Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 191, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 August 1919 — ROADS and TREES for REMEMBRANCE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

ROADS and TREES for REMEMBRANCE

By JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN.

NEXT to well-equipped and thoroughly up-to-date' railways, transportation -means good solid wagon roads. Even in normal times the economic value of such roads is well nighincalculable, but in a period of armed conflict victory or defeat may depend upon the condition of the common highways. All this is well known. And yet, though far-seeing men have for some years been urging the good roads movement upon the people and some progress has been achieved, our highways tn general still remain among the worst In the world. —Albert J. Beveridge. I think that I shall never see A poem as lovely as a tree— A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the world's sweet tlowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A nest of robins in her hair; • • • Poems are made by fools like me. But only God can make a tree. —Joyce Kilmer. If you want to build a road, let the people plant memorial trees along that road and your project"!* A Success.—Charles Lathrop Pack. Thus come closer to the Great Tree-Maker. Plant memorial trees in honor of the men who gave their lives to their country—in honor of the men who offered their lives.—Rev. Dr. Francis E. Clark. Roads and trees for remembrance! Victory highways in honor of America’s fighting men in the great war! Roadside planting of trees in memory of their Individual deeds! It is a truism, that the economic and moral fiber of any community Is shown by the-condition of Its highways. Give the community the right kind of roads, schools, churches, factories and banks and The other signs of advancement will soon he in evidence. Memorial roads! What more fitting monument can we build in honor of our heroes? Permanent roads dedicated to them! How can a community better commemorate their achievements? And ail these memorial roads planned and built as parts of a great system of victory highways— Tietory highways that food may move from farm to city and manufactures back to the farm! that the way of the children to the schoolhouse may he *nade easy; that the defense of America against armed force may be certain. Victory highways that not only serve the nation’s needs but delight the people’s eye—victory highways beautified by roadside planting of American trees and shrubs and flowers. No walls and gates and arches with their suggestion of something closed and set apart, but memorial trees and groves tted little parks and wayside camps for the American traveler and food trees for the birds. To Abraham Lincoln have probably more memorials been erected than to any other man. Which of all these memorials is most Impressive —most fitting? Consider now the Lincoln highway as it is and as it is soon to be. The Lincoln highway Is an object lesson of iwhat Is ajjd what Is to be in a memorial road. More than 3,000 miles In length, it runs east and west through the heaitfof America, with giant •north and south feeder highways. Joining the Atlantic and the Pacific. It traverses 11 states. Fifteen millions have been expended on it in the last five years. Already there are dearly 400 miles of concrete and brick and paving and more than I,obo miles of macadam. It is in operation from end to end. It carries an endless procession .of Americans In their own automobiles. The year round it Is dotted with freight trucks. At this very moment the federal government •has under way on the Lincoln way across the continent-an exhibition train. It started from Washington, and from Gettysburg, Pa., the ronte Is over the Lincoln way to Pittsburgh, Camden and Bncyros, O.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Chicago Heights, 111.; Clinton. Cedar Rapids and Marshalltown, la.; Omaha. Neb.; Cheyenne. Wyd.; Salt fcske City, Utah; Carson City and Ely. Nev„ •. i '

