The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-11-22
THE SPEED LUST

and to I'LL a needed place in our trans
portatlon facilities. improvements -,
being made all the time. and af+.-
while the price will be such nc +h,-
can be within the reach of those Nh
cannot now buy them. But Their,
seems to have been born with them
a speed lust that is responsible for
many accidents and not a few deaths.
To illustrate how this speed lust ur-
consciously affects the owner Of ma.
chimes, a visitor to Raleigh this week
says that the most careful man in
Raleigh took him to ride in his ma
chine. The chauffeur wished to 90
fast, but the gentleman said to him;
BE careful and do not speed" and
SO they went along at a nice speed.
After a while another machine was
heard in the rear and h man who
said "be careful had his sporting
blood up by the attempt Of the man
in the rear to pass him, and he said
to his chauffeur, DO not let him pass
us That was all the chauffeur want
ed, and he let the machine go at d
rapid speed SO hat the machine in the
rear could not pass. That illustrates
the speed lust that seems to get in
the blood Of many who run autOmO-
biles. It vas this speed lust tina
caused the de%plorable accident in Rail
eigh this week. Writing Of it, the
Memphis Commercial Appeal says:
WHY is It thai when a man be-
comes the owner of an automobile ne
Immediately 1eels born in his brain
a mania for speed?
"This is a problem h TO one
seems to De in a position to satisfac-
toriiy solved.
TT is not necessary to own a car tn
acquire the lust for speed. It comes
unsolicited eve to the person who
rides for pleasure.
mo one seems TO fully realize just
how fast they are running in a motor
car. They are affected the same way
on an ordinary train or street car. The
very fact that we are moving, pro-
PEELED by an invisible power, seems
to create a desire to quicken the speed.
1T is not so bad in ordinary every
day use. When men, fully recognizing
the danger, deliberately place their
lives in danger on the sharp turns
Of the regulation auto courses ana
speed for prizes until the track is
blOod-stained, the risk is without eX~
use Or explanation.
Prize fights have been condemned
because they are bruta and blood is
spilled. Very few pugilists have ever
been killed. Many fights occur every
week without fatal result.
Bull fights are condemned because
they are cruel. They are cruel. Ia
bull fights the harmless animal is slain
because it affords pleasure. The lust
for blood is strong with the people OF
Spain and Mexico.
1T is the natural inheritance of d
barbaric age. 1t is the gift of our
stone age ancestors, passed down
through generations of men. 1t is
concealed by the hin veneer Of civil
zation, but whenever we are in Spain
or Mexico or on the automobile courses
of Palm Beach or Savannah, or watch
the death-defying achievements Of tins
Vanderbilt cup race, then We realize
that our enlightenment is limited. We
still permit the lust for blood, which
has passed from generation to gener~
alton, from the age of SaVageTy to
the age Of today to assert itself.
I'm the recent Savannah auto races
the usual toll of death was eXaCted.
Embedded in the bloody mud. one man
was dragged from the path of death.
but he had paid the price. Another
was sent a quivering, shattered SEM
btance Of a man to the hospital to die
unconscious that ar accident had ever
happened.
But the crowd cheered the winner
1t was excited. The lust for blood
in the air, just as it always Is in
the smoke of battle When souls are
soaring upward at every exchange oC
shot and the thirsty earth is drink
Ing up the blood of those who fall.
THE speed devil always claims his