Newspaper Page Text
Second Section
THE
BANNER: Second Section
ESTABLISHED 1832
ATHENS, GA. r THURSDAY MORNING, MAY 18, 1916.
ESTABLISHED 1I*»
GOOCZ
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The Speaker had recognized the
Gentleman from Timbucktoo and In
the interest ot the Fordites of his
district, ho held the House speelbound
upon the iniquitous rise in the price
of gasoline. Proposals for Congres
sional investigations, the arbitrary
regulation of prices, and condemna
tion of those responsible for the in
creased prices, were received with
loud applause.
Out in a committee room rested a
bill for the building of good roads.
The question was, and is, whether
action would first be taken to force
down the cost of gasoline or to give
the nation good roads.
From the viewpoint of the Fordite
it was a question of Bad Roads versus
Uasoline in the High Cost of Motor
ing.
The price of gasoline has more than
doubled within the past year. A year
ago we bought it, if we were good
buyers, for 11 1-2 cents per gallon.
Today we pay anywhere from 23 to 27
cents a gallon. And this increase in
the cost if a "necessity” has come so
suddenly that it has overwhelmed
the 1,000,000 or more owners of au
tomobiles in the United States. There
is weeping and wailing and gnashing
of teeth and greater fear lest the
price Bhall mount to the 50-cent mart
threatened.
But bad roads we have had with
us always. Hence bad roads are tol
erated while the cost of gasoline calls
forth our wrath. But the fact is that
had roads add a greater cost to the
operation of motor cars than gaso
line, even at its present price. Bad
roads require probably double the
amount of gasoline. One way, there
fore, to escape the burden of the
high cost of gasoline is through pro
viding good roads. The higher the
price of gasoline mounts, the more
need there is, to automobilists, for
good roads.
Gasoline has become so much of a
"necessity of life” in these prosperous
United States today that there is no
chance of the demand for the lowest
possible reduction in its price sub
siding. If the tales are true that
the present price is not altogether
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fixed by supply and demand, or if
Inventive genius can create new
sources of supply, this demand will
bring such relief.
Advocacy of good roads does not
oppose any such demand or under
taking. Nevertheless the fact re
mains that in Bad Roads versus Gaso
line, it can be demonstrated without
aid from Brother Ananiaus in the use
of your figures that Bad Roads have
a bit the best of it, or the worst of
it, in adding ciphers to your yearly
automobile bill.
For instance if you have not con
nected with the War Babies in suffi
cient quantity to take you out of the
humble class of drivers of four-cylin
der cars, a stretch of bad roads with
a nice group of mudholes and Reverse
Thank-You-Mams will force you to
drop to second gear, to come to a
8top, lose gas energy, and then waste
money replacing that energy, enough
times to run your gasoline bill from
the cost of say 15 miles to a gallon
of gasoline to 7 or 8 miles to the
gallon.
If you drive your car the average
of 6,000 miles in a year, this increased
requirement in gasoline due to bad
roads will add a handsome fraction to
your gasoline bill, and the higher
the prices goes, the handsomer that
fraction will be.
While gasoline sold at 12 cents a
gallon, the difference between the
cost of fifteen miles to a gallon on
good roads and 8 miles to a gallon
on bad roads, represented only a sav
ing of 17 1-2 cents on good roads on
an average day's run of twenty-five
miles.
But with gacoline selling, say, for
25 cents a gallon, the saving on such
a day’s run on good roads, as com
pared to bad roads, amounts to nearly
37 cents a day. . The increased need
of good roads,, for the cheaper Op
eration of the car, is shown to be In
direct proportion to the increase in
the price of gasoline.
All of a day’s run would not often
be over bad roads entirely. But in
the 6,000 miles covered in a year with
the average of good and bad roads ex
isting in the United States today, cer
tainly a large enough portion of it
would fall on bad roads to make the
increased cost in gasoline a big item.
But a bigger item still that depends
upon the condition of your roads is
the tire bill. It is difficult to esti
mate the increased cost in tires which
ba droads entail. Also it is perhaps
unnecessary to estimate it. Every
driver of an automobile knows what
rocky roads and sand blisters add to
the tire bill over the legitimate cost
occasioned by tire wear ond good
roads. And heaven knows that lat
ter cost is enough.
This same comparison in Bad Roads
versus Gasoline could be extended to
a discussion of cost of repairs and
loss from depreciation. The "bill of
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particulars” could be drawn out in
definitely. But enough of a case has
already been made to support the ap
peal of good roads advocates that the
spectacular rise in the price of gaso
line should not lead'you to think twice
about the cost of gasoline while you
think once about good roads.
