Evening star., 1922-03-03
MERCHANTS LOSE
THOUSANDS DAILY
BY MUD STREETS
Unable to Make Deliveries to
Residents Mired in Many
| Sections.
TRUCKS GET STRANDED
CAUSING EXTRA EXPENSE
Coal in One Instance Had to Be
Dumped Two Blocks Away
From Residence,

thousands Of dollars have been lost
pY local business firms during the
last Few weeks in their attempts to
deliver merchandise to people on
many Of the streets which have road
beds that draw into their mudbeds
the heavy wheels and strand them
beyond their power to combat, The
Star man has learned in the course
OF his investigation Of street condi-
tons. In the interest of efficient and
economical management of their
business. these people, while lament
ing the conditions. have been forced
to refuse delivery to many sections
OF the city, one of them explained.
Aside from the direct expense which
these people lose from damage due to
their equipment when it becomes
mired. there is the loss of salaries
OF the man with the truck. the loss
OF the trucks use and the addi-
lionai expense Of hiring horses to
drag them out. This does not take
the owners of the homes in these
mired sections OF the city, many of
whom cannot have their coal or other
merchandise delivered even within
two blocks Of their homes And It
is the ultimate consumer, it is pointed
delivery caused by the bad streets.
Merchant Declared Helpless.
William A. carlin. with James Z.
Collifower'& Co.. acquainted The Star
man with some Of the difficulties of
delivering. The Star man found him
working with corps of men on
truck that had been mired in one of
the streets" In South Brookland.
The bad streets of this city furnish
a serious problem to the merchant
who has delivery system" said Mr..
Carlin. They force costs higher. and
cause customers to become displeas-
ed. but the merchant is helpless. He
cannot send his delivery wagons into
a section where he knows from ex-
perience they will become stranded,
The people who have invested money
IN homes on these streets are entitled
20 goed roadways. and are paying
I'VE have lost nearly 81, 900 durinx
the past six weeks, due entirely to the
bad streets," he explained. 1--WE fir-
ure on getting II ton for delivering
coal. for instance. And the truck av-
erages from eight to- ten trips 9 day.
NFfSSs ehu thiS ithS HdppcnS0 many
times In the past few weeks. we send
load of coal out in the morning. The
driver tries to deliver 1t and becomes
stranded in the mire. Then we have
to send a man out to direct the rescue
work. another truck with Jacks. lum-
Der. ETC.. and additional men, 10 dig
the truck out, and then many times
we have to hire three or four horse
team, because the relief truck can
not get near enough to pull the
stranded truck out without becominr
mtred itself. This takes the greater
part Of day. We have to take the
coal to the nearest good road and at
tempt to get receipt for delivery there.
Many times 1t Is impossible even to
deliver with horse-drawn vehicles.
Additional Loss Entailed.
"Now. in addition to this loss of
time of the truck, there are the sala-
ries of the men, and these run as high
as $S5 a week. and also the cost of
repairing the truck, which is USUALLY
damaged in some way when it be-
comes mired. We are constantly
forced to put new clutches in these
trucks. even in those which do not
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