Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1907-05-13
ExTRAvAeANcEs NOT ALL EVIL.
Money Lavished by Bonner to Good
Advantage.

CANT pastime, and it certainly is for
rich people who indulge in fancy
machines and buy new one every
year or oftener, if the fashion
changes. But even then it is no
more extravagant than the indulgence
of a taste for trotting horses.
Some recent "reminiscences Of Rob
ert Bonner quote his statement that
he hid expended, first and last, about
100000 in the purchase of trotting
horses. Probably no other man has
ever exceeded this figure unless he
was engaged in the business of ex-
plotting horses for racing purposes.
Mr.. Bonner justified this large expen-
diture by pleading the great improve
ment in trotting speed that had re
suited from his operations.
He said that when he bought his
first trotting horse there were only
nineteen horses, including the living
and the dead, that had trotted mile
in 2:30 That was in 1856. In 1895
there were 10,530 that had equaled or
exceeded that limit We have not the
statistics at hand to show how many
there are now, but the number must
be infinitely greater
The gain from such increase in.
trotting ability does not come from
| the saving of a few seconds or frac-
tons of a second clipped off the mile
for short distances but in the general
Improvement in the breed of a race
of animals useful to man. In order
/ to be able to trot mile in such quick
! time horse must be sound in wind
and limb must possess rare endure
ance and nervous energy. BY such
achievements the standard of excel
1lence in the equine species is made
! higher and a more efficient animal ser
want is secured.
The same excuse or justification
might. reasonably be offered for the
apparent extravaganza of the rich in
Exploiting motor carriages. Excess
sive speed is not particularly desir-
able ON our common highways; but
lin order to attain and maintain such
jspeed the machinery must be of great
strength and approximate perfection.
1t is only by spending large amounts
lof money in experimentation that
such approximate perfection can be
reached. As the motor car, in some
of its various forms, seems destined
Ito become in time universal means
of transportation for rich and poor
alike, the men who are spending their
money and smashing their machines
in trying out" their qualities are III
a sense public benefactors although
their immediate motive may be love
of excitement and their own personal
/ pleasure.
Thus far no energetic effort has
been made to cheaper automobiles.
There seems to be enough people able
to buy them regardless of cost to di-
Irect the energies of the producers to
1.-THE problem of durability and speed
rather than cheapness. But i'll time
this will lead to cheaper methods
and cheaper machines. 1t is of first
Importance to establish the standard
Then competition will direct effort to
the production of good machines
within the reach of people of linn
tied means.
Fortunes great enough to command
| Injuries in horses. motors and other
utilities are not necessarily an I'M
mixed evil. Even when not directed
by benevolence the necessary eondi-
tons of modern life often make their
expenditure a public benefaetion