very expensive part of a railroad’s business. It required much expert
knowledge on the part of the railroad officials to determine whether or
not such a road would pay. In fact a great many miles of such tracks
have been abandoned and very likely the loss to the railroad has been
equal to that of the mining companies. Motor trucking is to a large
extent doing away with the enormous track building that formerly went
on in the mining communities. This eliminates the switching charge
which seldom paid the railroad, and possibly the trucking is more
convenient and cheaper to the mining company. Here again the use of
trailers, special bodies, and mechanical loading and unloading devices
will greatly expedite the work. When the mine has grown so that the
quantity of ore or coal taken out will pay for it a railroad track may
be laid without risk of loss to either railroad or mine.
The hauling of mine products a long distance is not altogether
uncommon. Transporting borax from Death Valley, California, was
formerly done by twenty-mule teams. It is now much more expeditiously
and cheaply hauled by motor trucks. And the transport of supplies from
point of purchase to interior and isolated mines, or to depots from
which they may be continued by pack horses is common practice.
=Factory Products.=--Scarcely a manufacturing industry but that owns
motor trucks, some of them running into the hundreds. No doubt these
trucks have had their effect on the goods manufactured just as any
other machine introduced into the process might do. In some instances
goods that were marketed through jobbers are being sold directly to the
retailer and sent to them by routings which return to the same customer
every day, every two days, twice or once a week, or once a month, or in
such regular periods the customer may look forward and depend upon the
coming. Packing houses by delivering meat with truck directly to the
retailer’s butcher block daily have practically driven out of business
the old slaughter houses with their unpleasant odors and unsanitary
conditions.
Special bodies have been devised for the different manufactured
products. A slatted rack accommodates nearly 300 empty barrels; tanks
are made to haul milk, gasoline, or other liquids; cracker factories
have racks which will accommodate cardboard cartons without injury
by crushing; low long-bodied trucks upon which cotton bales may be
placed without much lifting lessens the time and labor of loading;
different-sized drawers on the inside of a body have been used to take
clothing-store goods to customers in outlying districts; plumbers fit
up shops on wheels, claiming thereby to save time and expense to their
patrons by not having to go back to the shop numerous times in the
course of a job to get tools and supplies; furniture and automobile
trucks have large roomy bodies to carry bulky but not very heavy goods.
Hoists, cranes, tipping bodies, combination bodies, conveying belts and
chains and many other devices facilitate rapid unloading and loading.
By sending goods from factory to retailer by motor railway terminal
expense is cut out. Just how far it is profitable to send goods by
truck is a question depending on the relative terminal charges, the
hauling rate, and the collecting charges. The collecting charges at a
factory might or might not be the same for shipments by rail and by
truck. If the railroad switch is such that there is no hauling from
factory to car except that on the floor of the factory itself, there
would be no difference, otherwise there would be the expense of hauling
to the loading tracks. If the expense of selling is not affected by
motor hauling the only thing to be considered is the actual cost of
transportation. If this be taken to be made up of two items, namely,
terminal costs, and hauling costs, the distributing charge by railway
may be written:
_D_ = _T_ + _Rx_
where _T_ is the railroad terminal cost;
_R_, the railroad rate per mile cost per unit-package, barrel,
cwt. or ton;
_x_, the number of miles hauled.
The distributing charge by truck would be a similar equation
_d_ = _t_ + _rx_
where the letters represent the same items referred to the truck. If
_D_ is made equal to _d_, there results,
_t_ + _rx_ = _T_ + _Rx_
and,
_rx_ - _Rx_ = _T_ - _t_
_T_ - _t_
_x_ = ---------.
_r_ - _R_
Railroads do not separate the terminal and hauling charge for the good
and sufficient reason that if this be done there are a number of other
factors of transportation that could with equal reason be segregated.
The terminal costs, and by that is considered all the expense except
the actual cost of haulage, has been variously computed. G.M. Jones,
Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, United States Department of
Commerce, estimates “that the average expense of hauling a ton of
freight 240 miles is 74 cents while the cost of handling the same
freight at the terminals is 75 cents.”[196]
A more definite and possibly more accurate statement is that of the
Inter-State Commerce Commission, also quoted by Lane, p. 53:
The combined average terminal cost at one end is shown to be 10.4
cents per hundred pounds. For two terminal buildings (origin and
destination) this figure doubled results in 20.8 cents per hundred
pounds; and as this figure contains no elements of overhead costs, or
taxes, such costs are arrived at by dividing the terminal cost by the
operating ratio.
The operating ratio of the Trunk Line roads for 1915, 1916 and 1917
is 69.6, and the result of dividing the terminal cost of 20.8 cents
by the operating ratio is 30 cents per hundred pounds, which covers
terminal expenses and overhead for less than carload freight.
An example may be worked out with the assumption that the railway
terminal charge is 30 cents per hundredweight, the truck terminal
charge is 10 cents, the railway haulage charge is 0.02 cent per
hundredweight mile and the truck haulage charge 0.3 cent per
hundredweight mile. Then the economical length of the haul must not be
less than
30 - 10 20 2000 500
_x_ = -------- = --- = ---- = --- = 71 miles.
.3 - .02 .28 28 7
The length of haul varies directly as the difference in terminal
charges and indirectly as the difference in rates.
The example given should not be applied generally, but each case must
be considered by itself. If there are collecting and marketing costs,
they may be added to the terminal costs and the sum treated as a
terminal charge.
=Construction.=--It will hardly be necessary here to take up more
individual cases. The almost universal use of trucks in the handling
of materials of construction no doubt has affected the quantity and
cost of construction, truly a productive process. Everyone is familiar
with one or more of the many devices for loading and unloading, for in
this class of haulage these things have reached a very high state of
development.
=Other Agencies.=--It is not the intention here to claim for the
motor car entire credit for the manifold changes in marketing--buying
and selling--which have occurred during the past two decades. Many
other factors have entered into these changes and the corresponding
advancement in the average standard of living. Transportation of all
kinds, upon the highways, upon the railways, upon the waters, by
telegraph, by telephone, by improvements in the postal service, and
by the general increase in knowledge through the schools and printed
literature, have all been instrumental in the development. But the
automobile directly and indirectly has stimulated each of these
activities and hence deserves credit with the rest.
SELECTED REFERENCES
Agricultural Inquiry, Report of Joint Commission on Part IV deals
with Marketing, Washington, D. C., 1922.
_American Forestry_, “Forest Fires,” Dec., 1920, p. 707.
BOHM-BAWERK, “Positive Theory of Capital,” Translated by W. Smart,
Books I-II. Macmillan & Co., London, 1891.
BOYLE, JAMES E., “Speculation and the Chicago Board of Trade,”
Macmillan Company, New York; “The Chicago Board of Trade, What it is
and What it Does,” Distributed by the Chicago Board of Trade.
COLLINS, J. H., “Motor Transportation for Rural Districts,” Bulletin
770 of the United States Department of Agriculture.
COWAN, D. R. AND HART, F. C., “Motor Transportation in Rural
Ontario,” Bulletin 227, Ontario Department of Agriculture, 1920.
DANA, RICHARD T., “Hand Book of Construction Equipment,” pp. 550-559,
767-772.
Firestone Ship by Truck Bureau, Akron:
Bulletin No. 1, “Ship by Truck among Farmers through Coöperative
Associations”; Bulletin No. 2, “How and Where to Establish Truck
Routes”; Bulletin No. 3, “The Motor Truck at the Coal Mines”;
Bulletin No. 4, “The Farmer and the Motor Truck”; Bulletin No. 5,
“Costs and Their Relation to Truck Transportation.”
Highway and Highway Transport Education Committee.--“Proceedings
of a Conference on the Economics of Highway Transport, Held at the
University of Maryland, July 27, 1921,” Washington, D. C.
Kentucky, University of, College of Agriculture Circular No. 130,
“Marketing Farm Products.” Lexington, Ky., June, 1922.
LANE, F. VAN ZANT, “Motor Truck Transportation,” D. Van Nostrand
Company, New York.
National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, New York:
“Facts and Figures of the Automobile Industry, 1921.”
“Factors in Food Transportation.”
“A State Endorses the Motor Express.”
By Arthur Capper, “The Midwest Farm Market for Motor Trucks.”
By F. W. Fenn: “The Field of the Motor Truck in the Petroleum
Industry”; “The Motor Truck as an Aid in Extracting Raw Materials”;
“Motor Truck Operation at the Mines”; “Motorizing the Factory”;
“Organization and Operation of a Rural Motor Express Line.”
By R. O. Patten, “Merchandising Motor Trucks.”
By R. O. Patten and F. C. Horner, “The Evils of Overloading.”
NORTON, S. V., “The Motor Truck as an Aid to Business Profits,” pp.
155-156, 406-410, 484; A. W. Shaw Co., Chicago.
_Power Wagon_ Reference Book.
TOLLEY, H. R. AND CHURCH, L. M., Bulletin 910, “Experiences of
Eastern Farmers with Motor Trucks”; Bulletin 931, “Corn Belt Farmers’
Experience with Motor Trucks”; and Bulletin 1201, “Motor Trucks
on Eastern Farms,” The United States Department of Agriculture,
Washington.
VINCENT, C., “Letters on Grain Marketing Problems,” Privately
published, Omaha, 1921.
FOOTNOTES
[188] Bohm-Bawerk, “Positive Theory of Capital,” translated by W.
Smart, p. 96.
[189] “Letters on Grain Marketing Problems,” by C. Vincent, Secretary
of the Farmers’ Grain Company, Author of Nebraska Co-operative Law,
and Member of the Omaha Grain Exchange, pamphlet privately published,
1921.
[190] “Letters on Grain Marketing,” by C. Vincent.
[191] “The Motor Truck as an Aid to Business Profits,” by S. V.
Norton, A. W. Shaw Co., Chicago.
[192] Bulletin No. 8. “Marketing Livestock by Motor Truck,” issued by
The Firestone Ship by Truck Bureau, Firestone Park, Akron, Ohio, 45
pages.
[193] From a reprint by the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce.
[194] During the year 1919 there were reported 27,000 forest fires
which burned over 8,500,000 acres.--_American Forestry_, Dec., 1920,
p. 707.
[195] “The Motor Truck as an Aid in the Extraction of Raw Products at
the Source,” by F. W. Fenn, National Automobile Chamber of Commerce,
New York.
[196] Quoted by Lane in “Motor Truck Transportation,” p. 6. Van
Nostrand Co., New York.
CHAPTER X
FINANCING HIGHWAYS AND HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION LINES
Highway financing may be divided for consideration into two parts,
namely: financing the road and financing the operation of the road.
Both are necessary if goods are to be transported from where they are
plentiful, grown, manufactured, or stored, to where they are needed for
sale, consumption or transshipment. Money is required for both parts
and it must be obtained in some legal manner.
As has been shown roads developed from mere trails that originally were
paths along which by common consent, force, or otherwise the privilege
of passing was gained. This, when ownership in land was recognized,
became an easement. After the development of civil governments the
right to traverse and transport goods over such roadways, that is, the
easement, was vouchsafed to the inhabitants and protected by laws. In
England the right of way over another’s land became known as the king’s
highway, as all public property was held and measures taken in the
name of the king. In the United States it is known simply as a public
highway. The highway is in reality the right of passage, not the beaten
track, for in both England and the United States the laws recognize
the privilege the traveler has when for any reason the road becomes
blocked or obstructed of taking to the fields and making another track.
Equity courts may grant damages for such usage of private land by the
public but no court will attempt to prevent it; if necessary they
will, however, by writ of mandamus command road officers to repair
the established roads so as to make them passable. In England the
law allowed the traveler to turn into the adjacent field, whether
cultivated or not, whenever the track became worn or rutted. In order
to keep the used way within due bounds and at the same time maintain it
in a passable condition the freeholders, perhaps at first voluntarily
then by force of laws, worked the roads once or twice a year. By doing
this they saved their lands and crops from being trampled down. It has
also been shown how Edward I took up the question of improving the
highways as a police measure in order that it might be safe for man
and goods to pass along the road without being attacked from ambush by
robbers.
Such robberies have taken place in the development of every land,
and those who have made a profession of it are variously styled
highwaymen, bandits, brigands, and so on. Even to the present day, as
has been shown in a preceding chapter, highway robbery still exists,
although the profession of highwayman no longer commands the respect of
reputable society as was the case during the time of Robin Hood, and
Claude Duval of England, and of the Robber Barons of Germany.
