American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1921-04-29
DIRT HIGHWAYS
WASTFUL BURDEN

Boise, Idaho, April 2S.-In the hui
man ant-beds called towns, cities,
counties and States, people are swarm
ing ever their highways and tugging
at their loads in fretful humor.
Something has gone wrong. Con-
sumers have been robbed, producers
Impoverished and foodstuffs wasted,
until the people have become exasper-
ated.
An economic coupling pin is missing
somewhere. That pin" is the public
highway. How 1t came to be missing
as an effective unit in transportation,
matters not 80 much here as what is
being done to place it where it be-
longs.
Nobody 10 Blame.
1t Is enough to say that nobody in
particular Is to blame hat Industrial"
ly the country has grown like a pup
first n member and then another
out OF proportion to other members of
It's body-and that In a perfectly nat
ural way the demand for more flexible
and dependable forms OF %transporta-
ton have outgrown existing facilities
for satisfying those demands.
Realizing this fact, the people de-
termined to find why their transport
tation needs had become so acute.
One of the first things they discovered
was o most glazing economic error.
Here is what they found
Dividends vs.. Consumer.
BY turning over to private enter
prise the development OF rail trans
portatlon as the sole means of CON
veying the people and their products
from n point to another, the demand
for dividends on stock, interest on
bonds, salaries for an army of toll
takers In the guise of railway employ
ees has made the cost of tr%ansporta-
ton excessive. Both producer and
consumer are suffering to the limit of
their power to bear. The producer
baely receives a return of his cost to
produce, and the consumer pays far
more than the product should be
worth.
Aroused to these evils, one remedy
after another was applied by the peo-
pie. At first they tried "doctorlng"
their transportation Ills with railway
commissions to regulate rates. Then
ollowed farm marketing plans and
farm credit laws.
Middlemen Increase.
Despite all efforts the ills remained.
Public needs continued to leap ahead
OF the facilities for economic distri-
button, and as these needs increased,
parasitic middlemen multiplied In
number.
Highway improvement was not
keeping pace with highway use.
Upon further examination the peo-
pie found another glaring error. Fail.
ure to surface the road and put 1t in
condition for continuous operation of
improved vehicles had already caused
losses, amounting to millions o idol
lars annually. through laborious and
restricted movement. They found also
that by constructing an even and last
ing surface on the road the saving
thus gained in vehicle operation could
be applied to repaylng the cost of CON
struction. BY this very simple pro-
cedure the public road could be chang
ed into n paying instead of a losing
property.
Solution Temporary.
With the foregoing facts clear, the
next logical step was road improve
ment. With ruts out of the way, and
with miry soil replaced by a rigid sur
face laid upon q sound sub-grade, the
problem, 1t was thought, would soon
be solved.
All of this looked very simple. And
yet / was found that the problem it.
self III more than two million miles
long, that practically every foot of the
way would have to be reconstructed
in one form or another to meet public
needs.
SO, the Federal Aid Law was passed
to provide capital for comprehensive
construction. States which had no
highway departments quickly set up
governmental machinery TO meet Fed
eral requirements. Others strengthe-
ened their existing departments, and
n Nationwide road movement was
launched.
Actual Construction Tagging.
In the face of this planning and
activity the bald fact now appears that
actual construction Is tagging far be-
hind the blue print. Engineers are
being hampered in their work by petty
political influences and misunder-
standings on the part Of the people
themselves as to the real character
and supreme Importance o fthe work
undertaken.
These Observation-Disclosures have been
aggravated by political pettifoggers