The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1903-04-22
The Automobile Not a Toy.

In connection with. the very Senerai
movement for the improvement of the
public roads it is interesting and in
structive to note what has been done
to perfect the automobile and make it
available for the popular service. In
an article in the Worlds Work for
April Mr.. Henry Norman gives some
highly encouraging information on the
subject.
In the last year or two, he says, the
machine has been SO changed and so
greatly improved and so much reduced
in price that it is "no longer to be
considered the rich mans toy but a
valuable possession for men Of ordinary
means. A little more than year ago
it was "a noisy, costly and unreliable
naachine-a public nuisance. Today it
is silent; is within the reach of a man
of modest means; and is as little liable
to break down as any other product
of human ingenuity" A car OF 20
horse power, carrying four passengers
forty miles an hour can hardly be
heard by them. The most silent cars
are now expensive, but even moderate
" priced cars can be had as silent as
anybody ought to desire them. I'M
proved methods Of construction and
lubrication have practically abolished
offensive odors. Pneumatic tires-once
the bane Of the motorists life-now,
with luck will run a thousand miles
without mishap, several thousand be
fore they need be repaired or replaced.
They may finally be dispensed with
altogether. Gasoline costs 25 cents a
gallon, and gallon will now run an
average car twenty miles, while each
new car put on the market runs farther
on less oil. One has just run fifty
miles on one gallon. Prices vary. The
best car in the world can be bought
for 81, 500; one nearly as good, except
only for unnecessary speed, luxurious
fittings and fine workmanship, for
So, 500: and good, high-speed heavy
car for 50, 500. A light car, good for
eighteen miles man hour on
country roads, can be bought for ST.
500, and for $1,000 a machine with
which one may start On a l,OOO-mile
journey without fear. There are cheap
er machines still, down to $3.50 Or less,
which will do good work, and here an
important fact comes in for considera-
ton. The lowest priced car, Mr. Nor
man says, "will cost less a year than
a pony and trap and do five times the
work" Indeed, everyone who keeps
a horse may keep car for less mon
ey,'' and thousands of people who
cannot afford a horse will soon dis
cover that they can keep small car. -
The effect of all this on our civillza-
tion is destined to be startling It
will give the ordinary man an area of
activity of nearly 1900 square miles,
instead Of the 500 possessed by the
horse owner and the three or four of
the pedestrian.
"it is a revolution in daily life.
With an automobile one lives three
times as much in the same space OF
years, and life becomes the wider and
more interesting. The influence upon
the community will be no less. Coun-
try districts will revive. The old
coaching roads. and runs will once
more be thronged with travellers. To
the automobile owner it is the same
thing whether his home is one mile
or q dozen miles from his nearest raily
way. This will bring into. market, at
good prices, great number Of country
places timetable and unsaleable today.
There will soon arise. in consequence,
an irresistible demand for better roads
probably for division of road con-
troll similar to that Of France
The prospect is that the improved
and still improving machines will play
as important a part in the service OF
the public and the development Of the
country in the early future as the
railroads have played in the past. But
they can serve no part of the public
that does not provide reasonably good
roads for them to run on.-News and
Courier.