Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-01-16
NATIONS DEFENDERS
ARE CARS AND TRUCKS
Priceless Service to Nation
Rendered by Motor
Transportation


%. To-day the metorcar Is in reality the
defender Of the nati6n. Every army
camp purrs and thunders with the sound
4 Of motors. Huge motortrucks convey
supplies from city TO camp. Motor
trucks bear ammunition and men to the
battle front in Europe. Passenger cars
the same on which the public once
hung the misnomer pleasure car rush
back and forth from barracks to bar
racks and from camp to camp. carrying
the officers and men who. in days gone
BY, would have been compelled TO plod
about On horses. Police patrols, fire ap-
paratus and ambulauces are motorized.
The entire military life Of the nation is
pulsed by the throb of engines.
II was taxicabs, trucks and passenger
cars that saved Paris from the Germans,
and It was motorized equipment that
helped save Italy from destruction.
Government officials and army officers
!. would throw UP their hands In dismay
II called upon TO answer the query:
"How much time would have been lost
II you had been deprived of your motor
equipment for mobilization, training and
fghting?" The question is one which
will net reconcile itself with the require
ments OF modern warfare.
Tho preliminary to the great war,
which gave the automobile its first real
opportunity TO demonstrate its value to
the army, was the Pershlng punitive
expedition in Mexico. Here truck trains
had their origin. 1t was Pershing who
first ordered Dodge trucks generally
used in his operations on the border and
throughout Mexico. BY the time the cx-
petition was recalled more than 800
Dodge Brothers cars bore the plac ard
~. s. a"
Many of the cars are now being ship.
ped direct from the factory to General
Pershing in France, A train of thirty
trucks which recently made a test run
from Detroit to the Atlantic coast, was
loaded with parts for Dodge Brothers
motorcars. All were sor immediate
shipment to France.
Driving over roads that were cut deep
into the mud and snow, through weather
that was anything but ideal for touring,
q six-cyllnder. sixteen passenger Stude-
baker bus steadily plowed its way from
.Detroit't to Baltimore recently. distance
Of 6l9 miles, In less than six days. Main
tanning an average schedule Of fifteen
miles per hour. and driving only during
the daytime, the big bus covered the
distance of 619 miles In virtually the
same space OF time required by light
touring car. The consumption of gaso-
line for the entire journey averaged
eleven and a half miles TO the gallon.
The transportation of a train of thirty
loaded army / transport motortruclSs,
under their own power, from Detroit to
the seaboard marks'a new epoch in mill
tary transport in this country
( This fleet of thirty three-ton Packard
motortrucks on Goodyear solid tires
left Detroit in charge OF Company No. 2,
Division Supply Train No. 30e, in the
midst of a snowstorm which brought n
very heavy fall throughout the entire
North.
The train was divided into three units
OF ten trucks each. with a sergeant in
charge of each unit. The trucks were
driven by the soldiers, with two men
Assigned to each one Included in the
supply the gasoline and oil wants of the
trucks. and kitchen truck to provide
emergency meals en- route.
NThis was the pioneer effort OF the
Council OF National Defense to move
military equipment from the Central
West to the. eastern seaboard by motor
truck. Each truck carried a load of
military supplies for our armies in
France.
ihouoahuo VI IllusL Dc
brought to the eastern seaboard for
shipment to our forces in France. and
II Is likely that before long the pres
ence of motortruck trains on our high
ways will become commonplace.
Six more United States army truck
trains, each consisting Of thirty Pack
ards, will leave Detroit in a few days
en- route to the seaboard. At almost the
exact time the first army train was roll
ing into Baltimore, December 2s, COM
pleting the journey overland from De-
troit. the Government gave the Packard
factory unofficial notice to prepare 1sC
more three-ton and six-ton carriers for
immediate travel under their own power
AS fast as the drivers, cooks, me.
chanics and other men of the personnel
arrive from army cantonments and train,
ing camps the trains will be made up.
The trucks made an average run OF
forty-eight miles a day for eleven days
over snow-filled and ice-covered roads. Al
times they plowed through drifts six feet
deep. In Pittsburgh 100000 persons
turned out to see the trucks enter the
Steel City.
Commenting on the first trip, official,
say 1t has shown that army trucks car
make better time to the seaboard under
their own power than they can by rail II
present traffic conditions. Another biz
advantage of the driveway Is the train.
ing Of drivers. escorts and traininaster!
= H f1~ N,.,,