El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-03-25

M Uses to which automobiles in
- general, and motor-trucks in
particular, are put are sometimes
strikingly novel. In some cities motor
trains for bodybuilding. consisting Of
three or four vehicles, drawn BY
/ large road-roller or tractor, are hooked
up in train form and sent over the
road to repair minor faults. An east
ern man recently converted small
mOtOr-truck into a travelling home he
and his wife made this truck their
! residence on a trip from New York TO
! San Francisco. They had in II ped
and a tiny kitchen, thus being able 70
I live Independent Of hotels and to carry
I a sufficient supply OF clothes and gooo
/ things to eat, together with a tent
! when they needed it They declared
/ they had the time OF their lives on
their transcOntinental tour.
At a recent New York automODue
3 show. power wagons Of one kind and
another were exhibited BY fully 1Oy
/ manufacturers. Although the use OF
! the automobile for commercial pun
I poses began In a limited way almost
cOincident with the rise Of the pleas
ure car, 1t has not been until the past
year or two that the commercial mo-
tor car has been in considerable de-
mand. This has been true largely be-
cause of the fact that there were prac-
1 ucally no statistics showing the costs
Of operation Of hOrSe-draWn YehlcleA
and the automobile manufacturer had
little chance to demonstrate . the
business houses OF the country his con-
vicdon that transportation by auto
mobile was cheaper tnan Dy morse
drawn vehicles Gradually, however
certain OF the more progressive users
Of transportation have adopted the au-
tOmObile, or mOtor-trucks for their
work, and in a large majority Of cases
the cost Of transportation has been
less with the power wagon than with
the horse.
Motor Trucks suppIant Horses.
The results Of these experiments have
been. heralded widely and have led 9TH
ers TO make similar trials OF the mo-
rOr-truck by the side OF the horse
drawn vehicle This movement has
continued to grow until today IL IS es-
timated that there are more than
5000 firms In the United states Wnlcn
use motor trucks and that 10000 trucks
are now in use The automobile jour
mails, without exception, predict that
the present year viii more than double
the number OF commercial cars in op@
Grafton In this country One enthusi-
astic advocate Of the mOtOr-truck de-
clares that the indications are that the
production Of such cars IN the present
year viii amount TO 10000 trucks. New
commercial car factories are opening
up every week IN various parts Of the
country and IT is believed by the auto
mobile trade that within a few years
there viii be as many commercial cars
produced as there are pleasure cars
The main thing which recommends
the mOtOr-truck to the business man
IS the Iact thar under proper operating
conditions II is able to reduce the cost
OF hauling below that OF hOrse-draWn
vehicles. Hundreds OF instances are
cited by the manufacturers Of CONNER
clal cars few years ago a New
York brewer had 120 horses and a cor
responding number Of wagons He de-
cided 10 try out an autO-truck for de-
livering beer. The results Of the sx-
pertinent were such that he found the
cost per key OF beer delivered was con-
sloeraoly less when hauled in a motor
car tnan when carried in a hOrse-draEn
vehicle He finally Increased his sup
ply Of mOtOr-trucks 10 80, and declares
that this has resulted in an annual
saving OF $4,000 With hoses IL cost
IS l-lO cents barrel TO deliver beer
while with mOtor-trucks, 1t costa
"A 40 cents.
Saving Money With MotOr-TrucEs.
A similar experiment was made by
large western packing house. which
kept a record Of transportation costs
In the use Of a three-ton truck It was
found that when the truck was cred
tied with the money received from the
sale OF the horses IL displaced. and the
cost OF the up-keep OF the horses and
wagons, the motor-truck paid for It
self IN Is months. In still another
that II saved cents a package by I
using Otor-trucks for delivery, and |
that this, on the large business OF that
store resulted in saving Of $500 a
day.
Not only has the motor-truck won its
way among private corporations, but II !
has the approval OF the United States |
government The government printing ]
office, upon the strength OF showines I
made in the department store business /
In washington decided to install mo- /
tor-trucks as a substitute for horse /
drawn vehicles 1t has been found that 4
the printing office ueet Of cars Is 4
gradually paying its purchase price by 1
the saving In transportation costs ef- /
fected-
It must not be supposed from ali !
this that the motOr-truck is always i
successful in reducing the operating
costs II the machine is not operated /
70 Its fun capacity, and If the routes /
are not laid out with a view TO keeping
II at work on full time, the cost OF i
transporting freight by the motor
truck may be much higher than by i
Eorse-draWn vehicles However. there /
are usually attached to motor-t truck 1
agencies, men whose mission &c is TO /
advise motOr-truck owners how to get
the most out OF their machines, and i
how to prevent losses.
American Cars Cheaper to Keep Up.
There are many illustrations tending i
TO prove that the American motor
truck IS a more economical machine In
operation than the foreign truck. The
experience Of the manager of a New L
ork newspaper in the operation OF 1
foreign and American trucks is nlum-
mating In this connection. He needed
some fast machines to carry his papers
to the trains and TO the news stations
throughout the city. He bought some
high priced foreign cars and some mod
crate priced American cars. and kept [
a careful account Of the cost Of Op-
Grafton OF each. When the summing I
up came ii was found that the foreign
car cost S16.2S a day to operate, while /
the American car cost $500 a day.
An effort is being made among mo-
tOr-truck manufacturers to adopt GER
tain designs Of truck bodies as stand
ards. and 70 refuse to manufacture I
others except upon special orders. and
at advanced prices. Those who advo-
cate this change believe that about
dozen standard forms OF bodies would
,cver every important purpose Today
there are trucks with stationary bodies,
others with bodies which dump to the
rear. others with bodies which dump
TO the side, and still others with bodies Z
which are mounted on pivot and ian
be dumped IN any direction Some !
have a bucket elevator attachment for I
Oading and unloading coal and other I
materials, some automatic Winches /
iriven By the truck engines for tie
purposes Of pulling material onto the
ar. and still others are designed 10 ( .
,r need tractors which b.. Z