The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-12-02

l improvement in production is es- | pecially appreciated, because that has been the very definite object of this association since its or- 1 ganization. Coupled with this we have been organizing better CO., operation within the industry and on the part of the public, all to the end of rounding out a com plete campaign for better pictures. Your cooperation is appreciated and your suggestions always help full" WILL H. HAYS,
 President Motion Picture Produ-
 cers and Distributors of Amer
 ica, Inc.
 New York, Nov. 2S, 1923.
 Craft Wants System in Road
 Building
 To the Editor of The Age-Herald.
 l have just returned from a trip to Paducah, Kentucky, where I l was invited to deliver an address ] at the Kentucky Good Roads As socfation, launching a campaign l for fifty million dollar bond l issue. This is to build forty-one l hundred miles of primary roads, l and 1t Is not to be matched with federal aid. In addition. the state of Kentucky gives to the highway commission a three-cent property l tax, gasoline and an automobile tax, annually, amounting to over 1 four million dollars.
 Illinois issued sixty million dol l lars for roads a few years ago. and they are issuing one hun l dred million more, which is not to be supplemented with federal aid
 Alabama receives an automobile l tax, eighty per cent of which is | to pay the interest and create a sinking fund amounting to about a million dollars annually. Twenty 1 per cent. of the automobile license tax goes to the counties and cities. where the money is collected in l Alabama.
 l notice in the Monroe Journal of the 10th: "Is it wise to issue some of the remaining nineteen million dollars of the twenty-five million dollar bond issue that the people of Alabama voted to amend the constitution by an overwhelm- ing yote?" The constitution makes 1t the law to connect the county seats of the state of Alabama and | the county seats of the adjoining states. The new commission wants to continue and carry out the law. and, to that end, they called two conferences, November 6 in Mont gomery and November s in Bir- mingham, inviting the county commissioners and the judges of | probate of the counties of Ala bama and number of leading cit- izens to attend these conferences. and Senator John A Rogers, chair man of the new highway commis- 7 sion, outlined a program whicl, would require some of the bond l issue that is voted by the people to build these roads-not to wait i Tor federal aid, and at such times as federal aid would be available they would supplement the bond | issue to finance the proposition. l After Senator Rogers, the chair man, outlined his program at the montgomery meeting. Governor | Bfandon presided at that meeting. who IS chairman of the bond com mission. The meeting was largely | attended, and enthusiastically. and | voted to adopt the program of the | new highway commission as ou.- | lined by Chairman Rogers. There | was a large meeting also at Bir- | mingham, and the same program | was outlined there, to continue | building the roads connecting the 1 county seats, which was also | unanimously indorsed.
 As the editor Of the Monroe 1 Journal says. the people are im- | patient. And why shouldn't they be? They voted twenty five | million dollar bond issue by large majority. and there is no | restriction or condition in the | constitution that requires that this money must be matched with fed eral aid.
 The invisible mud tax that the I people are paying to the bad roads of Alabama are a greater burden | of taxation than the combined cost | of the state. county and municipal governments. This is gigantic statement: One hundred and twen- | ty-five thousand automobiles in | Alabama, and they are increasing. | paid to the invisible mud tax | three hundred collars per year per car. These figures are as follows: [ The extra consumption of oils and gases due to the bad roads IS twice as much as if they were run l on good roads; the repair bills due to bad roads are three times as much; the destruction of the tires | and tubes is greater than if they | were run on good roads, and the I deterioration of the car and auto | truck is from twenty to twenty | five per cent. per annum per car. | These four items amount to 1 three hundred dollars per car per annum. The one hundred twenty five thousand cars cost the people | of Alabama thirty seven million | five hundred thousand dollars per annum. Are we rich enough to | continue this waste? Of course | not. And the new highway com mission, IS outlined by Senator, Rogers, should have the support | of the entire citizenship. as they | want to be taken out of the mud. put on the roads of prosperity and | happiness, and in this plan they | ask that the county boards take | some of the two-cent gasoline tax, which amounts to about twenty thousand uOllarS per county per | year. so that the highway com mission can use this maintenance | money on the new roads they are going to build. and the gasoline | tax, of which they only get eighty per cent. to pay the interest on the new issue of bonds and create | a sinking fund. There is a justi- | fication of this. because the two- cent gasoline tax is new money to the counties and is set aside for maintenance, and they would have 1 to maintain these roads anyhow until the highway commission could build them. and they haven't | any money unless they sell some of these bonds,
 The large cities--Birmingha Mobile, Montgomery, Selma, De- catur and other incorporated towns, and the large counties, pay sixtyfive per cent. of all of the automobile and gasoline moneys that go to the state, cities and ,.,1I t1,