Charlevoix county herald., 1919-08-29

ICe 10 TOT encouragement OF SToso-
Country Transportation Of Freight
In Motortrucks-Tried Out With
Success In Few States.
BY approval of the secretary of
agriculture Of a suggestion made by
Its chief, Charles f. Marvin, new
activity has been added to the work
of the weather bureau. 1t Is to be
known as the highway weather serv-
Ice.
Every automobile tourist will re-
joice at this. The service Is for him
and for the encouragement of cross
country transportation of freight In
motortrucks. 1t will have to do with
making reports on the condition Of
roads from day to day, as well as
probabilities of sunshine or storm
along them.
Tried out with success in q few
states, the service Is to be operated
throughout the country on lines sim
liar to fOrecasting weather. Road In
formation and the weather prediction
will be given on the same card.
This means that an autOmobilist
can consult the weather bureau card
or call up q local branch and ascer-
tain what kind of "gOing" is ahead Of
him on his intended route, or can get
that information In the post offices Of
the villages en- route where the cards
for the day are always on view. Bene-
fl Of such information and the ease
with which 1t may be had will be ap-
preciated by every man who has tried
to find out road conditions from local
information.
Cover Important Highways.
This Information will have to do at
first with the most important high
ways and In most inclement seasons
for the particular region. In New
York state, Pennsylvania, New Jer-
sey, Ohio and western states where
there has been request for 1t the
service will be given for main roads
from early fall, through the winter
and spring until all fear of snow has
passed. In the South where the
through roads are Of dirt the season
of the worst rains will be covered,
and In sections where such roads
abound and storms are more frequent
1t will be practically continuous.
So far IL states and the District Of
Columbia. through local highways au-
thorities or automobile associations,
have asked for the main roads and
bad season service.
Conspicuous by Its absence from
the list Is New England, from whose
states no request has come, owing, 1t
Is surmised, to the limited use Of au-
tomobiles In that section In the time
Of heavy SHOWS.
It was not until demand for daily
road condition report had come to the
weather bureau from many parts Of
the country that Mr.. Marvin made his
proposal to the head Of the agricul-
tural department. He had the indorse-
ment of the American Association Of
State Highway officials.
One Of the first requests came from
the New York State Automobile assO-
citation. 1t was followed by those Of
the American Automobile association
and the New York State Motor fedora.
ton. These organizations stressed the
need of government road reports like
the weather forecast announcements
to cover the highway between Albany
and Buffalo, with as much extension
of service as could be given, particu-
larry In bad weather.
Depend on Volunteers.
At the meeting of the State High
way officials In Washington In May
Mr.. Marvin said that II requests for
this information became extensive the
bureau would have to depend largely
on reports sent by local unpaid OBJ
servers by mail. These observers, he
said, could be authorized In special
cases to add a word or two to the reg
ular weather kilograms, and they
would receive franks to use, as all
tolls and expenses would be paid by the
government.
Salaries could not be paid, as the
question would be raised as to whether
making road reports was q part of the
weather bureau function.
The policy would be to solicit daily
voluntary report from reliable men at
different points along the roads, just
as the weather bureau does now In diff
ferent parts Of the country as to
weather conditions. There are five
thousand unpaid weather observers
giving this service to the government
every day. They are supplied with
instruments and expenses are re-
funded.
There would be no trouble In getting
an equally efficient corps of road con-
dition observers on like terms.
ALI the additional expense would be
the pay of few extra men at the bu-
reau Office to handle the business.