The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1916-04-04


and because they could not be supplied
with war materials, and now at an
enormous expense Germany is building
gion almost depopulated, for no other
purpose than to transfer men and mu-
nitions of war.
Without good roads the French ar
my could not have saved Paris from
capture by the Germans, and it is
General Joffre's boast that he can
transfer an army corps, or about forty
thousand men, with total equipment
thirty to forty miles at any point along
the battle line, in one night.
Today our great republic stands
exposed to invasion and we probably
have less than one hundred miles of
good roads in any one section along
our extensive border, and in no locali-
| ty have we a suitable network of sus-
| tanning roads to transport oneifth of
the great army and equipment that
would be required to protect us, in the
event of attempted invasion.
If war were declared tomorrow, one
of the first orders of our board Of
strategy would be to build several
thousand miles of military roads; in
fact, many of the best roads we have
today were built during the Civil war
over fifty years ago.
A double track railroad alongside or
between two contrete roads, especially
along or near our seacoast, would not
only enable our soldiders to move
quickly by either train or auto trucks,
but would give small body of men
tremendous advantage over larger
body of invaders dependent upon ships
for supplies, as the concrete roads
would not only allow quick motor
transportation, but would be very ad-
vantageous as loading and unloading
platforms at any point required.
/ Several modern guns, if mounted on
heavy railroad trucks, running on dou-
| BILE track, could then be modified
quickly at almost any danger point by
having switches run out from the trunk
line road to near the coast or probable
landing places, and these guns could
be shifted from point to point as oc-
casion might require, and without re-
moval from their trucks be lowered
and locked into firing positions very
quickly.
Less than one-half of the $970,7s4,-
40 we have spent on rivers and har-
! bors alone would construct a double
track railroad and a sixteen-foot con-
crete road on each side of it from Bos-
| ton, along or near to our east and
southern coast, and another from New
York via Washington, st. Louis and
Denver, to San Francisco, and leave
enough money to build probably as
1 Oh 1as in "a
| interior for sustaining or post roads,
all of which would be great and
lasting benefit to our hundred million
people The railroads could be leased
out to bring an income sufficient to
pay all upkeep, and produce sinking
fund that would repay total cost in a
few years.
The trunk line should be built far
enough back from the coast to be out
of danger of the shells from battle
ship guns, and the firing places for the
guns screened by low hills or large
trees, which would give much advan-
tage to the land forces, as has been
clearly demonstrated at several points
during the present great war.
The mobility of the great coast de-
fense guns used by the Germans both
at Gallipoli and along the English
channel from Ostend north, and the
tremendous destructive power they
have shown when brought into action
against attacking ships, prove conclus-
lively that moving ships stand a poor
chance against guns of equal ealibre
ON shore, unless they may be readily
located and the true range is known;
while the great destruction created by
battleship guns on fixed or known tar
gets was also well demonstrated on
the outlying forts at the Dardanelles
and several other places aong the
Turkish and Bulgarian coast.
An article in Good Roads, October
2, 1915, reads: "We have in the Unit
ed States approximately 100000 miles
of highways Investigation has
shown that 20 per cent of our roads
carry approximately so per cent of the
traffic. The tonnage moved over this
20 per cent of our national highway is
many hundred times greater than the
meager tonnage moved annually by our
few river boats plying interior water
ways, on which over half a billion
dollars has been expended for improve
ments.
The average cost of moving a ton
by rail is about one-half cent per ton
mile, and if our river boats should
save one.half of this amount to the
public it would require probably 100
years to repay the half billion so ex-
pended with our present operating
boats, and they would benefit but a
limited number of people.
The present cost of carriage over av-
erage roads is greater than 20 cents
per ton mile, and good roads suitable
for auto trucks would reduce this cost
lprobably rs per cent.
In an address at Houston, Texas,
January 27, 1915, Secretary Redfeld
said: "The total amount spent annual
ly in the United States for carriage, in
all forms, probably exceeds ten billion
dollars. A large per cent of it (prob-
ably half of IT'D is wasted in one or an