The Washington times., 1935-02-13
VIKINGS
ROADS FROM
DEPRESSION

ROME, Feb. 13 GN.S)-"Give
us bigger and worse depressionS"
might be the prayer of the
Italian motorist for today Italy
is one of the few countries in
the world which will come out
of the depression with definite
profit in one important category
Of national wealth.
Italy has in the last six years
with the labor of otherwise job
less men leaped a gap Of hum
90 dred years. At one bound she
has jumped from bottom of the
class of European nations to the
front rank in respect of roads.
She has given work to 100000
men. She has given herself a
permanent national asset. Her
example has already inspired
Germany and England to go
dA1Q uO IlkSWlSC'
5000 Miles of Roads
Imagine a country the size of
Italy which six years ago did
not possess 300 miles of road
good enough to permit motorists
to drive at so miles an hour.
Today this country has over
5000 miles of roads which per-
NIT comfortable and sustained
speed of more than so miles an
hour. Today it has over 1000
miles of SpeedwayS whereon mo-
toriStS have driven at an average
speed of nearly 10 miles an hour
all the way from the northern
border of Italy to Rome.
Her jobleSs did it for her.
l. Rome Led With Roads
Historians say that until the
coming of the automobile, no
modern nation could boast such
roads as the Roman Empire had
1000 years ago. They were the
foundation of Rome's military
power. Rome could move her
legions 1000 miles to the German
frontier, faster than the German
tribes could move their hordes
100 miles.
Caesar once travelled in hired
carriage 800 miles from Rhone to
Rome in eight days. That record
was never beaten with horses in
modern times. Ludwig Friedlaen-
der has reckoned that rich
Roman Of the empire could set
out on a tour and travel 1924
miles always within the empire
and always on the best of roads.
A Huge Task
When MusSolini's state road
board, the so-called Azienda Au-
tonoma Statale della Strada, took
over the state roads in 1923 there
were 12,50O miles of state roads
in Italy, but only 800 miles of
+ them were fit for modern motor
traffic. Besides these there were
about $4,000 miles of country
: roads, unsurfaced and suitable
chiefly for mule carts. Italian
roads were purgatory for auto
mobiliSts.
But Mussolini is a motorist.
He loves fast driving. And Musso-
lin1 in 1928 was already worried
about 1taly's unemployment.
Mussolini'S reflections were SIM
pie. Should he let the unem-
ployed Starve? The answer was
no: Should he put them on a
dole, as in England, and feed
them for nothing? For a thrifty
italian the answer was no.
Should he give them work?
Yes, but what kind? What can
the jobleSs produce which will
not add to overproduction, not
demand purchasing power for it's
use, and will at the same time be
permanently valuable addition
to the national resources?
Caesars Remedy
Mussolinis answer was the
same as that of his great prede-
cesSor Caesar when Caesar had
to find work for Rome's surplus
OF slaves. Roads was the answer
and Mussolini's first road crew
went TO work $4,000 strong ir4
1928.
By now the number of men
employed at road building has
risen to around 10000.
In six years this Italian army
of road builders has built 5000
miles Of broad. level motor high.
ways. They have surfaced the
roads with especial regard for
allaying the dust which IS such
a plague in this southern country
They have planted over half a
million trees along roads $500
miles in length. They have
erected around 300 provincial
road houses for the convenience
Of motorists. Finally, they have
put large part of the $4,000
miles of country roads in such
good order that it is possible to
use them for automobile traffic.
This is not all. BY system of
concessions MuSsolini induced
! private capital to build another
special set of speedways which
have no parallel in Europe and
will not have rival on this CONT.
nent until the German system,
modelled on the Italian, is COM
pleted.
A Tourist Magnet
These Italian speedways have