the union all or the major
portion of the net motor vehicle rev.
enues are to be expended for
the construction, Improvement or
maintenance OF the public roads, or
for the maintenance OF the state
highway department. In twenty
states, all or the major portion OF the
net motor vehicle revenues are ex-
pended by or under the supervision or
direction Of the state highway depart.
ment, and the remainder by the local
authorities. Many states, in addition
to applying license fees to road con-
struction expend for this purpose .
large part of the fines and penalties
collected from owners.
California Leads In Fees Collected.
In the number OF registrations
New York state led IN 1915 with
255, 242; Illinois was second with
1S0,s32; California third with 1S3,7s7;
and Pennsylvania fourth with 1907
1871. In gross revenues received from
this source, however, California led
with $2,G27 ,432; New York was sec
ond with 1891 ISL; Pennsylvania
third with s1,665,2T6; while Iowa,
with $4,000 cars registered, came
fourth in point of revenue with ST.
533,054.