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TIIE 3IORXIXG OREGOXIAX, TnURSDAT,' JANUARY f 1920.
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MOTOR TRUCKS PLAY LEADING, IMPORTANT PART IN STATE'S UPBUILDING
I Past Two Years Witnesses Rapid Development of This Line and Expansion Includes Country Districts, Where All Manner of Work Is Being Done by Them Express and Freight Lines Are Features Inaugurated
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MOTOR trucTta are playing- a
grreat part in the upbuilding of
Oregon. The state's greatest
strides in development have been
made in the past two "years. This
also has been the period of highway
building, of a remarkable increase in
the use of motor trucks and the
growth of the ship-by-truck move
ment. Prior to two years ago, use of mo
tor trucks in this territory was con
fined largely to the cities. There were
two or three small rural express lines,
operating on a modest scale and
largely experimental. It was signifi
cant that they were all successful and
that their business was increasing.
rThe war brought out the possibili
ties of the motor truck as a freight
C'lLri! ,ThU WaS ,rue Penerally. all
over the United States, except in Cali
fornia. That was the one state that
rr iV11 War had-reaJry demon
strated the value of the motor truck
a8an.B8rency in state development.
California's wonderful paved high
way system had for some years been
Increasingly used by motor trucks
whicn drove out from the big cities
with cargoes for the smaller towns
-Tin reiurnea with farm produce and
the like. In the beginning thi had
been largely an express business for
comparatively small articles, but it
automatically grew into a great
freight transportation business, with
lines of truck freighters radiating
from the industrial or distributing
centers in many directions. Califor
nia had already proved that the mo
tor truck was the solution of the
problem of inadequate railroad facili
ties, and more, that its flexibility
made it a simple matter for the truck
to pick up goods direct from the ship
per and deliver them at the door of
the consignee. But the other states,
and particularly Oregon, had still to
learn thio lesson.
'i Oregon, in particular, because while
the motor truck can in emergency go
almost anywhere, it is, for economi
cal operation as a freight carrier, dis
tinctively a creature of good roads.
Oregon at that time did not have the
good roads. A start had been made,
but only a start.
!; Mar Hinders Frogremi.
". The war threw a sudden burden in
the way of vastly increased quantities
of freight on the railroads that they
could r.ot handle. Especially' was this
true of the short and unprofitable
hauls; for in the handling of freight
by railroad it is the long hauls that
jrive them profit, in direct converse
of the case -with the motor truck, -which
as a freight carrier is profit
able r,n the short but -not on the long
hauls.
In this war emergency of freight
Congestion, the motor truck came
suddenly into its own. All over the
United States trucks were called into
service to. move freight on short hauls
that had piled up at the railroad de
Tots with no prospect of early ship
ment. . The firt use of trucks In this con
nection was largely at the instance
f government authorities. But so
Immediately was it demonstrated
that the motor truck could, move
freight on these short hauls, not only
t a profit, but far more speedily
tha.i the railroads could do it. with
less loss to breakable or perishable
articles, and moreover deliver its
freight direct to the consignee, all at
eonsideribly lower cost, the greater,
speed of delivery considered. ihat
private truck freight lines came into
being all over the country.
J This movement of freight by motor
truck was perhaps slower in getting
under way in Oregon than in most
state.--, principally because of the
aforementioned lack, at that time, of
good roads. But when it. did get un
der way it did so at an amazing rate
f progress.
Truck Growth Amnxiiig.
!. Just how amazing has been the
development of this class- of truck
service may be illustrated by a few
figures. At this writing . there are
tl9 motor truck express and freight
lines operating between Portland'and
surrounding cities, on daily schedule.
The- word "schedule" is used advis
edly. These truck freight lines are
operated by time table.
Among the towns and cities to
which these lines extend are Salem,
liberal, Forest drove, Oregon City,
Tigard. Multnomah, Tiga-rdvil le, Oresh
am. Scappoose. St. Helens. N'ewberg.
Wilsonville, Dayton, in Oregon, and
to Vancouver, Washougal, Battle
ground, Brush Prairie and other
Jioints in Washington.
It will be noted that virtually all
these points are on main paved high
trays or highways in good condition.
