Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1919-08-19
BETTER ROADS
 WILL HELP GUT
 COST OF LIVING
National System is Urged as Necessary to Transportation
 System.

Washington, Aug. 19.-The possi.
 bility of another period of transpor-
 tation congestion is. once more bring
 ing the public highway to the front While it is admitted that the rail
 ways must necessarily form the ma
 tion's long distance transportation lines, the auxiliary power of the pub l lie road through the development of l the gasoline engine and the motor vehicle, is receiving thoughtful atten- tion in official circles. i Public discussion of high cost problems and the railway situation
 ran into the country road at two points during the past few days. The first point touched was that the pub lie highway is potential short haul freight and express line, and that with national system of improved roads, intersecting each state north, south, east and west, there will thus be constructed the basis of a compre-
 hensive, nationwide system of traf- fife arteries with which state and
 county systems may connect. With such a system provided the develop
 ment of freight and express trans
 portation is anticipated far beyond
 comprehension. It's advocates assert , that the motor truck as it appears on the public highway today is but an
 infant compared to what it will be-, once the public roads are built to per- mi it's enlarged use.
 Those who doubt the possibilities of the highway freight and express as factors in the reduction and stabil- iZing of food costs are told to look back over the development of the railway and note that the beginning was upon a basis far less promising as practical proposition than the basis upon which the gasoline driven vehicle stands today.
 Motor Trucks for Short Hauls.
 Dropping back to the point of short haul delivery, attention is being call ed to the fact that the radius of high way shipping is being gradually ex- tended as modern roads are being built. Advocates of a national high way system, the creation of which is provided for in the Townsend bill now pending in congress, have en- countered the argument that approxi- mately fifty miles is the maximum of motor delivery. Their answer is that while this may be true, it is true only at the present time because of the illogical connections and the gen. eral condition of the road.
 The same economic conditions which forced railway development is forcing national development of the public highway, and the advocates of a national highway system assert that each days discussion of the present economic situation produces additional reasons why the Federal government must get down to high way building on a nation wide scale and in dead earnest
 In sense, the legislative mind at Washington seems to be approaching the present phase of economic prob lems somewhat in a spirit of weari- ness. "Will we ever get anything really finished" is question which seems to express their feelings, since so many problems. like the prover- bial cat, keep coming back.
 But one fact seems to be making itself very clear, and that is that 1 since the public highway is the first lap between the producer and con- sumer, the logical place to begin cut !! ting down living costs is by eliminat- ng permanently the time consuming 1 and fuel wasting roads. To accom- a national highway system as nee olish this purpose the construction of l essary and logical connection with state and county systems is being ooked upon with increased favor.
 
 Safes sold and safes bought Adams