The Colorado statesman., 1916-07-29
Motor Car Owners Contribute
More Than S16,0O0,O0o
in 1915.
GREAT INCREASE is SHOWN
Funds From This Source Represent
Nearly Seven Per Cent of Amount
Spent on Rural Highway
and Bridge Building.

An investigation by Uncle Sam has
shown that automobile owners of the
United States, through the payment
of fees imposed by various states, now
contribute a large sum toward the i'm
provement of public highways each
year.
Ninety per cent of the registration
and license fees paid in 1915 by auto
mobilists to the states, or S16,213, ,3S7,
was spent for the building and main
tenance of county and state roads, ac-
cording to compilation just published
by the office of public roads, United
States department of agriculture. In
all, ., 2,445, ,664 motor vehicles were regis
tered in that year and their owners
paid total of $1S,245,71 for registra-
tions and drivers and dealers liz
cenSes. This is an increase of So
SG3, $50 over 1914, and an increase of
I34325 in the number of vehicles regis
tered. Automobile fees now defray
nearly Z per cent of the total amount
spent on rural road and bridge build
ing, whereas in 1906 the income from
this source was less than three-tenths
of per cent of the total expenditure
Great Growth Shown.
The growth of the volume of fees
and registrations is noted by the fact
that in 1901 New York, the first state
to require fees, collected only $954 In
| 1906 only $4,000 cars were registered
throughout the entire United States.
BY 1915, however, the number had
jumped to the figure given, so that
to e,l;,
car registered for each of the 1876, 900
miles of road outside of the incorpo-
rated towns and cities.
The relation between cars and road
mileage varies widely in different sec
tionS. There is only one motor car
for every six miles of rural road in
Nevada, but nearly six motor cars for
every mile of such road in New Jer-
sey. There is an average of one mo-
tor car registration for every A per-
sons in the United States. Iowa appar-
emily leads, however, with one motor
car for every 10 persons, while only
one for every 200 persons is registered
for Alabama.
1t must be understood, however, that
the figures of registration do not neces-
sarily represent total number of
cars, as some of the states do not
require annual registration, others
group pleasure and commercial cars
and motorcycles in their accounts,
while still other states do not require
registration of motorcycles.
There is great inequality in the regis
tration fees charged by the different
states. The average for the United
States was STAG The state of YER
mont, however, secured in 1915 q gross
revenue of $1S.10 for each motor car,
while Minnesota received only 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 80 cents and 81
respectively for perennial registration.
Most of the states, however, also levy
annual taxes on motor vehicles and
this adds Importantly to the public rev.
enue contributed by the owners of mo-
tor-propelled vehicles.
All Put Money on Roads.
In the use of fees, however, there
seems to be a general policy of apply
ing the major part of the money col
lected from automobilists directly to
road betterment. In 40 of the states
of the Union all or the major portion
of the motor-vehicle revenue must be
expended for the construction, inn
prOvement, or maintenance of the pub
lie roads, or for the maintenance of
the state highway department. In 20
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. In seven states one-half to one
fourth of the state motor-vehicle rev.
enues are expended through the state
highway department, and the remain
der by the local authorities. Many
states in addition to applying license
fees to road construction expend for
this purpose large part of the fines
and penalties collected from owners.
In the number of registrations New
York state led in 1915 with 255,242
Illinois was second with 1S0,S32: Cali
fornia third with 1884, ,797; and Penn
sylvania fourth with 160, 1877. In gross
revenues received from this source,
however, California led with $2,027,-
432; New York was second with ST.
991,1S1 Pennsylvania third with
S1,665,2T6, while Iowa, with $4,000
cars registered, came fourth in point
of revenue with $1,533,O54.