Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1909-03-12
FRIDAY, MARCH IL. 1909.
Rights and Courtesies of the Road

might,
For such is the law of the road
, Keep to the right whoever expects
Securely to carry life's load"
What do those words mean? Simply
do right the Golden Rule, in other
words. "a square DEAF for everybody.
There is another and negative way of
expressing the same thing. 1t is make
the other play your game" That looks
utterly selfish but the selfishness disap-
pears when we ask how The answer is
''by playing his" That is the way we
live in social life. The trouble is that
altogether to many persons seek to make
the other fellow play their game, doing
nothing or as little as possible in return.
Too many Automobiles are of that class.
They want the whole road without a
shade of turning. They talk loudly
about lighting for their rights" when
by their ironclad might they force all
less protected individuals out of their
rights.
The courtesies of the road should have
OIL hiiC NdiuO Vi Al6ItS olhOnS
A gentleman is one who so intelligently
controls his action as not to Intentionally
entrench upon or offend others. In We
olden days when boys were brought up
with an ideal yet practical regard for
chivalrous bearing, among which was
considerate regard for the weaker, there
was no such hatred of a class as automo
bilists have excited against themselves.
This kind of discourteous lawessness has
become an American characteristic, the
cause of which is an egotistic overlap
probation of the power of money. The
worst sinners are those who, not having
it, desire to put on the appearance of it,
and those who have recently acquired it
and not being 'well bred" use it in a
vulgar and often ruffianly manner. 1t is
la striking phenomenon of no little social
importance that the majority of this class
of offenders are of Anglo American de-
scent and not foreign born, or the first
descendants of the same.
In those olden days, which though not
golden" or in all things perfect by any
means, we We're taught that among the
courtesies of the road all loaded teams
should be given the right of way. when
possible, and the lighter or empty vehicle
yielded the road out of consideration for
the horses. In these modern days of au-
tomobile fanaticism and illmanners, this
consideration is more marked by the
angering changing of gongs or insulting
"honks" to 'clear the road" than any:
thing else. 1t was then considered cour.
teous to give women and elder people the
right of way and to invariably consider
foot passengers. How the automobile
bias changed Americans. In European
countries it is the law for foot passengers
to look out for themselves and horse.
users have the right of way because
royalty and nobility must not be inter
fered with in their unobstructed use OF
the roads. The free and glorious United
States are fast becoming Russanized by
our automobiliZed self-Ordained nobility
From time immemorial the real horse
man has expected to look out for eve ry
thing and everybody on the road, t
which we have now added the automo
biist who is a hundred-fold more dan
gerous than the Sunday afternoon hood
lum used to be when out on the loose il
the days antedating the profuse develop
ment of electric routes and garden recre
ations. In one thing the horse USING
hoodlum was neither so dangerous no
offensive as his automobilized descend
ant. He loved publicity and kept hi
offensive driving off country roads. TIL
automObilized hoodum is omnipresent
thanks to his self-constituted omnipo
tence.
1t is a generally accepted principle o
law with all Anglo-Saxon people, an,
nowhere more constitutional than witt
Anglo Americans. that every person ha
the liberty, or right, to use his abilitie
for his preservation mind tina
word-when and where, and how, il
that use he does not interfere with an
others using his faculties for the sam
purpose. Legislation is simply to enac
laws to uphold this principle, govern
ment to execute th"m, and courts I
punish offenders, or decide the questio
of legal right between parties Wit
the increase of the population and NOR
complex differentiation in the classes G
society and changes in the use of tn
streets, while the principle remains tn
same the rights become more restricte
and often taken away altogether TIL
law then reads or is read to mean tina
while all persons have an equal righ
we will say, to the use of the roads, n
person has right to use them to tn
danger of the life. limb or property c