The Washington times., 1916-07-08
Sl6,0OO,0OO FEES
SPENT ON us. ROADS
Nearly 100000 Motor We.
hicIes Used Highways Of
Country in 1915.

. Ninety per cent Of the registration and
/. license fees paid in 1915 by automobilists
: to the States. or $16.213.3S7. was spent for
the building and maintenance Of county
and State roads, according to compi-
! iation Just published by the Office Of
4. Public Roads. United States Department
. of Agriculture. In all 2.f5.664 motor
vehicles were registered In that year.
/. and their owners paid total OF $1S.245.-
! rs for registrations and drivers and
: dealers licenses.
This is an Increase Of S5,S63.7So over
! 1914, and an increase of 7@.325 In the
I number of vehicles registered. Automo-
bile fees now defray 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
9 The growth Of the volume of fees
F. and registrations is noted by the fact
that in 1901 New York. the first State
% IN ne iSos only e co cars we're registered
throughout the entire United states:
> BY 1915. however. the number had
/, jumped to the figure given. so that there
y registered for each of the 2s75.OO miles
of road outside Of the incorporated
towns and cities.
One Car to Forty-four Persons.
The relation between cars and road
mileage varies widely in different sec
ton. 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 Jersey. .,.. q.
There Is an average Of one motor car
registration for every forty-four persons
in the United States. Iowa apparently
leads. however. with one motor car for
every sixteen persons. while only one
for every 200 persons Is registered for
Alabama.
It must be understood. however. that
the figures of registration do not neces-
ssrily represent total number Of cars.
rs some Of the States do rot require an
nual registration. others group pleasure
and commercial cars and motorcycles In
their accounts. while still other States
do not require registration of motor
There is great inequality in the reg
Istration fees charged by the different
States Ths rag st for the limited
however. secured In 1915 a gross revenue
of $3.50 for each motor car. while Min
nesota received only about so cents an
In Texas and South Carolina no an
nual registration fees are collected. the
only requirement Being a county fee
OF 10 cents and 81. respectively. for per-
ennidi reBiStrdtion. MOST OF tne St8tes'
however. also levy annual taxes on
motor vehicles. and this adds important
'ly to the public revenue contributed by
the owners Of motor-propelled vehicles.
Fees Applied to Roads
In the use Of fees. however. there
seems to be a general policy Of apply
ing the major part Of the money COL
iected from automobilists directly to
road betterment In forty-two Of the
States of the Union al! or the major
portion of the motor-vehicle revenue
must he expended for the construction
Improvement or maintenance OF the
public roads, or for the maintenance OF
the State Highway Department. In
of the net motor-vehicle revenues arc
expended by or under the supervision
or direction of the State Highway De-
, In seven States one-half to- one.
enues are expended through the state
Highway Department, and the re-
mainder by the local authorities.
Many States. In addition to applying
hcenses fees to road construction, ex.
the fines and penalties collected from
owners.
California Leads In Fees.
In the number Of registrations New
York State led in 1915 with 255.242
Illinois was second with 1S0.S32: Cali.
fornia third with lss.7s7; and Penn
sylvania fourth with 16o.i37.
this source. however. California lee
with $2.027,432; New York was secont
with $1,991.181; Pennsylvania thirt
with 81 .e65. 27e: while Iowa. will
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