A New Pattern for National Highway Development

Three Hundred and Sixty-eight* MeetingThe Economic Club of Detroit Detroit, Michigan May 20, 1%6Although the particular date for this talk was fixed by a number of circumstances, it is a happy coincidence that the Golden Jubilee of the Automotive Industry is only a few days removed.It has been my privilege to know personally many of the great pioneers of that industry.They were men of unlimited imagination.When I first knew them they were indent upon laying the firm foundations of what has,since become an industrial structure of world-wide dimensions, which even yet has not reached the limit of its service to world economy.When the motor car was still a luxury available only to the favored few, they saw the possibility of its eventual possession by the many; and I was able to observe at close range the transformation of their vision into reality through the mass production made possible by the typically American innovation of the assembly line, first perfected by the automotive industry.My association with these men of vision who knew so well how to make their dreams come true was, for me, a great educational opportunity;and I have tried, within my capacity, to emulate their imaginative fore sight and practical wisdom.In so doing, I have paid my modest tribute to these men, some of them still carrying on the tradition of accomplish-.Jsent, others now gone after fullness of years.Too many have left us *hen we needed them most, when they had reached their greatest usefulness,