Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1923-05-31
HIGHWAYS AID TO PROGRESS
Conditions of Living Improved in City
and Country by Better
Transportation.

A Few years ago the sight of a man
In overalls and straw hat hard at
work with the hoe was convincing owl
uehce mat he was farmer. Store
clothes bespoke the city dweller.
Times and the road have changed.
Highway transport is sending the city
man out to the country at the close of
his days work and bringing the farmer
and his family into town. The old dis
functions are passing and the cartoon
list OF the future will have to look to
a new type for his characters.
Public recognition of the social in
f1uence of highway transport has been
perhaps the outstanding development
OF the last year. The second national
conference held by the highway edu-
cation board served to crystalline opin-
ION which has been growing steadily,
and many are studying the influence of
the motor vehicle on the sociological
as well as the economic problems of
the day.
1t is no longer necessary to talk in
general terms. We are beginning to
obtain specific evidence of the influ-
ence of highway transport upon life
in this country, writes Roy d. Chaplin,
vice president of the National Automo-
bile Chamber of Commerce in the Mil
waukee Sentinel. Definite traffic
studies now under way under the d.
rection of the bureau OF public roads
indicate clearly the flow of co1nmodi-
ties from farm to market and from
market to market.
Economic studies by the National
Automobile Chamber of Commerce
disclose a growing use of the vehicle
by the labOring class and a consequent
decrease in their overhead costs of
living through homes taken farther out
in the country.
limitations of unprecedented sub
urban developments are seen in the in
clinatiOn of the man who lives in the
city to get out far enough to have
home of his own and plot of grass for
his children.
The task which remains is one of de-
veloping the vast network of highways
necessary to complete communication.
Broad financial policies must be laid
down to insure an expedited but eff
Gent program of expenditure. Cen
tralized control is essential in order
that there may he a proper relation
between the possible earning power of
the road and the cost of the construc-
ton and maintenance.
The construction of highways Is of
benefit not alone to those of us who
are paying the taxes today, but to
those who will follow. If we are TO
have the roads in our lifetime we must
predicate our initial outlay in many in
stances upon serial bond issues which
will give us 'and our children the road
at a reasonable rental for its use.
Property values, whether in the city
or country, are definitely affected by
highway Improvement and if we are to
proceed sOundly from financial stand
point the full property power of the
state should be thrown behind state
bond issues.
IHC lOuu USER SllOulu De WILING TO
pay all of the costs of maintaining the
highway, not so much as a matter of
principle as because his operating
costs will be directly influenced by the
quality OF the highway on which he is
driving, and when all is said and done
the motor vehicle fee offers the most
direct protection to the states invest
ment in the highway, because it is an
annual revenue and can be directed
against an annual charge
Any use of motor fees which defects
funds from this fundamental use is
vicious and should not be counte-
nanced.
1t is also important that county
systems bear some relation to state
Improvement, as otherwise the less i'm
portant highway might be improved at
the expense of the more important-as
stated in terms of traffic, the only fair
measure.