The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-10-31


 It rsed to be impossible, regardless Of theNsplendid rail systems we had, to vis& more than two or three towns a days Using automobiles, it has be- con3e possible to visit eight or ten cities in e days time.
 You can't manage business Of na- tiolfai or international importance at a desk To be able to deal with the prob lenfS that arise, modern executive Tn an Industry like ours is forced to spend i. a great deal of time in travel" T9iat covers one angle. I have just KhadE long talk with J. Elwood Cox, fpreSident of the Commercial National Abank of High Point, N. C., who is head tpf North Carolina's road commission atndzwho has gone very deeply into this subject of savings effected by the build iAggof ideal roads.
 NASstomobile users in North Carolina arksnow saving $7,500,000 a year in gaso- lilhes alone through the substituting Of gdod roads for poor roads. How much mtore Is saved through the reduction in wear and tear, in accidents, in time, etc., cAnRot be computed.
 Read these figures furnished by MT. Cohs-for this column:
 fssEtom July, 1922, to July, 1923, there wer& ,612 cars and they used 112,365,- GOO ssallons of gas, or 454 gallons per car%
 "The difference in saving the latter year was 66 gallons each. At 25 cents a gallon, this would make $16.5O per car v 247,612 cars last year at $16.50 per car %per year would be a total saving in gasoline alone of S4,0S5,59S, provided the people did not travel any more mile ageaon good roads than they had the year before on poorer roads.
 We confidently estimate that this year, July, 1924, to July, 1925, there will be BOO 900 automobiles in the state and That since the roads are mostly com pleted the saving will be much greater. PerSpnaIly, I am satisfied that the saw ing In gas to each individual car this yeare will average S25 per car. Three hundred thousand cars would make savsAg to our people of $7,5o0,ooo.
 A%aying of $25 on each of Americas 16,O9o, ,OOo motor vehicles would mean $400s000, ,0O0 a year.
 Huw has North Carolina been able to build enough good roads to bring this saving? The state has done it with out Htiposing a single dollar of tax on any sproperty.
 AT the money has come from the reg ulaIs license paid by cars and from a Scent tax on gasoline, thus the peo- ple Who use the roads are the ones who pay ysfor them.
 Thrse years ago the state Iigeslature voted to issue $5o,OOO,oOo of bonds for road building. commission was ap- pointed. The state was divided into nine4districts and one commissioner ap- poi1ted for each. The financial burden, 1t wRs provided. must be met from the usuaf au' omobile license and the three cents gasoline tax.
 During the year ended July 1, last, the licenses brought in about $8,0O0,00O. After raying interest on the bonds an extrm S1 100000 was added voluntarily to tke sinking fund. Later $15,000,0OO additional bonds were authorized and the slate received between $7,000000 and s8, ,000,000 from the federal government and About the same amount from vari- ous 8ounties.
 TfSs state has thus approximately ESQ.,, 900 ,01D, nearly all of which has either beers spent or contracted for.
 Ndf content with this wonderful show ing, sthe next legislature, which meets in January, is to be asked to appro- priate $35,OOO,O 900 more.
 L
 Looks like a tall order, does it not, for one southern state? When I raised