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Trucking & Red Ball Grow Up
As business thrives, the government and banks step in.
Hiner was very active in encouraging the Public Service Commission of Indiana (now the Utility Regulatory Commission) to regulate intrastate and interstate motor truck and bus traffic, which eventually became a reality not only in Indiana, but also in the nation.
As a highly respected trucking pioneer, Hiner was invited by the Governor of Indiana to serve on the Steering Commmittee of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. He was a prime consultant on the feasibility of constructing the first turnpike in the state of Pennsylvania, circumventing the often impassable mountain roads of that state. The plan evenutually came to fruition and we still realize the benefits today.
A story is told that, in 1925, Ohio passed a state law called the Keystone Ruling. That law stated that only Ohio vehicles could travel on Ohio highways. In response, at Hiner's urging, Governor Jackson made an off-the-record ruling that any Ohio vehicle found in Indiana as of noon Saturday would be confiscated and the driver and passengers would be arrested. This led to meetings between representatives of the two states and the first Public Utility Commission of Ohio (PUCO) was formed.
From there, Hiner became more politically active. He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Indiana and for U.S. Senator from Indiana. He appeared before the U.S. Senate Special Transportation Committee several times, giving counsel to the U.S. Government on a proposed national highway network as well as advice on truck transportation legislation.
Hiner's success had a great influence on the attitude of the nation's banks regarding the potential of motor truck franchising, which had previously been considered highly experimental and unsound. A testimony was a proposition from Chase National Bank in New York. They offered to finance Hiner in the establishment of a national trucking company to operate from coast to coast. He refused the offer as impractical because of the state of the roads, perhaps not a bad decision for the time. On one early trip to Chicago, for example, a truck sank up to its axles in the mud and had to be abandoned until spring, when it could be hauled out. Even gravel roads, once out of the city limits, were a luxury seldom encountered.
