" HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS U.S.A. " 1953 LONG HAUL TRUCKING, RURAL ROAD MAINTENANCE & REPAIR FILM 69064

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This 1953 film "Highways and Byways, U.S.A." was made by the "Farm Roads Foundation" as part of a surreptitious public awareness campaign by the Western Association of Railroads. The film and the campaign itself were intended to undermine the long-haul trucking industry in the eyes of the public, by making the point that tractor trailer trucks do not pay their fair share of highway construction and maintenance costs. "Highways and Byways" was in fact entered into evidence in a 1957 antitrust case brought by interstate long-haul truckers and the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association against the the Eastern Railroad Presidents Conference. In the end, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the railroads' publicity campaign was protected by the First Amendment, and dismissed the trucking industries' claims.
The film was made by Dudley Pictures of Hollywood and shown for free in movie theaters. It was apparently based on an article by Emilie Hall, "You Can Have Better Roads" originally published in Country Gentlemen Magazine. The film dramatizes the efforts that farmers have to go through to get country roads repaired by the state. The point of the film is that farm roads in places like Dexter County are in very poor repair, harming everyday people, and that the government should fund better roads -- presumably by taxing the trucking industry.
The film begins with images of modern highways and interstates, as well as a rural farm road (0:55) A red 1950's era Chevrolet truck is driving down a dirt road. (1:05), A black 1950s era Chevrolet pickup truck is crossing a bridge. (1:40), a 1950's era Chevrolet Styleline is stuck in mud. (2:42), Main Street USA -- the camera pans through the town of Dexter County, Missouri, the camera pans through a parking lot that has a view of shops, IGA Supermarket, buildings, and vintage cars. (3:10), Dexter County Greenville Press building. (4:50), Wesley Underwood is shown driving a blue 1950's Chevrolet Styleline. (7:41), a Greenville Press newspaper with the headline "Local Farmer Forced to Repair Township Road." (8:21), a 1950's rotary desk telephone base. (11:28), a newspaper with the headline "Survey of County Road System Called Imperative." (10:11) couple discussing roads in a modern kitchen with nice appliances (11:42), mail is placed in a mail box (11:52), at (12:01) a crazy mailbox on a rope pulley system is shown. A blue 1940's Ford Standard Coupe moves off the paved road onto the unpaved (12:20) County highway 59A, Fred Dickson's Road, and U.S. 40 signs. (13:57), Dexter County Courthouse plaque (looks like a matte painting) and Highway Commissioner office. A public meeting on the issue (17:03), the Farm Roads Committee members are seen at a panel, with Wesley Underwood speaking. (71:04-24:20), Dexter County town hall meeting discussing the issue of their roads. (20:46), Lucy Withers describes the costs of roads per mile. (24:58), a 1951 Greenville paper that has notes from the meeting, the headline "Resolution Adopted by Meeting of Rural Road Guidance Committee." (25:06), a 1950's Ford Heavy-Duty truck is shown crossing a bridge while the narrator talks about the need to protect infrastructure against heavy loads and wear and tear. The film ends (27:47).
Written by Herman Boxer, directed by Allen H. Miner, photography Alan Stensvold, music Howard Jackson,
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com

[@annabellesnightmares]

I'm a 23-year-old girl living in Germany and I have no idea why this is so interesting to me. Loved it😁

[@dave1956]

The interstate highway act wasn’t passed until 1956, but I see that the ground work was being laid in films like this. I absolutely loved it!

[@debraallen63]

Back in the days of True freedom. You could walk right into the sheriff's office or the governor's office and not be searched or treated like a criminal. Blessings 🙏

[@SMichaelDeHart]

Indeed!! Heck, I walked to elementary school in southern West Virginia carrying my new Christmas gift of a Winchester .22LR Rifle to show in my 4th grade class. None of my neighbors or school personnel batted a eye. Today's Political Bureaucracys feel their better than the common citizen and deserve protection. Our US Constitution and Bill of Rights give equally to all, not select groups!!

[@unconventionalideas5683]

To be fair, if you did that now there would be serious cause to think you might be there to commit a mass murder, which was less the case in Southern West Virginia in those days. Rural Decay is a real problem now, even as places like Philadelphia are doing quite well nowadays.@@SMichaelDeHart

[@SMichaelDeHart]

@@unconventionalideas5683 Philadelphia??🤣🤣🤣🤣 Yeah, those streets overrun with drug users and homeless really look wonderful. And all the AA on AA violence.

[@3rd_Millennium_Engineering]

Hey, let's fix our own roads!

[@jmjones7897]

Stanley Steamer

[@mackpines]

Love these old highway films. Of course, this was three years before the Interstate Highway system began construction. Imagine if we still had to rely on these old and crumbling roads to get goods from place to place. I don't think anybody in 1956 realized how the Interstate would change the country forever; for better and worse.

