Editorials

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

Published in the Interest of Good Roads by the ARIZONA HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT

CIVILIZATION FOLLOWS THE IMPROVED HIGHWAY

FEDERAL FUNDS FOR HIGHWAYS

Federal appropriations for highways continue to hang fire in Congress, but in a more promising situation. During the past two or three weeks, the road fund movement, as a public relief measure, has gained momentum and there is indication now that definite action may be expected shortly.

The House roads committee has approved the Cartwright bill carrying $450,000,000 for highways, but the measure has not been given a place on the calendar.

In the Senate, a bill introduced by Senator Hayden of Arizona provides $125,000,000 annually for continuation of federal aid.

Senator LaFollette of Wisconsin a few days ago presented a measure appropriating ten billion dollars for public works, two billions of which would be earmarked for highways, to be expended in a two-year period.

A public works measure is being prepared with approval of the administration, it is understood, which would provide from $250,000,000 to $400,000,000 for highways.

Highway legislation is assured of the support of the entire Western and Southern delegations in Congress, and some of the Northern states, notably Wisconsin, also are on the firing line.

The American Road Builders Association and the American Association of State Highway Officials, the two strongest highway organizations in the nation, are waging a determined fight for satisfactory legislation. State Engineer T. S. O'Connell of Arizona, president of the Western Association of State Highway Officials, and Preston Peterson of Utah, secretary of the association, have recently returned from Washington where they took a major part in outlining a road program and organizing a campaign for its enactment.

Governor Moeur of Arizona, as this was written, was in the national capital, in quest of additional government funds with which to provide adequate relief for the state's unemployed through the summer. He favors federal money earmarked for highways on the theory that it offers the opportunity of putting the maximum number of men to work at a minimum of delay. With the cooperation of members of Arizona's delegation in Congress, he will exert a powerful influence in favor of federal highway appropriations. It is recalled that he came back home last fall with 24,000 CWA jobs for Arizonians when only about 9,000 were originally proposed by the administration. The signs are all favorable. It appears reasonably certain that there will be federal money for state highways. The question now is, how much and when?

OUR COVER PICTURE

The front cover picture on this month's Arizona Highways shows the blossoms of the Night Blooming Cereus, most beautiful of the cactus flowers. It blooms only in the evening, usually about 9 o'clock, and the blossoms remain open generally for only an hour or two, though occasionally they have been known to last through the night until the morning sun touches their delicate white waxy petals. The "Queen of the Night" grows on the desert in washes and other sheltered places, and blossoms later in the season than other cactus species, usually not before the middle to the 25th of June. In Central and Southern Arizona it is a favorite garden plant. The photograph of the blossoms shown in the cover picture was taken in the garden at the home of Mrs. L. H. Manning in Tucson.

LITTLE MOMENTS IN HISTORY