Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-01-19
GOVERNMENT STARTS
HIGHWAY EDUCATION
Committee Formed in Washington for Purpose Of
Studying Roads and Transportation Problems
in the United States

IIIHENEvER a new utility Is placed
w bsfore the public, the frst tendency
IN to look upon IL as nonessentin!.
IL vas 40 with street car lines, with
ksthtuba, with telephones, aud II has
Sssn 40 with the motor vehicle. In each
case. education and use have q adually
Seyeloped the value Of the article and
90 II is today that. as the economic
ssnects of motor transport come to be
Setter appreciated we find students
everywhere in the United States and
abroad settling down to u serious study
~ the modern unit Of highway trans
mort and its effect upon industry and
~ Yet in Infancy
No development Of the present gen
eration has had or is destined to have.
In so far as may be told now, the
v.hicle is already exercising, but wo
have not yet fully probed the possibili
ties Of its usage nor can we until n
study of highway transport in all Of
its phases has become an ordinary sub
iect in all Of our institutions of learn
Ing, including those devoted to com
munity extension and vocational work.
as well as elemental, secondary and
collegiate grades.
From this standpoint. then, perhaps
one of the most Significant events Of
the year Just closed was the formation
ot a highway and highway transport
education committee in Washington last
May as the outgrowth Of conference
on those subjects held AT the call of
the United States commissioner of edu-
cation. This committee IL made up of
representatives from industrial, govern
Il nI aIp tt1no1 =,
including specifically the Bureau Of Pub
Nc Roads, Bureau of Education, War
Department. Society for the Promotion
OF Engineering Education, American !
Association Of State Highway Officials, !
National Automobile Chamber OF Com
merce and the Rubber Association of
America.
In general terms. the committees task
Ia the compilation of all data relating
70 the economic field of highway trans !
port and the distribution thereof. but |
while the program can be thus briefly |
set forth. It's completion will engage the !
best thought of the nation over q period
Of years.
Relation to Other Industries
As preliminary work. for example,
there will need to be developed funda-
mental facts concerning the relationship
OF highway transport to other forms
Of transportation and to road construc-
tion and maintenance. We will need to
know more exactly where the motor
vehicle can function to the best advan-
tage, it's effect upon industry. upon
city planning. the changes II may bring
about in agricultural community life
and a thousand and one related data
which are as yet but hintPd at in the
examinations which have been made.
As these facts become known we may
expect to see them included gradually in
school courses. Studies in safety rules.
for example. will eventually be normal
course in kindergarten and elemental
schools everywhere, AZ they are In some
today. Courses in highway transport
will be developed in colleges and will
Afford graduates vast new field of op-
portunity. AS trained men will be needed
literally by the thousands to carry on
come. Coincidentally, there will be a
studies az the Importance OF this sub
'pct is better appreciated. With hum
dreds of millions of dollars available
now for this work. we find another
broad field for the student. who will find
shead OF him work offering more and
more adequate compensation as the
basic facts hinted ut are more gen.
orally recognized
In short. education in these two
nhases of highway transport--the build
ing Of the roadbed and its use. Is one
nj the most urgent needs Of the world
today. and in it we find one Of the most :
Important phases Of the rcadjuStment
period. n task well worthy Of Prof. c.
J. Tlldcn, the noted Yale educator, who
has been granted leave Of absence to or
yanl2e the work for the national com
nittee.