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*?LH. ? NATION WILL SPEND BILLIONS ON ROADS| Washington, D. C.?One of the| most colossal road building programsever undertaken in any country is to) be carried out in the United States j (luring the next three years. It is es-j timated that by 1921 close to a bil-j lion dollars will have been spent for; good roads in this country. Of this1 huge sum, $275,000,000 has &een appropriated by congress as federal aid in road construction. > In addition to giving direct financial assistance, the federal government is also encouraging the im-, provement of highways by distribut-J ing to the various States some of the1 20,000 motor trucks used by the army during the war. These trucks are to be turned over to the highway; commissioners of the States, and are to be used only for road building purposes. | For more than a century that is up' A ~ 4-U^ -CnA l n-Axrorn monf to tUC ICUClOl practically nothing to aid or abet in developing improved highways. In 1916 congress voted $75,000,000 for federal highway aid on the 50-50 basis with the States, but on account of the war much of the road work contemplated at that time was held( in abeyance. Now, there is a revival of interest on the part of the nation-' al government in better roads, which' finds expression through the medium of the bureau of public roads. The first and only national highway constructed by the government was the old historic Cumberland Road. The work on that turnpike was begun under President Jefferson ana continued under Monroe. Beginning at Cumberland, Md., the road ran through Maryland, Pennsylvania, 1 t what is now West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. St. Louis was the objective point, but railroads came into use before the completion of the project and the road stopped short somewhere in Illinois. The old f?nmh<?rlnnH Road was to have been used to open traffic between the east and west, and it was planned in such a way as to have direct communication with with the Atlantic ocean. The scheme was to use the stage coach for transportation from Western points to Cumberland, then the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, which is operation, from Cumberland to Washington, connecting with the Po. tomac River to the ocean. So does it appear that the unfolding of time quite upset this elaborate worked out government project. i Although the Cumberland trail fell ihto disuse for a time after railroads began to link up the east and the west, the greater portion of it has been improved within recent ye^raj by the various States through which' it runs. Many of the old pioneers who went west in the early part of the 19th century traveled by stage coach over this early ribbon of good roads. The need of good roads is becoming more and more obvious with the increase in the use of motor vehicles. Ten years ago the highways of this country were subjected to traffic scarcely different from that which they had borne in Revolutionary days.' The past decade has witnessed a tremendous change in highway transportation. The motor vehicle is responsible for this revolution in con THE I i Mr. FRANK A. STOLLE (j AS veyance, and to it is due a new' stress upon the 200,000 or more! miles of road in the United States, j Today there are said to be about j 5,500,000 motor vehicles in use in; this country. Of this number it is es-' timated that 500,000 are commercial cars, ranging from light delivery wa-, gons to heavy trucks. ? ? -r c nnn Allowing an average ui u,vw^ miles a year for each of the 5,000,- j 000 remaining passenger cars and assuming an average of three passen-j gers to a car, the result will show a total of 45,000,000,000 passenge^ milesj traveled during the year. This figure exceeds that for the railways of the United States for the year 1916, which was 34,000,000,000 passenger miles. So are automobiles and J roads shown to carry more people' more miles than railroads. Good roads have a direct effect^n the cost of living. Motor trucks and good roads enable the farmer to! transport his products to market at a: price less thaii of hauling it in wa-| gons and shipping it by rail. Often foodstuffs perish on the farm because) of the lack of proper transportation facilities. They often deteriorate in' transit because of the slowness of. their journey. Coot roa.ds sneod them up. The bureau of public roads gives i the cash expenditure on highways for the year of 1915 as $267,000,000. During the war, most of the big roadi building projects were temporarily j suspended and the result is thati most of the highways throughout the j country are in run down condition. The work of improving the highways already in existence and start-j ing new projects will be limited on-j ly to the supply of labor and material according to T. H. MacDonald, chief of the public roads bureau. "Road construction work which is progressing in all parts of the country," he said, "is rapidly absorbing all the excess labor there is in the land, andj i. 4-Kof Kafnro vorv ]nn<y' lb is my upiiuuu uiau uvivtv fv.j 0 there will be a shortage of workmen for road work. During the next three years we look to see the biggest road construction program carried out that has ever been undertaken in any part of the world." All over the country bond issues for the construction of roads are being announced. States are taking advantage of the opportunity to receive financial help from the government under the terms of the federal aid act, which provides that where a State spends one dollar for road work it is entitled to a similar amount from the government. Most of the States are getting federal aid on a 60-40 basis. The only limitations prescribed by the federal aid act are that the roads shall be "rural post roads." When a road