Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-12-10
A World Highway to Honor Heroes
Proposed Bridge Parkway Suggests
NatonaIiscd Scheme of Var Memorials on the =.
Lincoln High,Uay
By JOSEPH PENNELL

VITHEN Rome was mistress of the world
w she did virtually what the. Germans
tried to do when they sought to dominate
civilization She built roads endlessly--
building always from one end of q conquered
country to the other. These roads were so
excellently engineered that the overload and
domirator of tho world, Julius Caesar, was
able to get from Rome to London in faster
time than is usually made by the interna-
tional express. Roman highways were mag
nificently decorated at every city and battle
fields with triumphal arches, amphtheatres
and other memorials erected to commemorate
the conquerors progress. These monuments
exist today to command the admiration Of
the world.
We in this country have a greater need
for great roads than the Romans had We
have better uses for them. But we have
achieved relatively little. We have the Lin
coin highway from New York to San Fran
cisco, but it IS disjointed. disorganized, un-
graded, unconcreted over most Of the way
All that exists is q track blazed by red.
white and blue signs and telegraph poles.
Caesars road ran from Rome to Calais,
and because there were no American engi-
neelS IHeH 10 Dullu DTIuBcS allu Sic
Roman legions had to be moved across the
channel on barges and by other means But
the road was built by engineers from the city
of Rome to the city of Newcastle. 1t still
exists All of this is interesting in view of
the present needs of America. A bridge
from New York to Jersey City is designed
and soon will be built. The bridge from
Camden to Philadelphia will soon be a
reality. And so the EVENING PUBLIC
LEpaERs suggestion of sbridge over the
| Schuylkil River from the Parkway to West
Philadelphia fits splendidly into scheme
which would be adequate to commemorate
! our achievements in the war in an altogether
noble and beautiful way. Such a bridge
should be one of tho connecting links in a
| national highway. This highway should be
beautifed under coordinate plan, SO that
| it would carry into every city and town
through which 1t passed suggestion of the
most splendid adventure of the human race
| The Lincoln Highway. instead of wandering
up and down Walnut and Chestnut streets
| could cross the Parkway bridge. From
! West Philadelphia to st. Louis there is nc
| river of any importance that 10 not bridged,
If my memory serves. At st. Louis there is
the great Fades bridge After that there are
no obstacles until you get to Oakland oil
| Sacramento.
UyIfE Lincoln Highway has been designed
4 and numbers of people have been over il
with great difficulty. Travellers at New Yorl
coming east or from Europe will in the
future leave New York over the monumental
North River bridge. They will reach Phila
delphia over the Camden bridge. And they
should be able to continue on the journe!
toward the South over a Parkway bridg,
such as you have suggested IN your edi
torial. Then they will be on the road tina
| leads west and south do not know how
this road gets to the Middle West. Their,
are bridges, of course, over the smaller rivers
and the Internal Chicago River. Then com,
the great plains and the prairies apd thu
mountains and a clear way to Oakland ant
Sacramento, where the road divides 70
Seattle furtheT north and San Diego south
From Porua,sd Ne. where me Iinesl'