Thus the public good demanded that the time of the freeholders and the
money of the government be expended upon the highways. Of late years
in the United States the “working out” of road or poll taxes has been
practically abolished and the taxes are collected in money which is
expended in road construction and maintenance by persons regularly
delegated for that purpose. With the increased use and the building
of better types of roadways more and more money is demanded so that
the financing of highway improvements has become a matter of vast
importance. The money must come from either private sources or from
the public. If from the public it results directly from taxation or is
borrowed and the obligations paid off by taxation.
=Private Financing.=--A few persons of wealth have built roads as a
benefaction to the public. Perhaps one of the most ambitious projects
of this sort is the DuPont Road, which is located through the state of
Delaware from north to south. The intention of the DuPont family is
to make this road eventually one of the finest in the world. It has
been very carefully laid out and constructed. Later it is to be widened
and beautified. Some $3,000,000 have already been expended, and it is
contemplated to spend $1,500,000 more. It might be well if more men of
wealth would commemorate their names by constructing and endowing roads.
In spaces about wharfs and depots, although on privately owned ground
and privately constructed, the pavement is often used generally as a
highway. Such places are of course primarily for the convenience of
the steamship or railway companies and they are maintained at their
own expense. However, all such expense forms a part of the cost of
operation and no doubt is charged to the patrons in the overhead, or
it is intended to be a means of advertising in the hope that it will
increase business.
In timbered and rough mountainous countries, roads have frequently been
built and maintained by the companies interested in lumbering, mining,
or other enterprises therein, and thrown open to the general use of
the public. Here the companies figure that the benefit to be derived
by them more than balances the expense. Furthermore, the use of them
by the public, while a minor consideration as far as the road itself
is concerned, is a means of maintaining a friendly feeling with the
inhabitants.
Turnpike or toll roads, as has already been pointed out, were very
extensively built in the days preceding the advent of the steam
railway. These were built with money raised by the ordinary methods
for financing industrial enterprises. A good many thousands of miles
of such roads were chartered and constructed by private capital
amounting to millions of dollars before the steel tracks put them out
of business. Only a few now remain in Pennsylvania and Virginia with
now and then scattered short stretches of roadway, and bridges over
larger streams elsewhere, and ere long they, too, will be taken over
by the states and become a part of the great public highway. As late
as 1915 a private toll road in Tuolumne County, California, operated
by a mining company was purchased by the state and nation, a portion
of it being within the Yosemite National Park, and made a part of the
California state system. The people will never be content to go back to
the inconvenience of being stopped by a turnpike every 4 or 5 miles to
pay a toll amounting in many cases from 1 to 2 cents per ton-mile, when
the same amount of money in the form of licenses and taxes will keep up
magnificent systems of public “free” highways.
=Public Financing.=--Every civic government has its methods for the
collection of revenue to pay its necessary expenses. One of the easiest
things theoretically to do, then, is to collect by a tax on the
property of the district--state, county, township--sufficient money to
meet expenses, including the building and maintenance of roads, from
the property holders in proportion to their wealth and turn it over
to the proper officers for expenditure. When roads were yet simple
things, before they had become elaborate and complicated structures,
that might have been done. Practically, however, even then the working
of the roads was a farce; men sat around, told stories, retailed the
neighborhood gossip and smoked their pipes or whittled sticks, while
the horses hitched to the scraper or plow stood limp with one hip lower
than the other, eyes half shut lazily swishing at the flies with their
long tails. Soon the necessary hours were passed, their poll or road
tax had been “worked out.” The roadway was left in an almost impassable
condition to be gradually worn smooth during the intervening six months
until it came time again to work the roads. To most of those old timers
the working of the road was a necessary evil and done only because the
law required it. When occasionally a road supervisor insisted on a
full day’s work for a day’s credit he was a skinflint and at the next
election lost his job.
The tremendous amount of money necessary to construct present types of
roads must, in the long run, be obtained from the citizens through some
medium of taxation. A tax is a compulsory contribution levied upon
persons, property, business, occupations, privileges, or enjoyment of
the people for the support of government or governmental functions.
When levied upon persons it is usually called a poll or head tax; when
upon property, a property tax; when upon business it may be a capital
tax, sales tax or an income tax; when upon occupations, an occupation
tax; when upon privileges, a license; and when upon enjoyment, a
pleasure tax. A good many of them may be lumped together under the name
of revenue taxes. Some are collected personally by a specified officer
of the government, while others are collected indirectly by the sale of
stamps which are attached to the article or transaction taxed.
Taxes may also be classified as direct, indirect and special, all of
which are of great importance to the highway.
=Direct Taxes.=--Direct taxes are levied directly upon property or
persons. State laws usually prescribe that general property taxes shall
be levied uniformly over the assessed values of the district concerned.
A poll tax is levied on all persons of a particular age or class, as
all able-bodied males between the ages of twenty-one and fifty years.
An income tax is levied according to some prescribed rule on the annual
incomes of persons and corporations. An income tax is really a tax on
business, either present or past.
In either case, whether the levy is on his poll, upon the assessed
valuation of his property, or upon his declared income, the taxpayer
contributes, theoretically at least, in direct proportion to his
ability to pay. The amount of the tax is definitely ascertained some
little time in advance of payment and is collected directly by an
officer of government.
The levying of labor or poll taxes on persons living within a
particular road district easily expanded to the levying of property
taxes to care for the local roads. However, as the cost of road
building and maintenance increased the fronting or contiguous property
could not stand the entire burden, the zone of taxation was widened to
include larger areas, the township, the county or the state, depending
on the importance of the highway.
=Indirect Taxes.=--Indirect taxes are those not levied upon the various
persons or the property of the district, but are placed upon some
article of consumption or some article of manufacture, upon imports and
exports, or some privilege or pleasure. The government does not look
to each individual for its money, but to the seller or manufacturer or
importer of the article taxed, or the licensee, or the operator of the
theater or other pleasure resort. The amount of the tax is added to
the price at which the article is sold or to the fee charged so that
it is at last borne by the ultimate consumer, in proportion to his
consumption of the article taxed, or the privilege enjoyed.
Federal aid moneys all come from indirect taxes, for the Constitution
forbids the national government to levy direct taxes.
In Alaska 65 per cent. of the “Alaska Fund,” a fund derived from all
returns from liquor, occupation or trade licenses obtained outside
incorporated towns, must by Congressional law of 1905-1906; be spent in
Alaska for roads, trails, and bridges.
License fees on motor cars and sales taxes on gasoline belong to
the class of indirect taxes, and are attempts to charge the user
of the road in proportion to the wear and tear produced by him or
his consumption of it. If the motor car is an express truck, a bus,
or a taxicab the tax is passed on to the patron, and this patron
charges it to the cost of living and attempts to pass it on to his
employer through increased wages or those who do business with him.
It is finally paid for by that visionary personage the ultimate
consumer--everybody.
=Special Taxes.=--Special taxes are those levied upon property for a
particular improvement that is demanded by public interest. They are
not uniform but must be levied in proportion to the benefits accruing
to the property from the improvement. This class of taxes is very
popular for financing the building of roads and the paving of streets
as well as other public construction. The area adjacent to the road or
pavement for a certain specified distance back, or possibly, halfway to
the next thoroughfare, is assessed for the improvement and in road work
is technically known as “fronting property.” Each piece of fronting
property is required to pay toward the whole cost of improvement an
amount proportional to the benefits derived from the improvement.
These benefits evidently decrease as the distance from the improvement
increases. They may not always vary in the same ratio, but appraisers
will usually follow some definite rule and deviate from it only in
extreme cases and as local conditions demand. That they should not
decrease directly as the distance but in some geometrical ratio, most
engineers agree. Law courts have frequently upheld assessments made
upon some such basis.
For the purpose of initiating an improvement by petition it is
customary to adopt a fixed scale for the measure of the benefits, based
upon distance, that will probably be derived from the improvement.
Some legislative bodies have enacted definite rules for evaluating
“influence” in petitioning. Generally the rule is based upon some
mathematical variation. For example that the assessed value or
influence of property of uniform width extending back from the roadway
shall vary as the square root of the maximum distance back. In the
figure on page 313, a lot of one-unit area fronting the street is given
a value of 31.62. This is from the mathematical formula
_y_² = 1000_x_
where _y_ represents the assessed value or influence in petitioning,
and _x_, the distance back, considering the value of _y_ = 100 for _x_
= 10.
To draw the curve mark off on a straight line ten equal distances; at
the mid-point of these distances or units erect perpendiculars. From
the formula calculate values for _y_ as shown in the table; lay these
off on the verticals and plot the curve through their extremities. To
clarify this some, suppose that upon the center of the first space,
there being one unit area or lot here, there is stacked up the value
of the assessed benefits 32 (31.62) silver dollars. On the next space,
since there are two lots extending back from the street, the stack
would contain 45 (44.72) silver dollars--continue this for each space
and for the number of lots extending back. A curved line passing
through the tops of the stacks representing the assessed values will be
the influence curve plotted.
[Illustration:
+---+------+------+
|_x_| _y_² | _y_ |
+---+------+------+
| 1 | 1,000| 31.62|
| 2 | 2,000| 44.72|
| 3 | 3,000| 54.77|
| 4 | 4,000| 63.25|
| 5 | 5,000| 70.71|
| 6 | 6,000| 77.46|
| 7 | 7,000| 83.67|
| 8 | 8,000| 89.44|
| 9 | 9,000| 94.87|
|10 |10,000|100.00|
+---+------+------+
Assessment curve.]
For the purpose of initiating an improvement the unit in which the
prospective benefits are to be measured is usually adopted by the
governing or assessing authorities. Dollars will not do because the
cost will not be known until after the improvement has been finished.
In the case of roads and streets the unit quite generally used is the
“front-foot.” The number of front-feet in any paving district will
be the same as the number of abutting feet along the street to be
improved. A different definition for “front-foot” is given on page
318. The petitioning power or influence of the several properties
constituting the whole frontage is proportional to the number of
front-feet assigned to each property, and these are assigned according
to the adopted rule which is supposed more or less closely to measure
the benefits to be derived from the improvement.
When it comes to paying for the improvement the total cost up to
the time of payment, including all charges against the district of
whatsoever character, is divided by the number of front-feet giving
the cost per front-foot, from which may readily be determined the cost
to be assessed to each property according to the number of front-feet
assigned to it.
To illustrate this more concretely, consider a road one mile long.
Its abutting length is 2 miles, one on each side, or 10,560 feet. The
total number of units of influence in the whole assessed area, and
the number of units of assessed benefits, is 10,560 front-feet. The
number of these units assigned or assessed to a particular plot of land
is technically called its “frontage.” Since all land for a specified
distance from the roadway must share in the benefits and in the cost,
therefore, a piece of property may have frontage even though it does
not touch the street or roadway to be improved.
In order to facilitate computation, more or less arbitrary variations
are made from the theoretical curve of assessment thought to be ideal.
Each infinitesimal portion of land bears a different assessment value
according to its position in relation to the improvement. It would be
impracticable to divide the land into an infinite number of strips
of infinitesimal width and calculate the assessment for each. This
could be done by mathematical analysis if all the boundary lines were
straight lines and mathematical curves, but the work would be even then
too laborious to pay. It is customary to divide the assessed territory
along each side of the roadway into zones with edges parallel to the
road, and to each zone is given a weight or proportional part of all
the assessed value. The weights are obtained from the mathematical
curve and are given values corresponding approximately with theoretical
calculations.
=Zone Weights.=--To determine the proper zone weights the influence
curve is plotted as in figure on page 319. The base line, AB, is
divided into as many parts as it is desired to have zones; from the
mid-point of each part a perpendicular to the base line is erected to
meet the curve, shown in the table, as mid-ordinates. These are each
multiplied by 100 and divided by the longest, in the case of five
zones, 94.85, to get them into percentages of the whole. These are
now adjusted to near numbers for easy multiplication. For example, to
multiply by 33¹⁄₃ add two ciphers and divide by 3; to multiply by 25
add two ciphers and divide by 4; and so on.
