America's No. I Haulier
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THE proverbial silver spoon was on I. vacation when Ted V. Rodgers was born on April 9, 1888, at Bayonne, New Jersey, U.S.A., so the future President of the American Trucking Associations settled for a nice black shovel. He was still a. youngster when his family moved to Coaldale, Pennsylvania, in the heart of the anthracite district, and only 11 when be followed his father into the mines to help support nine younger brothers and sisters.
Seven years underground taught him that a lead pencil was much lighter than a pick or shovel, and he hurried off to Philadelphia and a business school, returning eight months later as a stenographer in the offices of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. At 23 he went into business for himself as a rock contractor. Successful in
this venture, he acquired a Ford agency at Lansford, Pennsylvania. He made a " go " of the agency, too.
Next, he established an agency for the Maccar Truck Co. in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania—his first contact with the industry he now leads. Rapidly he rose to the position of. vice-president in charge of sales for Maccar. Realizing the possibilities in the motor-vehicle replacement field, he set up a company to sell -tyres and partg—a business he still operates.
In 1930 he entered the trucking business. His concern, Eschenbach and Rodgers, Inc., is a contract carrier of food for the A. and P. Stores. He also operated Rodgers Motor Lines, an over-toe-road common-carrier line. His rise to prominence in the industry begin in 1931, when he became secre
tary of the Scan ton Chapter of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association. A year later he was made President of the P.M.T.A. While attending the Eucharistic Congress at Dublin, Ireland, he was elected President of the Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association, and, upon his return, made .a very intensive drive for the safety of operation of trucks on the highways of Pennsylvania, which had very good results.
He became President of the American Highway Freight Association in 1933. This was one of the two national truck-, ing organizations which, later, were merged to form A.T.A. When A.T.A. was established as national representative of the entire trucking industry, he was elected~President. He is now serving his ninth term.
Mr. Rodgers has written for this issue a well-informed article on American road-transport's vital contribution to the war effort.