Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1921-01-09 | Page 23 | Postal Service Using Motors

oo POSTAL SERVICE i USING MOTORS Eacii Year Sees More Mail Carried on Its Way in Autos J .Mot-.- automobiles are s ling the United Stales mails than ever before, act ..r. ling to the annual report of Post- I master Burleson for 1920. More than t0 per cent of the vehicles in the postal service arc- automobiles Government-owned motor vehicle service has been established in 163 cities. Rural routes to the number of 9S3 I are using motor cats or trucks. "The growing use of the automobile," says the Hurl, son report, for commercial purposes has made its Impression on the handling of the mall in vehicles. Considerably more than 60 per cent of the aggregate number of vehicles em-I em-I ployed in the postal service are of the i aulo type, and the apparent tendency Is toward the complete absorption of the service by mechanically driven equipment. "The efficiency of the government-owned government-owned motor vehicle service was demonstrated dem-onstrated during the past winter and spring when unusual conditions developed devel-oped in a number of the larger . I ties as the result of severe storms, strikes, of express and railroad employes, ami the at Hon of express companies and the placing of embargoes on tho acceptance ac-ceptance of packages under a certain weight." Had roads arc given as one reason whv the rural routes have not been n iui! motorissd, though ir. M3 using automobiles whcr.NFlo use of motor vehicles with reasonable regularity throughout the year is as-p as-p red. "The interruptions and failures in the rural and star route services which during the periods of bad weather continue con-tinue to occur with too great frequency, frequen-cy, are svldsncs that the sue. i g operation of these services Is depend-Sttl depend-Sttl upon the character of the hlgh-srays hlgh-srays on which they are performed and therefore, the department Is decply concertitd In the improvement of tho highways, not only because of the economy of the operation, but because be-cause it would permit the more rapid extension of tho service to all possible rural patrons and Insure to them tho delivery and collection of their mall on expeditious, dependable and uninterrupted unin-terrupted schedules," says the report. 'Through such Improvement of the highways and their use In tho t ra n - portntb.n of foodstuffs, it vould be possible to convey an average of not less than IS0O pounds a day p. r route, o-s compared with twenty-four pounds nt present conveyed. It Is only t irough the efficient use of Improved highways high-ways that the postal service may perform per-form adequate service to the people " tne great addition to the e.iulp-m. e.iulp-m. at of the department during the lart year was the receipt 0f 6500 trucks and 1 ti 7 I motorcycles from (ho war department. The trucks are being refitted for postal service and 14 44 of them have already been put into active ac-tive service. 'The introduction of motorcvcles Into the city delivery and collection service, any the report, "more extensively ex-tensively than heretofore, It Is believed, be-lieved, marks an epoch of Improvement Improve-ment In the vehicular facilities em-plovcd em-plovcd by the department at the numerous num-erous postofflces where the conditions, appear to be favorable. Individual postmen as well as the department believe the introduction of the automobile auto-mobile to he a great gain."