The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1916-05-16
FEDERAL ROADS LEGISLATION
Now Rest with Conferees Of Both
Houses Of Congress


roads legislation in the present con
gress now rests with the COnferees Of
the senate and the house of representa-
tives, with indications that an agree
ment is practically assured.
The senate has just passed the Bank
head bill, named after the chairman
of the committee on post offices and
post roads, while the house previous
ly had accepted the Shackleford bill
OF it's committee on roads.
Both measures had their basis in a
draft prepared by the American AS
sociaton of state highway officials,
which had the endorsement of the
American Automobile Association and
other organizations interested in high
ways improvement.
The house bill omitted some things
which the senate committee cOnsid
cred should be included and one of
these was area, also one of the three
factors in the distribution of the Fed
eral money appropriated, population
and post road mileage being the other
items. The answer of the senate COM
mittee was a substitute measure which
did not suffer much revision under dis
cussion, except that a rider was tackled
on by the insistence of the western
senators providing for a million dol
lars annually for the purpose of con
strucJing roads and trails in the ma
tional forest reserves, such money,
however, to be paid back to the fed
eral treasury from the revenues de
rived from the forests, at the rate of
ten per cent year.
During the discussion in the SEN
ate it was quite thoroughly empha-
sized that the adoption of the proposed
legislation meant the return of the
national government to a form of in
ternal Improvement which had been
discontinued since the building of the
Old Cumberland road. Furthermore,
if the cooperation between the ma
tiOnal government and the several
states proved as advantageous as was
contended, it was set forth there
would follow an increased quantity of
this aid to the states
Senator Borah of Idaho thus COM
mented upon the subject: when you
take into consideration the amount of
roads which must be built in the Unit
ed States, the amount which is ap-
propriated in this bill is infnitesimal
compared to what will finally be ap-
propriated for that purpose. 1t is sim
ply a step in the right direction"
In the concluding hours of the dis
cussion of the senate bill, Senator
Smoot of Utah sought the adoption of
the so-called Bourne substitute, form
of loaning the national credit to the
states so that they could issue road
bonds that would be replaced by fed
eral bonds.
Senator Townsend of Michigan who
in previous congress had been ia
vorable to the Bourne Plan, practically
concluded its chances in a speech in
the course of which he said:
81 did advocate the Bourne bill sew
eral years ago, and at that time be-
lieved if we could start it under nor
NAL conditions, it might have been
made to work. 1t would require a
change of laws in many of the states
and constitutional amendments in 9th
ers before it could be put into opera
tion. That, of course, would require
considerable time; in some instances,
years. We are proposing to spend the
money belonging to the people of the
various states. Their experts have
passed upon this subject, and | think
with quite as much intelligence as
theorists in the senate have done.
Therefore, being in favor of good
roads legislation and being convinced
the bill before us is practical and
economical and means the building of
good roads, | cannot vote for a sub