The Clinton chronicle. (Clinton, S.C.) 1901-current, January 24, 1952, Image 9
T
:• f
A
*
i
4
, *■
*
I
. ">
The Chronide
Strives To Be A Clean News
paper, Complete, Newsy
and Reliable
If You’ Don’t Read
The Chronicle
You J)on’t Get the News
Volume Lm
Clinton, S. C., Thursday, lanuary 24, 1952
Number 4
A Regular Chronicle Feature
OVERLOADED TRUCKS RUINING
ROADS AT FAST RATE-BABSON
mm
Thinks Huge Vehicles
Ought To Be Made To
Pay Fair Share Upkeep.
^ •
Babson Park, Mass., Jan. 18.—There
are nearly 49,000,000 registered ve
hicles on our roads. Better than 8,-
000,000 — or about one-sixth — are
trucks. Spot checks in some states
reveal that about 10 per cent are ov
erloaded, And overloaded trucks are
luining our roads faster than we can
build them. —
* The Evidence „ .
The most significent evidence yet
gathered to’ substantiate this fact
comes from the, tests sponsored by
the Inter - Regional
Council on Trans
portation and made
on a mile stretch of
two-lane concrete
highway in . Mary
land. Various test
loads of 22,400 and
44,800 pounds were
run. The 22,400
pound loads dam
aged 28 per cent of
Rtgtr XV. Babton the concrete sec
tions; while the 44,800 pound loads
damaged 96 per cent of the concrete
slabs! If this first fairly comprehen
sive teslt gives insight into what fu
ture tests will reveal, then it be
comes clear that truckers are hot
bearing their share of the burden in
maintaining our roads.
I should like to see a similar test
made of pleasure vehicles to see how
fast they pound our roads to pieces.
Should the evidence collected build
a case against the trucker, then he
should be taxed in proportion to the
rate he wears out the roads. Fur-
Wdt** ?
mm ■
ther, since some truckers will over
load until caught, on the basis that
“only the big loads are pay loads,”
then a careful check system will
need to be established.
Taxes vs. Tolls
• I cannot deny the fact that it is a
pleasure to drive the 327 miles from
Pittsburgh to>. Philadelphia on
super-highway. - Yet, I resent, in
principle, the i(^a of having to pay
a toll on top of a tax. With tolls cur-
lently averaging from 1 to Hfc cents
a mile, this is simply adding an ad
ditional tax uf 15 to. 2(L cents, a gal
lon. I wonder how- many motorists
ever stopped to consider the prob
lem in this fashion. What would your
reaction be should the current price
of gasoline at your favorite pump be
hiked from 28 cents to 45 cents per
gallon?
Apparently with our roads being
pounded to pieces at a fast clip, pres
' ent funds are wholly inadequate
both to maintain old roads and build
modern express ways. Added to this
is the fact that to insure a fair de
gree of financial success a toll road
must nave some kind of dangerous
monopoly. Pressure might be
brought by bondholders, to discour
age modernization of paralle
loutes. Is this principle of highway
monopoly in the public interest?
Railroads And Trucks
The truck companies make a profit
on their business just as the rail
roads make a profit bn the ^freight
they carry. Railroads, however,
build and maintain their private
roads. Truck companies, on the
other hand, have the use of the
highways which all of us build and
build their own roads, I am, how-
maintain. _
I'm not suggesting the truckers
See Camellias
At the Height of Their Beauty
Right now tens of. thousands of camellias in the fa
mous Charleston Gardens seem to be doing their utmost
to make up for what they could not do last season be
cause of the weather. You must not miss this gorgeous
spectacle! _
" ; . Charleston’s
Famous Gardens
Cypress - Magnolia - Middleton
Charleston, S. C.
ever, suggesting they carry their fair
share of building and maintaining
the roadbed they use. Perhaps a
per-mile rate multiplied by tonnage
might -be an equitable basis? I know
that a proposition of this sott will
not appeal to the truckers. But, I
a£k you, isn’t it so often the abuse j
of ’privilege by a few which brings
about regulation of all?
Advice To Truck Drivers
Many have noticed of late the in
creasing carelessness with which
truckers drive. Almost any day, be
tween Boston and Hartford, for ex
ample, they roll along racing each
other, two abreast so that the av
erage motorist has to fight for his
place on the road. Mcwe than, once
lately I’ve been scared out of my
wits by trucks failing to stop at red
lights simply because they were roll-
ing—so fast they couldn’t stop! We
used to look upon truck drivers ar
the^rrfost courteous on the road. If
overloading and recklessness con
tinue, the whole industry will suf
fer.
Truckers ought, to try to regulate
themselves before the state and fed
eral governments step in! In fact,
municipal governments may soon
xule that truckers can use downtown
streets only after 6:00 P. M. Elimi
nating trucks from congested areas
will be the next step in solving the
'wretched traMfc conditions of today.
As Washington Sees It...
IHE NATIONAL SCENE
Special To The Chronicle.
