SUNDAY,
SEPTEMBER 15, 1912
NEW AMERICAN ROAD ACROSS CONTINENT
$25,000,000
Needed to Complete Proposed Rock Highway from Coast to Coast.
Special
to The New York Times.
INDIANAPOLIS.
Ind., Sept. 14.—The proposition to build a
National rock highway from New York City to San Francisco, which was
launched here this week by Carl G. Fisher and James A. Allison, owners
at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has unquestionably fallen on
fertile ground, and the manner in which the automobile industry has
taken the matter up gives every assurance that the object will be
accomplished.
Already
more than $500,000 has been subscribed in the State of Indiana,
and those who are pushing the venture believe that the necessary
$10,000,000 needed to have the project materialize will come in
sufficient time to guarantee the completion of the crushed stone
highway in time for the Panama Pacific International Exposition at San
Francisco in 1915.
It
is the plan of those interested in the movement to ask every
manufacturer of automobiles and sundries of every kind to subscribe
one-third of 1 per cent. of their gross receipts for three years to be
paid at the rate of one-third of 1 per cent. a year in quarterly
installments, or at the rate of one-fifth of 1 per cent. a year for a.
period of five years.
The
plan call for a road to be built of stone, and the cost of the
material will be paid from the fund to be raised according to the
plans as presented. Each county through which the road will pass will
be asked to do the work of construction and bear the expense thus
incurred, under the direction of engineers furnished by the War
Department of the United States.
The
important feature of the project is that Ii has not been
inaugurated to benefit any particular locality. The originators wish it
understood that the movement is for the benefit of the Nation at large,
and concerns every city and State in the Union. The time which has been
set for the closing of subscriptions is Jan. 1, 1913, and the
originators of the scheme, expect to have the road finished in time to
have 25,000 automobile tourists make the trip overland to the San
Francisco Fair.
Every
little detail has been gone into by the originators of the plan
for the great highway, and the money which is subscribed will be
deposited with trust companies which shall give bond to protect the
subscribers. They also state that should the plan, for any reason,
prove unsuccessful, the money shall be returned with interest at 8 per
cent. to all who have subscribed.
Carl
Fisher is the real originator of the plan, and when he announced
the gigantic proposition to half a hundred automobile and sundry
manufacturers in this city at a banquet this week it appeared to awe
those present, but the feasibility of the proposition as shown by the
figures compiled gradually made itself felt, and those present who at
first doubted became enthusiastic. Mr. Fisher stated that $10,000,000
to $12,000,000 will be raised for purchasing the material to build the
road.
“This
does not mean," he said, “that the road will
cost only that amount. The cost of material is only from 30 to 50 per
cent. of the value of a road, and when completed the new highway should
represent a cost of about $25,000,000.
“The
selection of a route is to be left entirely with the
National Committee to be selected later. A fund of $10,000,000 will
give $5,000 a mile to spend on material.”
While
there has been no definite decision as to the route which will be
taken, it is generally understood that it will approximate the
ocean-to-ocean highway concerning which a bill is to be introduced in
the next National Congress under the auspices of the National Old
Trails Association. This route comprises all the famous ancient
transcontinental trails, beginning with the Braddock trail in New York,
coming west over the Cumberland, National, and Santa Fe routes, and
winding up with the Sunset trail in California.
COAST-TO-COAST
TRIP.
Volunteer Motor Cyclists to Carry
Message Across Continent.
Offers
to carry the special message over different parts of the country
during the proposed ocean-to-ocean relay race of the Federation of
American Motor Cyclists are coming in to President B. J. Patterson
voluntarily from all parts of the United States. During the past week
offers have come from riders in New Mexico, New Jersey, Indiana, New
York, and Iowa.
Preparations
outlining the route of the coast-to-coast trip will be
begun soon. At present two routes have been suggested—one
from New York City to San Francisco, via Buffalo, N. Y.; Cleveland,
Ohio; Chicago, and Salt Lake City—to the coast. The other
would be from New York to Baltimore, thence over the National Road to
St. Louis, and through the southwestern part of the country to the
coast.
The
first week in October has been suggested as the time for the start
of the relay, and as soon as the route is decided definite arrangements
will be made enlisting the assistance of the many motor cycle clubs
and riders who have volunteered their aid in carrying the message over
part of the route from the Pacific to the Atlantic.
From The
New
York Times, Sunday, 15 Sep 1912, page X11
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