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Show GENERAL HUGH S. JOHNSON Jour: Washington, D. C. ARMY AND BUS LINES In speaking to and with the National Na-tional Association of Motor Bus Operators, Op-erators, I learned something to add to the many things I do not know. This country is now a gridiron of motor roads. A considerable part of its passengers and freight transportation trans-portation moves over these roads in automotive vehicles. Whatever may be the fairness to the railroad networks of the low tax and roadbed costs to these competitors competi-tors of theirs, this system is a very necessary part of our national machinery ma-chinery for traasportation in both peace and war. Hitler has shown the necessity for the highest perfection in swift,, motorized mo-torized movements of army units. Our government has belatedly recognized, rec-ognized, it. We are getting ready to 1 spend vast sums to motorize our army. Doubtless we soon will be adding to our public highway system sys-tem a new network of "strategic roads" feeder highways into areas that may be threatened and are not now well equipped for quick transportation trans-portation of masses of men and supplies. sup-plies. Our new and only partly motorized army is writing a terrible record of delays and breakdowns due to half-trained half-trained drivers and repair and service serv-ice departments. This is to be expected ex-pected in any beginning, but it should be cured. The record of experienced civilian civil-ian bus and truck systems in economy, econo-my, efficiency and maintenance shows remarkable performance averages av-erages of 75,000 to 100,000 miles of highways operation without mechanical mechan-ical delay. Recently, a motorized artillery battalion on a super-highway averaged 16 miles per hour on a march of 135 miles due to mechanical me-chanical troubles. This is just one of dozens of .recent examples. You can't make an efficient motor fleet overnight. Our plans for a new swift-moving motorized army, capable of striking like lightning anywhere on either coast of our country, should be integrated inte-grated closely with our splendid existing ex-isting civilian system of motor trans-I trans-I port It would be foolish to attempt to parallel it completely for the army with another complete system of government-owned and operated motor vehicles. General Marshall made clear recently re-cently that his plans do not contemplate contem-plate a military motor fleet capable of carrying all his troops at one time. He suggested a "shuttle system" sys-tem" whereby the army motor transport is to take part of an army forward and then go back for the rest. If it only took half on a trip that would cut army speed by two-thirds. Why should there not be added to the plan, wherever possible, complete com-plete utilization in both peace and war of our splendid existing civilian civil-ian motor transport system not merely for carriage, but for maintenance mainte-nance of service? To do that requires re-quires experimental experience while in an emergency all such transport would surely be suddenly commandeered and used in helter-skelter helter-skelter fashion, it is as important to get a smoothly working operation by peacetime practice as it is to have experimental maneuvers with the National Guard. Is anything like that being done? On the contrary, because the quartermaster quar-termaster general of the army has a "joint military passenger agreement agree-ment with the railroads which is practically exclusive of the use of automotive transport, it is only in very rare cases that the civilian automotive au-tomotive systems can be used for the transportation of troops. One reason advanced by the quar-termaster quar-termaster general for refusal to thntnf th"t bone"heed senility s that the "joint military passCnger agreements have been in effect be" u,e ratiroads and the war and navy departments for over a quarter of a century." So had the French military methods meth-ods which the German swift moving """-'xucracy which is so dan gerous m this swiftly moving w" like world. "8 war- We must have our railroad ,. tomotive network and we can' this tomorrow dne aboul . Gullion, ncrshey idonl f General Gullion is tn I 'rart- 'active servic d" t nnd'r" l!'eSe-Hershoy l!'eSe-Hershoy is to h. 1 ' a"d Co1- rwis are sPL y. These veteran of the - - nformnUoW0 n its tiuns. In tin, i . . rclnll"ns sec-Pert sec-Pert both ;,, ',:b hc h,ad U e and a,: ' Qi ;ry tihe public. be.iniig on u, |