Arizona republican., 1922-02-08
II EFT il II S
III To the Editor
Phoenix Cannot Stand on Its Own
Feet Alone

February 3, 1922.
Editor Arizona Republican:
My letter to Senator Fl. b. Wilkin-
son regarding the benefits Of paved
! road connecting Phoenix and Los
Angeles over the short route by way
of Buckeye and Blythe, which you
| published in last Sundays Republi-
can, has aroused some comment, ia
vorable and unfavorable.
am in receipt of letter from a
Salt River valley farmer in which he
states: You certainly don't expect
the farmers of the valley TO help
build a road to Los Angeles" /
also talked while in Phoenix Sunday,
TO one of the highway commission
ers, state official. banker and a
business man.
One OF them said: why should
we build good road to Los Angeles
SO our people viii go over there and
spend all their money!" Another
said; why build road by Blythe,
when there is no one up in that coun-
try, and nearly all of the taxpayers
and voters in Yuma county live at
and around Yuma?r Another said:
spend the money right here in the
valley and build roads that we can
use every day
1t seems to me that, after the
slump in long staple cotton and COP
per- some of these people ought to
wake up and realize that Phoenix
is absolutely dependent upon the out
side world for its very life and pros
perity. Some of the farmers may
not think the road to Los Angeles
will do them any good, but 1t will.
IT'S A POOR ROAD THAT DON'T
GO BOTH WAYS-and while a good
paved road from Phoenix to Los An
geles may enable people to get to
Los Angeles easier and oftener. and
thy may spend money in Los An
geles, it is equally as true that the
very same road will enable and in
duce much Los Angeles and Califor-
MIA capital to come to Phoenix and
all the rest of Arizona, to say nothing
OF the thousands Of eastern tourists
and other travellers who will come
through Phoenix on such a road
and spend money while doing 50.
This is not any local matter. In
addition TO being e. good live town,
PHOENIX Is OUR CAPITAL--the
central seat of government of OUR
STATE-and as such a matter of
pride and interest TO every man.
woman and child in the state of
Arizona. Phoenix, however, wants
to get over this notion some have
that it is big enough and strong
enough to stand alone or selfishly
ignore the rest of the state and the
surrounding districts and surround
ing states, because Phoenix cannot
and will not prosper alone or without
the support and business from the
outside world. When the world quit
buying cotton and copper it hurt not
only the farmers and miners but
every business man and resident Of
Phoenix.
AS the capital and leading city of
the state, Phoenix should be con-
nected with every town and county
I'm the state with good paved or
graveled road. and also with other
states on each side of Arizona. II
is all right spending $S.000,000 build
ing paved roads all over the salt
River valley. but unless you then
connect up the Salt River valley with
the eastern states and. more import
ant than all, with Los Angeles, the
largest and wealthiest city In the
west, the Salt River valley will not
get much of the great benefit it
tuulu anu Nuulu StL llOlll Tic ouN-
side world if a good paved road con-
nected Phoenix with Los Angeles so
that capital could come in here cas-
lily. quickly and comfortably.
II is a shame and an outrage that
Maricopa county should spend SS,-
100000 building paved roads around
the valley and NOT SPEND ONE
CENT IN OVER TWENTY YEARS
ON THE MAIN TRAVELLED ROAD
FROM PHOENIX TO LOS ANGE-
LES. BETWEEN THE HASA
YAMPA RIVER. NEAR BUCKEYE.
AND THE COUNTY LINE NEAR
THE OLD TOWN OF HARRIS
BURG, NEAR SALOME road
travelled yearly by thousands Of Ari-
zona and eastern people, and Yuma
county is just as bad. spending prac-
tically all the road money right
around Yuma and not a nickel on
the main road TO the coast. 1t is a |
state and national matter-every- |
ones business and apparently no
one sand nothing done.
Yours truly, ID. w. HALL.