TIME FOR UNITED ACTION.
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The United Motor Council. Should Commercial Motor Users Participate ?
REFERENCE HAS been made more than once in the columns of THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR to the need for strong united action by motor users, manufacturers and traders. This proposal” regarded as a whole, goes beyond the scope of this journal inasmuch as it concerns not•only those who are interested in the commercial vehicle, but those 'whose interests are rather with the private car, the motorcycle, and so on. The point we have to decide is, however, whether it would pay the commercial irser and the manufacturer of these vehicles to collaborate not only among themselves and with the appropriate traders, lout with the other sections of the movement. A somewhat obvious andi apparently strong objection to any such course appears to be valid at first sight. This objection is that the interests of the commercial user are not always identical with those of the vehicle manufacturer or trader ; and, moreover, that, even if these could be brought into line, the resulting policy would not be identical with that of the private motorist, the motorcyclist, the car manufacturer, and so on. In order to-see whether this objection to united action really amounts to anything we have to consider what will happen if such united acteon is arranged, and what will happen if it is, not arranged.
The User's Views.
In either case, the commercial motor user presumably formulates his own policy on matters which directly concern him. He may decide, for example, to demand that the taxation of trade vehicles and their fuel shall be very low, because they are essential to the transport system of the country. Then, again. he may see fit to urge upon the Government that, if there is a shortage of materials immediately after the war, priority in supply should be given for the manufacture and repair of commercial vehicles before other classesof motor receive consideration ; also that from this point of view the commercial motor vehicle shall be put in the same priority classification as railways and shipping.
A section of. users may wish to enter a strong protest against the class of legislation which permits local authorities, in effect, to tax omnibus services off the road by making some fancy charge, per mile covered. is condition of granting licences. Another group might wish to make representations with a view to the easing of the law as regards the haulage of trailers. Others might desire to secure the general use of rubber tyres, by differentiating in their favour as against steel tyres in matters of taxation. On the other hand., there may be a group who will wish to contend that steel-tyred vehicles 'shall be given a higher speed limit,provided that they conform with regulations of a suitable character as regards -wheel diameter and tyre width. Then we have the question of fuels. Here,. again, the 'commercial user may consider he has a right to after-war priority so long as supplies are in any way short. He may be interested to promote legislation with a view to the establishment at all, considerable centres of fuel-supply depots, where liquid fuels, gas, coal, and electric current may be teken on hoard in the most expeditious manner, supplies being accurately and automatically measured in the process.
_Many important articles of policy mieet centre around the 'Heavy Motor Car Order. There ie the question.of the double licensing of tractors, the Whole question 'of the speed limits with due regard to load capacities, and a number of other points. As regards some of thee, the policy would be identical with that of the private motorists ; as regards others it would be opposed.
Now, if we assume that the Commercial Motor 034 Users Association and possibly other bodies, such as the Electric Vehicle Committee, the Traction Engine Owners and. Drivers Association and the Motor Omnibus Interests, undertake the very necessary work of defining their policy in essentials, and then taking up every item in official quarters in good timq, what is the next thing that is likely to happen? The policy of any one body when publicly announced and made the subject of representations to the Government, will, for the first time be reviewed by other bodies, and in many cases their attitude towards it will be hostile. This is rendered all the more probable owing to the fact that when .we are asking for something it generally pays to ask for more than we expect to get, so that we may have a margin within which to bargain.
Co-ordination Between Manufacturer and tiger.
Take, for instance, the case of taxation. If the commercial uler thinks that his petrol should only be taxed 2d. per .gallon, he will probably suggest that the tax should be 1d. per gallon or that there should
be no tax at all. His representatives will be instructed in advance to give way up to the agreed point, in exchange perhaps for concessions in other directions. His proposals in their original form are brought up before some body representative of car owners who probably regard them as inequitable and unduly favourable to the commercial vehicle. This body promptly prepares representations to counter those of the commercial motor user, feeling that, if this is not done, the whole burden of taxation will fall upon its members.
It would be far better that the commercial motor user should know in advance just how far the motorist, the motorcyclist, the manufacturer, and so on, are prepared to go in backing his particular representation. With this information he is on much safer ground. By providing for an exchange of views in advance, he can probably gain most of his pointe though not all of them. He can, for example, say to the motorist, "If you will back rne in this proposal,. even though you do not quite like it, I will support you in this other proposal of yours, which is not strictly in my interests." The same thing would happen all down the line. The result. would be that each section, as for example the commercial motor users, would be 'able to put forward the bulk of its policy with the assurance of collaboration and support on the part of other sections. There would remain, probably, a few points over which no agreement had been possible. These would either be compromised or postponed so that an open split in connection with them should not prejudice the chances of the main policy. Assuming that it is now agreed that an interchange of views between various sections, for the purpose of mutual support is desirable; how can this interchange best be arranged for It is a cumbrous business for each body is work quite independently until its programme s complete and then to submit . that programme as a -whole to every other body. It would help very much if reoresentatives of all these bodies came together periodically. For one thing, duplicatidn could be avoided.
The central _body would not attempt to do everything itself. It would leave Or delegate every item of work to the people best qualifiedeto perform it. Whqn recommendations came before it, it would endeavour to obtain the elimination of points of disagreement. Whenever this was found possible, the recommender tions would be adopted as those Of the council as a whole. The individual body would then be able to put them before the Government with the support of the council. If a deputation from the individual body
were to wait upon a Minister, a representative of the council would probably attend with it, and -would add strength to the deputation by stating that it had the support of such and such other bodies, representing in the aggregate so many users of motors and the employers of so many workmen.
It is a well-known fact that politicians, in cansidering proposals that are put before them, are not altogether oblivious tes the voting power of those whose requests they are required to grant or refuse. The more powerful the interest that lies behind any policy, the more likely is the Government to adopt that policy as its own. The individual loodroriginally responsible for the policy need lose none of its proper credit. The central council need not take the matter out of its hands, but need only give its whole-hearted support to obtain the maximum result. That this result would be more often favourable if it represented the unanimous demand of big interests is a fact proved time and again by experience.
If the worst comes to the worst, and the policy of the individualorganization is not -adopted by the Central Council, :then, even so, the position is better than it would be if the Council did not exist. The organization knows just who are opposing its programme and just from what the opposition springs. It is prepared for this opposition in advance. One of the principles underlying the idea of a joint Council is the undoubted fact that " Unitykas Strength." The other is contained in the excellent piece of advice comprised in the three words "Know thy enemy." • Without a United Council we do not provide for utilizing the strength that comes of unity, and we do not recognize our enemy—or, at any rate, the exact motive which underlies his enmity—until it is too late to avoid an open quarrel in which both sides probably succeed, in some measure, in discrediting one another, to the unmixed advantage of those whose business or pleasure it is to exploit both.
VEOT1S.