Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1918-06-05
BAD ROADS RETARO
PROGRESS OF WAR
Main Seaboard Highway Passing
Through Wilmington in an
Accountable Condition.

r. II. johnson writes IN the fhiianei-
phis Ledger ~ follows:
If bands of armed men in the employ
of Germany were rowing the main high
WAYS of the country and were holding
up for hours at a time motortrucks
loaded with war supplies and food sup
plies what Juror there would be- What
are the facts? Trucks loaded with food
and munitions in transit between our
principal cities are being held up every |
day for hours nj a time and are being |
seriously damaged These hold-ups,
however, are not due TO the forces of
General lIindenburg, but are caused |
by General Neglect The disastrous re-
suits to the war program are the same.
For example, the main highway be |
tween Baltimore and Philadelphia, run |
nIng through our most important ship |
building and munition making section, |
is in dlsgraceful condition, particularly |
that portion of the highway which lies
within the State of Delaware. The
Maryland portion of the highway If IN
fairly good condition, but few motor |
trucks make the trip between Baltimore
and Philadelphia without being held up
somewhere IN the State Of Delaware,
either by being mircd or by breaking
some part ] have recently made two
trips over this road and each time |
have seen twenty ar thirty trucks broken
down or stuck IN tho mud on the thirty
mile stretch running north and south
through the State of Delaware The most
dIsrouraging phase Of the situation is that
only IN ono or two very limited sections
are there any signs OF any intention to
repair the roads.
TIE ACETYLENE DELAYED
Let me give typical Illustration Of
the way these dsgraccful road cnndl-
tions affect our war preparations. On
one Of orr recent trips we saw five
ton truck which had become hopelesslv
mired al one side Of tho road This
truck had turned toward the side Of
the road 10 allow another truck to 90
bv and the side az the road had caved
IN allowing the truck 10 slip into the
ditch ut the side Of the road This truck
was loaded with cylinders Of acetylenc
gas for welding purposes which had
been sent from plant II MARYLAND on
hurry call 70 q shiphuldng plant near
Philadelphia When we saw tho truck
II had been there for eighteen hours
There is no doubt that in the meantime
important operations in the smpvard
were being held up owing 10 tho non
receipt Of the acetylene tanks When
this accident happened II had not raincd
for nearly a week Imagine what the
conditions are after q heavy RAINFALL
Ii was bad enough in times Of peace
that the main highways connecting our
principal seaboard critics should have
been in poor condition. To put the case
mildly, il Is certainly rcgrettable that |
in time Of war. one OF our most lmpor- |
tant intercity highways should be FL |
lowed To become almost impossible fer |
motor trucks What are our public au-
thoritics doing 70 remedy these condl- |
tions? Almost the only official announce |
ment | have seen in reference TO our |
highways was the order issued last fall |
placing road-bmlding materials and road |
building machinery in the non-essentIal |
class
NV Jersey : INDIFFERENCE
While the State Of Delaware prob |
ably has the worst highway system IN |
the country. judged from the point Of |
view Of the Importance Of good roads |
as part Of the war program, tins State |
IL by no means the only offender That |
part OF the Lincoln Highway which goes |
through the State of New Jersey Il. IN /
many sections, in a wretched condition |
and Is rapidly growing worse. In pre-
vious articles l have pointed out how /
the State Of Pennsylvania has neglected |
and the Ohio state line, and have |
also pointed out how New York State |
has never thought il worth while 70 |
build good road from Buffalo TO the |
Pennsylvania State line
The excuse for the condition OF the |
highways gwen in each locality where /
the roads are in bad condition. Is that |
"rnotOrtrucks are breaking down the |
roads" The various highway depart |
menLs seem 70 regard this the last |
word on the subject except that IN New |
York State, the Highway Commission |
had the happy idea Of meeting the situa
tion by attempting TO bar heavy trucks I
from the public highways This latter
legislative proposal almost became "a |
Law and undoubtedly would have done |
so had it not been for the vigilance of |
the several dealers and motortruck |
organizations
To say that the roads are bad because |
motortrucks have been passing over |
them il simply a confession that the |
roads are not properly built and main |
tanned 1t Is perfectly possible to build |
roads which will stand up under the |
heaviest mOt0rtruck traffic, as the State |
Of Connecticut has amply proved IN |
fact no words Of praise can overstate |
the fine work which Connecticut has J
done in building and maintaining the |
main highways For example, there s |
not even bump on the road between |
Bridgeport and the New York State line |
near Portchester and there are few |
roads in the country which have heavier |
traffic than this road Connecticut is to |
be especially commended In that it has
carried its fine roads right to the State |
line instead Of stopping the work at the |
last important town within the State, |
ar IS the unfortunate method III Pennsyl |
vanla ONO and New York State.
DON'T BLAME TIE TRUCKS.
The shore road through Connectlcutl
which starts at the New \ orb state line,
is improved and is kept in condition
every foot Of the way 70 the Rhode
Island State line, despite the fact that
there Is no important town on this high
way cast Of New London Similarly,
the State has improved the road run
ming north from Hartford right up TO
the Massachusetts State line. As re-
suit of this fine development IN the State
Of Connecticut, every manufacturing
plant in the State is served by the high
ways
Let no more be said about motor
trucks breaking down the roads. Let
this excuse no longer be offered in ex-