FIVE-ZONE TABLE
----+------------+----------+------+---------------+-------
Zone|Mid-ordinate|Percentage|Weight|Adjusted Weight| Sum
----+------------+----------+------+---------------+-------
1 | 31.62 | 33.3 | 33.3 | 33¹⁄₃ | 33¹⁄₃
2 | 54.77 | 57.7 | 24.4 | 25 | 58¹⁄₃
3 | 70.71 | 74.6 | 18.9 | 16²⁄₃ | 75
4 | 83.67 | 88.5 | 13.9 | 15 | 90
5 | 94.87 | 100.0 | 11.5 | 10 | 100
----+------------+----------+------+---------------+-------
To get weights for six zones take the mid-ordinates at 8¹⁄₃, 25, 41²⁄₃,
58¹⁄₃, 75, and 91²⁄₃, as follows:
----+------------+----------+------+--------+-------+--------+-------
| | | | | |Another |
| | | |Adjusted| |Adjusted|
Zone|Mid-ordinate|Percentage|Weight| Weight | Sum | Weight | Sum
----+------------+----------+------+--------+-------+--------+-------
1 | 28.86 | 31 | 31 | 30 | 30 | 33¹⁄₃ | 33¹⁄₂
2 | 50.00 | 52 | 21 | 20 | 50 | 20 | 53¹⁄₃
3 | 64.45 | 67 | 15 | 15 | 65 | 16²⁄₃ | 70
4 | 76.70 | 80 | 13 | 12¹⁄₂ | 77¹⁄₂ | 10 | 80
5 | 87.02 | 91 | 11 | 12¹⁄₂ | 90 | 10 | 90
6 | 95.73 | 100 | 9 | 10 |100 | 10 |100
----+------------+----------+------+--------+-------+--------+-------
=To Calculate the Frontage.=--As has already been stated, in some
states in order to initiate a road improvement to be paid for by
special assessment a petition for the same signed by the owners of
a majority of the frontage is necessary. To determine the frontage
for this petition general rules are laid down by proper authority or
laws enacted, stating the necessary procedure and the weights allowed
for calculating frontage based upon distance from the roadway to be
improved. In one state the land up to a distance of 2 miles back on
each side of the roadway may be formed into an improvement district
which constitutes the fronting territory or frontage. The frontage on
each side of the roadway is divided into four zones equal in width.
The first zone, the one nearest the road, has a weight of 50, or it
may be said to contain 50 per cent. of the total frontage; the second
zone has a weight of 25, or contains 25 per cent. of the frontage; the
third, 15 per cent.; and the fourth, 10 per cent. Along a mile of the
road there are, of course, two miles or 10,560 front-feet frontage.
This 10,560 front-feet is not considered to be uniformly distributed
over the entire 4 square miles (assuming the district 2 miles each side
the road) of assessed territory abutting the mile of roadway. Nor to
be decreased according to the mathematical laws stated above. But the
distribution is by arbitrary rule laid down by legislative authority.
In this particular case, assuming a straight roadway and equal zones,
the first one will contain 50 per cent. of 10,560 = 5280 front feet.
Since the actual area of the zone is 1 square mile = 640 acres, there
are 5280 ÷ 640 = 8¹⁄₄ front-feet per acre in this zone. The table will
show similar results for each of the four zones:
----+------+--------+-----------------------------------
| | | Front-feet for varying acreages
| | Front +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
| | feet | 1 | 10 | 20 | 40 | 80 | 160
Zone|Weight|per mile| acre|acres|acres|acres|acres|acres
----+------+--------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
1 | 50 | 5280 |8.250|82.50|165.0| 330 | 660 |1320
2 | 25 | 2640 |4.125|41.25| 82.5| 165 | 330 | 660
3 | 15 | 1584 |2.475|24.75| 49.5| 99 | 198 | 396
4 | 10 | 1056 |1.650|16.50| 33.0| 66 | 132 | 264
----+------+--------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----
As an illustration, suppose two taxpayers have farms of exactly the
same size, 800 acres each, but placed differently in regard to the
road, see figure below. Their influences or petitioning power may be
calculated in front-feet from the preceding table thus:
[Illustration: ASSESSMENT INFLUENCE
Two farms of the same shape but situated differently with regard to
the improved highway have different “petitioning influences” and are
assessed differently for improvements. Farm _A_ is in contact with the
road for 5280 ft., and has an influence or assessment value of 4158
front-feet. Farm _B_ is in contact 1320 ft. and has an assessment value
of 2442 front-feet.]
----+------+----------------+----------------
| | Farm A | Farm B
| +-----+----------+-----+----------
| | |Influence | |Influence
Zone|Weight|Acres|Front-Feet|Acres|Front-Feet
----+------+-----+----------+-----+----------
1 | 50 | 320 | 2640 | 80 | 660
2 | 25 | 240 | 990 | 160 | 660
3 | 15 | 160 | 396 | 240 | 594
4 | 10 | 80 | 132 | 320 | 528
| +-----+----------+-----+----------
Total | 800 | 4158 | 800 | 2442
| +----------+-----+----------
Contact Feet | 5280 | | 1320
-----------------+----------+-----+----------
=Procedure with Unequal Zones or Irregular Lots.=--Where the zones are
not equal in area or the property lines do not intersect the roadway
at right angles or the lots are irregular in shape, the method of
procedure is not quite so simple, although the principle is the same.
While it is customary to make the zones of uniform width this is not
absolutely necessary. Likewise the ratio of weights vary with different
states and cities. One city uses 33¹⁄₃, 20, 16²⁄₃, 10, 10, 10 for the
weights in its six zones; another uses 33¹⁄₃, 25, 16²⁄₃, 15 and 10.
Neither of these, as shown in the tables on pages 315 and 316 varies
materially from the theoretical ratio.
Using the latter of these ratios a small district has been worked out
as shown in the figure and table on page 320. Incidentally this also
shows a good method of recording lot assessments during the process of
computations. The work is readily checked. The sum of the lot areas
must equal the sum of the zone areas and that of the whole district.
The sums of the weighted areas for the same divisions must balance. The
sums of front-feet likewise. Also cross and vertical summations may be
made to check.
[Illustration]
=Second Method of Apportioning Assessments.=--A second method based
upon a different definition has something in its favor. If the
front-foot is defined as a lot 1 foot wide measured in the direction of
the street extending directly back through all the zones to the limit
of the assessed area it will have a weighed area of _W__{1}_z__{1} +
_W__{2}_z__{2} + _W__{3}_z__{3} ... and so on, where _W__{1} represents
the weight of the zone, whose width is _z__{1}, and _W__{2} the weight
of the zone, width _z__{2}, etc. If _z__{1} = _z__{2} = _z__{3} ...
etc., as is usually the case the weighted area of 1 front-foot is
(_W__{1} + _W__{2} + _W__{3} ... ) _z_ = _Wz_ = 100_z_, since _W_ is
always = 100. The total number of front-feet in the district, or in any
lot, will be the number of weighted feet in the district or in the lot,
divided by 100_z_. In the district represented on p. 320, the number
of front-feet is the total frontage, 1,936,000 divided by 4000 = 484;
and for each lot the amount shown in the table. The results obtained by
the two methods are directly proportional, so that either may be used
for making assessments. In fact they are proportional to the weighted
areas, so that the weighted areas may be used instead of the front-feet
if desired.
=Rule for Assessment.=--To get the assessment for any particular
lot divide the total cost of the improvement by the total number of
front-feet in the district and multiply the quotient by the number of
front-feet in the lot.
[Illustration:
+----+-----+-----------------+--------------+---------------+
|ZONE| WT. | ZONES | LOT 1 | LOT 2 |
| | +------+----------+----+---------+-----+---------+
| | | AREA | WTD. AREA|AREA|WTD. AREA| AREA|WTD. AREA|
+----+-----+------+----------+----+---------+-----+---------+
| 1 |39¹⁄₃|22,800| 760,000 |4800| 160,000 | 3600| 120,000 |
| 2 |25 |20,400| 510,000 |2400| 60,000 | 3600| 90,000 |
| 3 |16²⁄₃|18,000| 300,000 | 300| 5,000 | 3300| 55,000 |
| 4 |15 |15,600| 234,000 | | | 1200| 18,000 |
| 5 |10 |13,200| 132,000 | | | | |
+----+-----+------+----------+----+---------+-----+---------+
|Total |90,000|1,936,000 |7500| 225,000 |11700| 283,000 |
+----------+------+----------+----+---------+-----+---------+
|Front Feet 1^{st} Method 600| | 69.73 | | 87.71 |
+----------------------------+----+---------+-----+---------+
| „ „ 2^{nd} „ 484| | 56.25 | | 70.75 |
+----------------------------+----+---------+-----+---------+
+----+-----+-----------------+---------------+---------------+
|ZONE| WT. | ZONES | LOT 3 | LOT 4 |
| | +------+----------+-----+---------+-----+---------+
| | | AREA | WTD. AREA| AREA|WTD. AREA| AREA|WTD. AREA|
+----+-----+------+----------+-----+---------+-----+---------+
| 1 |39¹⁄₃|22,800| 760,000 | 2400| 80,000 | 3000| 100,000 |
| 2 |25 |20,400| 510,000 | 2400| 60,000 | 3000| 75,000 |
| 3 |16²⁄₃|18,000| 300,000 | 2400| 40,000 | 3000| 50,000 |
| 4 |15 |15,600| 234,000 | 2400| 36,000 | 3000| 45,000 |
| 5 |10 |13,200| 132,000 | 1200| 12,000 | 3000| 30,000 |
+----+-----+------+----------+-----+---------+-----+---------+
|Total |90,000|1,936,000 |10800| 228,000 |15000| 300,000 |
+----------+------+----------+-----+---------+-----+---------+
|Front Feet 1^{st} Method 600| | 70.66 | | 92.97 |
+----------------------------+-----+---------+-----+---------+
| „ „ 2^{nd} „ 484| | 57.00 | | 75.00 |
+----------------------------+-----+---------+-----+---------+
+----+-----+-----------------+---------------+---------------+
|ZONE| WT. | ZONES | LOT 5 | LOT 6 |
| | +------+----------+-----+---------+-----+---------+
| | | AREA | WTD. AREA| AREA|WTD. AREA| AREA|WTD. AREA|
+----+-----+------+----------+-----+---------+-----+---------+
| 1 |39¹⁄₃|22,800| 760,000 | 3000| 100,000 | 6000| 200,000 |
| 2 |25 |20,400| 510,000 | 3000| 75,000 | 6000| 150,000 |
| 3 |16²⁄₃|18,000| 300,000 | 3000| 50,000 | 3000| 50,000 |
| 4 |15 |15,600| 234,000 | 3000| 45,000 | | |
| 5 |10 |13,200| 132,000 | 3000| 30,000 | | |
+----+-----+------+----------+-----+---------+-----+---------+
|Total |90,000|1,936,000 |15000| 300,000 |15000| 400,000 |
+----------+------+----------+-----+---------+-----+---------+
|Front Feet 1^{st} Method 600| | 92.97 | | 123.97 |
+----------------------------+-----+---------+-----+---------+
| „ „ 2^{nd} „ 484| | 75.00 | | 100.00 |
+----------------------------+-----+---------+-----+---------+
+----+-----+-----------------+---------------+
|ZONE| WT. | ZONES | LOT 7 |
| | +------+----------+-----+---------+
| | | AREA | WTD. AREA| AREA|WTD. AREA|
+----+-----+------+----------+-----+---------+
| 1 |39¹⁄₃|22,800| 760,000 | | |
| 2 |25 |20,400| 510,000 | | |
| 3 |16²⁄₃|18,000| 300,000 | 3000| 50,000 |
| 4 |15 |15,600| 234,000 | 6000| 90,000 |
| 5 |10 |13,200| 132,000 | 6000| 60,000 |
+----+-----+------+----------+-----+---------+
|Total |90,000|1,936,000 |15000| 200,000 |
+----------+------+----------+-----+---------+
|Front Feet 1^{st} Method 600| | 61.99 |
+----------------------------+-----+---------+
| „ „ 2^{nd} „ 484| | 50.00 |
+----------------------------+-----+---------+
First Method
Front-Feet = 600
Weighted Area
per front Foot
1,936,000
= --------- = 3226²⁄₃
600
Lot frontage
= Weighted area
of Lot ÷ 3226²⁄₃
Second Method
1,936,000
Front Feet = ---------
4000
= 484
Frontage of each lot
= weighted area of
lot ÷ 4000]
It should be remembered that the assessment of cost must be in
proportion to the benefits to be derived from the improvement. The
assessors will therefore have to use sound judgment and modify the
mathematical results if deemed wise. As a rule it is best never to
deviate, though, unless there are extraordinary good reasons.
=Miscellaneous Sources of Revenue.=--A few years ago much was said
relative to the right of a city to take a portion of the earnings of
public service corporations as compensation to the public for the use
of its streets. Many cities granted franchises under such agreements
and until the automobile depleted the earnings of street railways
and the general costs of manufacturing gas and electricity went up
received considerable revenue from these public utility organizations.
While in most cities this went into the general fund money was usually
appropriated from that fund for street maintenance and improvement,
so indirectly, at least, the roadways profited. In the large cities
franchises for the use of the public streets at, above, or beneath
the surface are sufficiently valuable to warrant good returns to
the public. It seems logical that such money be used for street
improvements. Bus and truck lines fall directly under this head, and
since they are very largely conducive to the distruction of pavements,
it would seem as though they ought to pay for at least a part of this
damage. The tax might be graduated according to weight as is now in
most states the automobile license tax.
