Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1920-05-16
Ship II BY Truck


which makes II or breaks 1t. On the faci-
ity. coupled with reasonable ratios, with
which city can bring to its door the raw
materials for its factories and the produce
on which it lives, and send forth its prod
nets TO the consumers. depends whether it
will prosper and grow or stagnate and die
industrially and commercially. Speed and
economy are the two prime essentials that
must enter into every mode OF transport
If 1t is to reach that plane OF efficiency
which is synonymous with modern service.
Time was when the horse-drawn wagon an
swered all OF the country's modest needs.
Then the canal boat, and its successor, the
steam packet, added immeasurably to the
transportation system, while later the rail-
way displaced both.
1t Is hardly more than months ago when
the railroad was considered the final word
in transportation methods. 1t had opened
up the country to development and be-
slowed prosperity upon it. The future
seemed as bright as the past had been USE
full. Then came the great war, and the
railroads all but broke down under their
burdens. Following two years Of govern
ment operation with almost continuous
labor trouble they have not recovered. Since
the outbreak of war their service has been
totally Inadequate. their rates are inordi-
nately high. and going higher.
Here. then, entered another method OF
transportation. the motor truck, and it is
revolutionizing the shipping business. It
had its first chance at development through
wartime exigencieS. Now, through the
of improved mechanism and
better roads, It has passed the experimental
stage and is generally accepted as tho
sought-for solution of at least one phase
of the transportation difficulty. The rail-
roads pre-eminence of service in the long
ha nj inc boil the
short haul, up to fifty or seventy-flve miles.
the motor truck because Of its general Of
hcicncy and cheapness OF operation, is
rapidly gaining in favor.
Richmond is witnessing 4 wonderful de-
vclopmcut of the ship-by-truck movement.
and shippers, merchants, farmers and pcO-
pie generally, for it is an economic advance
that touches every one, are vitality inter
ested in the practical demonstration Of
motor-truck efficiency which will he staged
here this week. Tomorrow fleet OF trucks
will leave Richmond and in the ensuing four
days will cover territory bordered roughly
by line which includes Petersburg. En-
poria, LawrenceYille, South HILL Chase City,
keysvlle. Farmville. Cumberland and Pow
hatan. all of them prosperous communities
in richly productive regions. 1t will be
not merely demonstration of what motor
trucks can do, but of how they can aid the
Of outlying territory in their
transportation difficulties. BY cheapening
their haulage, saving their time and in
creasing their profits As a lesson in mod
ern transportation efficiency its effects are
expected to be invaluable.
Success OF the ship-by-truck movement
depends primarily. not SO much on co-opera-
ton of shippers in the territory traversed,
for that is certain to come as soon as it's
benefits in dollars and cents are realized.
hut on good roads. In the route OF this
weeks demonstration a variety will he
found, some good, some fair, and others
had. But that condition Is being remedied
as rapidly as the State can get its good
roads program under way, and within n few
years the whole State may be covered with
truck routes for short hauls--and the bet
ter the roads the longer the haus and the
greater the economy. II that prophecy
prove true, Virginia will have solved its
transportation problem and entered upon
new era OF development to which the
pioneers of today are pointing the way.