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Show ' POSTAL SERVICE WILL BE GREAT IIBEB 0FT1CKS Within a few years tho postoffico department will bo the largest single usor of motor trucks in America and will operate them on rural delivery routes .throughout the TJn'ted States. Many interesting details regarding this sorvlce wore given at a meeting in Chicago recently for the organize tion of the Highway Industries association as-sociation by j. j. Blakcslee, fourth assistant as-sistant postmaster general, as follows-Recently follows-Recently the postoffice department has taken a deep interest in the prog-1 ress of highway improvement, the dc-l velopment of tho motor truck and methods of utilizing both. There has been a reduction of farm production owing to the draft of man power into war service at a timc'when it Is imperative im-perative that production should be increased. in-creased. More convenient transporta. tion would stimulate production. Although Al-though somewhat late in starting, the postoffice is endeavoring to overcome this loss through the "farm-to-tablo" movement. "The only way to demonstrate to the producers that it is worth while to increase production, is to put some visible means of communication before him and that is by establishing motor truck parcels post routes. There are in tho United States -13.295 rural mail routes and 10,000 star routes, but the average number of pieces of parcel post matter carried per day to producers pro-ducers on these routes is onlv eight per route, and only one piece per routo from producer to consumer rnere is not a single parcel post route rroni New York out into productive territory; only one from Philadelphia j and two from Chicago. I "Motor truck parcels post routes will aid producers and eventually reduce re-duce the cost of living. Fourteen handlings are now required to deliver eggs from tho producer in Vineland J-;ttf the consumer In Philadelphia! and this number is doubled when the eggs arc shipped from Philadelphia to consumers in New York. Yet wo wonder won-der that eggs are selling at 90 cents a dozen. As against this, only six handlings will be required by the motor truck service between Now York and Philadelphia. Good Roads Develop Farm-to-Table Move. xnero are approximately 2,200,000 miles of public road in the United States, on more than half of which were Is no mail service, and 156,000 miles of improved road, on 120 000 miles of which tiere is no service To develop the farm-to-table movoment it is only necessary to take advantage of highways already existing and improved im-proved With a federal appropriation appropria-tion of $125,000 and on Ohio state ap-propnation ap-propnation of ?250,000, the Columbus- Zanesville road was put in good condition condi-tion for motor truck service a year and a half ago, but tho first postoffice motor truck wil be put In oporation over this road within the next thirty days. "Five years ago at a public dinner In New York Mr. Blakeslee proposed a chain of motor mail routes from Now "iork to San Francisco, and Jt was treated as a monumental joke. Today It will bo difficult for tho country to present arguments why such routes should not bo operated from Portland, Mp., to New Orleans and up to Chicago. Chi-cago. Only ono section of this routo is In doubt a six-mile stretch thru a swamp between Washington and Richmond, Rich-mond, Va. "During the present winter postal trucks have been operated daily on a 110-mile round trip route from Oxford, Pa., to Philadelphia, without missing a trip. Growers at Oxford were shipping ship-ping from one to one and a half tons of mushrooms into Piladelphla dally,' when tho express service they had boon using broke down. It was essential es-sential to have a heated motor truck for tho business. In three days the postoffice provided one. Tho first day it carried 1,100 poundi of mushrooms and tho second day, Sunday, it earned ear-ned 800 pounds. In tho first three dayB tho truck earned $30 a day. This ono tnick- tvl!! i9rn Cionnn -i the service will cost $1,200. Heretofore Hereto-fore the growers had to ship their mushrooms 120 miles to get them to Philadelphia, flfty-flvo milos distant. A motor truck route from Washington Wash-ington to Leonard town has been In operation three years, with a two-ton truck and one and one-half-ton trailer It carries- the mail fo 104 postoffices and 102,000 persons. Rovenuo is derived de-rived from first-class mail as well as parcel post matter. "A bill was introduced In the senate last year providing for experimental motor truck routes, but it failed to pass becauso of lack of Ume. Tho postoffico however, decided to try out its plans undor existing law. An emorgency confronts tho country coun-try and daily transportation must be put before the farmer to stimulate SS0?' r?h0, motoT truck is not confined to fixed rails or routes, but can travel roundabout to avoid de-ays de-ays Roads must be improved and tho long run, as tho matter of upkop is involved. There is a class of citizens citi-zens who say the government should not encourago U80 of trucks on improved im-proved roads because they - injure them but tho postoffico cannot seo the logic of Investing money in roads that are not going to bo utilized to the utmost Every ovidenco of material mater-ial prosperity has followed lines of communication. The west expanded after the dovolopmont of prairie schooner trails and transcontinental railways, until it has become tho territory terri-tory upon which the country depends for foodstuffs. Wo aro going back now to tho postroad stage. "Some peoplo are skeptical about motor truck postal routes reducing tho cost of living. They say that when direct shipping means Is supplied, sup-plied, the producer will at onco raise his prices to conform with prices in the city. But sooner or later some of the producers will shade prices a bit, then others will follow until prices begin to pyramid downward instead of upward. They have been increasing increas-ing the last ten years and it will take time for them to como down. Somebody Some-body Is controlling prices now, but with direct producer-to-consumer service serv-ice tho market cannot continue to bo controlled. "As the postoffico department develops devel-ops its plans a market will be created for more trucks than al tho manufacturers manufac-turers can produce. It Is essential to standardize some type of truck for tho service, heated in winter and coolod In summer." |