A number of cities are entering the commercial and industrial
enterprises such as the sale of water, gas, electricity, ice and
coal. While usually these are operated on a low margin so as not to
make money there is nevertheless, here, an opportunity to secure
necessary funds for public improvements. And if the operation of these
enterprises is such that private competitors can make reasonable
profits the people will be the gainer by having more available funds
for worthy objects. It may not be the proper province of the government
to go into gainful enterprises in competition with its own citizens. In
fact, public opinion in America has been so one-sided on such questions
that wherever private enterprises have been taken over by the states
or the nation they have thereafter been conducted free or at the bare
cost of operation. The turnpike roads were bought by the states and
made part of the free public road system. Cities like Cleveland and
San Francisco have handled their street railways at the bare cost of
operation. Efforts are being made to make the Panama Canal free to
certain classes of commercial shipping. Government land reclamation by
irrigation and drainage has been made so that it could be paid for by
the settlers in small amounts, running through long periods of time.
But notwithstanding all this there is an awakening to the possibilities
that may come from the development and operation by government
of resources that were formerly considered fair game for private
exploitation.
Such disputes as the two nation-wide industrial strikes of 1922, the
coal miners and the railway craftsmen, are rapidly forcing those not
directly connected with the “operators” or the “strikers” to the
opinion that government ownership is the remedy for industrial ailments
of this character. They point to the Post Office Department as an
argument in favor. While it is a fact there has been no trouble so
far with postoffice employees, it does not follow that the same would
be true with the railway, coal mining, and cotton industries. And if
the Government should begin taking over industrial and commercial
enterprises, where would be the end of such paternalism, and would it
lead to sovietism? It is barely possible that governmental regulation
has already gone too far.
But, nevertheless, from some such sources as have been mentioned or
from a sales tax on gasoline may eventually come a relief to the burden
of taxation which now and increasingly so in the future must otherwise
be borne by the land.
=Bonds.=--It is not always possible to raise by taxes sufficient
money to make public improvements on a pay-as-you-go basis. It would
not be economical to attempt to pave one-tenth the width of a street
each year. One patch would be worn out before the next is put down.
The whole must be done at the same time in order not to be vastly
wasteful. And, in order to enjoy the improvement while money is
being collected for its payment, the municipality must resort to
borrowing. It is also argued that since future generations will enjoy
the improvement they should be required to help pay for the same.
The indebtedness represented by the bonds become a lien against the
assessed property in the state, county, township, or district over
which they have been laid. The taxes to pay off the bonds will be
levied uniformly over all property or specially in proportion to
accruing benefits according to conditions prescribed at the time the
improvements were made.
=Kinds of Bonds.=--Bonds are certificates of indebtedness by means
of which the repayment of borrowed money may be spread over a series
of years. They are classified as Sinking Fund, Annuity and Serial,
depending on their manner of payment.
_Sinking fund_ bonds are paid as a whole at the end of their term,
interest being paid annually, or at some other fixed regular period,
upon their face value. The name arises because of the custom of
establishing a sinking-fund into which a certain proportion of the debt
is to be paid annually, and this loaned out so that at the end of the
period it will amount to the face of the bonds. Since there is always
time lost between the collection and loaning of the sinking fund money
the interest derived therefrom will not usually be the same as that of
the bonds. For this reason and from the further fact that sinking funds
are frequently drawn upon for other purposes than that for which they
were created this type of bonds is less economical than either of the
other two types.
The sinking fund which must be raised annually to discharge a debt of
_P_ dollars in _n_ payments, if it can be loaned at _i_ per cent, is
given by the formula:[197]
_i_
Sinking fund = ------------------- . _P_
(1 + _i_)^{_n_} - 1
To illustrate the use of the formula let the debt be $10,000, the
average rate that can be expected from the sinking fund 4 per cent, and
the time five years. Substituting in the formula,
.04
_S_ = ------------- . $10,000
(1 + .04)⁵ - 1
To solve, the denominator is first evaluated:
Log (1 + .04)⁵ = 5 log 1.04
= 5 × 0.017033
= 0.085165
Taking the antilog,
(1 + .04)⁵ = 1.21665
and
(1 + .04)⁵ - 1 = 0.21665
Then
0.4 × $10,000
_S_ = ------------- = $1846.27.
0.21665
Annuity tables, which may be seen at nearly any bank or brokers’
office, or in Bulletin 136, U. S. Department of Agriculture, give
the annuity which will amount to 1 in five years at 4 per cent as
0.1846271; this multiplied by $10,000 gives $1846.27.
To the nearest cent the following tabular statement shows the growth of
the sinking funds:
----+------------+---------------+---------------+------------------
|Sinking-fund| |Annual Payments|Total Sinking-fund
|at Beginning|Interest during| into | at End
Year| of Year | Year | Sinking-Fund | of Year
----+------------+---------------+---------------+------------------
1 | 0. | 0. | $1,846.27 | $ 1,846.27
2 | $1846.27 | $ 73.85 | 1,846.27 | 3,766.39
3 | 3766.39 | 150.66 | 1,846.27 | 5,763.32
4 | 5763.32 | 230.53 | 1,846.27 | 7,840.12
5 | 7840.12 | 313.61 | 1,846.27 | 10,000.00
----+------------+---------------+---------------+------------------
If this loan, the bonds, bore 5 per cent interest the cost to the
borrower would have been the principal plus the interest on principal
less the interest on the sinking fund:
$10,000 + $2500 - $768.65 = $11,731.35;
or the interest on the loan plus the sinking-fund payments:
$2500 + $9231.25 = $11,731.35
_Serial Bonds_ are such that a fixed amount of the principal is retired
at definite periods of time. Usually the amount retired is an aliquot
part of the whole. The payments to be made at any particular time is
the fixed portion of the principal plus the interest on the unpaid
portion up to that date. The periods of retirement are usually annual
or semi-annual.
Assuming the principal to be _P_ and that one nth part of it is paid
each year, the formulas are:
( 1 ( 1 - _k_))
Annual payment for the _k_th year = _P_(--- + _i_(1 + -------)).
(_n_ ( _n_ ))
( 1 - _k_)
Interest for the _k_th year = _Pi_(1 + -------).
( _n_ )
Total amount of interest to the end of ( 1 - _k_)
the _k_th year = _Pik_(1 + -------).
( 2_n_ )
Total amount of interest and principal ( 1 ( 1 - _k_))
paid up to the end of the _k_th year = _Pk_(--- + _i_(1 + -------)).
(_n_ ( 2_n_ ))
The following table shows how a debt of $10,000 bearing 5 per cent
interest would be discharged by equal annual payments in five years:
----+------------+------------+----------------+------------
|Principal at| |Principal Repaid|
|Beginning of|Interest for| at end of |Total Annual
Year| Year | Year | Year | Payment
----+------------+------------+----------------+------------
1 | $10,000 | $ 500 | $ 2,000 | $ 2,500
2 | 8,000 | 400 | 2,000 | 2,400
3 | 6,000 | 300 | 2,000 | 2,300
4 | 4,000 | 200 | 2,000 | 2,200
5 | 2,000 | 100 | 2,000 | 2,100
| +------------+----------------+------------
|Totals | $1,500 | $10,000 | $11,500
----+------------+------------+----------------+------------
_Annuity Bonds_ are those wherein a uniform periodic payment is made
to discharge the debt in a given time. The formula for the necessary
payment to discharge a debt of _P_, with interest rate _i_ in _n_ years
is,
_i_
Annual payment = -------------------- . _P_.
1 - (1 - _i_)^{_-n_}
Results may be taken from books of tables already referred to or by
means of logarithms the formula may be solved. For example let it be
required to discharge a debt of $10,000 in five equal payments, the
rate of interest being 5 per cent.
Solution:
(1 + _i_)^{_-n_} = 1.05⁻⁵.
Log 1.05 = -0.021189
-5 Log 1.05 = -0.105945
= 9.894055-10
Log⁻¹(9.894055-10) = 0.783529
1 - 0.783529 = 0.216471
Log Annual Payment = Log _i_ - Log 0.216471 + Log _P_
= Log 0.05 - Log 0.216471 + Log 10,000
= (8.698970 - 10) - (9.335398 - 10) + 4.000,000
= 3.363572
Annual Payment = Log⁻¹ 3.363571 = $2309.748.
The following table shows the repayment of the loan by annual payments
of $2309.75:
----+------------+------------+----------------+-------------
| Principal | | |
| Owing at | |Principal Repaid|
|Beginning of|Interest for| at End |Total Payment
Year| Year | Year | of Year | for Year
----+------------+------------+----------------+-------------
1 | $10,000.00 | $500.00 | $1,809.75 | $2,309.75
2 | 8,190.25 | 409.51 | 1,900.24 | 2,309.75
3 | 6,290.01 | 314.50 | 1,995.25 | 2,309.75
4 | 4,294.76 | 214.74 | 2,095.01 | 2,309.75
5 | 2,199.85 | 109.99 | 2,199.75 | 2,309.74
| +------------+----------------+-------------
|Totals | $1548.74 | $10,000.00 | $11,548.74
----+------------+------------+----------------+-------------
Since it is more convenient to have the bonds in even hundreds
of dollars and the interest in dollars some adjustment from the
theoretical amounts are usually made but such that the annual payments
will be near the theoretical. Sometimes, too, the bonds are made
smaller for the first few years then gradually increase so that the
natural growth in population and wealth may bear its proportional
burden. One adjustment for the example just given is shown:
----+------------+------------+----------------+-------------
| Principal | | |
Year| Owing at | |Principal Repaid|
|Beginning of|Interest for| at End |Total Payment
| Year | Year | of Year | for Year
----+------------+------------+----------------+-------------
1 | $10,000 | 500 | $1,800 | $2,300
2 | 8,200 | 410 | 1,900 | 2,310
3 | 6,300 | 315 | 2,000 | 2,315
4 | 4,300 | 215 | 2,100 | 2,315
5 | 2,200 | 110 | 2,200 | 2,310
| +------------+----------------+-------------
| Totals | $1,500 | $10,000 | $11,550
----+------------+------------+----------------+-------------
=Total Cost by the Three Kinds of Bonds.=--The total cost of a loan, as
shown by the following table taken from Bulletin 136, U. S. Department
of Agriculture, is generally greatest under the sinking fund plan and
least under the serial. The serial, too, is the simplest to compute.
TOTAL COST OF A $100,000 LOAN FOR 20 YEARS
Interest Compounded Annually[198]
--------+--------------------------+--------+--------
Annual | Sinking-fund Bond Com- | |
Interest| pounded Annually at | |
on +--------+--------+--------+Annuity | Serial
Bonds | 3% | 3¹⁄₂% | 4% | Bond | Bond
--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------
4 |$154,431|$150,722|$147,163|$147,163|$142,000
4¹⁄₂ | 164,431| 160,722| 157,163| 153,752| 147,250
5 | 174,431| 170,722| 167,163| 160,485| 152,500
5¹⁄₂ | 184,431| 180,722| 177,163| 167,359| 157,750
6 | 194,431| 190,722| 187,163| 174,369| 163,000
--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------
The sinking-fund bonds are made out to run the full period and are
paid for from the proceeds of the sinking-fund at the end of the term.
Serial and annuity bonds are made to mature in proportion to the
amounts paid each year. In the example used the serial system would
retire $2000 worth of bonds each year, while with the annuity system
$1800 would be retired at the end of the first year; $1900, the next;
$2000, the third; $2100 the fourth, and $2200 the fifth.
Interest coupons, that is, notes for the payment of interest at stated
intervals and providing for interest upon the interest if not paid at
maturity, are usually attached to the bonds for the entire period that
they run, one to be clipped at each interest pay day.
=The Term of Bonds.=--Several states and some of the large cities have
issued bonds for road improvements for long series of years. This has
met considerable opposition on the ground that the bonds should not
run longer than the life of the improvement, otherwise there may be
another series of bonds lapping upon the first, and perhaps a second
and third upon these. The arguments in favor of the long terms are
that some parts, at least, of the improvement will be permanent, that
reconstruction will cost less than original construction so that
lapping will do little harm, and that money may be obtained at a lower
rate on long-term than on short-term bonds.
It is a quite general practice for the abutting property-holders to pay
for the first pavement by special assessment. Resurfacing is frequently
and general repairs almost universally paid for by the city as a whole.
