The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-02-10
MI City Show-See Them at Local Salesrooms
80 $50,
! MOTOR EKHAUSTyl
Matters ofinteresttomotor car
ard motorcy Gle owners into peka
and Kansas.
To Combat Motor Buses.

To COMBAT MOTOR Buses.
Casting about for an effective means
to meet the competition of interurban
motor buses and trucks, several rail-
road men of California are basing
their hopes on the success of a new
car which is being built at Sacra-
mento. This car is unlike anything
yet tried on the coast. 1t is, in prin-
ciple, an experiment in fitting an auto
mobile engine to a light car body.
While the entire car will weigh but
seven or eight tons when complete, it
will carry 81 persons. and the safe
speed is 81 miles hour. There is a
worm drive on all four wheels of the
leading truck. The competition of the
buses and motor trucks has become
so keen, particularly in the San Joa-
quin and Santa Clara valleys and in
almost every district of southern Cali
fornia, that the railroads, both steam
and electric, have been forced to lose
much of their business
Federal Road Work.
Nearly 100000 square yards of
roadway, the equivalent of 561.9
miles of road Is feet wide, were con-
structed under the supervision of fed
eral road specialists during the last
fiscal year, according to the annual
report of the Office of public roads and
rural engineering of the United States
department of agriculture. This is
more than double the mileage so con-
structed in previous years. The roads
constructed under the supervision of
the office include eXperim entail roads,
post roads, county roads and roads ii
national parks and forests. The eX-
penditures of the office for this pur-
pose were chiefly for engineering
services and supervision, the commu-
mites, except in the case of forest and
park roads, meeting the bulk of the
costs for material and construction.
U. S. Truck Garage.
When the new garage of the United
States government at Fort Sam Hous-
ton, Tex, is built it will be the largest
in this country for the accommodation
of motor trucks. Plans and specifica-
tons for the buildings and their equip
ment have been prepared and the
work of erecting them will be started
soon. Machine shops will be built in
connection with the garage and when
ever motor truck company is
brought in from the border the ma
chimes are to be first placed in the
shops and thoroly overhauled. The
machine shops will be constructed of
pressed steel units and will be put to-
gether by means of bolts so that they
can be taken down and moved on
short notice at any time.
Grocery Motor Wagons.
Eight years experience with power
vehicle delivery economy and eXpan-
sion of trade committed the H. j. Per-
kins company of Springfield, Mass, to
the use of motor trucks. For the first
time the installation is now made up
exclusively of machines of one make
with a great resultant economy. Mo-
tor trucks of three different makes
formerly showed a 1 per cent econ
omy over horse and freight delivery.
The value of business is 100000.
Hence the saving was $4,000 yearly.
The present machines used have alone
added $4,000 to the saving.
Motor Truck for Schools.
A one-ton motor truck has been
installed by the department of educa-
ton of st. Paul for service on a regu-
larly scheduled route to all the school
buildings and branch libraries of the
city, says The Power Wagon. 1t will
take the place of horse-drawn wag-
ons now used, and is expected, while
furnishing quicker and more regular
| service, to reduce the cost of deliv-
nt-in