El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-12-13
TRUCK IS
H. c. |. WEAPON
Truck Logical Short Haul
Vehicle; to Help Solve
Problem of Costs.

The motor truck viii prove an I'M
portant factor in reducing the hlgh
cost OF living, according to 6. W.
Curtiss, manager OF the FL Paso
branch Of the Firestone Tire com
pany. Mr. Curtiss has devoted mlcn
time recently TO the study OF TINS
problem and has gathered some IN
terestinE data along these lines.
do YOU know" said Mr. CurLlsss
that II all the foodstuff that laid
in the fields and rOtted last sum
mer and fan had been able 70 get
10 market the retail prices OF 1000
stuffs would have been greatly re-
duced?
.The truck has proven the logical
means for short hauls- 1t was re-
ported recently that tons Of wheat
were lying on the ground and sprout-
ing again in the north because means
could not be found TO haul IL away,
IA fleet Of trucks would have solved
A Concrete Example.
AS an example that occurred re-
Gently continued NJ Curtiss-
viii cite an instance that occurred
in this branch this week. We had
about 800 pounds OF freight that was
badly needed by a customer in Clint
To have shipped this via raiL We
would have had TO haul Il to a freight
depot. uulOaded, then loaded on the
freight car. then hauled by rail- TO
Clint, then unloaded. placed on
wagon or truck, taken 70 our Gus
toners place OF business and IN
loaded again All this would have
taken several days and would have
cost the shipper or consignee over a
dollar.
Instead Of using this slow method,
We called up a motor transfer com
pany in town They came % o4r
store, loaded the goods on TRUCK
drove to Clint and unlOaded the same
day at the customers front door, ana
the bill was less than dollar
The motor truck man made q
profit at his charge and the railroad
would have lost money at its charge
Truck Proves Itself
Long hauls are Still cheaper via
railroad, but the truck has proved
Itself many times, the most econom-
Nr. Curtiss is from Toledo. Ohio.
and was there when the street car
/ system ceased to operate owing %
l trouble over the franchise. he tells
I the following story OF conditions dur
ing the time the street railway was
. out OF commission
when Toledo aWoke one morning
: recently TO find itself a 'carless' city
Z & took this outcome OF its louE-con-
Z rinued fight with traction company
I officials cheerfully and turned 70
within a snort time hundreds Of
motor 'busses'- had taken the place OF
the compauys rolling stock, which OF
a sudden had been rolled over the
Ohio line into Michigan by order Of
copmany officials. In a few day.
1850 Of the buses had registered as
/ passenger carriers and were running
on regular routes by schedule
System Works Smoothly
! The system soon was working 81
[ smoothly that workers could get q
work and shoppers could get into
the shopping district with no grea'
I inconvenience. As a result city or
I ficials had time 10 90 over the situa'
ton thoroughly and obtain from the
people some expression OF their DE-
sires relative 10 conditions undei
which the company might bring u.
! cars back under new franchise
NO better evidence OF the eff
I cheney OF the motor truck as a means
OF Transporting passengers and es-
3 sential food commodities could b
shown than during that week in To-
Z ledO.
Eat first e was feared that the
motor transportation facilities OF To-
ledO would be insufficient 20 take
care of passengers and the vast
amount OF freight shipped by cleo
trio lines into the city However, u
was taken care OF IN an efficient
manner by making good use OF the
automobiles and trucks"