Evening star., 1927-11-20
ROADS MEETING
TO AID INTERNATIONAL AMITY
Conference i'm Rio de Janero in 1923 Receive Re-
ports of Definite Progress Toward Linking
Western Hemisphere With Highways.

gradually. the thought underlying all
of this is gaining headway. and it is
doing so in countries where develop.
ment hitherto has been seriously re.
tarded.
All the romance of a pioneer effort
is here in the spreading growth of
highways. especially in South Amer.
lea. Leaving for Il moment causes
and effects, reasons and possible re.
suits, one can allow the imagination
to play with the story, so reminiscent
of the early railroad days in our own
West, told in the prosaic lines deliv.
cred recently in the annual message
of the President of Peru to the effect
that:
MY government has continued the
development of it's road program with
increasing intensity and method de.
spite the enormous difficulties which
the topography of our country pre-
sents."
Everywhere throughout the cont
nent country of the widest character
is being conquered, obstacles of the
most persistent physical nature are
being overcome. and feats of spectacu
lar effort are being written into the
history books, which are recording
one of the most comprehensive expan
sion programs of modern times. Truly
continent is being metamorphosed!
Economic Aspect Important.
Only the most scientific of analyses
could indicate accurately the vastness
and sweep of this development. and
even then the glamour of it probably
would be lost.
But, however attractive Is this side
of the picture, the economic aspect oi
it. possessed perhaps of less surface
gleam, is, of course. more genuinely
important. 1t is so from several points
Of view.
First, embarkation upon these ex
tensive programs which the Pan
American Confederation for Highway
Education and the national fedora
tions have fostered, means the open
ing of an entirely new commercial
area for the affected nations. With
good roads come improved business
conditions, new demands, new ideas
fresh stimuli, enhanced financial posi-
ton.
Second, through the construction ol
roads, one demand naturally Is para
mount, and that is for motor vehicles
to operate over them. The United
States, being the greatest producer OF
motor cars in the world and Amerl
can vehicles being far and away the
most favored by purchasers in the
southern countries, stands to witness
an even greater expansion in its larg
est industry through increased demand
from those consumers. Thus. this
country, as we'll as those countries
wherein the roads development is tax
ing place, inevitably will achieve
La nf rrnCnnritV.
Auto Humanizing Agency.
From the standpoint of bringing
about still closer and still friendiief
relations among all the nations inter
| ested In this splendid pan-Americar
effort, the latter's significance Ger
! tainly can not be overemphaSlZed
misunderstanding rarely can reacn
serious proportions when one nation
and one people have knowledge or the
customs and reactions Of the other
and the automobile surely must be
recognized as one of the great agencies
in this humanizing and broadening
process. 1t is the history or ratlons
that ignorance breeds distrust, and
distrust sows the seeds Of narrowing
consequences. Understanding follows
in the wake of quick and easy trans
portation facilities as logically as the
night Is followed by the day.
| Therefore. with these varied ele
ments in mind, the fact that the Pan
American Confederation for Highway
| Education meets in Rio de Janeiro ir
July, 1928, for the purpose of review
| ing what has been done and Of plan
ming for the emphatic continuation oi
its task. should take on an added sig
nificance beyond the thought that q
/ few delegates are to gather merely fol-
an exchange of oratory.
1t Is. without an effort to give it al
Importance inflated far above actuali
ties. a principal milestone in a perma
nently memorable undertaking.