The morning journal-courier., 1908-11-30
THE AUTOMOBILE PROBLEM.

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 THE AUTOMOBILE PROBLEM.
 The persisteney with which the automobile problem is being discussed by those who own machines and those who do not, gives It's own promise of an ultimate solution which will be generally satisfactory on the one hand. and. on the other hand make increasingly useful this important mode of transportation. Like every other new invention, which has come into the life of the community, there Is a rough experience for it to en- counter before it's place becomes set tied and recognized When that has been encountered in all of its perplex- ing phases, the day of criticism will be looked back upon with curious interest.
 It Is still fresh in the minds of many how apprehenslve level headed people were when the trolley was introduced, There were number of enterprisng and public spirited men in the city of New Haven who predicted a fearful loss of life on account of the introduce tion of rapid transit in large center of population like this, and history tells of a considerable transaction in that particular. But when the trolley had encountered the experi- ence which awaited 1t, the manage ment found how to adjust it's opera ton to the needs of the public and the public learned how to profit by the trolley without sacrificing a most important convenience Just at pres ont there Is more or less of hysterical opposition to the automobile and the death of Dr. Morgan of this city by one has intensified that feeling. Dr.. Morgan's death will always be looked upon as a fearful price to have paid for better understanding of how best the automobile can be utilized, but similar sacrifices mark the pages of every social advance, if agencies of this character are to be regarded as social advances
 Among the changes in attitude which are likely to occur. as a conse- qucnce of less hysterical study of the automobile problem, is a complete change in looking at the machine and the states obligation to control 1t. Thus far the state has proceeded up- on the theory that death dealing vehicle has been invented, the use fitness of which must he acknowledg- ed but the threatening character of which must not he overlooked. In the future, perhaps the near future, the states view will necessarily he that a method of transportation has been introduced, which must be en- couraged in every possible manner, just as the steam railroad was en- couraRed when if superseded the stage coach. There is q parallel to be es- tablished between the feeling then on the part of the friends of the stage coach and the feeling now on the part of the enemies of the automobile. II is inconceivable, for example, that the law should permanently require the owners of machines to display a num- Der, though it is conceivable that for the purposes of compelling them tc aid in the care of the roads. which they do so much to iniure, they will continue to be licensed, Already ma. ture has aided in destroying the use. fitness of the number sign, Few arc dscernable after a short travel and 1t is very seldom that the number k necessary to the arrest of a reckless driver.
 The Hartford Courant suggests thai the horn is another device likely tc be abandoned. It calls attention tc the fact that horns are not used by carriages and that it would be better to hold the driver of a machine tc some obligation to watch out for the safety of the public. We can sec al once the forcefulness of this sugges. tion, the very realization of 1t leads one to almost completely revolutionizf ones views of the problem involved ir the increasing use of automobiles Bu aside from the danger of the horn as modifying the responsibility of the driver, 1t should also be regarded az dangerous in that it increases his in dependence To-day the use of tho horn conveys to his mind that posses sion of superior rights in the streets and highways of the state. Having footed, t becomes, in his view, the business of the party footed at to lool