MOTOR TRANSPORT NEEDS.

The New York Times
December 31, 1922

The motor truck transport business in the next few years will need fully 4,000 well-trained men, particularly traffic experts to be attached to State, county and municipal organizations.  F. W. Fenn, Secretary of the National Motor Truck Committee of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, told the students of Syracuse University in a recent address:

"The significance of this need will be readily appreciated," he said, "when it is realized that more than 1,430,000,000 tons of freight, including 134,400,000 tons of farm products, are now carried over our highways every year.

"The reason for these increased demands on highway transport is that shippers are beginning to appreciate the fact that in proportion as they relieve the railroads of less-than-carload shipments will the railroads be able to render more efficient and cheaper service on their long-haul consignments.

"There has come to be a fairly general agreement among railroad officials that truck transportation can be substituted for railroad operation in short branch-line service, in trap-car work, and in terminal and suburban distribution.

"In Cincinnati the use of trucks in the interchange of freight between the railroads has resulted in the elimination of 300,000 switching cuts, the release of over 66,000 freight cars and the advancement of the railroad freight movement 52 hours.

"All this work incident to the realignment of transportation facilities to meet the new demands of commerce is going to need young men who have had training in railway and motor truck economics and operating principles.  The university man of today is challenged to prepare himself for a new type of transportation service that is not only going to mean relief to the railroads but prosperity to the country.