The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-10-17
Motor Carriages and Good Roads.

The United States in some Of it's
aspects, despite its great population,
it's large cities, wealth and inventive
powers, appears susceptible Of further
advances. Of late agitation in direc-
tions affecting what may be termed its
internal economies has been manifest,
and good roads for the country dis
tricts, electric traction lines for coun-
try and city alike, and improved pave
ments for cities have been discussed
on all sides by private citizens and by
legislators. Ten years ago the steam
railroad, the growth of little more
than generation, was pointed to with
interest as cause which had revolu
tionized the world. For in modern
times the transportation Of freight and
Of passengers is the most important
business of humanity. The idea of
the steam railroad was the creation Of
large unirs Of transportation. Great
trains of cars bearing several hundred
passengers became the railway mana
gers deal.
The steam railroad seems to have
reached pretty nearly it's limit, and
now most formidable competition for
local traffic has come upon the scene
in the electric road. The five and six
car steam train is supplanted by a
number of single trolley cars run at
FREQUENT intervals.
These matters the capitalists have
in charge. But the improvement OF
roads and streets affects the munich
palities, the County and State author
tiles, and very directly the individual.
For on roads and streets the horse
drawn vehicle and the bicycle travel,
and the latter, once toy and now an
everyday vehicle, is principal cause
of the new agitation. With good
roads all over the face Of the country,
and with proper city pavements, a
new field Of work for the inventor at
once is open. The horse is being
more and more relegated to the back
ground. The bicycle surpasses him
in it's powers of transporting humani-
ty. It illustrates the immense reduc-
tion of friction on journals by the use
of ball bearings. After ball bearings
had settled this part of the problem,
the rolling friction difficulty was solv-
ed by the pneumatic tire, and the BIZ
cycle, in great measure a perfected
type of machine, is going into univer-
sal use.
In France recently there has occurr-
ed a competition between road vehi-
cles driven by power. From the early
days. of this century repeated efforts
have been made to produce road en-
CINE. To the existence Of this ma
chine good road surface is essential.
France is peculiarly adapted to it's in
PRODUCTION on account OF her good
roads. There the bicycle is in uni
versal use, and the power-driven road
wagon may become part OF the ma
chinery of transportation.
In the United States, with cobble-
stone pavements, and with sandy and
muddy roads disgracing city and coun-
try alike much, has to-bc done before
the work of producing a successful
traction engine or carriage can be &C.
complished. But the production OF
the bicycle has done so much to facil-
itate progress, and has solved so many
Of the mechanical problems of the per-
feet road vehicle, that it seems pity
that the power problem cannot also be
solved. The motor is now what is
wanted. 1t must be light. The bicy-
Gle of twenty-five pounds weight car
ries two hundred pound rider. The
motor carriage of the future must be
light.
With good roads all through the
country traversed on bicycles by every
one, and with power-driven vehicles
for freight, in place of horse and
wagon, the life in the country districts
would be revolutionized. Daily de-
livery of the mail and of light express
matter would become practicable, and
the progress of the individual would
be favored. But until good roads
come this cannot be. The trolley
road as an approach to the desired
cheap traction has proved welcome to
country and suburban dwellers. The
advent of practical power-driven We.
hicle coupled with good roads would
prove just as welcome and more in
consonance with the vested rights OF
the community in such roads as they
possess rights in which are now sur
rendered to the electric road compa-
nies with far too great readiness
,ScjeDtifc American.