?This points its own lesson. As soon
jas the paved highway system of Ore
gon reaches other towns, a similar
tolume ol freight will move by motor
JfauliiiQ Wheat from tlir Field.
truck to and from them. Any person as many persons ha feared would be jn which the motor -truck s contrib
uting so greatly to the development
of Oregon. These freight lines are
who doubts the extent of this freight the case, the motor-truck lines de
irairic on the main paved highways velop the smaller towns.
is respectfully invited to drive over Short as has been the time such largely confined to the good roads.
ine new nignway to faalem or out the lines have been In operation in Ore- But. individually, the motor truck
Capital highway to Newberg, or gon, one has but to drive out the can tro almost anvwhere. and does.
down the lower Columbia River high- main highway to see that th samt'And mors and 4nor tciicks are eom-
way to facappoose, or out the upper cause is producing identically - the ing into use on the ranches and farms,
highway to Troutdale and beyond, same effect here as in California, making the farmer independent "of
The volume of motor-truck freight where the smaller towns on the paved the vicissitudes of horse transporta
that moves over them is truly a sub-, highways, with motor-truck commu- tion for his produce.
ject for amazement. Virtually all of nications. have all become brisk. The radius of activity of the motor
it has developed within the past year alert, prosperous, buinesslike. , live truck has been immensely increased
or two years, and only since the pav- and growing cities. Already you can in the past two years through the de-
ing of the respective highways. see the new air of prosperity in all velopment of pneumatic cord tires for
Indeed, so great is this volume of the smaller towns along the Oregon trucks. These tires permit not only
traffic becoming that already the highways that have been reached by of much higher speed and thus speed
problem 'is in sight for the not-dis- this motor-truck service. up transportation, but make formerly'
tant future of having to build new The reason, of course, is that bet- impassable roads passable to the
and separate paved highways exclu- tered transportation facilities remove truck. And they are easier on the
sively for motor-truck freight use. the isolation in which the smaller truck, its load and the road itself.
In addition to the 19 truck lines communities formerly dwelt. The At the end of 1918 the total number
operating on schedule time, the local merchants get more , up-to-date and of trucks of all makes registered In
ship-by-truck bureau has 117 other attractive stocks of goods and instead Oregon was only 5341 By the end of
companies on its listings that handle of going to the "big city" to supply 1919 this has increased to 8762. a gain
freight and express by truck to out- their wants, the people of that com- of a fraction more than 63 per cent,
side points. They do not operate on munity find what they want right All this in one year. The fact is that
schedule, but as business offers. The there. The merchant turns his stock the era of the motor truck has just
number of lines operating on sched- over more quickly, money is freer, begun in Oregon.
ule, however, is increasing all the improvement result. The smaller It is a matter of simple mathemat-
t'me. towns become more attractive places les to predict the certainty of the
Prosperity la Result. in which to live. Of course, they speedy development of immense sec-
The great Interest to the state in grow. tions of Oregon heretofore un-
these motor-truck lines is the bros- For a long time one of Oregon's built up because inaccessible, handt-
perity that immediately springs up problems has been the fact that a capped by lack of railroad transpor-
along their course. The experience third of its population was concen- tation as the highway programme
of California long ago demonstrated trated in Portland. The motor-truck extends the pavements through the
the remarkable fact that instead of is automatically working out the so- state, and fleets of trucks take the
building up the big cities to still lution. ' place of the missing railroads. The
more unwieldly proportions at the This hauling of freight in intercity experience of California is certain to
expense of the surrounding territory, traffic is only one phase of the manv be duplicated,
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PORTLAND BECOMES GREAT AUTOMOBILE CENTER
Rapid Increase in Ownership of Cars Attests Importance and Indicates Future Immense Business Throughout I
1 State Country of Long Distances Calls for Speedy Conveyances and Motors Fill Bill. 1
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cars. They will continue to have an
even greater effect, for tliey make
ownership of an automobile an abso
lute necessity for thousands of per
sons. For example, the salesman with
an automobile can cover territory
hundreds of miles in extent in a short
time that to cover otherwise would
require weeks, and that in many cases
could not be covered at all.
Portland's growing importance as a
motor-car center will be strikingly
demonstrated at the coming auto
mobile show, to be held in the ice
palace during the week of February
23-28. In this will be shown a total
of 159 models of 65 different makes,
and at that a number of automobile
dealers are prevented from repre
sentation by lack of space.
A year ago only 90 different models
of about 45 different makes were rep
resented in the show.
But much as Oregon is doing for
the automobile industry, the auto
mobile industry is doing more for
Oregon. It is true enough that the
greater part of the money expended
for automobiles goes to eastern fac
tories and is thus lost to this com
munity.
But on the other hand, the automo-
From Portland to Salem Is 52 miles; governor or" JCorlh Carolina to the ton. La Grande and Baker, are all bile and the motor truck are build
85 miles to Albany, and 140 miles to governor of South Carolina, "a long, long distances apart. ing up the state. They, more than
Eugene. And this is the thickly set- long ways between towns." In parts So In Oregon, and this applies also any other factor, are responsible for
tied part of the state. In the vast of that territory one will go 75, 100 to the whole Pacific northwest, the the passing of the "last frontier."
central and eastern Oregon country it or 150 miles between towns, and the long distances have had great in- Automobiles have made accessible the
Is. to paraphrase the remark of the main cities, like The Dalles. Pendle- fluence in the increased use of motor farthest corners of this huge state.