finally dropping down the Sierra Nevada to Sacramento, Cal., and then to San Francisco. This train consists of 60 motor-vehicles of the types employed by the motor transport corps in the conduct of the winning of the war. In addition, accompanying tills train are several other branches of the United States army service, including representatives of the, engineer - corps, with antiaircraft defense trucks and searchlights, and certain specially detailed observers who will make an intensive study and report to the war. department on road conditions. •" The trip is being made for "both military and educational purposes. Including: An extended performance test of the several standardized types of motorized army equipment used for transportation of troops and cargo and for other special military purposes; the war department’s contribution to good roads movement; demonstration of the practicability of long-distance motor post and commercial transportation and the heed for judicious expenditure of federal governmental appropriations in providing the necessary highways. So much for the Lincoln highway as a means of transportation —a transcontinental road linking the United States by states. Consider now the Lincoln way as a beauty spot—and a memorial, not only to the Great Emancipator, but to the heroes who followed his exnmple and won the freedom of the world in the great war. The roadside planting of the Lincoln way is in charge of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. This organization has a membership of 2.500,000 members. It has a state federation In every state In the Union. Mary k. Sherman, -chairman of the conservation department of the general federation, lias secured a comprehensive planting plan for the way. This plan has been worked out by Jens Jensen, a noted landscape engineer of Chicago. In general it provides for the planting of trees, shrubs and flowers indigenous to the locality. For example, blue prints have been madd for the planting of the way through the 180 miles of Illinois. These prints give all necessary details —kinds of trees, shrubs and flowers for each locality: suggestions for grouping each. The clubs of the several states ; through which the way passes will see to It that the planting is done. Many clubs in other states will plant memorial miles on the way and In addition Carry out the same plan In application to Lincoln way feeders In their own states. Features of this roadside planjing of the Lincoln way by the general federation are memorial trees in honor of individual heroes; groves, fountains, camping places along the road; fruit and nut trees for the birds and a bird sanctuary from ocean to ocean. For ten years America has been spending from* $200,000,000 to $300,000,000 a year for. highway construction and maintenance —without national pl an relation to the broad needs of the country as a whole and with little co-ordination of effort between states ' After spending over $2,000,000,000 in a decade, we are, broadly speaking. as far from a proper connecting system of radiating highways In the United States as ever. The latest government figures show a total highway mileage In United States of 2.457,334 and of this total, even after the tremendous expenditures noted, but 12 per cent. or some 296,000 miles, have received any /attention whatever and these improvements are scattered in 48 states. In a loose and Utterly ineffective way, over various sections of our entire 2,500,000 miles.

Now the time for national action has arrived. Thus the time is ripe for roads and trees for remembrance. The United States is going to expend $500,000,000 in the next few years on a national highway system of interstate arterial routes. It only remains to be seen what agency of the federal government is to have charge of the construction. If the department of agriculture and the state highway commissions do the work, the government and the states will share the expense, half and half. If a highway commission is established by congress to have Charge of the'work the share of the states will be apportioned in order that states like Nevada, Wyoming and Arizona shall not be too heavily burdened. As to t,he feature of memorial trees, this is also the chosen time. Public sentiment turns toward the idea. Events all over the country forecast a general memorial planting. The American Forestry association, of which Charles Lathrop Pack is president, has Issued a call for memorial tree planting. It is registering all memorial trees and giving certificates of registration ; also instructions for planting. Rev.-Dr. Francis E. Clark has called upon the Christian Endeavor societies to plant memorial trees. Georgetown university remembered its war heroes at Its one hundred afid thirtieth commencement by planting 54 memorial trees in honor of its heroic dead. To each tree was affixed a bronfce marker, of which a sample is given herewith. To the next of kin goes a duplicate of the marker. * “My boys made a reputation for this country on the battlefields of France," says Daniel Carter Beard. “I say my boys because I believe that there were boy scouts in every American division that participated in the war. The boy scouts’ slogan is, *Once a scout always a scout.’ A plan that we are taking up is the planting Of trees as memorials for our heroes. This is being done In some parts of Long Island and should be done In all sections. • After the tree has been planted a small tablet should be placed on it bearing the name of the man who made the supreme sacrifice, and when and where and how he was killed and his branch of the service.” Many victory highways to be planted with memorial trees are under way throughout the country. The National Defense highway, between Blandensburg and Annapolis, is Maryland’s contribution. New York is planning a Roosevelt Memorial highway from Montauk Point to Buffalo, In Ohio Col. Webb C. Hays has offered to give memorial tablets on memorial highways In Sandusky county, and William G. Sharpe, former ambassador to France, will do the same for Lorain county. The poem by Joyce Kilmer, who gave his life for his country in France, is most touching. What is more fitting than a tree for a memorial? We may attain the most magnificent effects In stone and bronze. Compare them with a permanent road —enduring as the Appian way, built 22 centuries ago—and shaded by the Maryland tulip poplar or the Engelmann spruce or,any other of onr magnificent American trees. The glimpse of aa Estes Park road In the Rocky Mountain National park shows nature's way of beautifying a highway. Consider how the trees on guard add the crowning touch to the Washington monument