The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-05-13
Daily Wall Street Gossip
BY HOLLAND.

New York, May 2.-(SpecialO-A test was made which lasted for a week and ended yesterday for the purpose perts that there is now very large transportation by motor trucks be- tween New York and Philadelphia. It was also the purpose to test the move- ment of motor trucks for week be- tw cen New York and Boston. That count will be taken little later.\The report which was made by the men who were stationed near Trenton to count, day and night, the movement of motor trucks between New York and Philadelphia showed that 4,500 of these trucks passed through Trenton in the week, either bound to New York or from New York with Philadelphia at the other end. Many of them were loaded to their capacity. The aggre- gate tonnage must have been very large. Furthermore, the men who made the count were informed that in some parts of west New Jersey the authori- ties are considering the expediency of limiting motor truck loads to four tons. If action of this kind be taken it will be due to the fact that the mo- tors have been playing havoc with the A+A5AAh es anu III SOlAlG pQA tlO4AS OA NlAG se-called Lincoln highway between New York and Trenton the roads are in al- most impossible condition, at least for pleasure travel. The modern motor truck is so built that it can overcome as a tank can do obstacles in the high way, although in doing that the de- IT. moralization is increased.
 This accurate count has served two purposes. It makes clear the truth of the statement that motor truck rans- portation, especially between the larger cities, has now reached a very high figure, both in the number of motors that are in use and in the amount of tonnage. In fact, were it not for the motor truck the movement of commod- ities in the east and according to the information experts have received, in some parts of the west would be seri- ously hampered by reason of the lack of railway equipment and facilities
 The estimate is that within the next two or three years at least 10,000,000 automobiles will be Ain use. Further in motor truck transportation that it is soon to become the secondary means of fast freight transportation. When this method is perfectly developed, then the railroads, supplemented by the use of water navigation for a slow moving freight, will be able, together with the trucks, to meet whatever de- mand there may be for the transpor- tation of commodities.
 Another result of this test is the demonstration that if there Is to be satisfactory motor truck transporta- ton of commodities, hen improvement in the construction of the highways is essential. The heavily laden trucks especally in the spring, when the frost is coming out of the ground, play havoc with highways which were presumed to have been so well constructed as to be equal to the burden put upon them by motor trucks, and which do well when subjected only to pleasure or light burdened vehicles.
 The road builders are beginning to understand that if there is to be con- tinued and increasing operation of mo- tor trucks, then there must be such construction of the highways as will make them adequate whatever burdens are put upon them. Former President Bliss of the Boston and Albany Rail- road Company was accustomed to say