The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1919-08-22
TRANSPORTATION
BY TRUCK AS AID TO
HARD ROAD PROGRESS


The automobile. which history pre-
sents as The father Of the railway loco
motive. was lesislated off the roads Of
ENGLAND in 1890. Its wheels were break
lts Up The highways.
The is quite different today.
It's Wheels are building up the highways
making hard roads Of the type that
viii endure~for n4any generations.
The passenger ear came and the farm
or desired good roads as an aid in
hf caking down his social isolation. Fin
ally. NOW that the freight truck and the
cypress truck are coming into their own,
the farmer. the business man and the
ultimate consumer are demanding good
roads in many sections of the country
as & means Of breaking down n last
economic transportation barrier between
producer and consumer.
RUBBER SAVES HIGHWAY.
incidentally. ID may be interesting 20
know that the reason the automobile
with it's steam engine, outlawed in 1880.
was able to come back upon the high
ways with a gasoline engine three-quar-
ters of a century later was that a pro-
cess had been discovered by which rub
Der could be yulcapized. This meant a
layer Of protection for both between
wheel rim ana huilt-up highway.
The DEVELOPMENT If The giant pnou-
matte cord tire and it's use by motor
express and freight operators. who want
ID because IT means a quicker trip ana
more protection TO the goods handled.
has taken away the last possibility that
the motor vehicle viii injure the road
more than docs any other means Of road
transportation.
It was The army's experience in
france that caused the American people
to awaken to the possibilities of motor
transportation combined with good
roads. It was only because of the spien-
did Network Of hard roads In France
that the lighting army Of America was
fed by a wonderfully efficient system
These improved roads gave the big army
trucks a navenue Of approach.
Meanwhile. in America the railroads
found themselves very much overworsed
The trucks came to the rescue here as
they had ON the Battlefront. They re.
iieved the railroads by carrying freight
long distances fla those sections of the
country where there was need and
stretches of good highway could be con
neeted up. Because speed was highls
essential and demand required even the
%gleanings of production they also acte.
as feeders Of the railroads.
l. Patriotic civic agencies aided tho eff
cient functioning Of the motor trucl
during this period by keeping shipper il
touch with truck operator.
After the war it became apparent tina
If motor truck transport was To affair
its real development and perform it's
real service in the national scheme o.
transportation, III a permanent way. i
must be guided along sound business
lines. and placed on a sound bushes.
footing. To assist in his work tn
Firestone Ship by Truck bureau was IS
t%ahlished. Today the central bureau a
Akron has branches in the sixty-si,
largest cities of the United States.
The branches bring shipper and oper
ator together on 4 basis Of mutual prom.
SEARCH FOR ROUTES.
The central bureau is searching thru
out the country for those routes whicl
viii supper the motor express. It j
finding many Of these routes alread,
have good roads. But also TT is finding
many routes with good possibilities o
profit both to shipper and to truck oper
&tor. but without road improvement
sufficient to afford fast and econom1
operation. In such cases, when the fac
Is pointed out. producers n onsumer
who would benefit most are NOT slow Il
demand highway improvement.