It would seem, especially where property-holders pay on the installment
plan, that a term of bond well within the life of the pavement ought
to be adopted. Ten years seems a reasonable time, fifteen years at the
longest. If borrowing is continued and one loan lapped upon another
there comes a time when the charges for paying off the debt and the
interest will more than equal the amount that can be borrowed. For
instance suppose a man can continue to borrow $1000 per year on five
years’ time, $200 to be paid each year. During the first year he would
owe $1000, and at the end of the year he pays $200 on the principal and
the interest. He borrows another $1000, so during the second year he is
in debt $1800 and must pay at the end of the year $400 principal and
$108 interest. The third year he is in debt $2400 and pays on principal
$600 and interest $144. The fourth year his debt is $2800, and payment
on principal $800 and the interest, $168. The fifth year and every year
following the debt is $3000 and the payment necessary on principal
$1000 and the interest $180. The payments on the principal amount is
equal to exactly the sum he can borrow. While the amounts used in
the illustration are small the principle is the same for loans upon
long-term bonds.
It would be better for cities and states to progress more slowly than
to have saddled upon them a debt in perpetuity. There are times,
however, when municipalities or other districts will find it the best
policy to borrow money and issue bonds. Serial and annuity bonds have
this advantage that as the improvement depreciates in value with time
the burden of indebtedness for the improvement becomes less. But it
can scarcely be considered the part of wisdom to have the bonds run
longer than the life of the pavement for which they were issued. The
pay-as-you-go plan is by far the most economical method of procedure,
but it cannot always be followed. There are times when budgetary
appropriations are insufficient and the people will not stand for
heavy taxation. In one city it had been the custom for the city by
general taxation to pay for paving intersections. As the intersections
amounted to about 30 per cent. of the total area paved that was thought
to be an equitable division, because the entire city receives some
benefit from each pavement put in. But the applications for paving
were much more each year than the city could pay for from its ordinary
budget. The amount of paving done each year was limited by the area of
intersections that the city was able to lay. Some districts said, “We
will pay for the whole pavement, intersections and all, rather than go
without or wait over one or two years.” The city council allowed this
to be done, and, soon, even went further and passed an ordinance taxing
the whole cost including the intersections to the fronting property.
This method has been in use for several years and the city of less than
70,000 inhabitants has more than 200 miles of pavement, and no citizen
was ever known to protest the scheme. Of course the public as a whole
could have paid for all these intersections by general taxation just
as easily as the private property-holders could, but if taxes had been
raised for that purpose there would have been many complaints that the
poor were being taxed to pave the streets in front of the residences of
the rich.
In fact, the last idea mentioned is one of the arguments in favor of
large bond issues such as are found in several of the states like New
York, Maryland, Illinois, California, Missouri and other states, to say
nothing of cities and counties. The argument is that the entire state,
county or city system should be constructed about the same time that
all may have equal benefit of it and that there shall be no intentional
partiality. Nelson P. Lewis states in the American Highway Engineers’
Handbook in effect that on a 4 per cent basis the $100,000,000 bonds
of the state of New York will mean an annual tax of $4,890,000 for
interest and sinking-fund charges, to say nothing of the annual
maintenance and renewal expenses, running through two generations. He
claims the same system of roads could have been built, at no greater
annual appropriations, in twenty years’ time and the people would not
have been saddled with debt, and it will require at least half that
time to complete the system with the bonds and the debt.
In Illinois, on the other hand, the debt, some $60,000,000 is to
be paid from the automobile licenses, which will be used for its
amortization. In Maine automobile licenses are also being used to pay
bonds, but only $500,000 will be issued in any one year and the total
outstanding cannot by law exceed $2,000,000.
Maryland uses a short-term-bond--fifteen years--and provides that
any road renewals required before that time shall be paid for out of
general appropriations.
New York city had issued bonds until more than two-thirds of the total
taxation for streets had to go to interest and amortization so some
years ago a change was made to what they called the pay-as-you-go plan.
It took four years to make the change, so, now, non-revenue-producing
improvements are made without issuing bonds. Revenue-producing
enterprises, such as water supply, transit lines, and water-front
improvements, are still financed by long term, 50-year bonds.
=Stocks and Bonds.=--Railways, interurban trolley lines, street-car
lines, and toll roads have been financed largely by stock
subscriptions. Public roads, being without a revenue-producing power,
cannot be financed in this manner, except perhaps in exceptional
cases where a few persons are willing to donate their money or are
building for private use but are willing to share the same with the
public. Large bridges may occasionally be built in this manner, the
stockholders exacting toll for passage in order to get a return on
their investment. However, such cases are negligible in the great
national scheme of public highways.
=National and State Aid.=--The history of National and State Aid in the
United States has been treated quite fully in Chapter V. It will not
be necessary to repeat that here. Suffice to say that with possibly a
few exceptions all the states in the Union now have some form of state
aid--money, engineering advice, testing materials, convict labor,
etc.; also the territories of Alaska, Hawaii, the Philippine Islands,
and Porto Rico, or else the governments of these divisions directly
take charge of the construction of a part or a whole of the roads. The
acceptance of Federal Aid practically made it necessary for the states
to have highway departments to distribute the Federal Aid money and the
equal amount the state had to put up to match it. Several of the states
like New York and California had raised by bond issues large sums of
money before federal aid was available and distributed it to counties
that would coöperate in the building of roads to be united into a
comprehensive state system. New Jersey, the first State Aid state, and
Massachusetts, a close follower, had already “paved the way” as an
example for other states to follow.
=Federal Aid.=--The Federal Aid road act, approved July 11, 1916,
appropriated “out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise
appropriated, for the fiscal years ending June 30, 1917, the sum
of $5,000,000; for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918, the sum
of $10,000,000; for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1919, the
sum of $15,000,000; for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1920,
the sum of $20,000,000; and for the fiscal year ending June 30,
1921, the sum of $25,000,000.” In addition there was appropriated
$10,000,000--$1,000,000 per year until 1926--for the survey,
construction and maintenance of roads within or partly within the
national forests in coöperation with the states in which these forests
are located.
The Secretary of Agriculture was by the Act, after making a deduction
of 3 per cent, to cover expenses of administration, authorized to
apportion the remainder “among the several states in the following
manner: One-third in the ratio which the area of the State bears
to the total area of all the States; one-third in the ratio which
the population of each State bears to the total population of all
States...; one-third in the ratio which the mileage of rural delivery
routes and star routes in each State bears to the total mileage of
rural delivery routes and star routes in all the States....”
States desiring to avail themselves of the benefits of the act
were required to “submit to the Secretary of Agriculture project
statements setting forth proposed construction of any rural post road
or roads therein.” If approved the states were further to “furnish
to him surveys, plans, specifications and estimates therefor as he
may require.” Only such projects as were “substantial in character”
might be approved. “Items included for engineering, inspection, and
unforeseen contingencies” may not be greater than 10 per cent of the
total cost of the work. Upon the final approval by the Secretary
of Agriculture of the plans, specifications and estimates and its
certification to the Secretary of the Treasury the Act provides that
there should be “set aside the share of the United States payable under
this Act on account of such project,” not to “exceed fifty per centum
of the total estimated cost thereof.”
[Illustration:
© _Underwood and Underwood_
A NATIONAL HIGHWAY IN THE MOUNTAINS OF MARYLAND]
It was not the intention to take away from the states any right which
they might enjoy for the construction work was to be done in accordance
with the laws of the state within which a project lay but subject to
the inspection of the Secretary of Agriculture. He also has power to
pay to the states the amount of money set aside when a project has been
satisfactorily completed and also to make payments on the same during
the process of construction not to exceed the United States’ pro rata
part of the value of the work done, and not to exceed $10,000 per mile
of road exclusive of bridges more than 20 feet clear span.
The states snapped up this money greedily and the demand for more
money became so great that in 1919 Congress appropriated $200,000,000
more, and still later, 1921, appropriated $75,000,000, and $15,000,000
for national forest roads. And still later, June 18, 1922, there was
authorized an appropriation of $65,000,000 to be expended during the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1923, and $75,000,000 for the succeeding
fiscal year. At the end of five years after the passage of the Federal
Aid road act, there had been completed under its terms 7469 miles of
road and 17,977 miles additional were under construction. Texas ranked
first in the number of miles completed, with 682; and Illinois had
received the greatest amount of federal aid on projects completed and
under construction, with $11,807,906; while Texas was a close second
with $11,393,485.
While the mileage built by Federal and state aid is less in the more
compact densely populated Eastern states, the cost per mile is much
more as much more expensive types of roads are being built. In the
West and South earth roads largely make up the mileage. It has been
objected that these do not properly come under the wish of Congress
when it provided that the fund should be used only in the construction
of “substantial” roads. Earth road advocates argue that such features
as grading, draining and straightening roads may be considered
permanent, in so far as the road is ready for any type of surfacing
that may be desired to be laid at a later date. Recognizing the merits
of both contentions The Bureau of Public Roads issued, in 1922, a
decision practically as follows:
The question of a more definite policy to be followed in connection
with the approval of earth road Federal Aid projects which
involve grading and drainage only, has for some time been under
consideration, and it has been decided that hereafter such projects
will only be approved on condition that The (State) Highway
Department agree, in so far as it may legally do so, that within a
reasonable time after completion of the improvement of the project
as an earth road, it will place or cause to be placed thereon, an
adequate and substantial type of surfacing.
By adequate and substantial type of surfacing is meant such type as
will carry the prospective traffic with such maintenance expenses
that the total annual charges will represent a reasonable expenditure
for the public service rendered by the highway.
It seems, therefore, that the Government expects to assist in the
financing of roads that appear adequate for the purposes intended.
=State Aid.=--The machinery of paying state money to finance local
roads throughout the counties varies greatly with the different states.
For example half may come from Federal Aid, half the remainder from
State Aid, and half the remainder from County Aid, leaving only a very
small amount for the local abutting property. In other states a large
part falls on the abutting property. It would seem as though through
main traveled roads should be largely financed by nation and state
while local marketing roads which will not require such expensive
surfacing should be largely locally financed.
=Present State of Federal Aid.=--The Bureau of Public Roads gives out
the information that 11,930 miles of road have been constructed during
the year 1921 by the States in conjunction with Federal Aid, at a total
cost of $231,963,682, toward which the government allotted $94,057,089.
There were under way during the year 31,228 miles, which was about
one-half the road work carried on in the United States during the year.
It is safe to assume, then, that through the stimulus of Government
Aid, direct and indirect, more than 20,000 miles were built during
1921, and that more than 40,000 more miles are under way.
The effects of Federal Aid is just now beginning to be felt; a few
years more will see the United States so well supplied with good
roads that the national appropriations for Federal Aid may be reduced
materially.
It is estimated that the $190,000,000 available for allotment,
$65,000,000 for the year ending 1923, $75,000,000 for the year 1924,
and $50,000,000 remaining from previous appropriations, will result
in the construction of more than 25,000 miles of road, which added to
the 46,000 miles that are expected to result from previous federal
appropriations, makes a total of 71,000 miles, or nearly 40 per cent of
the estimated 180,000 miles of good roads in the System of Federal Aid
roads now being outlined.
The U. S. Bureau of Public Roads gives out the figures up to December
31, 1921, as follows:
Federal Aid Apportioned, 1917 to 1922 inc., $339,875,000
Projects under Construction:
Total Estimated Cost 275,652,104
Federal Aid 117,049,690
Miles 15,834
Projects on which Construction is Completed:
Total Estimated Cost 221,739,710
Federal Aid 95,054,184
Miles 12,907
=Matching Federal Aid Dollars.=--The main argument that brought the
Federal Aid law into being was the need of farm to market roads and the
fact that in the past the expense for building and maintaining roads
fell most heavily upon the farmer. In an excellent report made by
Senator Bankhead (Senate Report 250, 64th Congress, 1st Session) for
the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads, the statement is made
that “it is probably conservative to say that at least 75 per cent of
the money raised for road purposes” at that time, 1916, “is paid by
the owners of country property.” He gives statistics to show that the
owners of less than one-third of the real property of the United States
were paying more than three-fourths of the cost of the public roads.
This did not seem to be equitable, since the country people did not
have a monopoly on their use. The burden of building and caring for the
roads should be distributed among all who were benefited by them. There
is no very adequate method of doing this, but inasmuch as all citizens,
both city and country, share in the raising of national revenues, the
result of federal appropriations would be to tend in some measure to
equalize the cost of roads as between city and country.
