Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-01-25
Highway System Big Factor
In Increasing U. S. Honogeneity
Roads Are Good Investment in Neigh
b0rliness and Mutual Understanding
Expert Says.

Our Federal highway system Is
making for a more homogeneous ma
lion, affording to every town OF
5000 population the same economic
significance that the railroads fifty
years ago offered to a few key
cities. When the proposed and au-
thorized road construction of the
completed, every town of 5000 or
more will be on or close to a main
surfaced Federal aid road.
The part of the highway in both
National and local economics are
explained by Roy d. c-tapin, chair
man of the highways committee of
the National Automobile Chamber of
Commerce. on the political and
social side, these activities represent
simply an investment in neighbor-
Illness and mutual understanding.
while on the commercial side they
mean ready facilities for distribution,
case of travel.
What the motor vehicle should pay
in raising funds for this development
Is discussed by Mr.. Chaplin.
Gets Greatest BENEFIT.
1T is recognized" he states. that
the motor car user gets more i'm
mediate and more definite return from
improved highways than any other
class of the community. 1t is also a
fact that the employment of motor
vehicles is SO general that the ques-
ton of the source from which high
way revenues are raised is largely
academic. The motorist and the tax
payer are to a large degree the same
source
The burden of Federal expenditure
for highways has not, however, fallen
on the general taxpayer at al! as vet.
The late Henry c. Wallace, Secretary
of Agriculture, summed up the situa-
ton in an address before the Invest
ment Bankers Association at Wash
ington, October %, 1928, as follows:
Excise taxes on motor vehicles
md parts collected on June 30, 1923
totaled 1888, OIL. During the same
period expenditures for Federal and
forest road aid. including admins
trattve expenses, amounted to but
S264.7S2,216, or the equivalent Of 45g
of the sum collected by the Federal
Government from motor vehicle
users.
Ask War Tax Removal
THE Federal excise taxes on motor
vehicles, however, were special
wartime measure levied on this and
on few other industries and in all
equity should be removed. They are
$50 into the general fund, not into
the highway fund, and as the matter
stands today have far exceeded any
warrant for levying them on the basis
of road appropriation.
The reason for the Federal Gov
eminent entering into highway con-
struction, moreover, is given in Pres
ident Coolidge's message to Congress
Of December s, 1923, in which he
said:
No expenditure of public money
contributes SO much to the national
wealth as for building good roads
When we come to the considera-
ton of how the States and local
groups must raise their taxes, we find
that this general principle is favored
by the motor groups that motor We
htcle taxes should be applied first to
road maintenance and the cost of
highway administration.
In circumstances where the bur-
den on the motorist is not unduly
great, where maintenance funds have
been properly provided for and where
general funds are not available, it
may be regarded as equitable to have
the surplus of motor vehicle fees de-
voted to actual construction work.
Method Not Settled.
TN addition to the matter of who
shall bear the tax, we are faced with
the question of what is the wisest
way to go about financing highways
whether 1t should be by bond issues
and how much should be spent an
nuaIly for these purposes.
In order to have safe guide for
the financing of highways, the follow
Ing principles have been outlined by
careful students of highway finance