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Congress i o Widen Highway
Over 'Roof *f the World #/ Ir\
Rock)/ Mountain. *
By JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN
\V( > hundred and
g thousand dollars will be
1 appropriated at the next
I session of congress for the
S rrrf urrmcnt . ii*~* e
the world-famous Fall
River road over the‘‘Roof
SlY'Si of ll,e World” In Rocky
Mountain National park.
Anyway, that Is what Is asserted by
members of congress who crossed the
Colorado Continental Divide on It tills
summer and at an elevation of 11,75)7
feet rode through 15-foot snowbanks
and enjoyed the panoramic view of
100 miles. Presumably it was the scen
ery that Inspired the appropriation
program; certainly some of the con
gressmen declared that the vacation
season of 15)2-1 would find them there
again. Nevertheless, Representative
S. K. Winslow of Massachusetts appar
ently spoke hy the card when he said
at a dinner In Denver:
“1 am a firm believer in national
highways. I also believe In making
them so safe that the nervous person
can ride over them without a tremor.
As to the Fall River road 1 say this:
If the transportation busses should he
widened six Inches and the road should
ho left as It Is, I’d never ride over the
Fall River road again!”
Apparently the Massachusetts rep
resentative considers the Fall River
road none too wide. lie is right.
While the road Is safe to efficient
drivers, it Is only a one-way road, with
turn-outs for cars that meet. And
there are places where the passengers
In the outside ear can look pretty
nearly straight down and see lots of
scenery a thousand feet below.
The visitors therefore felt that the
highway should he made a two-way
road. The park people figured that
S2SO,(XX) would add six feet to its
width and make It a two-way road.
So that is why the Fall River road
mar get $280,000- with n string tied
to It -at the next session of congress.
The Rocky Mountain enthusiasts,
however, art* mostly from Missouri —
congress will have to show them. The
truth is that Rcx'ky Mountain has had
cents from congress while Yellowstone,
Yosemlte, Glacier and other national
parks have had dollars. The .. *nd
wherefore is a mystery.
Private enterprise established the
hotels and laid out the trails. Lari
mer and Grand counties constructed
the few roads. A public spirited eltl
sen built the eastern entrance. The
Estes Park Woman’s club gave the
ground for an administration building.
The state of Colorado built the Fall
River road.
The official reports of the national
park service show these interesting
facts:
Rocky Mountain's attendance in 1922
219,104, with 52,112 private cars.
TliHt of the three other parks was:
Yellowstone, 98,223, >vltli 18,253 cars;
Yosemlte, 100,500, with 19,583 cars;
Glacier, 23,935, with 2,410 cars, ltocky
Mountain therefore had only 3,500
fewer visitors than the other three
oenuoiiiea aim n.aou more cars.
Rocky Mountain, 1917-22, has had
1,122,042 visitors. Those of the three
other parks total as follows: Y’ellow
stone, 378,587; Yosemlte, 387,294; Gla
cier, 112,549. Rocky Mountain has
therefore had, 1917-22, no less than
243,612 more visitors than Yellowstone,
Yosemlte and Glacier combined.
Rocky Mountain’s appropriation for
the fiscal year of 1924 (calendar year
1923) Is $74,280. That of the three
other parks Is; Yellowstone, $368,000;
Yosemlte, $295,000; Glacier, $225,000.
Rocky Mountain, 1917-24, has had
appropriations aggregating $293,180.
Those of the three other parks for the
same period total as follows: Yellow
stone, $2,049,506.12; Yosemlte, $2,038,-
(XX); Glacier, $1,178,113.21.
It Is true that Yellowstone and Yo
semite return considerable revenues to
the United States treasury. Yellow
stone’s revenue in 1922 was $165,014.13
and Yosemlte's $131,797.51, while Gla
cier’s was $6,082.71. Rocky Moun
tain’s was but $2,695.41. But the gov
ernment policy is to make the na
tional parks ultimately self-supporting
as to administration, maintenance and
protection, with appropriations for
permanent Improvements. Rocky
Mountain produces no revenue to the
government because the government
has made practically no improvements.
Fancy overlooking such a business op
portunity ns Rocky Mountain!
However, even the Doubting Thom
ases are less pessimistic than usual
this time—since the congressional
committee does not propose to give
Rocky Mountain the $280,000 outright,
but plans to get the money all back
from tourists using the road. The
plan, as prepared by Senator Robinson
and approved by Senator Warren and
the other members. Is that each car
owner using the Fall River road be
taxed one dollar for a season pass
wldch allows him as many trips as he
chooses and pays for all his passen
gers. These fees will go Into a sink
ing fund to repay the government,
which Is to advance the money for
“Immediate use" in the spring of
1924.
This fee of one dollar applies only
to Fall River road. Entrance to
Rocky Mountain National park Is free.
There are three entrances for auto
mobiles: East. Estes Park; south,
I/ongs Peak ; west. Grand Lake. The
Fall lUver road runs east and west
through the park, from Estes Park to
Grand Lake. Owing to the typography
It Is the only east and west road that
can be built and no north and south
road Is possible. The plan, therefore,
in effect makes the only automobile
highway through the park ft govern
ment toll road.