It was not thought wise to make a direct gift of money from the federal
treasury, as that would favor too much of paternalism, would result in
“pork barrel” scandals, and would stifle local initiative, energy, and
self-help. If the federal government were to enter upon the building
outright of a system of roads, there would be a temptation for the
states and counties to cease building in the hope the government would
eventually get around to them. Likewise the demand for “pork” would
be enormous. The plan was therefore devised of requiring the state to
pay half the expenses of road building, that is, of matching dollars,
fifty-fifty, with the federal treasury. It was further decided that
federal money should go into road extensions, leaving repairs and
renewals to the states. If states refuse to perform the necessary
maintenance the only recourse the government has is to withdraw future
Federal aid. The object of the government was to add to the stock
of good roads, and eventually secure the necessary 20 per cent upon
which engineers state, 80 to 90 per cent of the entire traffic can be
adequately accommodated.
Many of the states were devoid of the necessary machinery to take care
of this money and expend it efficiently in the construction of roads
or to maintain them in good condition afterward; so the Government
asked that highway departments be created, if they did not already
exist, in order that there might be skilled supervision and efficient
organization on the parts of the states as that was the best insurance
that these duties would be thoroughly performed. Furthermore there
would be some centralized authority at Washington and some at each
state capital; the initiative and the choice of location, types,
and materials for road building would not be left wholly to local
administrations which were more likely to be swerved to meet the
selfish interests of prominent local personages than is possible in
larger political units. The judgment of Congress is less likely to be
biased by local conditions or by selfish individuals than would that
of a township or county board, or even the State Legislature. On the
other hand from the very beginning of the national federation states
have jealously guarded their rights, giving up very reluctantly to
the Federal Government in any attempts toward centralization. So “no
policy,” states the committee report, “should be adopted which does not
permit the retention by the States of the fullest measure of control
consistent with the necessary inspection and safeguarding which is
customary with all federal appropriations.” Hence the states were
left the power or not as they saw fit of availing themselves of the
Government Aid money. Nearly if not all the states in the Union have
availed themselves of Federal Aid. It is claimed by opponents of the
system that this is because if a state does not take its quota the
money will be appropriated to other states while this state will still
have to pay its proportional part to the fund from which the money
comes. This they claim is pernicious and has caused states to ask aid
when voting the taxes to match the same was extremely burdensome to the
people. In other words the people “are forced into a position where
their only justification is a presumption that they are grabbing while
the grabbing is good.”[199]
It was the intention of the framers of the law that the contribution
from the government would be so substantial that results of magnitude
might be accomplished and still at the same time not raise taxes higher
than the people could stand. The plan adopted seemed just. First the
road is primarily for the use of the people hence population should
be a factor. A secondary consideration was to make accessible the
best products of the farm and to develop the land which on account
of its remoteness to markets and the conditions of the highways was
not in the highest or best state of culture. Area then was a second
factor. The third factor was the post roads--rural delivery and star
routes. This last as has been pointed out in a previous chapter was
possibly the peg upon which the garment could be hung in the closet of
constitutionality. However, it was thought that “the interests of the
East are protected by the factor of population, the interests of the
West should receive consideration through including area as a factor of
apportionment. Finally, the direct interest of the federal government,”
according to the Committee, “as represented by the great mileage of
rural delivery and star routes for the transportation of mail and
parcel post should have some weight in the granting of federal funds.”
Federal Aid has now been in operation for five years. Most people think
it has demonstrated its worth. But it must be remembered that five
years is a short time for the stupendous task of transforming an almost
impassable conglomeration of roads into a usable system of comfortable
highways. The soldiers who went to France during the World War came
back enthusiastic converts of good roads. Foreigners traveling in this
country have frequently marveled at the paucity of good roads. The
natives having grown up here knew no better. The Federal Aid experiment
has been the means of bringing the people to a partial knowledge of the
benefits of better highways. They will not be content to go backward.
In the words of a committee report to the Legislature of the State
of Nebraska[200]: “The (Federal Aid) System seems to be well grounded
and is nourished and sustained by nation-wide organizations, that
are banded together for the purpose of maintaining and extending the
system, and inasmuch as they seem to be powerful enough to influence
the maintenance of the system, it will no doubt be maintained until
some organization equally influential makes of the matter an issue
and overturns the system.” The Committee, while evidently prejudiced
against matching dollars with the Federal Government, admitted the
value to the state of the work done and that “there is no more
important internal improvement in which the state can engage.”
Under a Federal highway act signed November 9, 1921, $75,000,000
becomes available by Federal Aid for road construction in the several
states for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1922, and in addition
$15,000,000 for roads in national forests. This new Federal Aid Act
is very similar to the act of 1916. The method of allotment is as
before; the ratio of allotment nearly the same, but a new feature is
that the minimum allotment to any state shall not be less than one-half
of 1 per cent of the total to all states, which in this case amounts
to $365,000. This increases the apportionment to the four states of
Delaware, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
The new Act changes the manner in which a state may use its allotment.
Each state must select a connected road system not exceeding 7 per cent
of its road mileage for improvement with Federal Aid. This system will
be divided into two classes, one to be known as “interstate highways”
the other as “intercounty highways.” The interstate highways must not
exceed three-sevenths of the system selected; on them not more than
60 per cent of the Federal Aid Allotment can be spent without the
joint approval of the Secretary of Agriculture and the State Highway
Department. The intercounty highways will receive the remainder of the
allotment.
Some of the Western states where there are large areas of
unappropriated public land due to the desert or mountainous nature
of the country, found it to be impossible to continue the matching
of Government funds. The new act provides that in states where the
unappropriated public land amounts to more than 5 per cent of the area
of the state, the 50 per cent allotment is increased by an amount equal
to one-half the percentage of unappropriated public land in the state.
Before any funds can be paid to any state, the state must appropriate
money under the direct control of the Highway Department to match the
Federal apportionment or so much as it desires to avail itself of.
Likewise it must provide suitable means for the maintenance of Federal
Aid highways.
The allotment to each state of Federal Aid funds available June
30, 1922, under the act signed November 9, 1921, authorizing an
appropriation of $75,000,000, follows:
----------------------------
State Allotment
----------------------------
Alabama $1,553,420
Arizona 1,053,281
Arkansas 1,264,142
California 2,462,098
Colorado 1,341,175
Connecticut 480,897
Delaware 365,625
Florida 886,825
Georgia 1,997,957
Idaho 938,536
Illinois 3,246,281
Indiana 1,958,855
Iowa 2,102,872
Kansas 2,102,281
Kentucky 1,417,178
Louisiana 996,989
Maine 695,160
Maryland 640,629
Massachusetts 1,096,176
Michigan 2,249,532
Minnesota 2,123,597
Mississippi 1,294,906
Missouri 2,448,128
Montana 1,546,885
Nebraska 1,581,189
Nevada 953,436
New Hampshire 365,625
New Jersey 942,870
New Mexico 1,189,823
New York 3,696,447
North Carolina 1,709,333
North Dakota 1,164,714
Ohio 2,823,004
Oklahoma 1,752,339
Oregon 1,182,663
Pennsylvania 3,398,925
Rhode Island 365,625
South Carolina 1,061,237
South Dakota 1,204,060
Tennessee 1,647,692
Texas 4,425,172
Utah 849,417
Vermont 365,625
Virginia 1,456,828
Washington 1,103,709
West Virginia 802,359
Wisconsin 1,894,815
Wyoming 934,617
----------------------------
The question of whether or not it is wise for a state to match the
Federal Aid appropriation for the purpose of building roads is a
debatable one. When people see the amount of their taxes going up by
leaps and bounds they naturally look for some place for retrenchment.
The road tax being, now, one of the largest in the state is naturally
subject to attack.
In the consideration of the problem two questions stand out
prominently: Do the results so far obtained justify the expenditure?
and can the United States and the States afford to continue the
expenditures?
Reports from the Bureau of Public Highways indicate that with the
aid of the $350,000,000 previously appropriated by the Government,
17,000 miles of road had been completed up to May 31, 1922, and in
addition nearly 14,500 miles were under construction involving more
than $287,500,000 of Federal Aid. To match this fund the states
have appropriated approximately $380,000,000, making a total of
$667,500,000. The Bureau states the average cost of roads per mile of
all types of construction with Federal Aid has been $17,120, of which
43 per cent has been the cost to the government. About one-fifth of the
Federal system, that it is thought will be sufficient to accommodate
80 per cent of the traffic, has been completed. This seems to be
reasonable progress considering the stupendousness of the task.
The expenses so far are a little more than $6 per person in six years
or approximately $1 per person per year, counting the population of
the United States as 110,000,000. If any one is anxious to save this
expense it can easily be done by a little economy. Refraining from
smoking one cigar a month, from drinking one ice-cream soda a month,
from going to three picture shows in a year, or by allowing the
automobile to stand in the garage one or two Sundays per year.
Practically each state in the Union could easily collect its share of
the match money by a one-cent tax per gallon on gasoline. A score of
states have adopted this method and more will, as by this means the
land which is highly burdened with general and school taxes will be
considerably relieved, and the road tax shifted to the road users. The
man who owns an automobile will not thus have the ultimate amount which
he pays for roads decreased, but the man who does not own an automobile
will be relieved in so far as the gasoline tax is not passed on in the
way of increased charges. But the gasoline tax will not appear on the
annual tax receipts and therefore is less noticeable.
The answer to the question, “should the states continue to match the
Federal Aid dollar?” in the opinion of the writer is, “yes, until the
Federal system of 180,000 miles of road is completed.” This ought to be
accomplished in about ten years.
Most of the Mid-west and Western states pay into the national Federal
Aid fund, as duties, revenue taxes, etc., less than they receive in
the way of Federal Aid. These states, therefore, are the gainers in
the matching process. Even where there is no financial advantage as in
some of the more populous states, there is a psychological advantage
in the stimulus which this money gives toward the building of good
roads. Good, dependable, 365-days-a-year roads must come. They are
demanded by the 10,000,000 pleasure automobile owners and their
30,000,000 additional passengers; they are demanded by the more than
2,000,000 commercial vehicle owners and their 50,000,000 patrons; they
are demanded by the man who lounges along in a smooth-riding silent
$10,000 car; and they are demanded by the driver of the sputtering,
rough-riding, ear-splitting $400 car. Yes, good roads must come, and
the Federal Aid movement begun at the behest and in behalf of the farm
element will continue even if the burdens of building and maintenance
be shifted through the gasoline tax and the automobile license, from
the farm and city real estate to the owners and users of motor-driven
vehicles. With all these influences working it is not likely
legislatures will refuse to match dollars with the Government.
=Financing Highway Transportation.=--There are at least three methods
of financing highway transportation: (1) Individual; (2) Partnership;
and (3) Corporation.
_Individual._--The individual method may be divided into two classes:
(1) Those that are a part of auxiliary to or accessory to other
business, and (2) those that make up or compose the business itself.
The highway transport lines that are auxiliary to other business may
be illustrated by the delivery truck of the grocer, the trucks for
hauling to and from the depots of large department stores, or better
the trucks owned by creameries which perform a sort of express service
for the producers of milk and cream. The Fairmont Creameries, with
headquarters at Omaha, operate more than 140 trucks, many of which
make regular trips over established routes, picking up at the farmer’s
gate full cans of cream and milk and leaving empty ones. The cost
of these services, while ostensibly borne by the creamery, must of
necessity be accounted for and charged to the expense of doing business
or to the individual sellers of cream. The business is not run as a
trucking or transportation business, but as a creamery, a department
store, or a grocery, and is reckoned in as part of the annual expense
or overhead charges. The motor to the truck gardener is of as much
importance as any other part of his business. In fact his plant would
be as handicapped without it as would a clock without its hour hand.
The same may be said of practically all enterprises which depend on
transportation upon the highways as a function of their business.
All such transportation, therefore, is financed in exactly the same
manner as the business itself, in fact it is a part of it.
In the other class of individual ownership the business is usually
so small that one person, the owner, can look after the whole of it.
He may or may not have any assistants. However, he finances it as an
individual. He either has the money at the beginning or is able to
borrow it. If he borrows it he gives his note acknowledging the debt
and stating the time or times for payment, rate of interest and any
other stipulations that might have been entered into at the time of
securing the loan. He will probably give a mortgage on his property,
that is a writ showing the debt to be a lien on the property under
which the loaner of the money may, if it is not paid as stipulated,
foreclose and sell the property for the settlement of the debt. It
becomes null when the note on which it is based has been paid. If,
however, it has been “recorded” in the office of the Register of
Deeds or other place set aside for that purpose, it will have to be
“released” and the release recorded in order to clear the title to the
property.
