Omaha daily bee., 1918-10-27
s.; TOR TRUCKS
IT;A2 MAIL PROVE
.||N|l BIG SUCCESS
Vial Says All Of the Trucks
Broken Down in War
Can Be Used
!. Here.
Daii,

Washington, Oct. 26.-Cross-
country operation of mail carrying
motor trucks, tried out by the Post
office department on an expert
mental but nevertheless big scale,
during the last year, has been a
great success. James |. Blakslee,
fourth assistant postmaster general,
has found that one truck route be-
tween Philadelphia and Washing
ton, cutting chiefly through terri
tory without direct rail connection
and costing $500 a month to oper-
ate, has in eight months developed a
revenue of $4,000 monthly. Another
route into Washington, where %
parcels a day were moved during
the first month, now shows one ton
of traffic each way each "a hours.
Seventy lines now operate over
the country, all but one. east of the
Mississippi. and here are visions of
system which will furnish $780,
100000 annually in revenue for road
construction or other purposes.
why, General Pershing has 5000
trucks damaged over on the other
side" said Mr.. 'B1akeslee telling of
the growth of the system. Il don't
care what condition they are in. We
want them all, and can fix up and
put every one of them to- work.
What's even more important, he's
got some boys over there shy hand
or an arm. or leg. and we can use
them all too, in good work at good
pay, that they can do. Congress
gave us 100000 to work with. and if
we had the earnings of the lines
themselves, we could expand almost
indefinitely. As it is, 100000 will
be requested by the division for next
year, and l think it will be appropri-
ated. People realize. what we are
doing.
Better Roads Would Help.
Operating at night is the most
profitable, and we have but two ma
chimes doing that, out of New York.
The typical route is about 1870 miles
long, 90 miles out, and 90 miles back.
Almost always the constant
operation of the lines produces
return load. the universal character
of the service allowing most any
thing to be taken. The mail trucks
60. come, rain, storm or anything,
and so the traffic develops. Rates are
also pretty high, the lowest being
$40 a ton. That is what makes the
surplus revenues.
"Of course, we'll have to have
concrete roads, but the business can
produce the money to build them.
There are some economies in distri-
button of produce that are simply
amazing. It has added an entirely
new factor to transcontinental trans
portation. and we shall just begin
finding it out when more extensive
operation goes into effect during the
next two years"
Just why Mr.. Blakeslee sees it
that way can be understood from
just one commodity'price list. Milk
retails now in Washington at II
cents a quart. Milk is coming in on
mail trucks direct to consumers for
10 cents a quart. Naturally the
trucks are being weighed down with
fve-gallon milk cans as consumers
learn of the possibility. The trucks
tap milk-producing territory outside
the usual hauling lines. and off the
rail arteries.
"Where'll the roads come from to
run 5000 trucks?" He asks. We'll.
there are 10000 rural mail and star
routes being operated in the Unit
ed States now. Sometimes l think
every one of them would make a
truck line. Food is being handled 10
times on its way to consumer. We
can cut that to five.
watching these figures, since De-
cember, when we started. has given
me a new sort of inspiration. We
shall be moving the mails and mails
will include a whole unexpected va
riety of things in new modes before
the generation finishes. Airplanes
for the 1000 mile distances, trains
for the 500 mile, and trucks for the