October 1, 1920.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



MRRARY 



Naw V()«ic 



BOTaMCAL 



1 



.W-Po^ 



Reg. United States Pat. Off. Reg. United Kingdom. 



Published on the 1st of each month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 



No. 2S West 45th Street, New York. 

 Telephone — Bryant 2576. 



CABLE ADDhESS: IRIVORLD, NEW YORK. 

 HENRY C. PEARSON, F.R.G.S., Editor 



Vol. 63 



OCTOBER 1, 1920 



No. 1 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE OF READING 



TRUCKPORTATION AND TRUCK TIRES 



WHILE the public imagination has been profoundly 

 stirred by the wonderful development of the 

 passenger automobile industry, the less spectacular pro- 

 duction of motor trucks is just as remarkable. So 

 valuable have motor trucks proved themselves that their 

 manufacture rose from 25,375 in 1914 to 316,364 in 

 1919. Indeed, it is stated that the total registry of 

 motor trucks in the United States for 1919 was 750,000, 

 and that fully 600 auto truck transportation companies 

 are now operating in the country. To the rubber in- 

 dustry this rapid and considerable expansion in the 

 motor truck trade has direct and pecuniary interest. It 

 means greatly increased tire production as the advan- 

 tages of truckportation fto use a newly-coined and 

 rather suitable term) become better appreciated. 



It has been well said that never yet has a crisis 



loomed in our national history but that a great leader 



has always providentially appeared to meet and cope 



^ successfully with the impending difificulty. So, too, just 



■^ as it was generally feared that our industrial cstablish- 



' ments, reviving from the severe dislocation due to the 

 to 



Great War, would be acutely handicapped in the dis- 

 tribution of their products and perhaps forced to curtail 

 their output at great loss to employers and employed 

 because of the palpably inadequate service given by the 

 railroads of the country, tire and motor truck manu- 

 facturers, by their alertness in providing supplemental 

 transportation, actually averted an imminent peril to in- 

 terurban and interstate commerce. Not only have they 

 aided the seriously embarrassed railroads, but they have 

 developed on a huge scale a new hauling business, a 

 boon to all classes of producers and consumers. 



That freight and express automobile service is here 

 to stay, and that it is destined to have a far-reaching field 

 of usefulness is forecasted in an article in this issue on 

 "The Economics of Truckportation," in which the 

 writer, with impressive statistics, deduces the conclusion 

 that for comparatively short hauls (now averaging up 

 to fifty miles, and which may soon be much more) the 

 ra'lroad cannot function as efficiently as the motor 

 truck. For instance, while railroads would require 20 

 cents for terminal charges and 30 cents for delivery on 

 100 pounds carried fifty miles (apart from the freight 

 rate), auto trucks collect, carry, and deliver the same 

 weight of goods quite as swiftly, and with none of the 

 rail line delays, over the same distance for a total of 

 50 cents, or an average of one cent per hundredweight 

 for each mile. Indeed, a motor rate of $0,008 a mile on 

 100 pounds is quoted on a 100-mile run between New 

 York and Philadelphia, in contrast with the $0.0115 rail 

 express rate, with a 200-pound limit on packages. 



While it is self-evident that the old rail freight and 

 express lines will long continue immensely helpful, it 

 requires no second sight to see that the lusty infant, 

 "Truckportation," is bound to develop into a vigorous 

 auxiliary, if not a powerful rival, of the old rail lines. 

 Wasteful methods will be corrected by efficiency experts 

 and rational cooperation encouraged among the carriers; 

 legislation will be framed to standardize rates on a fair 

 basis as in railroad practice; and measures will be taken 

 to check destructive competition. As truckportation thus 

 gains in stability it will attract even greater volume of 

 trade and ample financial support for its expansion, 

 — all of which also spells largely increased business for 

 the rubber mills, which must provide tires for the 

 mighty fleets of motor vans ceaselessly coursing the ever- 

 improving commercial arteries of the nation. 



RUBBER MEN AND COTTON 



SECRET.VKY OF AGRICULTURE Mereditii in a recent ad- 

 dress predicted a great future for American Pima 

 long-staple cotton grown on the irrigated deserts of 

 southern California, Arizona and Mexico. This cotton, 

 developed by careful breeding and selection, is regarded 

 by the Secretary as the best in the world. Even during 

 the war, as he pointed out, when it was discovered that 

 the Germans had practically cornered the world's supply 



CJ) 



