El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-05-17
ENGLISH PLAN
GREAT SYSTEM
Of HIGHWAYS
VIII Take Pressure Off of
Railroads With Mo
tor Traffic.
WILL FACILITATE
ISLAND COMMERCE

7 ONDON. Eng. May 17.-England
Il now has under way two schemes
for commercial development and ex-
pansion after the war. They are con-
structIon and reconstruction OF high
ways for unlimited use Of motor
trucks for freight purposes and wide
spread use OF army trucks for COM
mercial purposes.
England IS laying down a system Of
highways paralleling the railroads
IN some. places. n other places they
are 10 run from important Industrial
tenter 10 center. The main purpose
Is to make the roads substantial for
motor transportation-for the carry
Ing OF light and heavy freight 20 re-
Iieve her heavily congested railways
Cheaper Than Rail.
The great saving in time. labor,
transportation and confusion IS OBJ
vious. Most Of the freight carried
VIII require only two landings in
stead OF five. when it IS put aboard
the trucks at origin and when Il IS
taken off at destination. Some people
figure that the actual cost OF freight
transportation per mile VIII be lower
than that by railroad; that the saving
IN time will vary from % nercent
TO 1000. As to the actual cos. there
are no figures TO 90 BY. but already
there have been motor freight services
in operation in America that clearly
demonstrate the great time economy.
Frances Good Roads.
Today Frances roads running
right out 20 the front are IN far bet
ter condition than the washington
Baltimors boulevard. Belgium's she'll
swept highways running from Pop
erInghe into 1pres was in better con-
timore boulevard two weeks before
the Belgian-British drive that threw
the Germans out OF Belgium. Soldiers
OF course. sepaired the road. but IL
has been roughly estimated that the
same number OF men working the
same length OF tine on the Washing
ton-Baltimore boulevard would have
cost not more than $4,000 10 $4,000.
Instead OF the highway being repaired
it was allowed TO go TO pieces. so that
the Maryland officials asked the gov
eminent for a large appropriation 10
reconstruct the boulevard And all
OF the boulevard was not torn ups Il
was destroyed only in spots
Perfect highways. with continual
maintenance. would have permitted OF
perhaps LAEEe tunes Lue amount OF
motor truck freight transportation,
according TO the belief OF British Of
ficer who has been over the New
York Washington route by motor
With thousands OF motor trucks now
available. the development OF motor
freight routes is unlimited-if there
is a central authority with power 10
compel localities to keep up the main
lines OF traffic throughout the coun-
try.
American BIZ Useless.
such a power is supposed TO exist
now. but the roads bill contains a
joker. The government authority
may set aside part Of his appropria-
tion and suggest 10 a state that Il
apply this to the main highway. But
the road bill says the state may use
the money on existing mail routes or
a highway which may in the future
become a mail route" OF course, any
road may in the future become a mall
route" even IL &c runs into the desert
Frequent efforts have been made at
home to get a federal director Of
roads with full powers, but so Tar
without success England is seeing
far ahead and doing just this thing
by concentrating the whole subject
under a single head with full power