Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-04
URGES AUTOISTS
TO BE SENSIBLE
COMMON SENSE PLEA FROM
A HIGH SOURCE
MANUFACTURERS PRESIDENT
HITS AT ROAD POOL
Three Prime Factors Responsible for
Short Tire Life, Which May Be
Reduced by More Sane
Driving

Automobile owners. as a rule. in dis
cussing their costs generally name the
great item of expense as being tires,
and in that connection they are quite
inclined to arraign the makers of pueu-
matte tires as being responsible for this
condition, says Charles Clifton, presi-
dent of the association of Licensed
Automobile Manufacturers These
statements are an individual expression
of opinion based on more or less ex-
perience and doubtless justified in part
by the records of bills paid.
These remarks in the same sense are
an individual expression of opinion
based upon the same facts and are con-
tributed in the hope that they may sug-
gest way of reducing the sum total
of tire bills, as we'll as leading in the
direction Of safer and saner methods.
in driving and in the last analysis,
greater pleasure from motor cars.
There are three factors responsible
for short tire life. First, excessive
speed especially during the warm
months. Second, changes of direction
at high rate of speed; and third, eX-
cessiye and unnecessary use of mechan-
ical brakes. My experience has gone
to prove that-punctures eXcepted-the
life of tires is enormously prolonged
by avoiding the above three cardinal
enemies of the pneumatic tire
Can Reduce Liability
SO much for the direct money cost
but if these cardinal principles are in
sisted upon by owners, the liability of
accident will be reduced to minimum,
and all the high costs incident to pro-
perty and personal damage. Accidents
will also be reduced, as well as wear
and tear mentally on an owner in con-
nection Herewith. In other words,
sanity in the use of the motor car is
an incalculable money value which no
owner should ignore; and the reverse
of the proposition is an unnecessary
extravaganza, which If INDUCED in
should not carry with it an invective
against the tire manufacturer or the
manufacturer of the motor car. In
other words, the responsibility for high
costs in running expenses is absolutely
in the hands of the owner, or perhaps
more directly in the hands of the driver.
Excessive speed under all conditions
is done at high cost which can only
be reduced by the adoption of sane
methods.
Use Highways Sanely
To go a step further in this line of
reasoning, 1 wish to plead for saneness
in the use of highways. Not only in
the matter of excessive speed, but also
in the relation which should subsist
between those who ride in cars and
those who use it in other and older
ways. The antagonism of the farmer
against the automobile is mainly the
result, of a series of circumstances
which to 1.-The other fellow" seems like
a succession of outrages 1t is well for
the driver of a motor car to realize
that the other fellow used the highway,
more or less unmolested, ever since
there were highways. That While he
may feel he has pre-emption, that pre-
emption goes no further than the joint
use For the driver of a motor car to
assume to use more than his share of
the road to make of his vehicle a men
ace, or at the very lease nuisance to
other users, is a very natural cause
for antagonism. The users and drivers
of motor cars can, by sane driving,
do the larger part in accomplishing a
reversal. of this sentiment and in any
event only fair play will eliminate the
present friction.