The Washington times., 1912-06-08
MOTOR TRUCK IS
EASILY D|SPLAC|NG
HORSES IN HAULAGE
Increased Efficiency In Load
ing and Unloading Is Now
Main Requisite.

MOST or those VINO are In any degree
familiar with motor trucking will ac-
cept II as an established fact that the
better motor trucks are efficient from
the standpoint of machinery and that
they are capable of doing much more
work than horses" said representa-
tive of the Peerless Motor Car Com
pany's truck department, the other
day. ..
The real problem In motor trucking
now concerns the reformation and re-
adjustment of conditions and customs
that have grown up around beast haul
age, so that the truck may have full
play in the realization Of its potential
efficiency 1t is simple matter of saw
ing time, of keeping the truck moving
so that its motion minutes will exceed
to the largest possible extent, its
stopped time.
Arnold Bennett calls time the raw
material Of everything 1t Is indeed
the raw material of motor truck SER
vice. But this should not be misunder-
stood. 1t does not mean that the truck
should be speeded up. Under favorable
conditions our present normal truck
speeds Of ten. to fifteen miles an hour
are sufficient to revolutionize our
street and highway transportation.
New System Needed.
1.-THE problem is to reduce the trucks
stopped time by bringing the efficiency
OF the methods used In loading and un-
loading up to the efficiency of the truck.
1t includes also such traffic arrange
ments as will permit the truck to pro-
coed at its normal speed through the
streets.
'Other transportation agencies are
affected by the same conditions. Louis
d. Brandeis has recently attributed one
OF the greatest leakages in the system
OF railroad management to the needless
stopped time Of rolling stock in the
yards. The great ore and grain boats
which ply the Great Lakes owe their
efficiency very largely to the fact that
they are loaded and unloaded with
amazing speed. Ten thousand tons Of
ore has been put into one of the great
carriers of the Pittsburgh Steamship
Company in twenty-five minutes-it is
always done in less than. two hours.
three and half to five hours.
quick work at the terminals is Just
as valuable in the operation of the
motor truck. Delays are costly. not
vestment. but because they rob the
truck of an opportunity to create values,
what the economists call place values,
in excess Of the amount represented by
interest on the truck investment.
Successful cooperation in motor
trucking is a three -cornered affair. II
must include the shipper, the truck
operator. and the receiver. whether all
three happen to be parts of a single
company, or are separately mana ged.
The more complete the cooperation is
the more work the truck will do, and
the greater will be its value.
Reforms Under Way.
Zone firm of building supply dealers
with which I am acquainted, by making
an investment in hoppers and other
quick loading devices, has increased the
efficiency Of its trucks far beyond what
was necessary to make the equipment
pay for itself. But at the other end of
the truck trips 1t has beast haulage
conditions to contend with.
Building contractors are still blind
to the advantages Of cooperating with
the dealer in his truck operation. They
place their concrete mixers in places in
accessible to trucks. Thus they delay
the unloading process, reduce the mo-
tion minutes Of the truck, and impair
its efficiency. By so doing they are de-
laying their own deliveries.
Retailers who receive motor truck
deliveries from wholesale houses are
equally Indifferent to their own inter-
what motor truck service means to
them. or might mean to them. BY
tardy receipt of consignments they keep
the truck standing idle. delaying freight
one before delayed theirs. Cooperation
here would keep things moving for the
benefit of everyone.
''Wharves for the exclusive use of
motor trucks would be great help at
water shipping points. Trucks are now
delayed by slow moving teams. Suitable
hoisting devices Installed on such
wharves would greatly reduce the
trucks stopped time.
Trucks need never rest as horSes do
and idleness means nothing but loss.
The Society for the Prevention of Cruel
ty to Animals asks no more consldera-
tion for motor truck than a COM
pound locomotive.
"Our greatest truck problem to sum
up. concerns not the truck Itself but
the manner of its use. We need to key
every feature OF the transportati ton sys-
tepl up to the efficiency of the truck
The motor truck has been so badly
needed for the last decade that it will
not take long to work the problem out
when its importance is thoroughly un-
derstood. The wonderful things already
:. 'omplished by the motor truck brlns
home the necessity Of the solution"