Truck. and Trailer 2iaulin$"OregozzTootftpicJcx, TzrJ'ilirics OS.fee't Lp.-iy.
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OREGON is not as yet In the class
of California, New York, Ohio and
such states with their motor car
registrations by the hundreds of
thousands. But in proportion to popu
lation it is right up with any of them
and ahead of most In ownership of
cars. In witness whereof, consider a
few easily digested statistics on Its
motor car registrations for the past
few years. They show clearly enough
why 'the big automobile factories are
coming to regard this as one of their
most valuable territories. "
Registrations of passenger automo
biles and trucks for the year Just
ended reached a total in round fig
ures of 83,500. which is about one
vehicle to every ten persons. This
was a gain of 20,175 over automobile
registration for 1918, which totaled
63,325 an increase of 24 per cent.
. If this same ratio is maintained for
this year.- and the demand for auto
mobiles is steadily Increasing out
here despite the absorption of so
many new cars . already, the state's
registration will reach 105,000 cars.
Only six years ago, back in the pre
war days of 1913, the state's auto
mobile registration totaled only 13,957
a gain in six years . of 69,543, ap
proximately 600 per. cent!
Here are the registrations for the
intervening years: 194, 16,347: 1915,
23.585; 1916. 33,917; 48.632. and 1918,
63,325. A factory might be justified
in ignoring a far-western territory
that absorbed only 10.000 cars all
told in a year, as in 1916.- But with
the' number jumping in only three
years -to 20,000 in a single year, and
virtually certain to be 25,000 or more
next year, the progressive manufac
turer . goes after a share of that
business.
Hence the scramble by- so many
automobile and truck factories to
obtain distributor representation in
Portland. It - is - why today 75 dif
ferent makes of passenger automo
biles and 65 truck lines are now rep
resented in the territory of which
Portland Is the distributing center.
This territory does not include Ore
gon alone. Portland's geographical
position makes it the main automo
bile and truck center of the Pacafic
northwest, and the natural distribut
ing point- for the so-called Columbia
river counties of Washington, parts
of eastern Washington, and in -some
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instances the panhandle section of
Idaho.
There is another reason than mere
desire on the part of those able to
afford It to own motor "cars, behind
the growing importance of Portland
as an automobile center. This is. the
west the" towns are close together.
Out here hot only the big cities, but
the small ones are far apart. Port
land, for example, is 165 miles from
the nearest large city, Tacoma, and
205 miles from Seattle. From Port-
fact, not readily understood by the land to Astoria is 105 miles, with only
easterner until he comes out here and a few small tpwns and lumber camps
sees for himself that this is a coun- between.
try of long' distances. Take the Pacific highway, the main
in tne east ana mucn or tne middle north and south artery of the state.
Will J. Lester
1
eym
Karle K. H
-IfeymCc,
249 SIXTH STREET
- Near Madison
Phone Main 7352
Personal Service Guaranteed Work
Automotive Inspectors Appraisers Engineers
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Why Yon Should
Bay a
Stewart Truck
When you buy a "Stewart" Motor Truck you are
. not buying an experiment. "Stewarts" have been
proven by the test of time in five years-no
"Stewart" has worn out.
Thousands are in use throughout the "United
: States and twenty-four foreign countriesj They
are in daily use in more than 200 different lines
of businesses.
A big 6hare of Stewart business is repeat orders.
Many of the largest concerns in the world use
fleets of "Stewarts" and are buying more.
"Stewarts" are the greatest truck values in
America, made possible by quantity production
at small profit per truck. They are Quality Trucks,
at Quantity Prices.
In all-Stewart models more than 90 of the
power of the motor is delivered to the rear wheels
at all times, thus enabling "Stewarts" to carry
their loads with ease under all road conditions, on
hills and through sand or mud. "Stewarts" have
made an enviable reputation for great performers.
Lubrication is simple and accessible.- There are
fewer grease cups and places to oil. Stewarts are
designed to be as nearly fool-proof as possible.
Adjustments on the Stewarts do not need to be
tampered with. Their service is not delayed be
cause they "need tuning up." Stewarts give un
interrupted service.
For years Stewart engineers have devoted all
their energies and ability to design "Stewarts"
so that they will use less gasoline, less oil, fewer
tires and give long service.
Why experiment? Buy a "Stewart."
Atterbury Truck Sales Co.
343 Oak Street
TRUCK SPECIALISTS
1 ; DISTRIBUTORS
Phone Broadway 334-