Pueblo chieftain., 1921-02-06
MOTOR EXPERT DISCUSSES
RELATION OF AUTO TRUCK
TO HIGHWAY LEGISLATION
Argues for Uniform Motor Vehicle Law, and Points
OutMeans for Getting Best Truck
Road Conditions

| direct rail or water transportat ton Is
new. and has suddenly become very
necessary. AS soon as it became ne
cessary, these old ideas were developed,
and modern highway transport is tho
result.
First let us purge our minds of the
I idea that the advent of the passenger
/ automobile alone is responsible for the
present good roads program.
While we all know the utility of
! the passenger car in our life it is
hardly possible that hundreds OF mil
lions of dollars would be spent to i'm
prove roads for the benefit of tho
minority who owns motor cars. This
money ie being spent to help reduce
one OF the largest items in the high
cost of living by giving us better dis
tribution and cheaper transported ton of
the food we eat. the clothes We wear.
the coal we burn, the material for
building our homes. and. not the least,
to bring to our markets the millions of
dollars worth of foodstuffs that now
rot on the farms. Motor trucks carried
/ 10000 tons of freight in 1920, and
there are hundreds of millions more
tons that tho railrC ads are carrying
with no profit, or even at an actual
loss. that could be moro economically
handled by motor transport
Highway Transport is Unit
The public is too ready to consider
the road and tho vehicle as two scpar-
ate entities. and not a unitof transpor-
tation. Several serious evils result from
this attitude.
Tho builders. since they are paying
for the roads. want the most miles OF
| road for their money. The users want
| to get all the use out of the roads for
the loast money. The maintenance
| group would like to cut down the use
| Of tho roads 30 the cost of main
tcnanco would be low. These selfish
| groups are opposed to each other, and
| highway transport as u whole suffers
| Imagine how long a railroad would
| be successful II the builders said: Let
us stick to tho 40 lb. rail so We can
have more miles OF track or the
operating department said. Never
mind nat wheels; keep the cars in
service" or the maintenance OF way
department said. Let us urge the
cars are carrying. These heavy cars
make us spend more money keeping
| UP tho track"
Yet this is tho way We arc trying to
oporatc highway transportation at the
present time.
We must make traffic surveys to
md out the tonnage over certain
routes. We can then figure accurately
the cost OF improved roads and from
the tonnage whether or not IL will pay
to build them. Ten million dollars may
be spent profitnbly on n good road II
Il saves that much or more in trans
portation over that road. Roads must
be perfected between ccnters OF dis
tribution.
Highway transport is tho moving OF
passengers and freight over roads, In
other w6rds. We have to consider the
loaded vehicle and tho road 1t uses
As tho passenger car can certainly
run over a satisfactory truck road we
can safely say that VIC should think Of
the truck FIRST in connection with tho
road. We will take up tho most
! economical unit 10 haul and then soc
| IL tho present roads will carry this
load and how VIC can best build the
roads OF the future.
Economics of Loads
The motor truck industry is young in
| spite of its standing and Importance
The first truck was built in 1895. It
was a fvc-tonnCr designed to carry u