Evening star., 1932-01-31
ROAD AID NEARER
FARMS AND CITIES
100000 Automobiles and
Motor Trucks Owned
by Farmers.

More improved roads and motor ve-
hicles are drawing farm and city to-
gether.
City markets and facilities were
available last year to more than five
million owners of automobiles and mo-
tor trucks on farms.
Increasing thousands Of urban
dwellers are moving countryward.
Countless roadside markets on main
thoroughfareS and outside metropoli-
tan centers have eliminated diStrlbu-
ton costs on farm products in thou
sands of farmer to- consumer tranSac-
tions, and have provided an outlet for
the produce Of entire farms and
groups Of farms.
$4,000 School Buses.
Forty-nine thousand busses last year
carried rural school children to con-
solidated schools with their obvious I'M
provement in educational equipment.
Nearly half a million miles OF sur
faced local roads and quarter OF
million miles Of surfaced State roads
serve the farms Of the Nation.
Too many farms, however, are still
without adequate year-round high
ways Too many farms are paying high
road taxes without getting sound re-
turn
Preliminary figures from the 1880
census of agriculture show that 60 per
cent Of the farms in 38 States are To-
Gated on roads with surfaces OF i'm
proved dirt or better.
Curiously, 60 per cent of all farms
report automobiles and about IA per
cent report trucks.
Cr,.r 1rN
than farms. although not all farms re-
ported automobiles. Nebraska leads
the list with automobiles on 81 per
cent of all farms. Iowa is second with
30 per cent.
Farm Bus Use.
The use of the motor bus by farm
families appears to have grown sharply.
Des Moines reports that 243 farms are
now being served daily by bus into
DeS MoineS. Seventeen lines operate
At buses into and out Of the city each
day.
More farm commodities are moving
TO rail stations or city markets by mo-
tor truck Milk, live stock, fruits and
vegetables and poultry products are 60
ing by road.
Within range of urban markets farm
erS are utilizing their own trucks or the
trucks Of cooperative associations to
market their produce. Beyond this
range the -truckman-a new
figure in distribution-takeS up the
task
Farm taxation, both on the vehicle
and on the land for highway I'M
provement, Is serious. AS the owner
of fifth of all automobiles and mo-
tor trucks the farm population will
pay probably 100000 900 in registra
ton and gasoline taxes for the year
1881.
Local road expenditures in 1880
amounted to $7O0,000,000, of which
less than half was for construction.
At the same time general tax levies
for local road work were 100000, 900
and an additional S100,O00,000 was ap-
propriated from general revenues.
Local Road Aid
The automobile industry favors in
creased local road improvement in the
most economical manner possible. 1t
believes that the extension of State
highway systems under State SuperVi-
sion is materially improving the farm
highway situation More and more
farm lands are served by adequate
year-round roads, under fair taxation.
More through roads are being financed
from statewide revenues, with conse-
quent relief to farm taxes.
More centralized administration has
been adopted IN many States to reduce
the expense of local road construction
and maintenance. There is, however,
still strong move toward diversion of
more motor vehicle taxes to local ad-
ministration, without the benefit of
centralized engineering advice. Such
procedure is bound to prove costly.
A great part of local road mileage
constitutes maintenance problem,
and its improvement beyond a passable
state cannot be economically justified.
The 1882 farm market will neceS-
sarily be limited largely to replace
mentS. Low farm cash income be-
speaks the imperative necessity for low
operating costs. including vehicle taxa
ton. Higher gasoline and registration
taxes cannot help but curtaiI farm We
hiCle use.
Increased Farm Costs
The imposition of Federal excise
10 YNrtNr q