Arizona republican., 1918-12-01

of our equipment that was being
turned to government work was kept |
busy on materials supplied by the gov
eminent; hence the draft on the manu-
facturers' reserve stock was lightened |
By the ~ne the manufacturers entire |
equipment was being devoted to gov
eminent work, their stock of raw ma
terial for commercial work was practi- |
cally exhausted.
Now with indications that the gov
ernment will gradually relieve the
manufacturer from government work,
the question of getting the necessary
supplies and raw material for CONNER
cial work is an important one. In fact,
it will soon be one of the vital prob
lens, and with the railroads being used
to maintain our armies abroad, as we'll
as the transportation of finished goods
for reconstruction purposes overseas,
it will undoubtedly be left to the motor
truck to keep our industries, factories,
mercantile institutions and dealers
supplied with materials and goods nee
essary to get back on peace time"
basis.
Here is where the states with good
roads are going to forge ahead of those
communities with bad roads, and like
wise it will be the industries in the
former who will have the bulge on
those in the latter.
It will soon be a question of not
merely the scarcity OF available mater
ials, but a scarcity of good routes over
which they can DE hauled to the fac
tories.
IN building highways, you are insur-
1 ing reliable and economical transporta-
ton. You are eliminating excessive
freight rates, avoiding expensive de-
lays and stopping high motor truck de-
prcciation-all three of which are big
factors that enter into the cost Of do
ing business.
IN every city and town, building pro
! Jects that have been held up BY the
| var VIII soon be rushed to completion.
/ expenditures of hundreds of millions Of
dollars will be made, providing employ
ment for not only the returning SOL
dieTs, but men released by the factor
les formerly engaged in government
work. In the cities, prominent office
and government building, as well as
municipal improvements of every char
acter and description will make it nee
eSsary for building materials ana
equipment to be brought into the city.
Ihls means that the motor truck will
nave to take care of a big share of this
transportation, and it is vitality neces-
sary that this work is not delayed in
any way.
here is where poor roads are going
10 interfere with progress. Materials
/ Tor such buildings will have to be
! hauled by motor trucks from distant
! points, and there will be hundreds of
! instances where this will prove neces-
sary IN order to hurry up construction
or complete buildings that were halted
when the building ban was put on.
The same is true of the lack OF
houses, flats and apartments for which
there has been created an enormous
demand a demand that makes it i'm
/ possible for contractors to wait until
4 the railroads have again been put on
normal schedules. And here again, it
will be up to motor trucks to TRANSPORT
these materials.
In the building and construction field
alone, 1t is going to cost taxpayers mil
lions of dollars if these materials have
to be transported over poor roads, be-
cause the depreciation of motor trucks,
the lack Of speed while negotiating
poor roads, as well as the loss of time
in getting materials to the workmen.
viii boost up the cost of construction
more than the average layman realizes.
And it viii be the same way with those
property owners who are building new
residences, apartment houses and such.
Estimates that were made before the
war as to cost of material, labor ana
transportation, based on conditions ut
lhat time, viii have to be considerably
raised, especially if their local good
roads associations have not put over
good roads or improved highways.
/ understand that Washington has
announced that the restriction will be
continued by the government Capita
Issues committee" on the floating OF
securities for road construction that is
not absolutely essential. This is nc
doubt made because of the possibilities
of another big war loan in the spring
but Notwithstanding this, limitations
have been removed in the construction
of highways of every description In my
mind, this means that all road -Worl
necessary to improve and COMPLETE tn.
main arteries of travel from one com
munlty to another may now be rushed
i rms step shows the wisdom of tn.
powers that be-" 1t shows that they
realize that the country cannot solv,
big problems unless there are gooC
roads to permit uninterrupted as wei
as economical motor truck transporta
ZION, and every community should de
eide Immediately which roads SHOULD
be improved, and see that work il
started. In doing this, study shout;
be made of the locality in each com
munity. where the most improvement
are to be made, and then those road
that connect up those localities SHOULD
be the ones to be improved first.
If this is not done, millions of dollar
are going to be wasted in expensive
transportation costs, as we'll as loss o
time, and it behooves the business mel
of every community to seriously con
slider taking steps in this direction.
And it is well to remember that Their
will be more haulage and delivery O
heavy materials than have been trans
ported in recent years. As a rule, ever,
manufacturer raw materials are s.
much dead weight such as pig iron
is the same way with building mater
ials. The first building operations to b
started or completed will undoubtedi
be those of government buildings
which generally are constructed 0
heavy stones. marbles and such mater
ial, and it is just as necessary to con
struct a road that will holly up unde
such traffic as it is to make any roa
improvements at all
| understand that the railroad ad
ministration will be among the first N
, dustries to start millions OF dollars
worth of construction work, for whic
the motor truck viii be called on I
transport materials and equipment
| This work will be started gradually
J because we haven't the equipment o
the supply Of materials to start every
o thing at once,
This situation permits every stat
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