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290 NATIONAL POLITICS I918-I922
eration, but to me in 1921 the motor vehicle was still an innovation, and an unorganized innovation at that. Nearly 4,000 trucks were being used by the service at an annual operating cost of $15,000,000. Almost 25,000 tires per year were required to "keep 'em rolling." Overland, Reo, Lippard-Stewart, Selden, Denby, Riker, Federal, Gramm-Bernstein, Garford, Republic, Hurlburt and Peerless— these are not names of gas ranges or washing machines— were some of the many brands of automobiles used by the postal service then. Only names like "Ford," "GMC," and "White" saved the whole array from being dated close to the gaslight era. The problem facing the Post Office Department regarding its trucks was almost the same as that which faced the railroads nearly half a century before. Each make of truck called for special attention. Motor-vehicle items furnished by the department had increased from 70 to 279 by 1921. Something had to be done if the motor-vehicle service was to continue to be cheaper than the fairly recent horse-andbuggy, livery-stable arrangement.
In Ralph H. Matthiesen, I found a person who could do the something needed. President of the Motor Haulage Company of New York City, Mr. Matthiesen was selected as a special assistant to the Postmaster General because of his experience in the still new field of commercial trucking. He at once organized a Bureau of Motor Vehicle Transportation in the department of the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General. This new Bureau was to provide an "operations base" from which 5,000 supervisory officials, clerks, chauffeurs, and mechanics could be directed; and it established a central point from which purchase of vehicles and supplies, and their standardization, could be supervised.
Much of the rapid growth of the motor-vehicle service was directly due to the accompanying expansion of the parcel post service during the war years. Since its establishment in 191 3, the growth of that service had been enormous: the number of parcels carried increased from 332,000,000 in 191 3 to nearly 2,000,000,000 by 1921! Not only the number, but also the size and weight of the parcels had increased. The Post Office Department was actually in the express business in a big way. Economy of shipping costs, reliability in delivery, scope of territory covered, and universality of service are probably the four main reasons why parcel post proved so popular with the public. The farmer and Sears, Roebuck might never have met had it not been for the mail-order catalogue and parcel post!
By 1 92 1 the growth of parcel post began to cause some concern to the department and to Congress. No effort had been made to ascertain the actual costs involved, although it was a well-known fact that parcel post was considerably cheaper than private express companies' rates. So, with building facilities bursting and an allegedly huge deficit in the Post