The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-12-14

Any fair competition in, the transportation of freight will be welcomed by the Motor Truck As- sociation of Connecticut, according to Myles w. Illingworth, Executive manager of the association.
 Many statements have been is- sued by the railroads in regard to approaching efforts on their part to compete with trucks and, ac- cording to MT 1llingworth, this awakening on the part of the rail- roads should be encouraged for 1t should result in better service to the shipping public, which has al- ways been the objective of nlem- bers of the Connecticut Motor Truck Association.
 Tn speaking of the truckman's viewpoint on Railroads vs Trucks' MT Illingworth said in part:
 ''fn my opinion, the railroads have been handicapped for some time by Q too complicated system of rate making. This came into be- ing q number of years ago as Q re- suit of the railroads practice of se- cret rebates tofavore q shippers. As time has gone on, the Interstate Commerce Commissions control of the railroads has become more and moer complicated until to-day 1t usually takes railroad traffic man several hours of searching through the class rates and commodity rates before he can give quota ton to shipper. This has made 1t easy for truck operators to secure business because they are able to quote the rate immediately and render prompt store door pickup and delivery service.
 "As the trucking business has grown 1t has been possible for op- orators to reduce rates. Costs have been lowered by largo shippers giv- ing operators regular daily bus mess which had made full loading In both directions almost the uni- versal rule of the trucking industry instead of the exception as was the case when inter-city truckmen started in business. As trucking rates have been reduced more bus- Thus the public has benefited from the conception between truckmen.
 Transportation costs are q large part of the selling price of most articles. Trucks have enabled mer- chants and manufacturers to re- duce selling prices because trans- portatlon expense has been lower- ed. With independent trucks the public is much better off, I believe. than if 1t had to rely solely upon q railroad monopoly, however well regulated and managed.
 When railroad traffic was at it's peak in 1929. there was little hue and cry about sthe evils of truck competition" No saving bank pres- ident or life insurance company presidents were making speeches about the widows and orphans whose savings were tidc up in rail- road bonds which were never paid off. Rather arc some of their hnan-- cial friends of Wall street engaged in speculating in railroad stocks at fancy figures. The larger railroads even were forming investment af- filiates for tho purpose of buying control of smaller roads at high prices.
 ''Durlng this period. truck oper- ators were busy attending to their customers and studying their costs of operation. The truck mnnufact- urers and tire makers have helped the operators by giving them bet-
 equipment every year. AS q re- suit to-day tho trucking industry. is not running to Washington for loans from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation which per- haps the taxpayer must ultimately shoulder, nor is 1t being surveyed by n commission of leading nation- ai figures of both political parties.