The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-06-14

tation system. There are couple of
resolutions pending before Congress,
calling for investigations of the
truck shortage and the effect of
limited truck and trailer manufac-
ture upon the civilian economy.
Truck and trailer builders, who
have their ears flattened against the
pipelines of information on de-
mands from their old customers for
new equipment, are clamoring for
authority to set back into the pro-
duction of more civilian trucks.
NEW TRUCK MANUFACTURE
If the nations truck transporta-
ton should begin to break down,
you would be sorry for all those
mean things you used to mutter
! about rcad-hogging truck drivers
behind their backs and where they
couldn't hear you, of course. But
the Office of Defense Transporta-
ton, which is supposed to have this
trucking business under control, is
doing what little it can to see
that truck transport doesn't break
completely down, and says it won't.
ODT, which is the claimant agen-
cy for all materials going into truck
manufacture, has just obtained allo-
| cations for steel and other critical
materials to assure the start of
of 1900 heavy trucks, eight tons
gross vehicle weight and over. These
will be the first new trucks manu-
featured for civilian use in nearly a
year. Truck production for civilians
was stopped completely May 81,
1912. Four thousand more trucks
were authorized in August to re-
place civilian trucks taken by the
Army, but since then nothing. To
show how pitifully inadequate the
1900 new trucks will be, consider
that 10000 new trucks were made
! in 1910 and over a million in 1871.
Normal truck requirements before
then averaged about 100000 or $780,
900 year.
When truck and trailer produc-
ton was frozen year ago, all exist
ing equipment was put in a pool and
special permits had to be obtained
to buy from stockpile. The total re-
serve was around $4,000 vehicles
$4,000 lights, $4,000 mediums, TO-
900 heavies. Withdrawals to date
have left in the pool only $4,000
vehicles-15,0 900 lights, $4,000 med
iums, 5000 heavies. That isn't ex-
actly the bottom of the barrel, but
it's close to it.
ODT VS.. TRUCKERS
The truckers contention is that
this stockpile should have been re-
leased faster to relieve a transport
tation crisis. and not boarded. The
ODT reply is that the stockpile
sible so as to have something new to
should be conserved as long as pos
replace actual breakdowns-also, to
save gas and rubber.
Two months ago, the autonotive
division of WPB was saying, When
the reserve pool is exhausted, few
if any trucks will be produced for
the duration" The picture today Is
better than that. The stockpile of
lights will be made to last year.
The mediums will last less than a
year because many of them will be
given heavier duty, hauling trailers.
The heavies will run out about the
;; time the first of the 1900 new trucks
come off the assembly line this fall.
In the meantime, the demands on
truck transport increase. More sub
contracting requires more truck
transport. More food production
means more farm trucks to haul it
to market. The five million civilian
trucks-including a million farm
trucks-now rolling are worked
longer and harder, are wearing out
faster, and repair parts are in
greater demand.