_Partnership._--An agreement of two or more persons to combine their
property, labor, or skill for the purpose of transacting any particular
business for their joint profit is called a partnership. The agreement
may be oral or written. The partnership is just as extensive as the
business it is proposed to do, but no more so. Each partner is entitled
to his share of the profits as arranged for in the agreement but in
the absence of any stipulation the law will presume equal shares. The
partners may agree on a way of dividing the losses, but such agreement
will only hold as against those to whom it is made known and credit
has been given accordingly. The laws usually provide that articles
of partnership may be made known generally to the public by proper
publication and recording in a place designated for that purpose.
Although long neglect of any articles of agreement will act as a waiver
against an innocent creditor.
In a partnership the action of one partner with some exceptions, binds
the whole partnership, so that rather than have several members to
a partnership it is better to form a corporation. A partnership may
borrow money and mortgage its property just the same as an individual.
A transport line then could be financed by each partner putting in
a definite proportion of the capital. Two men might enter into a
partnership and one man furnish all the capital, the other the skill
and experience necessary to operate the business, the profits and
losses to be shared in a manner agreed upon. However, without notice to
a creditor at the time the debt was entered into each partner could be
held for the entire debt if partnership property would not take care of
it.
The advantages to be derived from a partnership are that larger capital
may be obtained and more business done, the benefit of business skill
and experience may be procured, and the work of management may be
sub-divided among the several partners so that each may become more
proficient, or more efficiently administer his own department.
There will be no particular difference between the financing of the
partnership and the individual ownership, except perhaps more capital
will come in with more partners. The partnership agreement should,
to prevent misunderstanding, be carefully drawn up in writing and
signed by each partner. It should state the amount and kind of capital
each partner puts into the business, the relations and duties of the
partners, and the manner in which profits and losses are to be shared.
_Corporation._--A corporation is a legal combination of two or more
persons into an artificial personage for the purpose of carrying
on some lawful business under such grants as secure to it a legal
existence and power to act even though the individual memberships
change.
In this type of proprietorship the individual owners called
stockholders are liable for the debts of the business only to the
extent of their stockholding, in some states to double the par value
of their stock. The stockholders have a voice in the affairs of the
business only to the extent of their ownership of stock, such ownership
being evidenced by certificates of stock issued in proportion to
the number of shares of stock owned. State laws are voluminous and
restrictions are numerous for the regulation of corporations. The
organization must be made according to law and then incorporated. It
must conduct its work according to definite requirements, file regular
reports, pay special taxes, and so on. The business is conducted
through a board of directors elected by the stockholders at regular
intervals of time specified in the articles of incorporation. The board
of directors usually elects its own officers and appoints a manager
or managers for the business. The operation of the business is under
the direction of a manager, who may as a rule appoint his assistants
and employees, unless this latter be designated to under officers. The
manager is under the supervision of the board of directors, and the
directors hold their office at the hands of the stockholders. So that
the real owners have only an indirect supervision over the affairs of
the business. The corporation is given a name and seal and is empowered
to act as an individual, may borrow money, own property, sue and be
sued. Notwithstanding its somewhat cumbersome machinery the corporation
is a favorite form of organization possibly because of its limited
liability feature, its close centralized control even though the
ownership be spread over large numbers, and the amount of money handled
be great.
The large transportation companies, the railways, the steamship lines,
electric street cars, canals, trolley lines, pipe lines, and so on,
when held under private ownership, are all organized in this manner.
There are many bus lines and many truck lines already incorporated, and
with time the number will, no doubt, rapidly increase.
The shares of stock usually have a par value of $100. These are sold
to investors to obtain the working capital. The amount of stock is
limited by the articles of incorporation and must not exceed by the
laws of most states an amount conducive to good business. The stock may
be either common or preferred. Holders of preferred stock have some
preferment such as drawing a definite fixed rate of interest while
common stock receives no dividends until the interest on the preferred
stock is paid.
Corporations may also raise money by selling bonds. These are
certificates of indebtedness, bearing a fixed rate of interest, payable
at definite fixed periods. Like other bonds they may be either
sinking-fund, serial or annuity. Bonds differ from stocks in that their
owners have no voice in the affairs of the corporation.
Money may also be borrowed on the notes of the corporation signed by
its officers, when authorized by the board of directors.
Since the laws of the several states vary so widely and there are so
many of them, it is impossible to give even a brief synopsis here.
Should any highway transport company wish to incorporate it would be
well to seek the advice of a lawyer and have him draw up the articles
of incorporation and see that the laws of the state are fully complied
with.
_Public Ownership._--It is not the intention here to go into a lengthy
discussion of the merits and demerits of public ownership, but merely
to mention this as a method of financing transportation lines.
On the continent of Europe public ownership of railways and canals
has long been the practice. In England there is private ownership of
railways, but the post office department operates the telegraph lines.
In this country the Government has built and operates several ship
canals, including the great Panama canal. The state of New York owns
and operates the Erie Canal. During the War the operation of railways
was taken under supervision by the Government, but this has now been
turned back to the several lines. The public regulation, however,
of railways is so strict, that they have so little initiative and
freedom left, so little power to make rates, so little choice as how
to deal with employees, that they might just as well be operated by
the Government. Indeed, it is frequently stated that there is quite a
large minority of the American citizenship that would like to see the
Government take over all the railways and operate them as it does the
Post Office at the mere cost of operation and maintenance.
On the other hand, a very large number of persons believe that the
best governed nation is the one least governed and that the ordinary
commercial and financial laws of supply and demand should regulate
prices and that private capital should govern all industries.
There are places, however, where it seems to be the part of wisdom to
establish public ownership. First, where the amount of money necessary
to finance and operate the enterprise becomes a menace to the rest
of the country, or where it is so large that it becomes a practical
monopoly, then it would seem just for the Government to step in and, as
in the case of the Standard Oil Company, force an unscrambling, or else
take it over and run it as a public industry.
Second, where the work is so large that it is difficult to get private
enterprise to take it over without grants of privileges that would be
exorbitant and, perhaps, scandalous. The building of the Panama Canal
proved too great a task for a French private company. This does not
say that an American company could not have completed it, but to get
money for a doubtful or uncertain proposition is not easy. The great
Sault Ste. Marie locks under Government control are very satisfactory,
probably more so than if they were operated by private capital for
private profit.
Third, public ownership is advisable where private lines of
transportation fail to accommodate the public. Numerous applications
are being made nowadays by railroads for the privilege of discontinuing
trains on branch lines. In some cases these have been allowed by
railway commissions, in others refused. But if they are not paying, the
public will not indefinitely force the railways to maintain them. Then
it will be proper for the Government to take them over, finance and
operate them, even at a loss if necessary, providing the same work can
not be done by private highway transport lines.
Likewise, street-car lines are complaining bitterly at the inroads of
the automobile upon their business. But street-car lines are necessary
to the social and business functions of a city. It cannot very well get
along without them. The streets are hardly wide enough to accommodate
the passenger and commercial traffic as it is. With the street cars
off that would be doubled with very much increased congestion and loss
of time and a correspondingly greater number of accidents.
The street cars in every considerable municipality must be kept
going. The Des Moines strike of 1921 proved that conclusively. It may
be necessary for the city governments to take them over and pay any
deficit from public taxation. But even that will be money well expended.
The same arguments apply to those lines of railroad whose traffic
consists largely of short haul and comparatively small lots. If they
cannot be made to pay it may be necessary for the public to take them
over and keep them running on their longer hauls even at a loss in
order to prevent the congestion that would ensue to the public roads
should all the traffic be forced to the truck. Also, trucks and buses
are not altogether dependable in spells of bad weather, and there may
be other conditions that would make the steam train the better and more
economical transportion agent, as it always is where large quantities
are to be transported. It would be better to try to regulate all
transport service that each might be made into a paying proposition.
If it cannot be done by regulation the powerful long arm of government
will have to take charge.
SELECTED REFERENCES
BLANCHARD, A. H., “Elements of Highway Engineering,” Chapter II, John
Wiley & Sons, New York.
BLANCHARD, A. H. AND DROWNE, H. B., “Text-book on Highway
Engineering,” Chap. XXVII, John Wiley & Sons, New York.
BRADT, S. E., “Financing Permanent Roads,” Proceedings National
Conference on Concrete Road Building, 1914, p. 26, Chicago.
CHATBURN, G. R., “Highway Engineering,” pp. 335 et seq. John Wiley &
Sons, New York.
“Financing and Bonding Highway Work,” Proceedings Am. Soc. C. E.,
Vol. XLVIII, four articles by F. S. Green, pp. 511-512; H. S. Sisson,
pp. 513-515; E. C. Lunt, pp. 337-339; and J. N. Cole, 326-330.
HEWS, L. T. AND GLOVER, J. W., “Highway Bonds,” Bulletin 136, U. S.
Department of Agriculture.
LEWIS, NELSON P., “The Planning of the Modern City,” Chap. XIX;
“Financing of Highway Improvements,” American Highway Engineers’
Handbook, Section 28; John Wiley & Sons, New York.
NOLEN, JOHN, “City Planning,” Chap. XVI, D. Appleton & Co., New York.
ROBINSON, C. M., “City Planning,” Chap. XVII, G. P. Putnam’s Sons,
New York.
TILSON, G. W., “Street Pavements and Paving Materials,” Chap. VI,
John Wiley & Sons, New York.
VAN ORNUM, “Theory and Practice of Special Assessments,” Transactions
Am. Soc. C. E., Vol. XXXVIII, pp. 336-422.
FOOTNOTES
[197] See Chatburn’s “Highway Engineering,” Wiley & Sons, New York,
p. 335 et seq.
[198] From Bulletin 136, U. S. Department of Agriculture.
[199] Newspaper article.
[200] Report of a Joint Committee appointed by the Governor and the
1921 Session of the Nebraska Legislature regarding the relative cost
of road construction by the state and by various counties.
CHAPTER XI
HIGHWAY ACCIDENTS AND THEIR MITIGATION
It may be true that accidents are commonly the result of disorder, but
as there seems to be no panacea for disorder, accidents cannot entirely
be prevented. The best thing that can be done at present is to arrange
everything connected with the road so that the chance of accident will
be kept as low as it is possible for imperfect humanity to keep it.
Transportation accidents have always occurred and probably always
will occur. In the early days of the railway such papers as _Harper’s
Weekly_ ran weekly illustrated accounts of railway accidents. If it
was the intention to induce the people not to patronize the train
service it utterly failed. To prevent shipping accidents the Government
has spent millions in lighthouses and water-front protection. Great
quantities of money have been spent to make safe river transportation.
Elaborate national and international codes of rules for navigation have
been adopted. Laws to regulate railways have been passed. The newest
form of transportation, aviation, has already been a subject for the
law makers’ wisdom.
Of all classes of accidents, whatever, as reported by life and accident
insurance companies, that coming under the heading “Automobile”
is by far the largest. The Insurance Press stated that during the
year 1920 the automobile caused 12,000 fatalities and 1,500,000
non-fatal injuries. The 1921 statistics show approximately the same
results.[201] Since it is quite likely that many accidents never get
into the enumeration it may be assumed without fear of successful
contradiction that about one car out of every seven has an accident
causing injury to human beings each year. The number of accidents in
which no human injury results must be fully as many more.
With ten million automobiles in every conceivable state of repair, with
ten million drivers with every imaginable diversity of expertness, with
many millions of unexpected conditions constantly turning up it would
be, indeed, very strange if no accidents occurred.
Classification of and remedies for accidents can only be made in a most
general manner. In some of what follows the mere calling attention
to the nature of the accident will suggest the remedy; in others
precautions will be mentioned.
=The Driver.=--No matter how careful a driver may be there will be
accidents, but the greatest number occur with drivers who may be
classified as: (1) Mentally or physically unfit, (2) Ignorant, (3)
Indifferent, (4) Reckless by nature.
The unfitness may be caused by sickness, acute or chronic, business
worry, overwork, loss of sleep, intoxication, the undevelopment of
youth or the feebleness of old age. Men of ordinarily good judgment
have become nervous and lost their heads in times of crises. The good
driver must react quickly, his foot must press the brake pedal, his
hand turn the steering wheel almost unconsciously. His mind works
reflexively; the gas, the brake, the steering are operated and related
to each other so perfectly that the car goes where it should without
the conscious mind giving it any particular attention except in cases
of emergency. With an untrained mind the car will frequently go where
it should not quite as unconsciously as in the other case it goes
where it should. The driver looks at a bump in the road and thinks,
“I must not hit it,” but he watches it intently and almost as surely
hits it. Instances are not uncommon of men who have become drowsy while
driving and allowed the car to run into the ditch. Mental and physical
alertness have saved many cars from serious accident. Ignorance of
how to operate a car may not mean ignorance in other things. Too many
persons try to operate a car without knowing anything whatsoever about
it except to put on the gas, shift gears, and turn the steering wheel
to the right or the left. They frequently lack decision, will power and
imagination, or they go to the opposite extreme forget to be courteous
and hog the whole road. The driver of a car is like the soldier going
into battle, thinks the other man may be hit but not he. The driver,
too often, believes himself to be immune. He knows there are bound to
be accidents to some but he continues to take chances. Inexperience is
as bad as any other kind of ignorance except that the tyro imagines
continually that he may have an accident and is always on the watch.
