AMONG the manifold activities of the present age, the transport of men and materials of all kinds occupies, as it ever has, a predominant position affecting very intimately the lives of all. Moreover, the author points out that it is recognized that so far as we are informed by surviving historical records, there has been no previous era involving present methods, the multiplicity of apparatus and the complexity of system with which we are now concerned, whether considering land, water, or air transport. It is therefore not surprising that the subject represents the major current of activity of technical associations, conferences, and congresses in different parts of the world.
It is not strange that, as a result of the rapid development occurring in our own time, there has been much attendant inconvenience, disturbance of the industries immediately concerned, and considerable commercial risk. To the student of transport, and even to the superficial observer, there is evidently abundant justification for sustained efforts, by all concerned, to promote efficiency and economy and to secure, so far as possible, the stable conditions without which National prosperity and convenience cannot be maintained.
Suppression of old by new methods and their intrusion into well-established transport-systems brings into prominent view many interesting problems affecting the principal parties concerned; namely those engaged in the production of transport apparatus and those who operate and maintain it. The paper analyzes the interaction of these principal parties and the directions in which cooperation merits encouragement in connection with land transport.