Evening star., 1953-12-02

chance to live somewhere else,
or they're respondent over a
demotion and the necessity to
leave Washington
Mr.. Rowan sees a lot Of ro-
nance in the household moving
business. He speaks. of buggy
men" and "balns" when he re-
fers to job esti1nators and ga
RACES. In the old days of horse
drawn furniture vans, he says,
the estimator was in a special
class among his co-workers. He
drove to his job in a fancy little
buggy. gave the: family his esti-
mate and departed, never soiling
his hands.
The barn." he says, is self
explanatory. When motor trucks
relegated old Dobbin to the pas
ture, old-timers just couldn't
say garage" and make it stick.
And headaches come and go like
day and night in the household
moving field, he sighs.
''We1l get a job to move a
family from Chevy Chase to Los
Angeles" Mr.. Rowan says. "It's
a special de luxe contract, in
which the mover will take every
thing in hand, even to dishes and
personal items, pack them care
fully and at the end of the run.
put them perfectly in place.
"Yet, the woman of the house
won't be satisfied. AS she turns
to leave her Chevy Chase home,
the sight Of her pet shrubbery
and flowers is too much. She'll
insist that they be moved, too.
Can't Handle IT,
"The mover will refuse, ex-
planning that it's a job for a
nursery, not a trucking firm.
Then she calls me, insisting that
I do something about it. It's
pretty hard to turn down a tear
full home -owner, but we just can't
handle that kind of a job"
There's no record of just when
the first truck company started,
but it's safe to assume that pre-
historic man was the forerunner
of the modern truck line. When
some ancient family paid a
friend to cart by sledge or crude
wagon his personal belongings,
that marked the birth of the
industry.
In the District, the oldest
active and perhaps the first truck
line still is operating. A ship
captain, Thomas Jacobs, who
operated steamers along the
Potomac into the old port of
Washington, organized a small
haulage company in 1857. Mer-
chants who received their goods
by boat needed a means of quick
transportation from pier to their
stores, and Capt. Jacobs was
asked to take the job. Hrom
1857 to 1897, he was the sole
proprietor of what is now
Jacobs Transfer Co., Inc. His
son, Joseph B. Jacobs, took over
the presidency of the firm when
Capt. Jacobs died and remained
the sole proprietor until 1912.
The Chesapeake and Potomac
Telephone Co., in an early ex-
pansion stage, needed trucks to
haul equipment. The C. & P,
delivery superintendent, Will
liam E. Humphries. was en-
couraged to negotiate with
Joseph Jacobs for a partnership.
The new firm was incorporated
in 1913, and the line began a
general haulage business, in
Guiding telepln one company
equipment. Linton w. Mason.
the firms first bookkeeper, was
taken into partnership.
Nearly 200 Trucks.
The line purchased it's first
motor truck in 1914 and six
years later. retired it's last horse.
Today, the company operates
126 trucks here and SO out of
it's terminal in Baltimore.
In 1927, Mr.. Jacobs was given
six months to live and on his re-
tirement. Mr.. Humphries took
over as president with Mr.. Mason
serving as secretary-treaSurer
However, Mr.. Jacobs crossed up
his doctors by living almost Is
more years, long enough to see
his old company grow further
under Mr.. Humphries, who died
last year. Mr.. Mason retired in
1949 and was replaced by Harry
L. Grubbs. jr., as secretary
treasurer and general manager
The firms Junior partners de-