Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-03
Railroad and Truck.
From the Springfield CMass) Union.


Farmers have been benefiteS greatly
by the construction of the modern i'm
proved trunk-line highways that tram
sect practically every region of the
United States. They will derive further
advantages from the building of sec
ondary and spur roads, proposed as the
next broad development of the good
roads movement. 1t is natural, there
fore, that farmers should view with
concern any step or attempt to place
restrictions on the use of the highways
or curtailing the revenue applied to the
building and maintenance Of roads.
A writer in the National Grange
Monthly expresses alarm over proposals
Of railroad executives interpreted by
him as a plan to force freight trafic
back to the railroad tracks from the
highways over which it Is moving. The
Grange as a body has taken a militant
attitude in that regard. It Is obvious
that the dispatch Of milk and other
farm products by truck directly from
the farmers door is a marked advan-
tage in various ways. In this way, it
is said, an advantage in rates is Sc
cured while saving time and labor in
transferring products to and from rail-
way cars and facilitating the delivery
of perishable products.
However, the question of highway
borne freight covers a much broader
field than this, involving wide range
If manufactured goods as well as farm
products and also having to do with
the moving Of furniture and factory
equipment from place to place. Hence
the farmer does not stand alone as a
special beneficiary of good roads ex-
penditures. And while the farmer,
manufacturer. merchant and every
other class has an interest in good
highways. all have an interest as well
in keeping the railroads efficient and
solvent, for these have not ceased TO
be valuable as carriers and must remain
indispensable.
To say that interstate bus and truck
traffic should not go unregulated or
that the use of the highways should
be further taxed to pay for improve
mentS is not to hold a brief for the
railroad companies as against the farm
erS. for these questions relate to large
and complex problem. So far as higher
taxes on trucks and buses are con-
cerned, il is far from clear that these
would act as a barrier to motor borne
traffic unless they should take the form
of toll charge. Indeed, If such rev.
enue were utilized as further funds for
road development they might encourage
rather than retard the use Of the high
ways as freight carriers. The justice
and public policy involved in proposals
for additional motor taxes, as for fur
Their expansion of Federal aid to road
building, call for consideration on broad
grounds.
1t is a fair question whether much
Of the freight now passing over the
highways should not, on economic
grounds, be transported by rail instead.
1t is pertinent to consider where the
turning of more and more traffic into
the highways will lead to eventually,
where it will leave the railroads and
what it will mean in public taxation.
AS the use Of motor trucks avoids much
rehandling of freight, an argument is
afforded for the use Of the highways
in preference to the railroads. In this
connection the trial use in England Of
new road-and-rail vehicle called the
rorailer is interesting. BY an ingenious
combination of pneumatic tires and
road wheels the loaded vehicle may be
transferred speedily from highway to
railway and back again, as desired
What will come out Of these expert
ments is uncertain, and whether the
large-scale adoption of this idea is a
thing to be desired is also subject to
debate.
For the present it is clear that an ex
parte treatment of such problems, from
the viewpoint of the farmer or any
other special class, is apt to be mislead-
ing There is too much agitation and
too much legislation proceeding from
such narrow conceptions, and admins
trative policy is in danger of being
swerved at times from its true course
by such influences.