Editorials

ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

Published in the Interest of Good Roads by the ARIZONA HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT CIVILIZATION FOLLOWS THE IMPROVED HIGHWAY

VOL. X. NOVEMBER No. 11

ARIZONA STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION SHELTON G. DOWELL, Chairman, Douglas RAY N. VYNE, Vice-Chairman, Prescott JACOB BARTH, Commissioner, St. Johns MONTE MANSFIELD, Commissioner. Tucson C. E. ADDAMS, Commissioner, Phoenix C. C. JARRETT, Secretary. Mera

GENERAL OFFICE

SID SMYTH, Deputy State Engineer E. M. WHITWORTH, Vehicle Superintendent. R. A. HOFFMAN, Bridge Engineer E. V. MILLER, Engineer of Plans J. W. POWERS, Engineer of Materials W. L. CARPENTER, Superintendent of Equipment SWAN A. ERICKSON, Engineer Certification Board T. S. O'CONNELL., State Highway Engineer J. S. MILLS, Engineer of Estimates H. C. HATCHER, Statistical Engineer W. M. MURRAY, Superintendent of Stores M. L. WHEELER, Chief Accountant C. R. McDOWELL, Patrol Superintendent. A. C. SIEBOTH, Right-of-Way Agent W. S. FRERICHS, Purchasing Agent

FIELD ENGINEERS

GEORGE B. SHAFFER, District Engineer District No. 1 F. N. GRANT. District Engineer District No. 2 R. C. PERKINS, District Engineer District No. 3 W. R. HUTCHINS, District Engineer District No. 4

PERCY JONES Chief Locating Engineer

HAL MITCHELL, Editor Subscription Rates: $1.00 per Year. Advertising Rates on Request Single Copy: 10 Cents Address All Communications to Editor ARIZONA HIGHWAYS Arizona Highway Department Phoenix, Arizona

KEEPING PACE WITH PROSPERITY

The importance of the state's highway system and its relation to the general prosperity of the people is disclosed in recent research by the National Highway Users Conference, which reveals that automotive, petroleum and other trades connected with motor traffic provide jobs and wages for one out of every five persons employed in wholesale, retail and service trades in the state of Arizona. The analysis, based on recently completed census bureau figures for the year 1933, shows that out of 6,447 wholesale, retail and service establishments operating in Arizona during that year, 1,812, or approximately onefourth, were dependent on motor transportation for their business. Of the total payroll of $13,052,000 for all wholesale, retail and service trades, $3,136,000 or 23.9 per cent, accrued from automotive, petroleum and allied trades. The total volume of sales for all wholesale, retail and service business in the state amounted to $129,619,000, of which $30,064,000 represented purchases by motor vehicle owners of all classes. In proportion to the total volume of sales by all trades, the trades catering to highway transportation provided more jobs and a higher standard of wages, accounting for 22.9 per cent of the jobs and 23.9 per cent of the payrolls, as compared with 23.1 per cent of sales.

"These figures," says Roy F. Britten, director of the National Highway Users Conference, "enable us for the first time to get a clear and accurate conception of thecontribution of the highway transportation industries to the economic welfare of the state.

"Except for the continued needs of the motoring public, every fourth business house or service establishment in Arizona would close; every fifth person employed in the wholesale, retail or service trades would lose his job, and more than one-fifth of the business payroll of the state would dry up instantly.

"There is every reason to believe that with equitable operating conditions, the automotive trades will contribute even more to the prosperity of the state in the years immediately ahead."

In the face of such facts and figures as these, it becomes increasingly apparent that the improvement and development of the Arizona highway system must not only keep pace with the needs of motor transportation but it must anticipate those requirements if it is to reap the full benefits of the automotive trade.

OUR COVER PICTURE

The front cover picture on this month's Arizona Highways is a view of the capitol in Phoenix, photographed by Thad. S. Long, of Kingman, state examiner in the administration of Gov. John C. Phillips.

The building, authorized by the Nineteenth Territorial Legislature in 1897, was completed in 1901, during the second administration of Gov. Nathan O. Murphy, eleven years before statehood. Its original cost was approximately $140,000, and in 1919 another wing, less than half the size of the original building, was added, at a cost of $200,000, demonstrating the great increase in construction costs over a period of twenty years.

The structure is built of native stone, the walls of tufa from Skull Valley, near Prescott, and the foundations

HIGHWAY HEADACHES