Draft Speech of Senator Harry S. Truman at Chicago, Illinois to the American Trucking Association
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OCR Page 1 of 10SPEECH BY SENATOR HARRY S. TRUMAN AT
FOR RELEASE ON DELIVERY
association, Ot.
Chicago
Ill to american Tranking
I have been asked to talk to you about transportation. It is a
very large subject. Hauling freight and passengers has been the most important
business since governments began. Rome's roads made her great. Britain's sea
3
control has made her great. Fast transportation and instant communication
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across a whole continent made the United States of America a great nation.
In the year of 1607 a handful of English came to the mouth of the James River
in Virginia and founded a colony. It took them some three months to make the
trip. A few days ago a passenger plane made that trip in twenty-sever hours.
From 1846 to 1854 my grandfather was in the freighting business from
Independence, Missouri, to Salt Lake City, Utah. It was customary for him to
start from Independence in March or April and arrive on his return from the
round trip in September or October -- from three to four months for the one
way trip. The transcontinental planes make that trip in nine hours or a little
less.
When John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay went to Ghent to negotiate a
treaty with Great Britain after the War of 1812, it took them three months to
make the trip, and they were not able to communicate with James Madison, the
President of the United States, at all while the negotiations were in progress.
When Woodrow Wilson was in Paris negotiating the treaty of Versailles, everyone
in the United States was familiar with all that went on as soon as it happened.
It has been said that the inventor of the wheel was the creator of
the greatest boon to mankind. No one knows who he was, but he certainly
contributed to the ease of getting from one place to another. In 1854 the Pony
Express was the swiftest method of communication. Now, you or I can lift a
telephone receiver from the hook and talk to San Francisco, New York, London
Terms
Subject
Transportation
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