Wheels of Time – December 2021/January 2022

By Donald F. Wood 

In the period around World War I, there were a number of truck demonstrations and endurance feats sponsored by the U.S. Army, motor truck manufacturers, and tire manufacturers. Their purposes were several: to test trucks, to demonstrate the usefulness and durability of trucks, and to show the need for better roads and stronger bridges.

World War I had demonstrated the usefulness of trucks for supplying battlefield needs and to reduce the burdens on our nation’s overloaded railroads. For example, a sign on the lead truck in a convoy of new International trucks being driven from Ohio to Philadelphia in 1917 said: “Highway deliveries relieve railroad congestion.”

As the war ended, Harvey S. Firestone, founder of The Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., and others realized that they must not lose the momentum in the shift from rail to truck.

Firestone ran newspaper and magazine advertisements with the slogan “Ship by Truck” and included examples of the usefulness of trucks.

An ad in the “Literary Digest” said, in part, “A 50-year-old flour mill in Jackson County, Wis., more than holds its own against youthful competitors by a vigorous application of modern business methods. ‘Ship by Truck’ has carried flour from this mill to all the surrounding villages and farm homes, and wheat has been brought in at low cost as needed, affecting savings for the farmers as well as the mill itself.”

Other ads looked at the relationship between truck and rail, holding that trucks would serve to collect and distribute railroad traffic and relieve “the railroads of a large percentage of the short-haul and less-than-carload-lot shipments, which add to rail difficulties without increasing dividends.”

Firestone also established Ship by Truck bureaus in 67 cities whose main job was to maintain up-to-date lists of truck express companies serving their city and bring this information to the attention of the community’s shippers.

They also helped find return loads for truckers coming in from distant cities.

In the spring of 1919, Firestone assembled a fleet of trucks in Akron, Ohio, outfitted them with pneumatic tires, and had the entire fleet drive to New Orleans, where their arrival resulted in a parade. New Orleans photographer Charles L. Franck took pictures of the parade from a second-story window, and some of those pictures are presented here courtesy of the Firestone Archives.

One of Firestone’s other efforts was the publication, between 1919-21, of eight Ship by Truck booklets, aimed at demonstrating the usefulness of trucks. Bulletin No. 1 was titled “Ship by Truck Among Farmers Through Cooperative Associations.” Bulletin No. 2 was “How and Where to Establish Motor Truck Routes.” The third one was “The Motor Truck at the Coal Mines,” and the fourth was “The Farmer and the Motor Truck.” Record-keeping and cost analysis were covered in the fifth bulletin, “The Relation of Costs to Motor Truck Transportation.”

“Consolidated Rural Schools and the Motor Truck” was the title of Bulletin No. 6, and it dealt with school buses. Bulletin No. 7 was “The Motor Truck Terminal,” and No. 8 was “Marketing Live Stock by Motor Truck.” The bulletins ranged from 13 to 52 pages and contained photographs, tables, and charts, along with text which had success stories and told potential users how to analyze the benefits that use of a truck would likely bring.

Firestone was only one of the many leaders of the industry who helped lead the way for widescale acceptance of the motor truck.

Benefiting from a historical perspective, we should acknowledge the value of the Ship by Truck booklets today since they documented many of the advantages of trucking, as perceived some 60 years ago.

Acknowledgment: We appreciate the assistance of Mary Gid of the Firestone Archives, who loaned us the photos, and of the Library of the University of California-Berkeley, who loaned us an original set of the Ship by Truck bulletins. LL

Enjoy these early photos and stories about truck shipping published in Wheels of Time, October 1980. Wheels of Time is the official publication of American Truck Historical Society. For more information about ATHS, including membership, visit ATHS.org, call 816-891-9900 or email Info@ATHS.org.