The Portland daily press., 1900-10-25

chlneIy to handle, and that II he does |
not understand he may come to grief, |
and that others may come to grief with /
him. A horse. for instance, has a /
mind OF his own. Give him his head and |
he II ind his way home, or will keep to /
the road, bat the automobile depends en- /
tireIy on the brain OF the driver, and |
when that brain cannot be Of use the jig
Is up
We try IN every possible way to teach |
people how to understand their machines, !
but we can't give our customers brains. !
Ordinarily the thing is easy enough to
learn, but It requires practice and study
"a great deal more than the average !
pieasure-seeker would care to give to the
matter.
1t Is quite true that the inexperienced
driver OF motor vehicle Is menace,
not to himself, for little danger can come
to him with the later types Of uncomph-
Gated machines, but he Is certainly a
menace to the public if he has not his
machine under perfect control
Il should advise every buyer to take
his machine home and study 1t thorough
( II. No person would expect to become a
musician If he did not practice his exer-
cises, and the same is true Of automobiles.
Ii he Will study his machine, know what
each part Will do and what It is there
for, test the parts and understand their
/ idiosyncrasies, I am willing to stake my
reputation that he will have in his pos
session an instrument that can give him
more enjoyment than any other thing in
existence.
The mistake made by most operators, -
said another builder, Is to suppose tina ia
few minutes explanation is sufficient to
enable them to run carriage with
safety. They move the lever and OF they
go-they know it all. The man or
woman Who intends to drive an automo-
bile should make up his or her mind to
study the subject thoroughly, to go at 1t
] systematically, master all the details
and then drive slowly and cautiously
until the hand becomes thoroughly ex-
pert IN handling the machine, The car
rage moves so swiftly and noiselessly
under the slightest touch Of the lever that
many drivers fall to understand the ira
mendous speed at which they are traYell-
ing. 10 the man or woman who learns
the machine thoroughly and who is capa-
bic OF managing it with skill no greater
pleasure can be found than In the swift
motion of the automobile"
One Of the most prominent members
Of the automobile club Of America, an
enthusiast on the subject Of motor vehi-
Giles OF all kinds, said yesterday that what
the public wanted was a first aid to the
injured automobile college," He took
the same ground as the manufacturers,
that few persons would be willing to go
to the trouble of studying the needs once
they understood or thought they under
stood how to run them.
when L got my first steam machine,
and saw it put together IN the factory"
said he, 81 at once made study OF every
part connected with it. l found that
some parts wore differently from others,
that some nuts and screws dropped of
more frequently than others, and L pre-
pared myself for emergencies by always
carrying such duplicate parts with me.
The consequence is that In year and a
half Of automobile driving l have never
had any trouble that 1 did not know how
to remedy, and usually found that any
trouble was traceable to my own negli-
gence.
IT remember only a few weeks ago I
was driving my machine along, when
heard peculiar creaking that l had not
noticed before. Instead of remedying
the thing at once, l suspected what it
was, and l attempted to climb a st5ep
hill. When got halfway up my ma
, chine came to deads top, and nothing
l could do would bulge it. Then L had
to get out and find the seat of trouble.
AS had suspected, one of my journals
= had become heated, and l had la hot box.
might have remedied the thing with a
, little oil when I first noticed 1t, and now
! l paid the penalty of having to wait on
the middle-of that Hill for half an hour
untilsthe thing cooled OF, and was in
such condition as to be safely run again.
Nearly every one l have ever spoken to
has admitted that accidents were trace
able TO his own laziness or thoughtless-
ness.
cone reason why 1 do not think
makers ought to sell carriages to men
/ -. Il IL
, OF their construction Is that such people
, reflect little credit on the vehicle itself or
on It's makers. L believe that the motor
vehicle is today commercially perfect,
Just as the telephone is. OF course, 1t
can be and will be improved upon, but
like the telephone and many O5her
modern improvements, its value comes
from knowledge of how to use 1t.
"No man ought to be satisfied to allow
another man to take sole care OF his car
rage. If he owned a fine horse he would
/. not be satisfied to let the groom look
after him psrpetually and never take a
, look himself to see If he was properly fed
and looked after. He would naturally
want to look the animal over himself,
> and for his trouble he would be rewarded
: with a fine animal. Exactly the same
, thing is true Of motor vehicle.
! Il don know If the fact is generally
, known, but it is a tact that Columbia
: college has a professor of automobilism
I in its faculty The study Of the machine
! is a part of thu mechanical course, aid
l look to see motor vehicle engineers
make a fine thing out OF their profession.
; The thing has come to stay. AS cOmpeti-
! ton grows the prices Will come down
and the carriages will come into general
use. All there is needad is a thorough
understanding of the vehicles and how
they can be handled with safety and
pleasure. When that comes there is no
limit to their possib ilities.
Wilmington, Del, October 24.-At the