THE DANIELSVIUfe MONITOR, DANIELSVILLE, GEORGIA.
Scenically the Fall River road is a
wonder. Globe-trotters say it is un
surpassed In the whole world. For
miles it is 500 feet above timberline —
often It Is above the clouds.
The senators and representatives
who for the $280,000
a PPrcj*vtre members of a con
gressnp-Vy>mmittee that started from
.-hi 27 and wound up in
Rocky yn>"unTain. They visited Porto
Rico, the Canal Zone and Alaska;
Mount Rainier, Glacier and Yellow
stone National parks. They disbanded
in Denver. The members of the com*
mittee all have more or less to do with
appropriation are members of a con
and their trip was in pursuit of first
hand information concerning places
where money is to be spent. Senator
Francis E. Warren of Wyoming, for
instance, Is chairman of the senate ap
propriations committee.
The congressional visitors, wittingly
or unwittingly, followed an ancient
precedent and reserved the best to the
last —at least that is what they said
while on the “Roof of the World.”
Anyway, they had experiences out of
the ordinary in their automobile trip
from Loveland to Denver, some 150
miles. The varying elevations suggest
its possibilities: Loveland, 5.500; Estes
Park, 7,500; Roof of the World, 11,797;
Milner pass, 10.760; Colorado river,
9,040; Grand Lake, 8,375; Rerthoud
pass, 11,330; thence through the Den
ver mountain parks to Denver, 5,000.
They started from Estes Park in the
bright warm sunshine of a summer
day over the Fall River road, which
follows the old Ute trail up over the
Continental Divide, as shown In pho
tograph No 1. They saw entrancing
'dews from the hairpin turns of the
switchbacks, as they climbed up along
the Fall river churning through Its
rocky gorge (No. 3). On the Roof of the
World they followed the path of a
tractor through n great drift—here the
road engineers hobbled; they should
have carried the road a hundred feet
higher so that the winds would keep
it clear. Ten days later the visitors
would have found the entire roof
adorned with untold millions of Alpine
flowers. A picture (No. 2) shows the
party in the cut through the drift,
Park Superintendent Roger W. Toll ci
the national parks service standing
nt the right and President Roe Emery
of the Rocky Mountain Parks Trans
portation company at the wheel rf
the first car.
The visitors, in fact, kept the camera
men busy and have many interesting
photographic souvenirs. One, for ex
ample, shows Senator Warren, Sena
tor J. T. Robinson of Arkansas and
Representative E. T. Taylor of Cole
rado —in overcoats and gloves. An
other shows Representative Winslow,
Representative C. L. Underhill of Mas
sachusetts and Representative Harry
Wurzbach of Texas —also In overcoats
and equally glad of It, A third plioto
graHi shows Representative C. L
Abernothy of North Carolina, Mrs
Abernethy, Mrs. Robinson and Mrs
Wurzbaeh—the ladles in furs and quit
pleased over the fact ’
Washington Sidelights
How America’s Millions Saved Russia
WASHINGTON. Commun
ism in Russia is dead and
Russia is on the road to
recovery, Col. William N.
Haskell, who was in charge of Amer
ican relief administration activities
there, declared in a final report to
Secretary Herbert Hoover, chairman
of the relief body.
Not only did American aid, amount
ing to $60,000,000 during the last two
years, save millions of lives in Russia,
said Colonel Haskell, but it helped to
stimulate Russian recovery and, more
valuable than all, spread a lasting in
heritance for America in good will of
the Slav races. Colonel Haskell’s re
port summarized the two years’ work
of the relief administration.
“During this period,” said the re
port, “a little under a million tons of
food, seed, clothing, and medical sup
plies have been bought in the. United
States by the American relief admin
istration, requiring about ‘250 voyages
of American ships. These supplies
amounted to 60,000 carloads on the
Russian railways.
“Their distribution was accom
plished through the organization of
35,000 different stations at the worst
period when we were feeding nearly
11,000,000 men, women and children
daily. Not only would these millions
Co-operative Movement Gains in Europe
Houston Thompson of the
federal trade commission,
has returned from a three
months’ visit In Europe,
where he applied himself to study of
the highly organized co-operative
marketing societies in operation there.
“During my three months' survey of
the co-operative movement,” said
Thompson, “I visited the British Isles,
Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Esthonia,
Latvia, Czechoslovakia, Lithuania,
Poland, Germany, Italy and France.
All co-operative societies gave us free
access to their books and financial
statements, and permitted inspection
of their plants.
“One thing that greatly impressed
me is that all of these countries are
making special efforts to become self
supporting and economically inde
pendent. With export and Import
tariffs they are giving great encour
agement to home industry.
“In states such as Finland, Estho
nia, Latvia and Czechoslovakia, where
“Europe Remains O
SECRETARY of Commerce Hoov
er fears that our trade with
Europe is suffering from the
newly manifested intense inter
est of American manufacturers in ex
panding business with South America
and Asia.
