SERIOUS MENACE TO HIGHWAY SYSTEM SEEN IN REDUCED MAINTENANCE FUNDS

people developed agriculture to a high degree is to be seen in the innumerable metates and manos and other tools used in the production of cultivated foods. We find in the designs of corn, etc., on the ever present pottery sherds, verification of the existence of these agricultural products. Metates and manos at both sites reveal an important phase of the Indian woman's life. Dutifully and pleasantly, she bent over the flat stone in the open patio, or, the weather not permitting this, she turned to her own darkened room. Singing a corn song, one of thanks to the gods for this gift of grain, she prepared the life giving food for her silent brown family.

Unfortunately, the open country of Southern Arizona is not particularly conducive to the preservation of more perishable materials. Hence weaving, which must have occupied a good part of the Indian woman's time, leaves but a slight record of the past. The barest fragmentary pieces have come to light, telling nothing of the size and shape of garment, revealing the type of weave only. But even this brief revelation is necessary, incompiete as it is, for it establishes the fact that these pueboane were familiar with cotton and knew how to spin and weave it.

The unknown land beyond life, has piqued man the world over from the beginning of time. The usual concrete expression of the actual belief in an after life is to be seen in the burials of the remains of the dead as various effects are placed with them. Or, perhaps, the manner of burial indicates the spiritual connections with the after life. At the two ruins in question, are found cremations. These tell us that the inhabitants of the two villages believed that the spirit must be freed by burning the body. Probably, as do the Yumans of today, the bereaved relatives threw the personal effects of the deceased on the burning pyre, to be consumed by the fires so that they too, might reach the land beyond. Burned though the bones may be, charred too, the effects found with the calcined human remains, yet these too set down an indelible record of days and customs gone by. Thus in every corner of a pueblo home, in every inch of debris heap, even on the burned pile which formed the crematory, everywhere are written the records of men long since dead. It is only through systematic investigation, only through patient and careful excavation that the full and correct story can be gleaned from the small and large remains, Motordom's huge investment in highways today faces a grave menace in the sharp curtailment of funds for maintenance, and unless the situation is recognized and immediately corrected a return to primitive road conditions is inevitable, according to a warning sounded today by the American Road Builders' Association. Reports to headquarters of the organization from all parts of the country clearly reveal that the contraction in state, county and city budgets not only has affected new highway construction but portends serious destruction for those already built. In launching a campaign to bring the threatening condition to the attention of the nation's motorists, T. H. Cutler, president of the American Road Builders' Association, points out that the situation already has reached a stage of acuteness which dictates that the federal government may be forced to maintain federal-aid highways in some states.

The profits of adequate investment in maintenance of present highways are too great to be ignored regardless of the situation of economic stress which unquestionably exists at the present time, says Mr. Cutler.

"For one thing," he declares, "highway maintenance is a natural field for the absorption of local unemployment in all parts of the country. These workers can be recruited from virtually all classes of those now out of work, for the field is one that primarily requires energy and aptitude.

"The value of sound maintenance to transportation should be sufficiently obvious to require no elaboration. With the cost of traffic accidents estimated at $900,-000,000 yearly, we are in an excellent way to increase it by reducing highway maintenance expenditures, which can only mean an increase in operating hazards, due to inferior road conditions. We never will reduce our tremendous accident cost by allowing our highways to deteriorate.

"Those clamoring for a reduction in highway expenditures overlook the fact that other and greater expenditures will be demanded of motorists as a result.

"Bad roads, and that is precisely what we shall return to without adequate maintenance, cannot fail to add to the nation's from beads and great walls, from clay pots and stone weapons-these, the records of the Southwest.

motoring bill. They will bring increased tire and vehicle repair costs. They will increase the individual car owner's outlay for fuel and lubricants and necessitate a larger investment of his time in any kind of motor trip which he may make."

Any deterioration in highways is bound to be costly in still other ways, the statement points out. Among these are listed inefficiency in truck transportation, increased farm costs, a vastly reduced volume of motor touring which has built up a new industry within the past decade, and an adverse effect upon public education which has benefited enormously in recent years as a result of road construction, which has made school consolidations possible.

"Present conditions demand that we look the issue squarely in the face," says Mr. Cutler. "The clamor for economy easily can be carried too far, and as it applies to road maintenance moneys it already has created an acute situation. If we allow it to continue unchecked our highway system faces the prospect of being set back years in its development.

"Some states may be obliged to postpone construction, but the public's investment in highways must always be protected by adequate maintenance."

FOREST PROTECTION IS CENTURIES OLD

That the forest incendiary is not a new menace to public welfare is proved by a law promulgated 250 years ago in Pennsylvania, says a California Region, U. S. Forest Service Report. In 1676 the Duke of York, brother of King Charles II of England, made the penalty for kindling a fire in the woods and permitting it to escape to cultivated land, the payment of all the damages plus one-half more as a fine. If the guilty person could not pay he was liable to receive "not exceeding 20 stripes," or in other words, be publicly whipped.

Thus, intensive efforts being made this year by the Stop Forest Fires Committee and other bodies in the state to prevent incendiarism to fields and forests have a notable precedent.

"Mr. Missouri, why does the state of Missouri stand at the head of the muleraising industry in this country?"

"Because the other end is too dangerous, sir."