The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1920-04-09
The Future Of the Truck.

1IO lUtOlO VI SlbO UOns
Fargo, N. D.-''American rail.
roads are no longer making any
money on any freight hauls under
100 miles, and that business will be
taken over by trucks within the
next five years." was the statement
made to The Forum editor some
two months ago by a man who
might be classed as a consulting
expert on motor truck %transporta-
ton. ~
Writing in the Saturday Evening
Post this week, Edward Hunger
ford make the statement that old
time railroaders said a freight car
did not begin to earn any money
until it had been hauled 40 miles,
but that modern operators place
the figure at 80 miles and classify
virtually all Of the freight hauls a
less than 80 miles as Improbable.
The reason, of course. is that the
heavy terminal costs Of the rail-
roads eat up the profit made on the
haul unless it is of at least 80 miles
in length.
Whether or not motor trucks will
ever replace the railroads for long
hauls of heavy or bulky freight is
very doubtful. The item of labor
becomes a very serious handicap
there, for me train crew can handle
freight that would call for the SER
vices of scores and perhaps hum
dreds of truck drivers. But on
short-haul traffic, up to 100 miles
at last. the motor truck is here to
stay, and it is going to prove a
more and more important factor in
the next few years.
The chief reason for that is the
congcsted condition of the terminals
in all our cities. The motor truck
will soon be handling virtually all
the suburban traffic in less than car
lots in all of the bigger Giles. 1t
can handle such traffic much more
quickly and much more cheaply
than the railroads. and this will
serve to tighten the burden on the
terminals.
Another big field lies in the COL
lection of farm produce and its
transportation to the cites. Trucks
already supply many cities with
most of their fresh vegetables,
milk. eggs. butter and poultry.
They start their routes 10 90 or 80
miles from the city and gather their
loads as they progress. In time
this business will become of
sufficient Importance to require
paved highways and the use of
snowplows to keep them open for
IL months in the year as u rail
roads are kept open now.
The growth Of truck transporta-
tion will bring many problems to
be solved and they will be solved.
In Toledo, for example, the TRUCK
owners have formed an association,
and they plan to maintain q term
inal freight shed. The trucks will
be assigned to regular routes, If.
respective Of which is the most pro-
ductive route, and profits will be
pooled and divided. This insures
full loads and return freight. and it
means the difference between oper.
ating at . profit and at q loss.
When one reviews the changes in
transportation methods during the
last IL years. and attempts to FORE
cast the growth in the next 10 years
he may evolve mental pictures that
seem fantastic. He can picture all
package freight in less than car
lots and hauled less than 100 miles.
being handled BY trucks; he can
picture all mail and long distance
express carried by airplane and
airship; he can picture the rail.
roads devoting themselves to bulk
shipments for long hauls, and to
the slower moving passenger ser.
vice, the "limiteds'' operating by
the xir route. Il sounds fantastic.
but II would not be more surpris-
ing than the changes made ia the
last 10 years.