Long Haul Doesn'T Pay.

Mr. W. M. Jardine, United States Secretary of Agriculture, after an extensive study of the question Motor Truck v. Railroad, writes that, so far as motors are concerned:

There was a time no doubt, just after the war when enthusiasts thought they could see the truck taking the place of the railroad completely—at least they talked that way. But that time is past; and the reason for its passing is that the long haul doesn't pay—and truck operators know it. It has been tried—we seldom learn anything except by bitter experience. One of the most reputable haulage companies in the United States tried it, keeping a careful record of the costs, and the result was sufficiently discouraging. They operated a fleet of thirty-five trucks averaging three and a half tons capacity between Buffalo and Erie, and Erie and Cleveland. The distance is about a hundred miles in each case. They based their rates on the railroad tariff—a little more for the low class commodities, a little less for the high class, but averaging fairly closely to the railroad rates. On the basis of a year's operation, with $200,000 gross revenue, their net loss was $14,000.