Evening star., 1932-10-16
3sUNRECULATED7 TRUCKS
THREATEN RAIL FUTURE
States of Pacific Area Have Special
Reason to Be Concerned Over
Plight of Carriers.

railroad offices. OF course, it can be
done. is done occasionally. but so far,
at least, the results in terms of econ
omy of operation and profit haven't
been anything to get excited about.
Long trains of cars, rolling along on
steel rails behind single power unit,
have it all over the biggest highway
when it comes to getting perishable
stuff In quantity and in good fresh con-
dition into markets considerable dis
tance from the place of harvest. all
reports of stunt trips by refrigerated
! trucks to the contrary Notwithstanding.
It's another story however. when it
comes to short hauls requiring no re-
frigeration or only a little preliminary
! icing. Here the competition of the
| truck is murderous from the railway
point of view. And trucks, of course,
are making short hauls of about every
thing that the railways handle these
days, produce carrying being only an
/ item in the transportation business
they have built up
| Motor truck registrations, the sta
! tisticians tell us, have increased 245 per
cent since 1920 According to data
! filed with the Interstate Commerce
| Commission, only 40 per cent of the
less-than-carlot movement Of freight
now rolls by rail The trucks get the
rest They are also getting more and
more of the short-haul business form
erly counted upon by rails.
Nor has the disturbance wrought by
the almost unrestricted operation of
trucks been visited solely upon the rail-
roads. In the days before the trucks
stormed the highways the prices on the
larger produce markets were based upon
known Supply-the arrivals and
cars on the track" Today. any number
of itinerant truckers may show up on
market. selling loads picked up in the
fields at a price representing gasoline
money" or little better. The result
/ is often a glutted market and price
/ debacle: legitimate supplies are tempo
rarily diverted and subsequent short
age hikes costs unexpectedly for the
consumer.
Rails Against Wall.
/ The truck. carrying not only perish
/ able produce but about everything else,
is assisted in its work of hamstringlng
the rails by an ever-increasing mileage
/ of pipe lines carrying oil and OF power
wires transporting energy to places that
not so long ago relied upon coal cars for
fuel to make their own. The past few
wears. too. have seen an increased inter-
Of return to first principles. That is the
modern transportation picture as it re-
lates to freight
Passenger traffic. contributing at best
only about 20 per cent OF the steam
carriers income. is considered by the
railway heads almost impossible OF sal
wage since the advent of automotlve
transportation and of airWays, yet the
service must be maintained regardless
As a result of all this competition
added to below normal business condl-
tions the gross operating revenue of the
railroads of TIE United States dropped
from the Sc .382 939, SAG of 1926 to s4,-
! 188343237 in 1881. The figures for
1882 are not available. but it is certain
that the first half of the year brought
nothing to relieve the pessimism of the
rails heads.
Note. however that while the steam
carriers are rapidly losing the profitable
short haul and less-than -carlot business
of the country they are increasing the
scope of their costly long haul service
the service that is the real basis OF re-
ciDrocity in trade between East and
West. One railroad. a system responsible
for the initial haul of large part OF
the 300 000-carlot movement OF fruits
and vegetables from California. has
shipments move from 1000 to 5000
miles, % per cent less than 1000 miles
and only Is per cent Of them under
1000 miles. Money in an endless out
lay is going into the improvement OF
the service that alone offers any hope
whatever. under present conditions. OF
really holding up.
Long-haul business. of course. is
profitable to the railroads.&c. would
have to be- There is no brushing away
of the fact, however. that loss OF reve-
nue. in other fields Of operation. particu-
larly in the short haul. can eventually
place such an undue burden on traffic
trat must necessarily move by rail that
something will have to give. That's the
rub as far as the Western States are
concerned for their geogra phical handi-
can in reference to markets means de-
pendency on the bands OF steel that
carry their products across desert. plains
| and mountains to the great consuming
markets Rails are the security on
which the Vests agricultural invest
ment is based.
/ The Vests Stake.
And it is some investment! The door,
to-door canvass made by Uncle Sans
census takers in 1880 showed the value
: "
States mainly under discussion to be
S5. .704, ,443.1l0, or 10 per cent Of the to-
tai United States value of agriculture!
Ferishable crops. looking to the rails
for a market haul. represent 40 per cent
of the farm income of these States and
this periShable production. in turn con-
stitutes 33.7 per cent of the value of the
country's total production of fruits and
vegetables! 1t is no little matter to
place in jeopardy such an important
source of national wealth.
You can't stop there-obviously. The
Western States have pioneered in CO.
operative marketing and buying. have
built up organizations with packing and
processing and shipping facilities worth
many millions. Thousands look to these
for their daily bread
The money made in the Vests tre-
mendOuS agricultural operations isn't all
kept at home by any means. The pro-
ducers of the Pacific area. and the CO.
operative marketing organizations in
particular, have spent an average of
three and qaurter millions of dollars
each year in national-consumer adver-
tising during the past decade, placing
their products before the American
public, familiarizing Nation with their
brands. The California Fruit Growers
Exchange. the largest of the fruit CO.
operatives. alone spends over $l,0000 900
year telling the East and Middle West
of the merits of its oranges and lemons
The West believes in spending money
to make money. The vast revenues it
obtains in shipping its agricultural
products across the Rockies are distrib-
uted in the biggest kind CT a way in
the Easts industrial centers. Manufac-
turerS of agricultural machinery find a
market for their modern and efficient
tools in the Pacific Slope producing
centers: every industry in the East and
Middle West looks to the rapidly grow
ing population of the Far West to alb