Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1916-07-12
United States Spends Over q
Billion Dollars Annually.
BIG PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN
For the Larger Part Of the Way an
Autoist VIII Strike Good Roads To-
day All the Way From New York to
San Franciseo--Won March Of
Improvement.

Over a biliicn dollars Is spent every
year IN this country for good roads.
writes l. T. johnson Ia the Detroit
Free Press The cost to build one mile
OF good road is 5000. New England
alone has spent S9.oOoOO0 to make her
highways the equal OF Europe's. New
York Is going to spend SlS1 100000.
You can step into an automobile today
In New York and motor to San Fran
cisco. For the largest part OF your
journey you will have good roads- Six
years ago this was impossible. Two
national motor highways cross the
country east and west. north and south
The government has completed mo
tor highway for the Yellowstone park
Great parkways stretch out from our
large cities for hundreds OF miles.
States. counties, townships. village
boards. have all developed new con
science. II Is conscience for good
roads. The military authorities OF the
United States are vitality interested In
the movement In one county OF Ne
vada where only 1890 people live <.so.-
o00 was raised for good roads Good
roads are an important factor In our
national defense. France won the bat
tie OF the Marine with good roads. Jof-
fre's reserve army was transported In
taxicabs 10 attack the Germans right
flank They got there In the nick of
time because in France there are good
roads.
= has
IL first came out the opinion was given
that the automobile would never reach
4 wide popularity for two reasons
horses and had roads. To say that the
automobile has supplanted the horse IL
rite. But what Is more important Ia
That the automobile has conquered the
ros,!s: the roads have not conquered
the automobile.
Because OF the good roads people are
now taking their vacations In automo-
biles. Farmers In the middle west.
many OF them. now carry their prod
ucts to market IN automobiles Good
roads is the answer Every year sees
the scrap heap. The rural population
is buying light. cheap automobiles.
Good roads. In Kansas there Is an
automobile to every family. Good
roads. Last year 100000 automobile
tourists visited the state OF New York.
spending considerable wads Of money
there. Good roads brought them. The
motorists Of Florida Will soon take
trips to Chicago or Louisiana. Good
roads are in the course of construc-
ton.
At present there are three big prof.
ects under way--the Lincoln highway.
the Dixie highway and the extension
OF the Northwest trail These projects
are national. They link up widely sep
arated parts Of the country. They join
the Pacific With the Atlantic. the great
lakes with the gulf. They are all en-
terprises made possible only through
public spirit Millions Of dollars have
been poured into their TREASURES by
farmers and by men Of the cities. They
are propositions that have touched both
civic pride and selfish interest They
have got down to the people 1t Is the
people who have made them possible.
It Ii the peoples imagination that has
responded to their plans-a fine road
passing your home. q fine road over
which you can take your goods to
market, q fine road for your little car.