The Bridge Builders

BY: Vincent J. Keating

Page Thirty ARIZONA HIGHWAYS VACATION LAND, 1929 ARIZONA HIGHWAYS

PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF GOOD ROADS BY THE ARIZONA HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT

VOL. V. MAY, 1929 No 5

ARIZONA STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION

GENERAL OFFICE

FIELD ENGINEERS

VINCENT J. KEATING, EDITOR Subscription rates, $1.00 per year. Single copy 10 cents Advertising rates furnished on request Address All Communications to Editor ARIZONA HIGHWAYS ARIZONA HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT PHOENIX, ARIZONA

INVESTMENTS-SOUND AND OTHERWISE

Several years ago investigators, acting for the Better Business Bureau, interviewed more than. four hundred persons, residents of fifteen different states, who in three years had lost $435,000 through purchases of almost worthless securities. Though the number of victims interrogated was not large, they were so widely distributed that their losses represented a typical cross section of millions of individual experiences. The age-old urge of "something-for-nothing," the inherent belief in Santa Claus, is responsible for these losses. Forecasts of dividends ranging from ten to one hundred per cent is the bait offered, certain stocks offering higher gains. The buyers exhibit a marked preference for unlisted securities. For the most part their choice is so conspicuously bad that they would have probably an equal chance of winning at rounlette or faro. Even the most vicious game of chance offers equal odds. The law, however, turns a frowning face upon such games of hazard and protects the addict of the wheel or dice, while the vendors of worthless stocks, sometimes hedged about with legal technicalities, ply their trade and flourish like the green bay tree.

Not the least surprising thing developed by the above mentioned inquiry is the fact that most of the losers were persons who should have known better, for the most part professional and some business men, -persons who had it well within their power to ascertain precisely what sort of concerns they were buying into.

There is only one type of investment we can think of at this time which insures enormous dividends. Presented figures, proving conclusively that highways not only cost the tax-payer nothing, but pay actual cash dividends, aside from the enormous increase in property values, have been in these pages time and again. There is not a citizen in the state who does not collect his quota of the millions brought in by the tourist. "We pay for good roads whether we have them or not," says Thomas McDonald of the Bureau of Public Roads, "and pay more when we do not have them; for a good road, after it is improved, pays for itself many times over."

The buying of Arizona products means greater prosperity for the state. When you trade at home you help your neighbor who in turn helps you.

This issue of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS contains articles and pictures of scenic spots and places of interest in Arizona that may be reached in Arizona.

So when it comes time for you to take your vacation, invest your money in "Seeing Arizona First." That is a real investment for it is an investment in your own state, which will mean greater prosperity and pay greater and greater dividends as time goes on.

For two years the engineers of the Arizona Highway Department endured heat and cold, disappointment, discomfort, danger and responsibility almost too heavy for human shoulders; and day by day, through that time, the great bridge over the Colorado River grew under their charge. In January of this year the engineers looked upon their completed work and saw that it was good, permanent -to endure when all memory of the builders had perished.

And now, if all goes well, on June 14 and 15 the Governors of the two great commonwealths made close neighbors by the structure will meet to open the bridge in state, and thousands are expected to witness its dedication.

One of the highest highway bridges in the world, this comparatively short span reduces the neighborly contact of Arizona and Utah by eight hundred miles. It makes accessible a country abounding in game and natural wonders, a country wich will draw the hunter and sight-seer from every quarter of the globe.

The economic advantages to be derived are beyond speculation, increasing, as it will, the tourist traffic.

A heavy price has been paid for these privileges, hardships and even sudden death; but that is always the price exacted by progress.