MOTOR TRANSPORTATION FOR RURAL DISTRICTS y) 
Competition is as important a feature as in other business. The 
motor operator may find it necessary in some cases to compete with 
express companies, railroads, electric interurban lines, boat lines, or 
other truck operators. It is a very unwise policy to ignore the com- 
petitor who is already in the field. Every producing district in the 
country has some sort of arrangement to provide for transportation 
to market. The wise beginner in the motor truck field will make a 
survey of existing transportation facilities in advance. He will make 
Fic. 2.—Celery in crates is easily carried in most kinds of trucks. 
a special effort to foresee the conditions under which the motor truck 
would fit into existing schemes of transportation. In considering 
competition, particular attention should be given to rates, schedules 
and delivery arrangements. These are the factors on which the motor 
truck must stand or fall so far as concerns competition with other 
transportation agencies. Some operators have found it possible to 
compete successfully with rail service and to charge rates rather 
higher than were charged by the customary carriers. Such a condition 
is possible only where the truck operator is able to afford a superior 
service and in districts where patrons are willing to pay a premium 
for such superior service. Delivery arrangements have always offered 
a certain amount of trouble to rail carriers and by effecting direct 
delivery from shipper to consignee with no intermediate delivery 
charges, the motor truck has been enabled to compete successfully 
with rail carriers whose rates are slightly less than those of the motor 
