THE PROBLEM OF TRANSPORT

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 17, 14 October 1927, Page 8

THE PROBLEM OF TRANSPORT

EFFECTS OF INEQUITABLE TAXATION. .“The progressiveness of a country can be measured iu part by the extent to which it has developed its means of transportation and communication,” observes Mr. E. C. Morse, the well-known authority on road transport, after returning to America from a five months’ journey which took him to England, France, Belgium, Denmark, German}', Holland, Portugal, Argentina, and Bra-

“Lord Macaulay made a similar observation when he wrote ‘of all the inventions, the alphabet and printing press alone excepted, those which abridge distance have done the most for the civilisation of our species,’ ” continues M>r. Morse.

“Other countries of the word are studying the causes of American prosperity more and more, and throughout the world there is coming the gradual realisation that an under-motoied condition of a country is an uneconomical one. Other countries are realising* that while America has profited, of course, from the manufacture oi automobiles, greater benefits have been experienced as a result of the common use of motor vehicles. ’

“It is a healthful sign that countries are becoming aware that anything which retards the motorisation of a country checks its economic ami social progress, 'lio levy unequitable taxes on motor-car owners, and thus to make it more difficult to own and operate a motor-car, is to place a tax on progress “Here in America we have completely accepted the automobile as a means of individual transportation. That same acceptance is coming gradually in other countries as they appreciate the economic benefits of the use of motor-cars.”