The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-05-29
The Commercial Vehicle Of To-Day.

road building that was the programme,
hut better road We don't boast over
here There are about S.OOO kil0metera
o. k9ou roads ~ Algi8ra. which h apt
folks.
There aren't many miles Of good roads
IN Egypt. I've been over only about aixty
miles Of automobile roads In that country
However. there are trips enough 20 Be
made-in Tunisia. Dalmatia and many
other out OF the way places, Ihave maps
roads and | know about them from my
own experience.
But 10 get back 10 the American tour
lst and his car n be ships Il himself
he d apt 10 find that charges vary con-
siderably among steamship companies
They crate the car themselves and they
charge for L on the basis Of cubic meas
urement. The measurements they have
their own way Of making. 20 that Il may
cost 500 for . very small car or even e
high a. $500 for very large one. The
aNerage price Tor carrying an average
automobile across Il $3.50
Some folks believe Il u better 20 no
abroad and hire a car there. This GER
tainly IL an expensive thing 20 do. For
instance, IN France Il y possible 20 get z
car. everything included. AZ the rate OF
franc a kilometcr That means the
chauffeur. the petrol and lubricaainR oils,
1 tires and upkeep Of the car. However
u doesn't mean the eKpensesaf the party
or Of the chauffeur for naturally he must
be FED. In the course Of q two months
trip I franc a kilOmeter certainly will
mount up, especially when the living sx-
pelses u the tourists are concerned.
the expenses are apt % be about
SIG 10 SIS a day. Say that the car does
100 kilometers or 100 miles a day. That
ian { wonderful speed In France. That
means IA the course 1t sixty days about
u.s2O for touring. The maintenance Of
the party az SIS. which Il figured down
70 the limit. 10 o. .OSO, or just 5000 for the
trip.
hiring the car az q certain liked rate and
then paying daily expenses besides
This generally works out badly for the
person who h doing the hiring. because
the chauffeur makes the cost oil fuel and
oil mighty high one. In Germany there
II rate u about / mark a kilomster
and some extras. which makes touring
Tor the stranger and his party come 10
about SIS % $40 day
-lp Italy there Is 4 rate Of IS 10 rs francs
for the car and then one franc a kilOmeter.
the whole thing coming 90 around go
day for the visitor This way u tour
ing IL not particularly reasonable out
SIDE Of France and England In the
latter country a car may b. had az about
7l a day which is all that could be de.
sired
1T is good make Of car with a good
chauffeur. and the neoensaries are IN
Guided. The British chauffeur is apt %
he a pretty painstaking fellow and good
driver, although perhaps not quite %
dashtng A. the Frenchman. The French
driver 10 too apt TO race, with the some
times unfortunate result that there Is
an accident. which calls for cabling TO
this side
The volume Of trathc from this side
~ the season u pretty great, isn't iti'
do you think 90 across every sumnerY-
would say he replied, about ten
a sailing day for three months in the sum
mer. That means about five hundred, per-
hans more. There h always a great rush
% go over and the American tourist en-
auto u making longer and longer tours
The return trafiic i~n't anything like 80
great; IN fact there h none az ali.
The foreigner doesn't bring his car
over here, because our Government has
adopted a very stepmotherly attitude.
The bond here u IS per cent of the cars
value and that bond covers only three
months II isn 2 % he expedtad that many
foreigners will h. eager 90 come over here
WHEN they aren't helped az the start.
Another thing Is that tho foreigners wont
md any great Stretches Of road here
a. there are 20 h. found in Europe that
will b. fine for touring
To he SURE there are some States thai
have some good roads. but there aren't
miles and miles OF them that 20 ON and ON
a. they do In the countries Of Europe
The grand boulevard from coast 10 4oast
that has been talked of It'll il a matter
Of conversation. We'd like to get the ]
foreigner 20 realize the beauties % our I
country. but theze beauties aren't 10
accessible by automobile.
Then again the conflicting STATE Laws
make an unpleasant condition. II isnt
a. IN Europe where there are separate
regulations for separate countries. The
time ~ still far on. | am afraid. until We
get the tourists from Europe 20 come here i
IN automobiles. We will have 10 have
the roads. Even in France on the main
ways. which are worn terrific
ally by the constant travel. these are
better than we have here What We call
a bad road isn't known in those coun-
tries
When the tourist comes hack hsre
49, AANa - ~ ~ W. ~ NANN NMN INTO inns
country made hard'- Mr.. Wilby was
asksi
IL isn't always pleasant. he replied |
" there have b',en any repairs made
20 the car on the other sida or any mari
repla"et 4 ia apt 70 cost the rsturninR
American dear. Sometimes Il comes
right down b paying duty on the car "A
II Il we're a brand new one. although that
,.., IKE very exaggerated case
hen again IL the question Of tires. Very
often the American cars have foreign I
tires on them before they start Unless .
these are clearly identified "A having b,,an
on the machine before II was taken over
TO the other side i II apt 90 cause the
tourist 70 pay for them all over again
Here u a plan that some tourists have
worked They buy a set Of tires here Of
American make and have them on the
caT when u goes through the tNtom House
On the way out Then on the other side
hey buy 81 81 foreign tires and suhsti.
ute them for the American st The
foreign tires cost less than thOse they get
over here and they run on them while
they ars aWav When they are r,adv
10 return 10 this country the chaufeurs
shift the tires and hark come the cars
shod with American Shoes
In this way the American IL able 20
satisfy the customs definitely that he has
llres which were bought ia America and
that he isn't bringing IN ANYTHING that be
has bought on the other side.
~ - not poor mans pastime. motor
NIX on the other side. but II stands 10
-ea-on that no man would reasonably DO
= who didn't have the funds m he a AZ
iI bard pressed Tor money or Il doinR Il
lnly Tor show IN will find II an irksoms
hing u = sort u trip that can't ba
lone cheaply-
tILtNTIf'S NV FLAGSHIP.