[@Quietshepherd]

I believe the actor playing the newspaper editor is Lewis Martin who also played Pastor Collins "Uncle Matthew" in The War Of The Worlds which also came out in 1953.

[@Woffy.]

I thought I recognised him, thats saved me racking my addled brain. The town hall meeting must have been the highlight of their year. What puzzled me was no mention of them lobbing their Senator.

[@parcans]

@@Woffy. Quite a few senators most of us wouldn't mind "lobbing" today..

[@Woffy.]

Ha Ha Freudian slip.....good catch

[@Nunofurdambiznez]

Absolutely FANTASTIC film!!! If you have more of these, please post them, they are GREAT!

[@Starchface]

Brilliant film. It's a product of the times. Good times! It was a time of building. Building America into the greatest nation on Earth by gum! Visionaries like these made it possible. Those in the film have surely passed on, as has the Farm Road Foundation itself, but we will remember them and their accomplishments thanks to this great production. Thanks for restoring and preserving it for us to see, Periscope!

[@KarldorisLambley]

" Building America into the greatest nation on Earth by gum! " I think you'll find that accolade belongs to England.

[@thelegion_within]

that was really interesting - it took about 10 minutes to realize this predates the Interstate highway expansion

[@deepbludude4697]

Where I live is pretty rural in the Ozarks, miles n miles of dirt roads. We kinda take care of our own roads sometimes the town hauls a load of dirt so guys can float it out. But there's an abandoned gravel pit where you can go get a load or two to spread. Makes for great Dirtbike riding I can go hundreds of miles on back roads on my XR650 w/o going on pavement.

[@AviationMetalSmith]

We have dirt bike tracks at the Port Washington sand pits on Long Island.

[@1_TRICK_Pony]

It's hilarious that it's possible to show "reruns" on youtube. I already liked this video. I still enjoyed watching it again! 👍

[@kenmore01]

"It always being a personal pleasure seeing Lucy Withers" 😏 I'll bet! Haha

[@Derekmartin20]

Love the old stuff.

[@jimeditorial]

The people look like Norman Rockwell subjects

[@greenfuzz13]

We've been asking these questions about gas tax usage in California for some time.

[@miggitymikeb]

I like this one a lot

[@wdmm94]

A bit of understanding: At a township level especially, and even a county that is mostly farming let's say, the local residents could vote to raise their local levies to raise more revenue for roads. At annual township meetings the voters of the township set their own road tax levy. In other words they have to choose to tax themselves to fix up their local roads.

[@wdmm94]

P.S. The local voters elect the local county commissioners who in turn set the counties road levy and budgets.

[@wdmm94]

A "farm road" system for 17,000 dollars a mile sounds basically like a county road network a lot of midwestern states now have.

[@JeffDeWitt]

What a great peek at history and how our modern back roads came to be. North Carolina, being a primarily rural, agricultural state, knew about importance of good farm to market roads and began a serious, statewide program to improve those roads, and adopting the moniker "The Good Roads State". Even now, a century later, North Carolina's network of back roads is far superior to the surrounding states. Our gas taxes also reflect that, as North Carolina has the second largest state maintained road system in the country (after Texas). The Nash the reporter was driving was pretty cool, and I have no doubt someone is going to have conniptions over the (cookie jar) that shows up around 10:05.

[@PeriscopeFilm]

Thanks for your comment, and for being a sub, and a channel member! We appreciate you!

[@Soacwiththaface]

Focus backwards is kinda funny.😂

[@wbcook1000]

@10:30 popular Aunt Jemimah cookie jar is visible on the kitchen counter. Fits with the times.

[@tomtbi]

I would love to locate 1/24 and 1/25 scale model kits of 50s era big rig model kits to build.. ( I have managed to locate and build the 1/48 Scale Atlantis 56 White Sinclair Tanker Semi and a 1/48 scale Atlantis 55 Chevy Stake Rack Straight Truck model kits)...

[@markward6076]

Taxes, taxes, raise taxes they say in my area to pay for township road repairs.

[@billsimpson604]

I have never seen a mailbox on a line like that. Was that to avoid slipping down on winter ice, or what?

[@AviationMetalSmith]

11:59 before email

[@jmjones7897]

By Gum

[@johnjwedrall4290]

👍👍😊

[@manhoot]

Talk about "carrying the freight ".....

[@frt7283]

Michigan is still trying to fix the damn road

[@escargol173]

At 12:01, WTF is that mailbox doing?

[@tjlovesrachel]

Air mail

[@ranasneed451]

Anyone getting the civics lesson?

[@Jack-xo2zp]

Nowadays, the county would try to get a grant from the federal government.

[@ArmpitStudios]

Such corny humor in that time and place. Like when the slick guy cracks a joke and the camera looks at an obviously real, old farmer reacting like he’s never heard anything so funny.