RESPONSE OF THE PRESIDENT 681 



In addition, tomorrow I will send to the Congress four new bills 

 to help make our Nation's highways sources of pleasure and sources 

 of recreation. Two of these bills will require the use of some of our 

 highway funds for landscaping, beautification, scenic roads, and 

 recreation along our road system. 



This is not a use of highway funds for an alien purpose. It is a 

 recognition that a highway is more than a ribbon of concrete. It is 

 a way for people to travel, and it should serve all their human needs. 



Its purpose is not just to get people from one place to another. Its 

 purpose is to enrich the journey. I hope, if you have an opportunity, 

 that you will tell your Congressman and Senators of your interests. 



The other two bills that we are sending will eliminate outdoor 

 advertising signs and junkyards from the sight of the interstate and 

 primary highway system except in those areas of commercial and 

 industrial use. Advertising has a vital place in our economy, and 

 junkyards are a product of the inability of technology in the 20th 

 century to dispose of old cars. But these old cars must not be allowed 

 to scar the traveler's view of nature. 



I thought that you would be glad to know that we have not been 

 idle while you had been working. 



I wish you could all know how wonderful it makes me feel to be 

 able to come here and spend a few moments with you. Even the 

 elements made their contribution to the natural beauty of the White 

 House lawn and the trees and the flowers this afternoon. 



So much of a President's time is devoted to protecting the Nation, 

 and to putting down danger and to preventing destruction. These 

 are necessary things, and your President must do them for you. 



Yet, my real ambition is to help our people build, and that is really 

 what you have been doing these days. You don't know how it lifts 

 my heart to be able to join you here this afternoon and to feel that 

 I am sharing in your task. 



I remember when I was a very young man, a boy that walked 

 through the sand hot sand up to see my grandfather a child of 

 5 or 6. I would cross the dusty field and walk along the banks of 

 the river. My granddaddy would ask me questions. He would 

 say, how many ponies do you have, and how many chickens do you 

 have, and how many cows are down there at your little place, and 

 tell me about the state of the crops, and when are you going to start 

 picking your cotton? I would stand there with my finger in my 



