The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-12-23
LIMIT TO TRUCKS
AGAINST PROGRESS
THAT Is THE OPINION EXPRESSED
BY HUTCHINSON OF INTERNA-
TrONAL MOTOR CO.
AFFECT LIVING COST
REDUCTION WOULD NOT he EASY
TO OBTAIN III ROADS ARE
so HEDGED IN.

so HEDGED IN. =
An opinion strongly opposed to the
proposed highway regulations de-
signed to restrict the tonnage OF mo-
tor trucks on State roads Is express
ed by r. w. Hutchinson, Jr., of the
International Motor company. 1T Is
measure that IL enacted will i'm
pede progress in motorized highway
transportation such as no other meas
ure or set Of measures could ever ef-
feet" said Mr.. Hutchinson. Briefly
speaking, this measure seeks to block
the wheels of commerce by taking the
illogical premise that roads should BIO
built only for horsed vehicles and not
for motor Trucks. In other words
these regulations take the attitude
that our roads are already good
enough for horse vehicles and that
the policy of let we'll enough alone
must be adhered to and that the mo-
tor truck has no right on the pub
lie highways.
mo sane, well informed individual
who knows road conditions In the
United States and in Europe will
grant that American road building
is anything more than in its infancy
and that as large as the sums appro-
priated by highway improvement have
been they are not adequate for the
building of the permanent highways
which Europe has had the farsighted-
ness to build and which have been the
instruments for reduction of the cost
of highway haulage to a fractional
part of what 1t costs In the United
States to move a ton of freight over
our crude roads.
Against Progress.
Instead of attempting TO restrict
the growth of motorized highway
commerce which the public demands
to effect quick and economic improve
ment of the necesaries of life and cut
down the excessive cost of living,
these agitators against the use of
motor trucks on the highways would
have us continue to move our COM
modities as did the ancient Egyptians
5000 years ago.
Instead of aiming a blow at the
motor truck it would seem that they
would take the broad. philosophical
view OF seeking to encourage the
building of highways to bring about
that long desired era In economic
distribution of the commodities of
commerce which every ejudiced,
sensible, we'll Informed student OF
economies knows can never be gained
by the continuance Of obsolete roads
and obsolete vehicles,
IF the fifty millions Of dollars that
have been appropriated by the New
York legislature for highway building
are used in intelligent, honest man.
ner to build the kind OF highways
l. -AF4 ~ hi
day demand there could be no posi-
BILE objection to the use of any kind
of wheeled vehicle, whether operated
by steam, gasolene or electricity, on
them.
No motor truck. even il 1t were
practical to build them with weights
Of twenty tons on each axle, could DO
the slightest damage to highway
built OF cement, for example, and the
contention that motor trucks do dam
age even to the comparatively crude
roads now in existence Is the state
ment which emanates from pre1u-
diced interests against the motor
truck.
Use Wide Tires.
in the first place every one knows
that motor trucks use wide rubber
tires and that the distribution Of the
load per unit of tire surface is con-
siderably less than distribution OF the
load on a narrow steel tired vehicle
which cuts deeply due to the localiz-
ing OF the pressure on a narrow strip
Of surface. Again, there is practi-
callv no destructive shock against the
surface Of a road by motor truck
equipped with Ave or six inch double
rubber tires with which most trucks
Of even four to Ave tons aggregate
capac city are equipped. The easy &C
ton of a rubber surface against any
road material. particularly on a vehi-
Gle like a motor truck which does not
average more than ten miles an hour
in medium sized units on country Nigh
ways, ID not anything like as destruc-
tive as the use Of, say, four horse
team equipped with three-inch steer
tires operating on asphalt surfaced
highways in warm weather
Furthermore, the abrading action
Of a maca damized highway caused by
the suction generated by the tires OF u
rapidly moving pleasure automobile Is
entirely absent in motor truck as
the speeds cannot be attained with
commercial motor vehicles which set
IN this securing effect The whole
problem resolves itself into the broad
err and farsighted view OF building
highways to realize the best possible
advantages of the era of motorized
highway transportation. and not the
ignorant and marrow attempt to fore
stall the reaching material. social, ana
humanitarian benefits which the mo-
tor truck can give to the world. once
the general public realizes the effect
that the passage OF this bill would
have upon progress in motorized
highway commerce. they will rise and
unanimously destroy politically every
agitator who has been instrumental
In curtailing their natural rights to
see that the money that comes out
of their pockets In taxes to meet
these large appropriations for high
ways is judiclously expended to build
such substantial roadways as can be
utilized for any kind of vehicle which
they choose to put upon them.
IAN example OF the effect of any
pernicious legislative measure Is some
times required to bring the people
to righteous indignation against 1t
and surely that this highway legisla-
ton passes the more certainly can we
predict an uprising against it that will
politically annihilate every faction
which is concerned to lobby 1t through
the legislature"