The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-05-06

AuYOcateS or gOOu ToduS-ptltel
 roads than we have had in the past
 as rule-have spent much time 1T discussing national highways as essen
 tial to war work but as yet nothing | tangible is in sight in respect of tho
 new road movement for which the de-
 mand is imperative.
 | The agitation for motor truck roads
 must continue until something in q large way is done The Baltimore
 Manufacturers Record has a timely
 article in the shape of an interview with man prominent in highway ac- | tiyities, as follows:
 Tt has been sad that the battle line in France is the battle line of Amer | ica, By the same token the American highways are all feeders to the battle- fields of France" says ". 0. Ruther- ford, second vice president of the B. r. Goodrich Rubber company who has Just been chosen to represent the Mo ter and Accessory Manufacturers as sociation in the newly organized High way Industries association.
 We all know that transportation is one of the biggest factors in winning the war" continued MT. Rutherford. Now let us understand at the outset tltdl ljte WOfu tTdISpOTIdllOn l1tNOtNCS number of agencies. It is not only freight trains and ships, but it is everything that helps to move men or merchandise from one point to am ether; thus. canals. highways, horses motor trucks, passenger cars, are all to be considered as important factors in moving the worlds goods.
 We talk about the shortage of coal There is no shortage of coal Dr. (Nl fia1l Thar is 01 in our mines to last a hundred years And so it is with iron ore. or with farm products and the whole range of foodstuffs. Speed up transportation-- on the sea. on the railroads, on the highways, and we shall by that process overcome production shortages. fuel shortages and food shortages. The answer to our most serious current problem. namely, inability to make supply measure up to the demand is speeding up our transportation agsn. cieS.
 Tt is trait Tn human nature to veer too strongly in one direction. The American public suddenly cries, Give us more ships This same pub lie, after checking the expansion of railroads for two decades, berates the rail carriers for inefficiency when the testing time comes So far as our rail : roads are concerned we may still feel 3. commendable pride in what they have achieved; but let us fancy for d moment that we possessed hundreds of locomotives and other rolling stock | which could not be used because rail- road tracks were lacking We would get busy and make roadbeds. Yet in another field of transportation con dition almost parallel to this picture exists. We have close to half a mill lion motor trucks in this country but we are not getting the most out of them because only a scant portion of our roadways are in such condition as to admit of efficient motor truck operation.
 The United States government and our captains of industry recognize the importance of motor truck haulage It has just as great functioning power in carrying commerce as it has back of Haig's battle line in France. The government is now trucking from the central west to the Atlantic seaboard, but bad roads make the work slow
 and doubtful. What is needed is
 highways with a foundation strong enough to carry heavy burdens and built into network of national routes.
 The local viewpoint in road build ing must give way to the national and some master plan must be evolved for solving our transportation prob- lem on American roads. director of railroads and a factor of ship building are very we'll and excellent. but why not director of motor truck transportation?
 If this country were to suffer in vasion from a foreign foe. one of the first steps of this government would take would be to extend to the ma i'm um it's transportation facilities. National military highways would be the cry of the hour. but roads cannot be built in day. In the moments when war is cruelest to us we see with greatest clarity of vision the answer to our big gest peace problems. One of these prob lens is transportation and in this time