The secretary’s view is set forth in
Commerce Reports, published by the
Department of Commerce. It winds
up by throwing out a familiar bint
that American farmers and other
producers of exports to Europe should
interest themselves in the conditions
affecting Europe’s capacity to import.
“Europe remains our greatest mar
ket. Government officials in close
touch with export activities feel that
too much attention has been given to
the promotion of American foreign
trade with South America and Asiatic
countries to the detriment of our
trade with Europe.
“The emphnsis placed on exports to
non-European fields, which is out of
proportion to the actual volume of
business done there, can, however, be
explained. It does not lie only In the
Institute of Economics Hunts for Data
THE Institute of Economics,
which has recently completed
a study entitled “Germany’s
Capacity to Pay," the conclu
sion of which, in effect, is that under
present conditions she can pay noth
ing, was founded about a year ago by
the Carnegie corporation of New
York, “For the purpose of assembling
and interpreting the economic data
which form the bases of national and
international policies.”
The first completed work of the in
stitute —the study entitled “Germany’s
Capacity to Pay"—was written by
Director Moulton and C. H. McGuire.
The authors estimate the payments
already made by Germany in cash and
kind at $6,250,000,000, while France
admits only $2,500,000,000, and Ger
many contends that they amount to
$10,000,000,000. The discrepancy is
due to the fact that the institute in
•ludes items which it considers, though
he reparations commission does not,
ill properly under the reparations
clauses of the Versailles treaty, while
have died without this relief, but even
larger numbers would have perished
from the cesspool of contagious dis
ease.
“In the battle against these epi
demics the relief administration fur
nished supplies to over 15,000 hospi
tals and institutions and organized
the inoculation and vaccination of
over 7,000,000 individuals. Its syste
matic campaign of sanitation stamped
out the most dangerous center of con
tagion in the entire world.
“From seed imported about 8,000,000
acres of land were sown. The worst
of the famine was over a year ago but
the relief administration has contin
ued to feed, clothe, and give medical
service to an average of 2,000.000 dere
lict children until they were past dan
ger and to provide food aud clothing
for over 100,000 teachers and profes
sional people as a supplementary
service.”
“To the minds of the Russian com
mon people the American relief ad
ministration was a miracle of God
which came to them, in their darkest
hour, under the Stars and Stripes,”
said the report “It turned the corner
for civilization in Russia. It lifted
the Russian people from despair to
hope.”
energetic efforts in reconstruction are
going on, the governments are lean
ing heavily on the farmers’ co-opera
tive organizations, as mediums to for
ward their efforts. There is a very
distinct and apparently successful
back to the soil movement in many of
the countries of Europe, despite ob
stacles. It is one of the most encour
aging signs of the times.
“In nearly all the countries except
Finland the city or consumer co-oper
atives do not seek nor want govern
ment aid except that they appreciate
whatever the government does to edu
cate the public. All they desire is a
fair field to work in.
“Europe has found that the co-op*
eratives do not destroy competition.
The movement will stimulate competi
tion and has done so.
“There is a strong economic interna
tional spirit and feeling of brotherly
attitude in all the European co-oper
ative organizations.”
ir Greatest Market”
general supposition on the part of
Americans that our trade with Latin
America and the Far East is a grow
ing trade in expanding countries
with increasing standards of living
whereas European trade has already
been developed in past decades.
“There is probably an even more
weighty reason.
“Staple commodities in the world’s
markets are generally handled by mid
dlemen. The farmer whose grain
moves to the United Kingdom and the
cotton grower whose product is re
ceived on the Bremen docks have
little knowledge of, and therefore com
paratively little direct interest in their
goods after they have been received
and paid for by the American middle
man. The manufacturer of machinery,
electrical equipment, and specialties,
however. Is generally personally inter
ested in his foreign business because
it is carried on hy direct trade.
“For this reason European develop
ments nre closely followed by a group
much smaller than is the case with
respect to non-European fields."
Germany Includes items which the
commission and the institute agree
should be excluded.
Premier Poincare of France, refer
ring to this report, recently said
France had “not been informed what
the Institute of Economics" was.
The officers of the institute are Rob
ert S. Brookings of St. Louis, presi
dent; President Arthur T. Hadley of
Yale, vice president; David F. Hous
ton, former secretary of agriculture,
treasurer, and Harold G. Moulton of
Chicago, associate professor. Univers
ity of Chicago, director, all of whom
nre members of the board of trustees,
which includes also Edwin A. Aider
man, president of the University of
Virginia; Whiteford R. Cole of Nash
ville, Tenn., railroad president;
Charles L. Hutchinson of Chicago,
banker; David Kinley, president of
the University of Illinois; A. Lawrence
Lowell, president of Harvard; Samuel
Mather of Cleveland, 0., and Bolton
Smith of Memphis, Tenn., business
men; James J. Storrow of Boston,
banker; John Barton Payne.