He usually, too, drives slowly until self confidence leads him to a
quicker pace. Many an ignorant driver may, as the tyro mentioned, be
absolutely careful, but not knowing how to manipulate his machine kills
the engine in the most dangerous places, or otherwise brings about an
accident.
The indifferent or “don’t care” personage is one of the worst
offenders. He passes through a string of cars without paying any
attention, taking it for granted that the other fellow will do the
looking out. He runs over the walk lines without giving thought to
the pedestrians who have as much right there as he. It is said that
women are more likely to be afflicted with indifferency than men. If
this be so, no doubt the scientist could explain it on the theory
that for ages women have been given first place by the men, they have
seldom been called upon to look out for themselves, but have always
depended upon being cared for especially in times of danger, hence
now they unconsciously expect all cars, especially those with men
drivers, to avoid them. The indifferent person does not look both ways
before crossing a railroad track. He starts to walk across a street
without noticing whether or not automobiles are coming. He pays no
attention to signs and danger signals along the way. He takes dangers
as nonchalantly as though driving in the lonely desert. He knows that
accidents do happen and imagines that some day or other he will “get
his” but thinks that day is always a long time in the future. When
spoken to in regard to his careless driving he laughingly puts it off
with, “Oh, I am all right. Nothing will happen to me.” But, all too
frequently something does happen.
The reckless by nature are not so uncommon as one might think. There
is more or less recklessness in all mankind. Else why do they enjoy
reading of and seeing deeds of daring? An aeronaut looping-the-loop
used to draw hundreds to a fair. When that became common and ceased
to produce thrills the daring air man leapt from the plane descending
by parachute, or passed from one plane to another. The papers will
fill their columns with accounts of a daring flight across the ocean,
the people pay for and read these papers because they in a measure
satisfy the natural reckless longing of mankind. Wild west stuff in the
movies receives a large patronage when everyone knows that the days
of uncouth and reckless cow-boyism are gone forever. Horse races and
automobile races because of the elements of contest and danger cater to
the same wild propensities. When two race horses come beside each other
they champ their bits and throw their heads in a wild endeavor to be
off. The human animal, too, when another machine tries to pass him, has
the same instinctive inclination to keep it from doing so.
Of course there are all degrees of recklessness and it certainly is not
to be condoned on the theory that it is an inherited tendency. Might
as well say that civilized man should continue the barbarous customs
of head-hunting and cannibalism. The time has arrived when all such
barbarian actions should absolutely cease. The slogan, “Wreckless,
not Reckless,” should govern. Perhaps two-thirds of the automobile
accidents can be charged either to carelessness or recklessness on
the part of drivers. Can these propensities be done away with? Only
by creating a sentiment in favor of careful and safe driving. DRIVE
CAREFULLY should not only be posted on the wind shield of every
automobile but in the mind and consciousness of every driver.
=Driving and Operating.=--Mention has already been made of reckless
driving. Speeding might be looked upon at times as reckless, at other
times not, although it at all times is more or less dangerous, for
there is always a chance that some part of the mechanism might suddenly
go wrong, that another machine may come in from a side road, or that
there may be an unseen bad place in the road. Reckless and fast driving
together are almost sure, sooner or later, to lead to accident and
perhaps loss of life. The Maryland State Road Commission has its
patrolmen collect and report accident data. During the three months of
May, June and July of 1921, their records show that 90 per cent of the
accidents are due to speeding.
It has been suggested that automobiles ought to be installed with
governors which will limit the vehicle-speed to twenty-five or thirty
miles per hour. This is a very doubtful expedient for very many
accidents occur when vehicles are traveling at a very much less speed.
Even trucks with governors that limit them to 12 or 15 miles per hour
frequently have accidental collisions. Laws limiting speeds to 8, 12,
or 15 miles through villages while possibly wholesome will not wholly
prevent accidents. In congested cities speeds as high as 25 miles per
hour are at times not only allowable but highly desirable to relieve
the congestion. The driver in such instances must have his wits about
him and drive with utmost care.
The sudden rounding of a sharp corner has caused many a car to turn
turtle; likewise suddenly turning a car from a rutted track will
sometimes cause the driver to lose control and the car to go into
the ditch. If there is snow, ice, loose earth or mud on the roadway
or pavement, skidding, which may result in a broken wheel or more
disastrously, is quite likely to take place. The remedy, of course, is
to slow up before turning.
Passing or attempting to pass a car on the wrong side, and driving on
the wrong side of the street are sources of danger. So, also, is every
infraction of road customs and rules such as driving rapidly over
crossings and those portions of the street where the public have a
right to walk, failure to slow down at railway crossings, not watching
the car ahead for hand signals, or not giving hand signals when turning
or stopping the car. How many drivers run on past a street car when it
is stopped for taking on or discharging passengers. How many drivers
watch the sidewalks, the store fronts, or turn around to talk to the
passengers on the rear seat instead of watching the street with its
many passing vehicles and pedestrians.
=Horns.=--Every car is supposed to be equipped with a good horn
and it should be used with caution when necessary but never when
unnecessary or so often as to become a nuisance. Horns should be
regulated by law in just the same manner as lights. The standard
horn is one which honks, not one which whistles or screeches. The
siren is almost universally the property of fire-fighting motors and
many cities reserve its use to the fire departments, making it a
misdemeanor for any one else to use it. Screeching and whistling horns
should be relegated to the scrap pile. The honking horns are now so
well recognized that every one knows what they mean, and if they are
used properly and not too close to crossings will not frighten the
pedestrian. If honked too close a pedestrian may become excited and
rush back right in front of the car. Boys, and bicycles should not be
allowed to have honking horns, they should belong exclusively to the
automobile.
=Stopping Cars on Grades, Streets, etc.=--The stopping of machines
on grades without thoroughly braking them or blocking the wheels, or
leaving them without wheels blocked on ferries may be and has been
productive of accidents. September 3, 1922, the papers reported that a
taxi which had been left on the brink at Niagara Falls and whose brakes
failed to hold, had carried a woman passenger over the cliff to her
death.
Trucks, delivery wagons, ice-wagons, etc., frequently stop back of
the line of parked automobiles in the street restricting the way and
causing all passing vehicles to go over to the wrong side of the street
thus congesting traffic and furnishing a source of danger. Deliveries
should, if possible, be made at the alley or rear entrance. If that is
impossible space might be reserved at each end of the block for this
purpose. There must also be space reserved at the ends of blocks for
the entry and discharge of street car and bus passengers. Likewise the
space about a fire hydrant should be kept absolutely clear.
=Backing.=--Mr. L. A. Held, adjuster for the American Railway Express
Company, writing in the _Express Messenger_ of July, 1922, says:
In those claims presented for damage arising out of accidents caused
by our vehicles backing, settlement in most every case is necessary
as there is not the slightest chance of successfully defending an
action for damages resulting from such an accident. The handling
of an automobile while in reverse calls for the greatest care and
continual vigilance. It is not sufficient to merely look once before
starting to back. On the contrary, the operator should continually
watch the rear of his truck and take almost extraordinary precautions
to see that no harm befalls any person or property.
Where there is no one to guide him, it becomes quite difficult to
avoid collisions, especially in congested thoroughfares, for truth to
tell, there appears to be an absolute lack of road courtesy on the
part of most automobile drivers. When more than one man is assigned
to a vehicle, the helper should take the position on the ground where
he has an unobstructed view of traffic and pedestrians approaching
from all directions. This by no means is always done. It can be
accounted for by no other reason than neglect and laziness.
What Mr. Held says regarding express trucks applies with equal force to
all other motor cars.
=Other Forms of Carelessness.=--Mr. Held also speaks of claims
presented because drivers cut in ahead of street cars and were
caught, demolishing the truck and injuring the street car and some
of its passengers. Also, he continues, “there are a fair proportion
of accidents from vehicles being turned to and from the car tracks.
The driver should always determine whether the way is clear before
diverting the course of his vehicle.”
There are many other forms of careless or reckless driving that might
be mentioned, such as, driving too close in heavy traffic, cutting in
on traffic--“stealing the road,” turning in the middle of a city block,
attempting to turn in too small a space, failure to go slowly near a
school house or children’s play ground, failure to be on the lookout
for playing children elsewhere, failure to try to anticipate what the
other fellow is going to do.
=The Car.=--The car itself may be the cause of accidents. Faulty design
may result in the breaking of essential parts when the car is going
at a rapid gait. It must be said to the credit of modern design and
manufacture that while many parts break, few of those that may cause
the car to turn turtle or otherwise injure the passengers are found in
the number. It is remarkable that they are so few.
=Skidding.=--Failure to use wheel anti-skid chains on a slippery road
or pavement is a fertile source of danger. Skidding may break a wheel
or cause a collision with another car, or the car itself may slide
off an embankment into the ditch. Sometimes, too, cars skid on loose
gravel, or clods of earth, or even on slightly rough roads where a
sufficient contact between wheel and ground is not obtained for a good
grip.
=The Brake.=--Perhaps the most serious danger in the car mechanism
is the brake. Mr. Harold F. Blanchard writing in _Motor_ (New York),
argues that more than half, probably as much as 90 per cent of all
motor accidents may be eliminated by making the stopping ability of
motor vehicles a maximum instead of 25 to 50 per cent, as is now the
rule. He would have brakes put on all four wheels and claims thereby
the braking power of the machine can be more than doubled. He further
maintains that the braking power of the ordinary car is extremely
low, due, sometimes to the design of the braking system and sometimes
to the failure of the owner to adjust the brakes properly. He states
that a car equipped with an efficiently constructed system of brakes
on four wheels may be stopped from a speed of 30 miles per hour in 36
feet, whereas an average car in the hands of the average motorist will
require from 100 to 150 feet. He thinks the brake should be powerful
enough to lock the wheel through which it acts. This is not possible on
many cars, especially trucks, and it is the reason, he says, why there
are so many truck accidents in spite of their low speed. He argues
that since very few crises arise so abruptly that the accident takes
place before there has been some opportunity to slow down, and that
a majority of accidents occur during the latter part of the stopping
period, therefore, the substitution of 100 per cent braking power on
four wheels instead of the present 25 per cent, the decelerating period
will be reduced to one-half or one-quarter its former length, and
consequently the number of “accidents would be reduced to a mere shadow
of their present magnitude.”
Some automotive engineers think it best not to lock the wheels
completely in braking. That the best plan is to apply the pressure
only until incipient locking has been reached but the wheels are still
rolling. The driver has little control of a skidding car, and certainly
would have none whatever with all four wheels locked. While the wheels
are still moving there is a chance to guide the car so as to avoid an
obstruction even though it can not be stopped in time. Steering and
braking should go together.
On some of the steep mountain roads, which, because of their length
and relative grade with the bottom of the canyon, appear to be nearly
level, it is impossible to hold the car with the brake alone. It is
customary in such cases to assist the brake with the engine; unless
the driver is very expert at changing gears the engine should be put
in low, or intermediate, depending on the steepness, at the top of the
hill, then with brakes and clutch the car may be controlled and kept to
a safe speed.
The brakes being under the car are more or less difficult to get at,
they form no part of the ornamental finish, and as a consequence
usually are neglected until they become so very bad that they scarcely
brake the car at all. They receive the mud and water from the roadway.
The joints and pivots become rusted so that even with good bands they
are only a quarter to a half efficient. It will pay better than life
insurance to keep the brakes in first class condition.
=Flexibility.=--While the brakes are most useful in the prevention
of accidents, it frequently happens that a quick pick-up is also
important. In crossing the street ahead of a car coming at right
angles, for instance, there may be no time to stop, no chance to turn,
the only thing that can be done is to “give her gas” and shoot ahead at
full speed. A flexible engine with ability to change quickly from fast
to slow and from slow to fast velocities will in the hands of an expert
driver prevent many an accident.
=Steering and Turning Ability.=--It has been mentioned several times
that steering is a matter of importance in the prevention of accidents.
Designing engineers should, therefore, take that into account. It was
formerly thought that turning ability is a function of the length of
wheel base, but there are other things to be taken into account and
some late designs with reasonably long wheel bases are able to turn in
half the radius that was required for some of the older designs with
shorter wheel bases.