The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-14
TRUCK CARAVANS FAMILIAR SIGHT
|0verstep Boundary of Short Haul Field to Play Rescue
 Role for Business

Industry in the United States has out Egrown the whole system of rail trans &portation, experts assert It will be Eyear, they say, before even the existing Eequipmeht can be restored to efficiency I and years longer before the expansion i of facilities necessary for the rails to "catch up' to the demands of business 4 can be accomplished. Meanwhile, buSi- f Eness everywhere, with it's customary re- sourcefulness, has sought relief else where. Cut off at the roundhouse, !t has turned to a garage. Therein the motor truck-it has found succor. Intercity shipping by truck, which, un- der ordinary circumstances, is included in the short-haul category, was com- monplace even before the railroads be- gan to falter under their burden-as or dinary, almost, as the motorzation of hauling and delivery within the city. N When the already overworked railroads were hit by the switchmen's strike, ship ping for time received what amounted *o 2 near knockout blow.
 lt was here that the motor truck step sd in, not only in a legitimate way of ort hauls, but, as the demand grew a auIs that grew longer and longer, lt the 1,O00-mile mark had been passed lg umerous instances Now, the ex- osr aced truck maker knows that under
  iv euck hauls of such distances. Hence f ouId not recommend them except ln ass of great emergency.
 lwever, many an emergency dId arls' 9b35 n sent motor trucks over the roads op ong trips. True, the cost of these ysna lres was high, but shipper and con- sgsr ae alike considered the expenditure Hu Ultimate economy after estimating inc financial loss through delayed snlp- f,er IS and loss of business that would aay been entailed by waiting for ship ynene by rail. Weighing conditions ana
 oD euuences, they considered emergency Iona hauls by motor caravans justified
 out only emergency lonng hauls.
 T UCKS SAVE KNITTING MILL
 case in point: In order to keep US fac ory running, the Bradley Knlttihs m! Delavan, Wis, had to have yarn ire Int embargoes notwithstanding-from tht Attleboro Mass, plant of R.fWolfen- esn & Sons, commission dyers and Dlf chers A White five-ton truck was s4ea. d into service With cargo or
 A, sted yarns valued at nearly sSo,oeo H, truck, operated by the Globe Coal Etnpany, Woonsocket, R. l., set out on Ht heduled round trip of 2SOo miles; I Ine Ell ract price for the trip was S2SSS.so, M approximately $40 per mile one way Ell per mile for the entire route.
 H} orrnally the yarn would have been Fl pped by freight But here was an W 1ergency, to be met promptly. Had Me truck not been thrown into the & lch, curtailment of production at the dley knitting mill would have peen
 sssitated. The extra expense Of shlp-
 a, the cargo by truck was more than
 flied. officials felt, by the urgency of their need.
 Similar situations, similarly met III other parts of the country, raise the ques- ton whether use of trucks, though m- volving increased expense, was not an ultimate economy. Suppose delayed shir- ments of raw material had been allowed to force suspension of production, with consequent loss of time for employees. Very shortly lost time and decreased production would have proved nore costly than emergency use of trucks TOT long hauling of needed raw rnatenais.
 Less tangible, but none the less real