[153] Office of Public Roads Bulletin No. 136.
[154] “The American Year Book,” D. Appleton Co., New York, 1919, 1920.
[155] House Document No. 1510, “Federal Aid to Good Roads,” being Vol. 99, of the House Documents.
[156] Vol. LIII, 1916. See [page references] at end of chapter.
[157] Circular No. 65, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Public Roads.
[158] “American Year Book,” 1920, p. 308. D. Appleton & Company, New York.
CHAPTER VI
INTERRELATION BETWEEN HIGHWAY AND OTHER KINDS OF TRANSPORTATION
Transportation has been classified as primary and secondary. Transportation on the public highway, whether of raw products to the market or finished products to the consumer, is denominated primary; transportation by railroads, canals, and ships as secondary. Practically all secondary transportation is of products which were first or last or both subjects of primary transportation.[159] There should, therefore, be a natural harmonious relation between them. Suppose the foot should say to the hand, “You are useless, it is I who support the body”; and the hand should retort, “Think you’re smart, don’t you? I’ll let you know it is I who collect and prepare the food which nourishes it; a log of wood could easily replace you”: would that make either one of them independent of the other?
Too true that the great railroad corporations have not always acted in a manner suitable to the man in the street, that they have often taken too much toll, that they have become rich and arrogant, that they have frequently manipulated the political machinery of government in their own favor, that they have exploited where they should not, that they have shown favoritism to prominent shippers, and that they have often borne down heavily on the laboring man; but, this country would never have been developed to its present state of civilization and prosperity without some powerful and efficacious method of transportation. The railroads, proving themselves to be more efficient than either the public highways or the waterways, without perhaps intending any maliciousness, put them practically out of business. Now that improved roads and automobiles and motor trucks are giving the railroads a race for their life some unthinking persons are gloating over the fact and shouting “to the victor belongs the spoils.” The evolutionary law that the “fittest will survive” does not necessarily mean that what is best for the world, for government, for society, for business will always survive. Weeds will often choke out the corn unless prevented by outside influence. A beautiful elm stands on the corner. Every spring it sheds an abundance of seeds; soon these germinate and there springs up throughout the lawn, flower and vegetable gardens, myriads of young elm trees. Now elm trees in their proper place are desirable, are useful, are ornamental and furnish pleasure, but when they become weeds they should be rooted up that the lawn, the vegetables, and the flowers may persist. Here the fittest for society survives only because of artificial regulation. The railroads, steam and electric, the waterways and the highways all have spheres of usefulness; let each perform its function and there need be no incongruity or discord.
Experience has proved time and again that any machine has a particular capacity at which it can be most efficiently operated. A simple stone crusher kept half full is running at a loss; if crowded and speeded up it will wear and break unduly. It would be foolish to run continually a 50 horse-power engine to serve a 2 horse-power motor. An electric light plant is most economical when operated at its “capacity.” Horse and wagons, motor trucks, railways, canals, and ships, are but machines, and the law holds with all of them that they are most efficient when operated at their proper capacity.