Never before has the Good Roads
propaganda been so actively pressed
as now. This fact is particularly no
ticeable in Washington because now
the fight has entered upon the ques
tion of federal participation in the
building of highways.
And there is more to their issue, as
it has been raised here, than the mere
question of getting so many of Uncle
Sam’s dollars to be spent on roads.
The effort being made is moreover
the way in which that money is to be
spent, since Congress has already
given evidence that it is committed
in principle to federal appropriations
for road building.
There are two ways to spend the
government’s money, over the “pork”
route, and via the right road of ad
ministrative efficiency. The “pork”
route is well known and it has been
broadened and made easy by the
heavy traffic it has borne. The "right
road” is of course the proverbial nar
row and stony path. (But at the end
of it there stands the House called
Beautiful—the prize of good results.
Engaged in the effort to have se
lected a “right road” for the expen
diture of money on “good roads” is
the ^National Highway- Association,
This parent organization, with its in
finite number of affiliated organiza
tions, is striving for the creation of
a national highways commission. Its
argument is the simple one that if
you want to build a railroad you do
not simply begin to lay tracks any
where and everywhere and build to
nowhere in particular. You employ
expert engineers and locate your
road in such manner that it will gain
the maximum of traffic on the min
imum of mileage. You build your
Tunk lines and then your feeders.
The contention of the national
highways association is merely that
the federal government should enter
upon the task of building good roads
Upon this scientific basis. The na
tional highways commission proposed
would be composed of experts in
highway engineering and they would
locate a system of national highways
which would attract the maximum of
traffic to the minimum of mileage
and would serve to connect correlate
state highway systems, just as those
state systems have, in many states,
correlated and brought to their high
est value the county systems.
Inevitably the struggle has also
come, while the federalgovernment
stands on the threshold ot this un
dertaking, between the policy of fed
eral aid and the policy of a system
of national highways built and main
tained by the federal government. In
its advocacy of a national system the
national highways association points
to the teachings of experience in the
case of the counties and the states.
It has stated its position in the fol
lowing words:
“Good roads were first built by the
more active and prosperous towns or
townships. The larger centers of
population grew within their limits.
This attracted the road traffic of ad
jacent communities. 'Puch traffic did
not help build or maintain the roads
it partly destroyed.
“This destruction resulted in a de
mand for county appropriations for
road building. The moneys were
first distributed among the towns or
townships, on some agreed plan, and
were spent by them, or under the
joint authority of county officials.
Under these conditions most of such
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moneys went into politics, and not
into roads, and there was no uniform
ity in construction or care.
“As a result of this work, there
was a reaction in favor of county
roads built and maintained by the
county officials. Then, and only then,
did the bulk of such appropriations
get into roads, and there was a be
ginning of efficiency and uniformity.
“But history repeated itself as be
tween the counties. The more active
and prosperous built and maintained
good roads. These were again de
stroyed by the traffic from adjacent
counties. This traffic did not help
build or care for the roads it de
stroyed. There followed a state-wide
demand for state appropriations to
ward road building. Again history
repeated itself in the form of state
aid to the counties and towns, to he
spent by them, or under joint author
ity of the state officials. And again
most of such moneys went into poli
tics, and not into roads, and lack of
efficiency and uniformity persisted.
“As a result of this waste, history
once more repeated itself and there
was a demand for state highways
built and maintained by the state un
der its highway commission. Effi
ciency and uniformity were the re
sult, and the moneys went into roads.
In those states which now have
the best road systems we find, as the
result of the -bove experience, a
three-fold system, each under the ex
clusive jurisdiction of its properly
constituted authorities. This has pro
duced the largest mileage of good
roads for the least expenditure. It
has brought efficiency and uniform
ity out o fchaos, and the money has
gone into roads.
“The advocates of national high
ways therefore claim that such a sys
tem, built and maintained by the na
tional government, is the only sane
and logical course to pursue. They
claim that this would result in a four
fold system, each under the exclusive
jurisdiction of its properly consti
tuted authorities.”
dad QOAD^ qmm
in the
Hidjh Co^tof Notorin
Gasoline Strictly Cash
26c Per. Gallon
Kelly Springfield,
Pennsylvania,
and Knight
Tires VULCANIZING
Williard Storage Battery
Service Station
IVlotorlife Gil and Greases
Kodaks, Supplies and Furnishings
E. & S.
Phone No. 895 College Ave. and Washington St. Athens, Ga.