Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-04-30

the federal supervision over con-
struction and maintenance When
Uncle, Sam helps build road he re-
serves authority to require it's proper
maintenance Then there is the bus
mess Of uniform marking along high
ways, which makes it possible for
motorists to drive thousands of miles
on a designated route whose mark
ings become so familiar that after a
few miles he need not ask direc-
tions.
FINALLY, federal participation has
made possible great number of
bridges at strategic points. Some of
these have been needed for years,
yet state and local authorities have
been unable to provide them, partly
because of the cost, partly because
of competition between routes. when
a stream separates two counties, or
two states, it is often impossible to
get them to agree where to build
or how to divide the cost of bridge.
In such cases the federal authority
has repeatedly mediated differences
and secured construction. Let me
mention some instances.
missouri has been a state for over
a. century. Divided east and west by
the. Missouri river communication be-
tween the two sections has been linn
tied, to the states disadvantage. Four
bridges across the river. were requir-
ed in the national highway program,
and federal cooperation with the
state of Missouri has made them pos
sible Two are completed, the others
are under construction. The four
will cost a little more than $2,000,-
600, the federal contribution being
nearly $1,0OO,00O.
can even more striking case is at
Memphis, Tenn. where for genera
tions there has been need for better
crossings of the Mississippi. The
states of Tennessee and Arkansas
have just recently reached an agree
ment to provide these facilities, of
course with federal aid. In the whole
country, there were few bridges more
strategically important than this will
be. 1t was largely question of ex-
pense But under the present-day
plan for financing highways, that
difficulty is almost removed. Last
year Tennessee collected $S,193,453 in
gasoline taxes, while Arkansas coll
lected $3,66S,995. Then the two states
collected nearly as much more in
motor vehicle fees. With the fed
eral government ready to pay near
half of the cost of the bridge, and
the states having this $12,00O,00O fund
to draw upon, one readily sees how
the financial problem was solved.
Another bridge that has a peculiar
Importance, both locally and nation
ally, has been needed for generations
across Raritan Bay, N. J. 1t is one
of the links in the chain of COM
munication between New York City
and the country at large. In 1924
New Jersey had some $7O0,OOO of fed
eral aid allotted to her roads, and
in 1925 over $1,OOOOOO. So the state
agreed that this Raritan bridge
| 5000. Federal funds made up about
one third of the amount. The bridge
over a mile and half long, is now
nearly completed.
"Such illustrations might be multi
piled indefinitely. National partici-
patton has repeatedly made possible
the accomplishment of vitality impor-
tant highway development"
| According to the American Petrol
cum Institute, the gasoline tax was
imposed in 1919, in Oregon. 1t has
now been adopted by all the states
except New York, Illinois New Jer-
sey and Massachusetts. The tendency
1 has been continually to- increase the
rate of tax per gallon. AS late as
1921 gasoline taxes for the entire
country were only about $5,OOO,O0O;