Evening journal., 1922-05-06
BY JAMES II. KoLBERT.


! Omitted Press Staff Correspondent .
WASHINGTON Omitted Press) -
Congress must continue to promote
an adequate program OF highway
construction and maintenance. Che
| Joint Congressional Commission on
Agricultural Inquiry soon will re-
port to Congress. its chairman, Rep.
Sydney Anderson. Mimi, said today.
The commission believes that the
motor vehicle has come to be an
indispensable farming implement"
and that good roads, built so as to
aid the farmer in getting his prod
ucts to the best markets, are essen
tial TO the agricultural life OF the
nation.
Correlation of the highways with
rail and water transportation and a,
uniform basis for taxing motor We
hicles also viii be urged by the COM
mission in its report.
"The commission" Anderson said,
"is strongly of the opinion that the
program of highway construction
and maintenance by States and
counties be continued under the di-
rection of qualified experts. with
particular reference to the construc-
ton and maintenance of farm-to-
market roads; that adequate funds
should be appropriated for research
and regulation of traffic based upon
the facts so ascertained.
Uniform State Laws
ALSO that the several States CO.
operate in effecting a uniform basis
for taxing motor trucks and other
motor vehicles, which shall fairly
the proportion of expense
of highway construction and main
tenance chargeable to such vehi-
cles."
economic zone of transportation was
sharply defined by the haulage
range of the horse and the cost OF
such transportation. II will be
shown in the report that in 1918 the
estimated cost of hauling in wagons
from farms to shipping point aver
aged about 80 cents per ton mile
for wheat, 33 cents for corn and 4S
cents for cotton. Hauling in motor
truck or. by tractors, the averages
are Is cents for wheat and corn, and
IS cents for cotton.
"It thus appears" said the chair
nan. that the major result accom-
plished by this new form of trans
Dortation has been to extend and
broaden the markets of the farmer.
Single reactions are to be found in
he fact that the use of the motor
'ehicle has brought the farmer
loser to the city and also has in
'reased the desirability and com g,
ort of farm life.
Figures in the report will show ,
hat while the motor vehicle traffic
las increased more than 1900 per
ent. in the period 1910 to 1921. the
ctual expenditures for highway
construction and maintenance, TAX
ng into consideration the increase
n cost OF materials and labor dur
ng the war and the readjustment
'eriod, was only slightly over 200
ler cent.
rhe Farmers Benefit.
Another effect of improved high ]
Ways, is to enable the farmer to hold I
a ]
onger time. Where highways are !
the farmer must move
lis produce when the roads are good !
which is generally at the season Z
when the prices are lowest.
The Commission believes there :
hould be regulation of the use of :
he highways. especially with respect 1
o overlooking and maximum load r
ng to be based upon the facts so 7
eveloped.
1T is already clear, that there is a Z
vide variation in principle and ap- 4
lication of the various State and h
peal regulations affecting intrastate I
motor traffic. Studies of local h
rotor transportation should be ex- v
anded as rapidly as possible so that s
ick of uniformity in State and r
'ederal legislation in the future may f
5 far as possible be avoided"
Electric street railways, the Joint
commission has found, have suffer-
to some extent from the encroach b
tent of the automobile upon their n