The American Legion Magazine [Volume 23, No. 4 (October 1937)]

Copyright 19J7, Liggett & Myers Tobacco Co Roads To All Our Doors HEN it comes to broad these free public roads. Therein our high- highways, our people have way development has differed from every far outstripped the Romans, other comparably large American achieve- w the great road builders of ment. It has come about because every- ancient times, and all other peoples of one has recognized, whether or not he the earth. The United States has one- owns an automobile, that good roads third of all the roads in the world today, are important to him. is building improved roads at a faster A rough measurement of how highway rate than any other major nation, and transportation affects various portions of strangely enough is in urgent need of the population is supplied by recent sur- more good roads all the while. veys of traffic. People who live in the Behind this apparent paradox is the country do sixty percent of their driving automobile. Motor vehicles and good on main state highways, twenty percent roads are inseparable. Without the auto- on main county roads, fifteen percent mobile this country would never have de- on "land service" roads, five percent on veloped its highway system. Without city streets. City people do forty-five the ever-growing highway system, auto- percent on main state highways, ten per- mobiles might still be hand-made toys cent on main county roads, five percent for millionaires instead of mass-produc- on land service roads, forty percent on tion tools for everyday living. city streets. From these figures it is Taken together, roads and automobiles plain that main state highways have have in twenty-five years changed Ameri- affected our living habits more than any can living habits far more radically than other single class of roads. And if to most of us have realized while it was measure their over-all importance you happening. They have cut new channels apply these figures to the percentages of retail trade such as came when cus- of tax revenue paid by rural and urban tomers who had been content to buy from citizens—twenty-one percent and seven- catalogues turned to stores in their trad- ty-nine percent respectively—you find ing centers, or when certain goods have that main state highways are responsible moved bodily from ten thousand Main for almost half of the total, city streets Streets because farm men and women for almost one-third, main county roads can drive fifty or a hundred miles to and hard surface roads for the remainder. larger stocks of merchandise with little more effort than was formerly required BECAUSE finding facts like these pro- to get to the R.F.D. mail box. They vides the only accurate method of have almost uprooted the sociable old gauging the importance of roads in our custom of after-supper calls between national life, highway engineers are families, and have cost the nation's studying out methods for developing swains untold expense in buying movie fair and intelligent road-building pro- tickets for evenings which by a previous grams. Most of the pioneering has been generation were costlessly employed in done—the cities have been connected front-parlor visiting. They have moved by hard roads which get the motorist factories and city workers into rural dis- out of the mud. Now the job becomes tricts, they have built modest summer one primarily of making these existing cottages on the shores of a thousand in- roads adequate to modern traffic, of land lakes formerly accessible only to the taking out the deadly curves, of widening wealthy or the idle. They have changed the bottle-neck stretches and otherwise our lives in more ways than we can recog- making the roads serve the best interests nize—and have made life for the average of the average American citizen. Most of citizen more eventful and interesting us are agreed that motor tax revenue is than at the beginning of the century the fair way to provide highway funds, seemed possible. and few motorists grumble when they know that their gasoline and license OUR people have purchased motor taxes go into building and maintaining vehicles freely because they could roads for them to use. use them on our good roads. They have A grave threat to an adequate highway PHOTOGRAPH BY CHARLES PHELPS CUSHING cheerfully taxed themselves to build system is the (Continued on page 57) OCTOBER, 1937 — (fforQod and country , we associate ourselves togetherjor thefollowing purposes:0a uphold and defend the Constitution oftheTlnited States of&merica; to maintain law and order; tofosterandperpetuate a one hundredpercttt&rnericanism; topreserve the memories and incidents ofour association in theQreat'~War; to inculcate a sense of'individual obligation to the com' munity,state andnation; to combat the autocracy ofboth the classes andthe masses; to make right the master ofmight; topromote peace andgoodwillon earth ;to safeguardand transmit to posteritg the principles ofjustice.Jreedom and democracy; to conse" crate and'sanctify our comradeship by our devotion to mutual helpfulness.