Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-11-27
20, 900 u. S. Trucks
To Feed the Cities
by Frederic J. Haskin

Washing,o d. c., Nov 24.-Twcnt,
thousand motor trucks organized into
great national system Of transportation
for the bringing Of food direct from
American farms to American n kitchens.
Each motor truck line, connecting "A city
community with the country, 20 be under
the Joint control Of the people whom Il
serves, and managed by officers whon
these people elect
Every bit Of food every egg and
oyster guaranteed pure and fresh by the
fnct ,hat it Is shipped as United States
mail, and must therefore fulfill every
claim made for II by the shipper.
Pair prices guaranteed by the fact that
| the food comes direct from producer 10
consumer and also by the fact that each
city will have number Of truck lines to
draw from, SO that open competition wAl
be insured
These are the essentials of n plan which
the Post Office Department, in oo-opera-
| tion with tho Bureau Of Education, n
| now beginning 10 put INTO operation.
| Both the legislation and the physical
machinery necessary 70 carry out the
| project arc already IN existence. Congress
| has passed Inv authorizing the Post
| Office Department to establish such a
| truck parcelpost service between The
| proknCef and the consumer, and has made
Al appropriation for starting the work
10000 rRUcKa REhbr
The War Department hae on hand
20, 600 motor trucks, built for war pur-
poses, which are tn be taken over by the
Post Office Department under Fourth
Assistant Postmaster General Blakeelcc,
to form the transport corps for this new
( T.. 1.-t L n
who IL attached 10 the Bureau Of l1duca-
tlon for the purpose Of studying prohlcms
tf community organization, left Washing
tnn a few dnys ago TO organic tho first
trIIck Inc OF this great system. which will
operatc between the nat flonal capital md
the historic town of Gettysburg N south
ern Pennsylvania
Mr. Ward and Mr. Blakeelee, who arc
the moving spirits Of this new govern
mcnt enterprise, 900 it az comparable IN
thc establishment Of railroad system.
Means of conveyance, road-beds and
terminals arr all 70 fe provided FOR I hc
Trucks, of course, will ~ the means 0f
conveyance State roads will take he
place Of tracks, and the government Will
contribute to ihe.r support. The termln-
MS, N the beginning ~ least Will ~
school houses, m the cltics and In the
country These wlll he tho centers of
community organization, the places At
which the produce will be gathered ~ the
country and distributed in the CITY The
plan Of organization, in brief will Dc this
The farmers Of each country cornInun-
lfy will meet ~ their school house, for1n
an organization with constitution and
bylaws outlined by the government, and
will elect q community secretary. This
community secretary vii very likely be
the principal or teacher 81 the school lie
will receive onc-third of his aalary from
the | nited states government hat s.
If the community IS now paying the
individual 3 900 :. year - act IS school
principal he nited States Government
will pay Eim an additloffni $500 to aCf ~
community secretary LIS -Tst dIty IS
secretary wall Be 10 receive he produce
eggs, butter, poultry, vegetables, etc
brought IN by the farmers iIst IL, To-
gethcr with the prices asked, and send the
Inst to the city.
PEOPLE To oRGA STZE.
The people in each cry community wlil
form n exactiv similar organization
with secretary elected and pald n the
same way. for the purpose Of buylng food
THIS CITY. community secretary wili re-
-
people Tor produce, and list them
y her the system y complete here
will lie IN each city which forms huIb Of
the system, clearing housc, Hher4 All
Of these lists vii oe turned TO-
Now suppose hat The farmers gro4ped
about j rnral school = mites from Wash
iugton, tan send N TWO gross oi eggs eyer
week a 81 cents 4 dozen / d, clearing
ho,.se viii readily determine "'hlcn Ifhan
community can U.s. those eggs, au1 ihcA
VII he sent hy the community -ecret2ry
III the country, direct. II paECcl post
truck 10 the city community secFctary
who can dispose OF them
i re advantages OF the system are ooyl-
ous he pr.d4cc a1ll -. tresAcr. l,
prices lover, and above all, waste viii ~
elrlnated FARMERS having small amounts
o. produce arr nov At loss now tu DIS
ysgc q them Much food, especially
fruit anu vegetables, IS allowed 20 ret io-
want ot market Much more becomes
stale IN the roundabout process bx Waltl.
country produce now reaches the city
This system Viii make = clean sweep II
the tributary country of every big Anlcri-
can cl1N. gathering up daily everything
that the farmers can spare anu delivering
II directly 10 the city folk v no need it,
Moreover, the proposed system 5 III no
Sensc an experiment Ii is not offered .o
the public as i PROJECT which exists only
on paper 1t Is the elimination q Il ion.
series oi experiments III community organ
Izatlon. and It has ieen operated sue
c.ssiuts, III al It's csSyutl,,.s, IN a. least
one community
Il ] hard Who IS cc-author OF Tho
scheme with Nir RakeS,ey. has spent the
last u years Of MS life ia studying the
problem u organizing American com
uuuItlcs Tor various purposes, first IS 3
private citizen, and later as M oif.clai
oi the Amcrigau government. appointed
~ President Wilson tie elected the
community Organization in Bridgeport.
(onnoctIcut, NhIch dId 81 mach a >oIAt.
the labor problem IL that city At the TIME
Of the recent munItlon factory strike
FORMED CoSntpNITY CEN7HI
Long before that. he orgauned the
community center nloS Seutnt ia Niscon-
SIN In that State and elscwhcfc an effort
was made 10 organize the people Of each
community about their local school house.
The idea WAS tor the people Is meet in the
school house 60 discuss their Various
social and economic problems The
movement never developed much vitality
because there WAS no provision for pad
community Secretaries and hence nn