The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-09-25

! where the goods must be conveyed for | long distances, 1t is obvious that any ! method of transportation which would 1 receive the goods in Liverpool and car l ry them oyer all sorts of roads right to | their purchaser up to fifty miles away would be d boon in economy to mer- | chants and manufacturers, thus les | sening the cost to the consumer The American who travels in this part of England could almost imagine himself | in the hustling United States by the
 signs Of enterprise displayed in such
 towns as Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, in contrast to fogy old
 London, tramping along half century behind the times. Brisk methods of business prevail hercabouts, and it did
 not take long for the keen business men
 or Lancashire and Yorkshire to see the
 possibilities which last years auto-truck
 demonstrations opened up for the sav-
 Ing of time and money in the handling
 or goods. Therefore the supporters of
 thls years exhibition were some of the
 leading commercial people of this city
 who are now aiming to tie the Liver
 pool trade to Manchester and all the
 country round by putting on lines of
 freight wagons to give cheap and
 rapid delivery service from the whole
 salers to their provincial customers.
 Rigid tests were made at the Liver
 pool steamship docks on the ability of
 the drivers to maneuver their wagons
 Tn such necessarily small spaces as are
 met in directly loading and unloading
 vessels masked bay about half as
 long again as motor wagon. was ar
 ranged some twenty feet from and
 nearly opposite to a gate, into which
 they must back. Entrance was made
 successfully with two reverses by the
 most of the contestants, who showed their careful training as motorneers.
 The tendency is to make the freight
 ing cars heavier and heavier, like the mammoth American railway locomo- tices, and in this way vaster power and greater speed may be expected to develop. At present the government lays restrictions upon the weight of autocars, and limits their highway speed to six miles an hour, but more
 liberal enactment Is hoped for to meet the changing conditions of automatic traffic Twenty-Five tons can be moved over an average English road as readi- ly as fourth of that weight, and if this system of transport develops as rapidly as it promises to, there will come in some new problems in town paving and country road-making. It must revolutionize the present system, suited as it is to comparatively light traffics.
 Last years tests in Liverpool showed the advantage of petroleum in lighter vehicles, and this year proved anew that steam is still the standard for heavy fractions. On the previous occa- sion the wheels and other working parts gave trouble by the severe strain and the vibration, but this year the tires and wheels were found perfectly sound at the end of the exhibitions, thus de- the notape advancement made in one year.
 The British government is steadily advancing in its use of the automobile for civil and military purposes. An of ficial who witnessed the late hill-climb- ing and long-distance road trials said he would urge upon the war office an | use of autocars for heavy ar | tillery and campaign service, as a few | hundred of these will dispense with | thousands of horses, and be more effec- | tive, he thinks. In the postal service. | motor cars have for some time been in | satisfactory use, and at the late Rich mond show mail vans were run up and down the steep hills along the Thames at high speed. One Newcastle car flashes up hill at thirteen miles an hour. It Is said the rate of travel for such heavy vehicles may be raised to four teen miles an hour to make possible rapid cross-country postal delivery ser vice. Such one is operating now on .he London and Brighton route, which needs speeding up to meet the require ments. Private motor-car stage routes ire being established about the coun- ny, one of these lying between Bedford, where lived and wrote John Bunyan, md Kempston. neighboring village. One day recently three hundred and .ighty-seven passengers were carried he three miles for the regular fare of wo pence, and the trade is rapidly growing.
 The United States has definitely en- cred the competition in the worlds markets against both the French and English makers American machines Ire now entered at nearly all contests in Europe and western wheels are being idden in increasing numbers in Paris, he home of the automobile, as well as ere The artistic Parisian has been a ong time in getting lines of beauty on o his wares, although one can now see ome real beauties in the show rooms of he Count de Dion and the other makers here. The American carriages are bet CT covered in their working parts, and here is evidently more security to the ider as well as to the mechanism. The English autocar is also being inn roved by the influence of it's energetic ( american rivals, and the notorious ugl1- ess is being slowly worn away, with lenty of room still for improvement. ( american sporting dog carts are be- oming especially popular for their ghtness and beauty and European l are more and more send 1g across the ocean for their fittings. ,ven such parts as rawhide pinions are ( cling imported from Chicago As usu- 1. the Germans are counterfeiting the .merican articles, and with their usu- I lack of sucoess-St. Louis Globe 
 STATE BOARD or TRADE.
 enth Annual Meeting to be Held on 3
 October 4