— Preamble to the Constitution, ofThe American Legion. — n~~he ^American October, 1937 I VOL * ' ^ ^ MAGAZINE(j i O ^^^1 Published Monthly by The American Legion, 4;$ West nd Street, Chicago, Illinois EXECUTIVE AND ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES im$?*^&f EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING OFFICES Indianapolis, Indiana *5 West 48th St., New York City - = * CONTENTS for copies of Legion- New York National Con- EEQUESTS THE HUNTERS Cover THE naire Arthur Mitchell's August By Paul Bransom vention is over—just over. The cover painting, "The Old Gray ROADS TO ALL OUR DOORS 1 full story will be published in the Mare," have been so numerous that By Blaine S. Smith next issue, with photographs. Keep BITES OFF THE APPLE 5 reprints have been made available the convention issues from year to By Thomas Malone J. year they are Illustration by Lowell L. Balcom — a permanent record of PINEAPPLES 6 Legion programs, the chart that guides By Clifford W. Kennedy the organization. You can keep your- Illustrations by Frank Street self informed on Legion policy by PRO PATRIA 10 skimming through the By Harry W. Colmery, Retiring Na- annual conven- tional Commander tion story from time to time and YOU'VE GOT TO FOOL 'EM 14 brushing up your knowledge. Thereby By Andy as told to Stanley Kerr you will not only inform yourself, but Woodward PROFILE OF TWO DOGS 16 be able to inform other people. By Roy Dickinson Illustrations by Grattan Condon WILLIAM D. LEAHY, Ad- DON'T PLAY WITH 18 MATCHES miral, United States Navy, and By Stephen C. Garrity EDITORIAL: back home 21 Chief of Naval Operations, is not a YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE CRAZY 22 man of many words. The editors, By Arthur Van Vi.issingen, Jr. therefore, feel they are to be con- HIS 24 THE MASTER DOES STUFF gratulated in having from him an By Wallgren article of absorbing interest and im- I MARRIED A LEGIONNAIRE 25 and will be supplied to anyone in- Anonymous portance which will appear in the terested for ten cents apiece. The re- Illustration by L. R. Gustavson November issue: "Sentinels of Se- prints are on heavy plate paper with WAR DRUMS ON THE Am 26 curity." In these troublous times By Fairfax Downey wide margins and are without letter- YOU CAN'T STAND THERE, (there have been troublous times ever ing, ready for framing. Arthur SOLDIER! 28 since 1914, but right now the times Mitchell was reared an honest-to- By H. L. (Pep) Plummer seem to be heading for the trouble- Hecuba cowboy. A native of Colorado, THEIR BROTHER'S KEEPER 30 someness championship since 1918 By Boyd B. StuTler he quit the range dozen years at least) , the means, should a ago WOMEN IN WHITE 34 Navy or and to art under to American than came East study By John J. Noll mean, more every Legionnaire Harvey Dunn (who, by BURSTS AND DUDS 37 it has meant in almost a generation Conducted by Dan Sowers the way, will supply the cover design since, in fact, the battle wagons of FRONT AND CENTER 38 for the November issue) . Inevitably 1918 watched the road to France. Mr. Mitchell has specialized in IMPORTANT Western scenes, bringing to his can- ALEGIONNAIRE in upstate New vas an authentic interpretation of the A form for your convenience if you wish York writes to suggest we make to have the magazine sent to another ad- life he knows and loves best. This some mention of the beauties of dress will be found on page 6j. In noti- magazine still receives from time to Letchworth Park, in the valley of the fying the Indianapolis address be sure to time requests for his painting include the old address as well as the new Genesee some fifty miles south of "Roped!" which appeared on the and don't forget Ike number of your Post Rochester and southeast of Buffalo. and name of Depaitment. Allow five cover of the issue for October, 1935. The region is not only lovely but is weeks for change to become operative. An Apparently America is still strong for particularly rich in Indian survivals. issue already mailed to old address will not horses, horses, horses, and not just be forwarded by post office unless subscriber There's still time for homebound con- the kind that win, place and show (or sends extra postage to post office. Notifying ventionnaires to include it in their not). this office well in advance of impending itineraries. address change will obviate this expense. The American Legion Maoazinb is the official publication of The American Legion, and is owned exclusively by The American Legion.

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