has met this condition ,it is the duty of the secretary of agriculture to give his approval to its construction and federal aid is extended. The federal highway council, whieh has headquarters in Washington, is i AAA< cooperating witn some ?tuuu vuuci organizations throughout the country interested in good roads for a connected system of national highways j to be constructed and maintained; with the support of the federal gov-! ernment. As the result of the efforts of this; organization, a bill has been intro(ADEI.I, 1 i uir.u a ASS I" ROYALTY PLAYS t WITH FEATURE VAUDEVILLE BETWEEN THE ACTS SPECIAL MUSIC By Our SPLENDID ORCHESTRj rOMR EARLY CaVI9 J | ^ J A T A r _ 5BEVILLE ONE duced in congress for a national ays tem of highways. Its object is t build in each State trunk line high ways to the extent of not less thai two per cent, nor more than five pe cent of the total mileage of th State, and to join them up with th main trunk lines of other States s as to make a complete national sys tem connecting the entire countrj The advocates of this measure clair that if such a plan is adopted b; congress it will create a system o national highways, independent o the States?highways that will carr interstate traffic. Such a system o national road s,proponents of th measure say, is necessary for th welfare of the country as a whole. It is the contention of the nationa highway council that the personne of the State highway departments i --nstantly changing, and to a greate or less degrees the State highway pc licies are changed with each succeed ing administration. It is therefor jut of the question to expect an connected system of roads betwee: the forty-eight States, over whic' there is no supervisory power, an between which there is little coordi ? n-.'Wr f Vi q nafinnnl trnvprn ict11U11 vy in j wiiv o ~ ? ont can lay down and execute th ationwide development of the roads It looks as though the federal gov ernment might get into this game oi a stupendous scale in another de cade. OLDEST CIVILIZATION CLAIMED BY VIRGINU Richmond, Va., Aug.v 15.?Claim of Plymouth Rock that she represent the oldest Anglo-Saxon civilizatioi in America were emphatically de nied this afternoon when the genera assembly celebrated the 300th anni versary of continuous existence as i law making body. Speakers charged that the mei who landed at Plymouth Rock wer foreigners by fully one year afte the burgesses of 11 Virginia planta tions had assembled at Jamestowi and passed the laws designed to gov ern the colonies. Dr. Thomas Nelson Page, forme ambassador to Italy, was the princi pal speaker. He said that the worL should be made acquainted with th real facts concerning the part Vii ginia has played fn bringing abou representative government. ''Thi general assembly should compel th teachng in the schools of_ the Stat he facts relative to Virginia's posi tion in this matter," said Dr. Page. The former ambassador paid rl owing tribute to President Wilso and haled him as the greatest ma who represented the allied powers s the peace conference. "Unless the peace treaty is rat tied," said Dr. Page, "you member of the assembly may be called bac to Richmond again within a shoi time to face a crisis in tbe State an nation the seriousness of which fei people seeqp to realize." Europe, h said, would be thrown in a state o chaos and Germany would disavo1 the terms of the peace laid down fo her, and inaugurate forthwith a canc paign of frightfulness. i Open Season For Doves Changed. The open season for huntin mourning doves in South Carolin LRITCHFIf PRI PRICES War T SHOW GROUNDS CORN : WEEK, COIV i- has been changed by an amendment o to the Migratory Bird Treaty Atit i- regulations, announces the United n States Department of Agriculture, r- The amendment fixes the period durejing which mourning doves may bej e killed in South Carolina from Octo-j o^ber 16 to January 31, both days in-^ i-1 elusive, whereas the Federal* openj r.! season last year was from September] Qi 16 to December 31, inclusive. The, Y\ new season beginning October 16! x!was not adopted in time to have tnej * I correct dates noted on the ,State yj hunting licenses, which incorrectly; *j show the season to begin one month! e: earlier. The Federal law and regu-: e ' .tions supercede all State laws in-; | consistent therewith, and the State, ^ hunting licenses do not authorize 1 ' 11 j persons to hunt mourning doves or( S: other migratory birds in violation of r; the Federal law. i- . [e ^? 'i til h! i 1 ? 1 HM e ! MBFIIM MB a ( HWSMB Q 8 i k | * ! d n 1 !:. PARI * I I *1 ")' ? LD DRAW SENTING > 25 & 35c ax Included ER CHURCH & PINCKNEY ST IMENCING, MC tr.i mwirti??? Pure Ice < Manufactured Under Sc SOFT DRINKS Soft nr ADCTTCQ ! ? tobaccos f\vnf CANDIES v^onr FRUITS We are ; CIGARS the most c licit your p Abbeville Can > 1 You Can Se< Style and (Goodnes as plain as the You don't hav< pert to select a g( they're all good, are here; it's ea things. If you are har( you how well we Come in for a FALL SUITS. f: : 1 ICER & Rl I (ATIC COI MONDAY NIGHT / The Company Will Present m?:? r I mariaii nicy n A Semi Rural Comedy Drama in Four Acta. ^ <7: VAUDEVILLE Bj Specialties Between Act* Bar A CLEAN AND MORAL El ENTERTAINMENT INj "r . in Ladies, Gentlemen and Children, jgjgj DON'T MISS THIS Mi"1 >NDAY, AUG. 2 x r \ rv L^ream? mitary Conditions mA L/iiiiivo aiiu ections prepared to aerre you in ourteous manner and ?o. tatronage. dy Kitchen ' ' ' * . n --- - ? - ' I , ' ;L< ?j> ' I :b r ? i 'V ^ V-. " ; .f ., e The Quality ^ All Around I s of Our I uits |] nose on your face. II ifl 3 to be a cloth ex- I I I >od Suit here, for } And the new styles jfl sy to get the right I II 1 to fit, let us show I can do it. H look at our NEW ! I EESE I ?????? I I ??? aPAWY 1 . CLARA HAMBLETON (Lead.) W :5th I