THE PRICE OF GOOD ROADS, LIKE THAT OF LIBERTY, IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE 



Having built a highway, it is sound economy to keep it in perfect condition. Here a road- 

 mender, with his supply train to the left, is seen repairing cracks in the highway surface. 



cific coastline is several hundred miles 

 shorter. Two broad, well-built highways 

 paralleling- these coastlines, supplemented 

 by a large number of lateral feeder roads, 

 would serve the purpose of establishing 

 military defense arteries advertising dis- 

 tinctly that we were ready for any callers 

 who might pay us an unfriendly visit, and 

 in addition these interstate avenues would 

 meet the commercial and social needs of 

 the regions through which they passed. 

 Roads of this character would link our 

 seaports in such manner as to encourage 

 coastal commerce and the amplified use 

 of our waterways in relieving the exces- 

 sive demands upon other means of trans- 

 portation. In the motor truck we have 

 obtained the land vehicle with which com- 

 mercially to abridge distance and reduce 

 in no small degree the unprofitable handi- 

 cap of freight terminals. 



PRACTICAL TESTS OE MOTOR TRANS- 

 PORTATION 



Not long ago the feasibility of motor- 

 truck transportation was demonstrated 

 between Atlanta, Ga., where the Quarter- 



master's Supply Depot for the Southeast- 

 ern Department is located, and the can- 

 tonment at Fort Oglethorpe, just outside 

 of Chattanooga, Tenn., a distance of 130 

 miles, over a road that can only be called 

 "fair," even in dry weather. One test 

 consisted of transporting in a motor truck 

 a detachment of 18 soldiers, with their 

 full field equipment, from point to point 

 in 5 hours and 32 minutes (see page 481 ) . 



Taking into consideration the time lost 

 via the railroad route in entraining, 

 switching delays, and marching the men 

 to the station, the truck traversed the dis- 

 tance in three hours less than the time 

 made by rail and, moreover, delivered the 

 men exactly where they were wanted. 



The cost figures also present some in- 

 teresting facts, the saving being estimated 

 at $2.84 per man over one of the routes 

 between the two points and $2.89 per man 

 over another 14 miles shorter, but boast- 

 ing several stretches of inferior road. 



When it came to supplies, the five two- 

 ton trucks met the situation quite eco- 

 nomically, the cost being $7.97 per ton 

 against $9.59 in carload lots by rail. Of 



491 



