Jasper County Democrat, Volume 22, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 April 1919 — PEOPLE EXPECT ROADS NOW [ARTICLE]

PEOPLE EXPECT ROADS NOW

Says Statement Issued by Hoosier State Auto Association. Officers of the Hoosier State Auto association joined recently in a statement disc ssing road building ■propects in Indiana in 1919, and j urging the largest amount' 1 of construction consistent with the ( amount of public funds available I tor that 'purpose. The statement' was prepared by A. G. Lupton of Hartford City, president of the club; M. H. Luecke of Ft. Wayne, vice president, and M. E. Noblet of Indianapolis, secretary. It is as follows: * i “The road situation in Ini'ana is in a very critical condition. The j people are clamoring for roads, 'and to such an extent that under favorable conditions not more than ! probably 10% of the mileage now petitioned for could be built this .year. If the people fail to get the ' rogds they are wanting the effect ■may be to prejudice the public I against the state highway commission law and against' the county unit law. This prejudice will not be based upon the equity of the laws themselves, but upon the disappointment caused through expectations that are unwarranted.

“Some people think the highway commission’ is going to build a system) of 3,000 or 4,000 miles of state ' roads right away. Not only is this a physical impossibility, but the state highway commission has not sufficient funds. The state will maintain a system of state roads beginning not later than April 1, 1920, but it can construct only a limited mileage each year. “Another large class of people think all the main county roads are

to be built Immediately under the county unit plan, but thia, too, la a physical kmipoßsibillty. It will take several years to do such work. It is, therefore, of grave importance that the people and the county commissioners should see to it that only the county roads of first importance to the county are built first under the county unit law—that these roads join with the neighboring counties to make a connected system. In some instances the county might prefer to build with county funds a road they feel will sorely become a state road and thereafter be maintained by the state rather than wait five or ten years for the state to build it. Then there Is another class of people who think that all the road building projects by the state and county are a plain case of graft, and their Influence is always against good roads. "The state highway commission met last week, but did not organize. L. H. Wright, chairman of the old state highway commission, was sent by Governor Goodrich to Washington relative to efforts being made to reduce the cost of cement. There is talk even that the state may go into the business of manufacturing cement, dependent upon investigation now being made. It is now the middle of April—a little more delay and the season is gone. If for the purpose of holding up all road building under the state highway commission because of the cost of labor and materials or for the political effect of keeping the taxes down, what good is our state highway commission law going to do us? Surely our state is unwarranted in doing less than building under the state highway commission. Some sections of our state roads npw are in miserable condition. It is not necessary to be extravagant to do that much. “The United States department of labor is sending literature cast urging that state and municipal work be gotten under way, and warning against delay. Quoting from this literature we hhve taken the following: At the present time there ‘is a marked halt in production. Industry is slowing down. Unemployment of labor increases. Some industrial concerns are failing to earn profits and others are suffering the dissipation of their accrued profits, because, even by shutting their plants down, they can not save certain of their expenses or any of their fixed charges. The government’s revenues, dependent as they are upon the national income, may fall short at the very time we need them most, fn brief, we are threatened with a widespread depression and from peculiar causes, for the unsound conditions usually preceding a widespread business depression are absent. The main reason why business is not going ahead better is that most people expect prices to drop. The merchant is selling, but not buying. The manufacturer holds up t the purchase of his raw materials. People quote the disparity between present prices and those prevailing before the war, and decide they will not buy much until the present prices get down 1 to normal. This general conviction that prices are sure to drop is । putting a brake upon the entire machinery of production and disj tribution. Readjustment waits because we keep on waiting for it. |We have waited in vain for over three months. It is Interesting to observe that many manufacturers think that prices must come down, (including the price of labor; but 1 they are ready to demonstrate to ' you that their own prices can not | come down, nor can they pay lower I wages. Almost everything they buy somehow costs twice as much as before the war, and their labor is twice as dear. They can not pay their labor less if labor is to meet the increased cost of living. Now, as a matter of fact, when we investigate almost any individual one of the so-called high prices for industrial products we are likely to find that individually it is not high; that is, it is not high relatively to the rest. Our quarrel is with the general level of prices, i Business men should face the facts. To talk reverently of 1913-14 prices is to speak a dead language today. The buyers of the country since the armistice, have made an -unexampled attack upon prices through their waiting attitude, and yet price recessions (have been insignificent. The reason is that we are on a new high price level, which will be found a stubborn reality. Business men are going to find out that the clever man is not the man who waits, but the one who finds out the new price and acts accordingly.”