The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-07-10
THE TRIUMPH
OF EVOLUTION
Automobile Has Proved the In
vention of the Age
NOT MENACE TO COUNTRY
Adds New Hours to the Business
Mans Rest, Does Not En-
courage Extravaganza

The outcry against the automobile, late
ly voiced by certain flnanciers and edu-
Gators of national prominence, relative to
the great and increasing popularity of
the motor car, is the hoary old cry against
progress. That the world needed this
improved system of quicker transporta-
ton, as we'll as was ready for it, has
been proved by the immediate and we'll
nigh universal response to and approval
of 1t. Human ingenuity has always ap-
| piled itself to invention that would save
| time, expedite progress, tighten human
| labor and contribute alike to human hap
| piness and usefulness. AS the telephone,
| by its virtual humiliation of time and
| distance, has In many substantial re-
spects doubled the hours of every day for
the possibilities of practical achievement,
saying nothing of its equal gifts in con-
| tribution to human comfort, so has the
automobile greatly increased the possible
and even the certain chances for every
man who can employ this great new
agency nearly to double, in very many
instances, his days profits, and for cities
and communities to make progress never
before possible.
The automobile has helped concretely
| to solve the problem of congestion in
cities and to make>feasible better and
cheaper residences In the country. In
the serious menace of the past few years
of the surprising and undesirable growth
of city population over country popula-
| ton, the automobile Is greatly helping
to settle a most important question. Far
from being against the public welfare,
| It has in every respect invigorated and
insured public prosperity. 1t has added
new hours of opportunity to every bus
mess mans day, contributed to the en-
joyment and happiness of his family, and
by the creation of great new Indus
try furnished fresh employment to hun
dreds Of thousands of business men. In
stead of encouraging extravaganza among
those who are not wealthy, it has more
often taught those who had not the
money to buy a machine to economic
and save to that end. We hear no out
cry from the illustrious antagonists of
the motor car directed against the expen-
| diture of millions of dollars annually for
unnecessary clothes, for tobacco, for In
toxicating liquors. and for other human
habits Tt is obvious that here there is
| much room for the exercise of relative
economy.
Need and Comfort
Why should rich critics deny to those
who are not rich the privilege Of gaining
the means by which they, too, may be
| able. by comparative economy at the
most, to enjoy this most remarkable in
vention for both human need and human
comfort? The popular faith in the stories
| of SO many homes being mortgaged to
buy automobiles rests most largely, II not
| entirely on false assumptionr-an, assump-
ton which has doubtless been created and
fostered In large measure by banking ana
| deposit companies, which naturally be-
lieve that the most patriotic and wise
| money is that which is kept on devosit,
| either without interest or at rate very
low. This is not an intelligent time to
| challenge or sneer at the thrift or Wis
| dom of the American family, and espe-
| cially not a time In this era OF general
prosperity to impugn the sense Of large
number of typical American families who
| have found in the automobile a chance
| to widen and simplify their lives and in
crease their daily pleasure.
The world moves. Human society
moves with it. And one of the finer and
saner American ambitions is to stimulate
/ each family in the land to procure for 1t
| self a fuller. higher, more enjoyable, and,
at the same time, more useful life One
| lust criticism of our people as whole has
| been that the average family does not
aspire to and obtain for itself an exist
ence holding more of rational and health
| full pleasure That motor car can add
| greatly to the happiness and definitely
widen the life of any family able to buy
one. nobody acquainted with the stimula-
| ton and diversion OF the flowing road will
deny.
| Fifth In Rank
So with the automobile industry, risen
| to fifth rank in the line of American COM
merce. and paying hundreds of millions Of
dollars for the manufacture of machines
| i'm the last analysis 80 per cent of this
going to the pay of labor. Why should
college and railroad presidents and bank
ers and other self-sonstituted and perhaps
not too well-informed critics be unhappy
over the inevitable action of many thou
sands of American families In finding
through this great new invention a legiti-
mate opening for larger livingY
| Modern civilization differs from that of
former periods chiefly by reason or swifter
! travel and communication. These nave
changed history and made the character
alike of nations and OF individuals radl-
caly distinct from what they would
otherwise have BEEN
| From prehistoric times the idea of elm
| mating the horse and the donkey as haul
| inc nowers took possession of imaginative
| minds. The horseless vehicle was a re-
curing dream, which at various times
| found more or less definite expression on
paper, though not in fact
| The automobile is simply manifesto
| tjon of the forces Of evolution that are
| working out the worlds need, and its ap-
| pearance, in this sense. is no more re-
markab,e than was the advent OF dis
| coyeries in other essential elements OF
| civilization The commercial phases of
the automobile are practically unlimited.
The world wants labor-savlng devices.
The automobile is one.
| From the first the automobile has been
the butt of prejudice and doubt. No in
| vention of modern times has had a more
| bitterly presented antagonism to over
come. The industry, founded on an ire
sistlble demand, was not, however, to
he DESTROYED by the unthinking skepticism
of men.
Has an Educational Feature
II is quite safe to say that nothing has
done so much to educate the man on the
street ON mechanical matters to any
thing like the extent for which the auto
mobile is responsible. Further, 1t has done
more to arouse an enthusiastic interest
in and desire for information on tech
nIcal matters on the part of the average
layman than have the combined inventive
results of a quarter century OF the most
marvellous progress the world has over
seen Who Is going to measure the BEN
eft of this with the yard stick?
The business man who now motors from
his home TO his office in town, avoiding
the dust and crowding Of the train, ar
rives with his senses fresh and alert aud