Washington, Jan. 20. — Avowed 4
purpose of Winston Churchill is' to
solidify British-American friendship
more on the lines which were in evi-'
dence throughout the war, and
which have become a little ragged
since thah time.
* • • *
The President s plan Jor reorgani
zation of the* internal revenue bu
reau by abolishing the qffiqes of in
ternal revenue collector^ in the states
and setting up 25 regional offices
with all appointments except the top
men under civil service is a, long
range plan, and has generally re
ceived favorable comment. How
ever, it will mean taking from the
members of the congress traditional
patronage and just how this con
gress Vill take the plan remains to
be seen. The plan was President
Truman’s answer to charges of. graft
and corruption in the tax collection
bureau of the government and it’s
announcement was followed by ac
tion by the attorney general in call-
.ing grand juries ^f-Throughout the
country to hear testimony** in "tax
fraud cases.
souri and other western rivers. Also
Taft-Hartley law repeal, civil rights
legislation and other lesser programs
are doomed insofar as this session is
.concerned.
Top battles will be fought out on
further support of the North Atlantic
Treaty nations, a new agricultural
policy and a new national produc
tion act for,1952. The sensationally
high prices of potatoes and atteyapt
of the Office of Price Administration
to enforce ceiling on white potatoes
has brought the farm price support
program directly into the limelight,
for just a short year ago, under the
mandate of the congress, the depart
ment of agriculture was dumping
potatoes after paying out hundreds
of millions of dollars of taxpayers’
money in price supports. .
To work
refreshed
- Im- political- circles -
eral Eisenhower are jubilant
the general’s careful admision that! I
the “general tenor” of his political j
conviction is that he is a Republican. |
Some Republicans-
Busy houifc take something
out of you. Have a Coke
and you’re back on
the job—refreshed!
■ j* ,, i.- ... - .
BOTTLED UNDER AUTHORITY Of TMI COCA-COLA COMPANY BY
GREENWOOD COCA-COLA BOTTLING CO.
mCmkJ'k • r u,f r -—* iWi mi"*- © 1*33. TMB COCA COLA COMPANY
————n «
general’s admission a tendency to be
a little too careful in that he did not
come right out and declare his Re-
1 pulicanism. Gen. Eisenhower an
swered the asurance of Senator
Ixidge, his campaign manager, that
he was in fact a Republican, with
these words: “Senator Lodge’s an
nouncement of yesterday, as report
ed in the press, gives an accurate ac
count of the general tenor of my po
litical convictions and of my Repub
lican voting record.”
. However some Republicans have
expressed the opinion they ‘ had
hoped General “Ike” would have
been more forthright. If Eisenhower
has gone as far as he can go, ethical
ly, while still in his general’s uni
form and is in fact a candidate, the
political dopesters here see the fight
for the GGP nomination narrowed
down to Senatar Robert A. Taft of
Ohio, and Eisenhower. They place
both Harold Sta$sen and Governor
Warren of California in 'the “stalk
ing horse” class as seeking to corral
delegates which will go to Eisen
hower in the GOP convention in the
move to “stop Taft.”
This session of the congress will
be a wordy session, probably one of
the noisiest of record, and there is
indication that little will come from
it in the way of solid, sound legisla
tion.. .From his state of the union
message, however, the President has
not completely given up hope in get-,
ting through some of his Fair Deal
program. Some of that program, |
however, has been placed in moth!
balls for the duration. In this class
Comes his program for national
health insurance which is* now in the
hands of a bi-partisan “commission,
headed by Dr. Paul ( Magnuson, an
outstanding medical “authority. This
comrnission is out of the realm of
politics since it does not report unlil
after the election, and the American
Medical association is being criti
cized by some of its own member
ship for the refusal of AMA Presi
dent Dr. John Cline to serve as a
member of the commission.
Another* Fair Deal plank, now in
the moth ball class, is the Missouri
Valley Authority, which likely will
not see daylight during this session,
despite the need for some legisla
to stop disastrous fl
LET’S TRADE!
Your Old Tires Are Worth More When You Trade Here
.v
AMMCA'S CKIATIST
tm met
OWES
PRICE EVER
Plus Tax
Terms
NO OTHER TIRE AT
THESE EXTRA VALUES
• ACCLAIMED BY MILLIONS. OF MOTCRiSTS AS AMERICA'S
GREATEST TIRE VALUE.
•%
• 15% MORE MILEAGE Because I.‘ Y’ ith Exclusive New Plus-
Mileage Tread Rubber.
• MORE NON-SKID SAFETY Because ^ r . U «idth 8-Rib Tread Has
3,456 Sharp-Edged Angles to Give C^.uic. Protection Against Skidding.
• GREATER BLOWOUT PROTECTION . . . New Exclusive Rubber
Resinous-Plastic Gum-Dipping Eliminates Internal Heat.
• STRONGER Because It’s Built With a New All-Rayon Cord Body.
CARRIES THE FAMOUS FIRESTONE LIFETIME GUARAHTEE
COX HOME a AUTO SUPPLY
NT Broad St.
M Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed**
Phone No. 12
«r,
\