El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-07-10
not MUCH CAMPAIGN SHOULD BE
NEEDED FOR THE ROAD AMENDMENT

A STATEWIDE CAMPAIGN is about to be started II
n Texas for the adoption at an election next fall Of
the proposed constitutional amendment authorizing the
state to issue Sooooo read bonds for the construction
Of comprehensive system Of hard surfaced roads. II
such campaign viii only be necessary TO famiarize
the people with the nature Of the project and how It's
seemingly mammoth cost will be than offset BY
advantages TO every county in the state. Show the
people Of Texas how they profit by spending money
and they viii spend it. If they have to in debt to
The decision to inaugrrate statewide campaign was
reached recently at meeting Austin of the committee
created the annual convention Of the Good Roads asso-
citation at Mineral Wells. It decided to assign a
number Of good speakers to campaign over the state and
impress upon the people the advantage OF voting 1or ms
Seventy-five million dollars is huge Of money,
without doubt; give pause to people sccus-
toned to voting in favor of almost any kind of bond
issue The size Of the expenditure contemplated IS the
only thing that might work to defeat the amendment
Two factors combine to run up the cost One IS the
fact that the highway system extend to every county,
therefore, there be opposition that sections OF
the state be benefited at the expense Of other
sections The other IS that the roads are to De hard SUI
It much less merely to survey pow and grade
dirt road than it does to lay permanent highway,
with bridges and culverts wherever needed road that
viii last. And yet the latter is the only kind of road
worth constructing.
Texas is larger state than is realized by most of
its residents To connect all counties with first rate
system Of highways is admittedly costly Seventy-tlve
millions would do it. To that must be added the
federal aid in equal amount But IS the only
part the taxpayers of Texas VIII be called upon TO assume
through bond issue And s75oooooo does not seem SO
large when divided among all the counties If each county
were bonded equally the total for each would be only
about Ss0f 205-a large matter for counties Of small popu-
latio1s resources perhaps but small one for counties
which are accustomed to million dollar hotatons
statewide good roads system is not only urgently
needed as means of improving communication within
the state but It viii further the project Of national
highway system That is the larger target good roads
enthusiasts al through the country are aiming at
The growing use Of the automobile and the motor
truck as means Of highway transportation has made
necessary national road system in addition to state and
county road systems.
Ten years ago roads purely local in character
The horse and wagon formed the chief of trans
portation BY road The travelling radius Of the horse
drawn wagon sharply defined and road makers were
able to gage their budgets by local conditions Such
procedure IS longer possible If are to facilitate
economical transportation adequate highways.
There still remains the need of county systems as well
as statewide systems in addition those there IS
also that Of rapidly growing interstate business When
IS recalled that 100000 motor vehicles were registered
IL the United States January l. Of this year, It readily
can be seen that the country is rapidly coming to
period when automobile travel VIII be well nigh universal
IN this country.
Aside from the needs Of the private automobile
who is constantly crossing state lines in pursuit OF his
business or recreation there is the need Of the postotiee
department 70 be considered vel that Of the waI
DEPARTMENT The military feature IS Of considerable in
poTtance al along the border, while the mail delivery Tea
fure IS not altogether to be lost sight Of
The only way federal aid IN building roads IN
Texas lies in the people Of the state bonding themselves
10 cooperate with the government in road construction
and when the state take up big road project ike