Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-03-12
AUTOMOBILE MENACE.
IT Is DRIVING OUT AN IMPORTANT
COUNTRY INDUSTRY.

horseiess Carriage - Its Advantages.
Slowly but surely the automobile is
making its way into the country dis
tricts, and is supplanting one of the
important industries of every hamlet
and village, says the New York Com
mercial advertiser. This is true par
ticularly in the New England states
and in New York, Pennsylvania and
New Jersey. The country livery stables
are supported almost entirely by trav-
cling salesman who sell groceries and
provisions and other staple articles,
as well as tobacco, cigars and cigar
cites. These men have certain regular
routes which they cover at certain IN
tervals, and usually have standing
order with liverymen in towns that are
centrally located to take them out OYER
their routes whenever they come TO
town. Scores of these men, however,
have of late taken to the steam car
rage as means of getting about, and
have Cancelled their orders with the
liverymen. A representative of big
wholesale grocery house in Rochester
was in town Inis week looking over
the various steam carriages with u
view of purchasing one in the spring.
Il was going to wait for while
longer" he said, "but l have figured
the whole thing over, and l find that
l can save quite a little money on a
trip, and besides, can cover my terri
tory much quicker, and can lengthen
out tiny routes. l don't know as would
get it, though, if my rival who works
the same route, had not gotten one
some months ago, and find he is beat
ing me out on every trip. The way he
works the scheme is to start out on
Monday morning and work out to his
most distant point, then strike OF
across the territory and work back
We used to go out, say, to Newark,
N. j., hire team there and drive
south. taking in stores and villages not
on the railroad, until we got over along
the line OF the Auburn road, then work
back by another route anu put up at
Newark. The next day we started out
to the north, going to the R., w. and
o. and back. The next day we go on
to Lyons, repeat the operation, then to
Clyde, and so on. The same livnryman
took me every time, and the prices
were about the same each time, vary
ing between Sc and $S.
with a steam carriage, however,
my rival runs east to the end of his
route without stopping for orders, then
he starts back, running north and
south, taking in all of the villages and
stopping at the cross-road stores rs
well, and he gets about much quicke.
and covers more ground than he lid
before. We used to divide matters up
a bit. He took a certain number OF
the merchants in out-of-the-w cor
ners of the territory, and l took the
others, and in that way we saved our
selves considerable expense and a lot
of trouble. But of late l find that he
has been running among out-of-uhe-
way dealers, and he has sometimes
gotten in ahead of me. The second
week we always work the territory 10
the west in the same way.
''If the steam carriage works as we'll
as we figure it will, we will be able, not
only to cover our territory much more
thoroughly, but we will be able to en-
tend our trips. OF course, we can go
no further to the north on account of
Lake Ontario. But we never have
worked that very thoroughly because 1t
has been awkward to get at, but we
will be able to go further south and
get into the sections now looked after
by other firms in Auburn or SYRIA
cuse; SO you see we ought to be able
to do great deal more business anu
save a big bill of expenses. OF course.
we would have to drop the extra Sec
tions in the winter, and | suppose thar
the liverymen would get back at us by
raising their prices, but then We don't
do as much in the winter. anyhow, be-
cause the roads are often drifted up so
we can't get through"
Another salesman. who travels for
firm in this city and who works
route in Pennsylvania, which extends
as far as Lancaster. has purchased an
automobile and has used it Ior four
months He says that he has reduced
his expenses considerably as he had
been able to reduce his trip by week
or more. He ships his machine to Lam
caster by freight, every time he starts
out, and goes out on train. He sets
his automobile up as soon as it ar
riye>, puts in his samples and starts
eastward, running back and forward.
and hither and yon. covering all Of
the hamlets and towns in his section.
He says the plan works much better
than he expected and that the greatest
source If comfort to him is the fac5
that -: is able to stop his work about
sundown every night. by little
planning" he continued, 81 find that
/ can reach town about o'clock and
put up for the night. When had 10
depend on liverymen, l often had to be
out until 10 or IL o'clock, for we always
had to get back to the stable, ard as
had usually covered all of the route on
the way out, it would have been Use
less to stop at the other end and let