Los Angeles herald., 1910-06-05
WEST OWES MUCH
TO AUTOMOBILES
Power Driven Vehicles Used in
Securing Parts for Farm
ing implements
RANCHERS' FAMILIES VISIT
Large Tracts Which Railways Do
Not Touch Brought Near
by the Motor Car
RANG HERS FAMILIES VISIT

Few are the people living in the
densely populated centers of the coun-
try who realize how much the automo-
bile has contributed toward the deVel-
opment of rural districts and espe-
cially west of the Mississippi river
Most of us, perhaps do not apprecl-
ate the fact that the Mississippi is
scarcely more than one-third of the
distance across the continent In
studying our geography In days gone
by we were wont to believe this river
was the dividing line in the center OF
the continent and a line which sepa-
rated the east from the west III those
days it did separate the east from the
west. but in this day of reliable auto
mobiles the assertion cannot be made
truthfully To what extent the auto
mobile has contributed in removing
this condition it is impossible to de-
termine, but judging by the number
of automobiles purchased annually IN
that vast area one would say II mas
been the prime factor. The many rail-
roads at best can and do penetrate but
a very small portion of that broad eX-
panse, leaving enormous areas with no
other means of communication with
the populous centers than the horse,
as in the days gone by. Since the per-
fecting of the automobile this has been
changed.
GOING IO IOnN
The rancher and the farmer residing
some miles from a settlement are able
to dwell within a very few minutes,
so to speak, Of the town and in many
instances are enabled to dwell in the
village or city and travel back ana
forth daily in a very little more time
than it formerly took them to prepare
a horse and rig for the journey. While
the question of quick transportation
of individuals to and from the village
and farm has been a most momentous
one. the TRANSFORMATION of produce,
milk. Seeds small implements and, OF
much greater import, the repairs Tor
farming implements have proven of
vastly more Importance and satisfac-
tion. -...,,.,
NEIGHBORLY VISITS
Thus, too the farmer living at dis
tance from a city or village mas now
the pleasure of frequently making his
family acquainted with what is TAX
ing place by frequent intercourse with
the city. instead of the annual visit,
which marked an epoch in the lives OF
mothers and children in our great
farming districts Then, the automo-
bile has brought neighbors closer 10
gether in these localities, where the
homes are widely separated ana mace
calls more frequent, all of which mas
a. very beneficial effect on the county
at large. Then, again, farming re-
gions which a few years ago II more
than five or ten miles from a city were
almost valueless for residential pur-
poses of city people, except in the case
of a rich man and his country nome:
are now accessible in a few minutes
ride by the automobile. The automo-
bile is making history and making II
far more rapidly than did the rail-
road in the first ten or twenty years
of operation 1t is destined to accom-
pIish much for the advancement of hu-
manity. the betterment of the condi-
tions of living, in ten years as the
railroad accomplished in the first
twenty years of its existence, and We
are only at the beginning of the auto
mobile era.-Horseless Age.