The Washington times., 1911-10-29
HIGH EFFICIENCY
IN MOTOR TRUCKS
NOW ESTABLISHED
Merchant Has Discovered
This by a Result of His
Patience.

The present high state Of efficiency
of mechanically propelled commercial
vehicles seems to be just reward for
the patience and stick-to-itiveness that
the average merchant has shown toward
the motor truck.
.iere was a time when the salesman,
who may have had his sales experience
in safes and cash registers, would go to
q merchant and offer him sfive-ton
truck and get the order on the cold
blooded statement that 1t could be main
tained for about SIS or SIG month,
whereas, as a matter Of fact, the cost
would be three times that amount
Still, the merchant believed the sales
man, and many commercial vehicles Of
all sizes and kinds have been sold by
methods along the above line. The
larger concerns with whom transporta-
ton was a serious problem began to
make a study OF it, and consult engi-
neering talent, which, Of course, laid
bare the facts to them, and these Facts
in themselves are SO attractive to the
merchant that misleading statements
are absolutely unnecessary, because any
one of the first-class trucks or delivery
wagons of the present day would show
the owner a very large saving and
really become an earning factor In the
ORGANIZATION If it simply has the proper
care and attention that the engineer or
truck expert would advise or recon-
mend.
Will Carry Larger Loads.
It is seldom that the use of one car
can show the merchant a saving, or
anything except the fact that me-
chanicaHy-driven wagon Will carry
larger loads and give quicker and bet
ter service than the draught animals,
but In the case where the merchant who
has a large stable and a number of
horses and wagons installs an equip
ment of FIVE or ten good standard wag-
ons the amount saved rather surprises
him.
The first and probably largest item on
the list that meets his eye Is the con-
siderable man-day saving Off the pay
roll caused by the number of horse
vehicles displaced.
One of the mistakes Of the past on the
part of the merchant was that he fire.
quently bought two or three-ton
truck when as a matter Of fact he only
needed a one-ton truck. with the net net
the cost Of transporting two or three
tons of merchandise most Of the time
for only one ton, because the merchant
believes that If on a certain trip about
once week he had to carry two or
three tons and all of the rest of the
week his loads ran from 1850 to 2,0OO
pounds he must have a two or three
ton truck. when the reverse was the
fact, and he should have had but one
ton truck which would have made near
ly half Of the expense and high ef-
fciency. a. q = - '.-.r
l.. an sSource Of Expense.
Tires seem in the past to have been a
very grave source of expense, but Of
late years they have been reduced by
reason of the improvements In manu-
featuring methods of tires. together with
the improvements in. trucks; for in
stance, there are to the writer's knowl-
edge today some one-ton trucks that do
not weigh more than 2,400 or $500
pounds and can run on pneumatic tires
and give ten or twelve thousand miles
on tire, where few years ago the
lightest one-ton truck that the writer
ever knew Of weighed over two tons it.
self, and therefore was compelled to
have solid tires. which literally pounded
themselves out on rough pavements, as
well as driving the truck manufacturer
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