The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-08-18
Chauffeur Defends
 His Occupation

HIS UCCupdtI0r Difference Between Chauffeur
 ,nd Mere Driver-TOo Many
 Incompetent Men in the Busi
 ness
 seIt is all very well for garage own CTS and managers to try to make il appear that chauffeurs are responsi- b1e for all the evil in the business If some of them would look in the mirror occasionally, they would be pretty apt to discover a few spots and a few streaks in their own person. said veteran New York driver.
 "There are lots of tricks in the gar age business, and there are lots o1 Eaiagemen who are not above prac- ficing them. The one who at recent hearing in New York denounced chauf- feurs as a lawless class may have won considerable applause for himself but doubt whether he served any good purpose. We are not all crooks nor do I believe there are many more Cf0Ok8 other. The jails of this country are pretty well peopled with bankers. but the fact does not imply that all bank ers arc crooks, nor that they comprise a lawiess class
 .f.T have been driving automobiles for ten years. and think that is long enough for me to have become al least fairly well acquainted with not only chauffeurs but garagemen. and let me tell you that the chauffeur, like every other man, is largely inf1u> -6nced by his surroundings. If the garage is conducted 'on the level,' the chauffeur himself is apt to be 'on the level The garageman who harbors tt1e grafter. the joy-rider and other bad as the driver: The trouble with the average garage owner is that he looks at the almighty dollar even a little harder than the average man in other walks of life and closes his eyes to many things, when he does not act Hally become . party to them, solely Because he is fearful that dollar may get away from him.
 1'If any one truly desires to get al the real root of the so-oalled chauf- four evil, however, he need not go much further than the so-called auto- mobile schools. which turn out chauf- feurs almost while you wait. It looks as though about every other young man above the age of IT imagines there is a lot of money and very little work in driving automobiles. I hon. eet1y believe, that one-half of the men who handle the levers of passenger elevators in apartment houses and of flee buildings are possessed of the no tion that they are qualified to become chaalffeurs on short notice. The au- tomobile schools appeal strongly to It rsf yvro nd Inc market is simply flooded with so- called chauffeurs who possess diplo- mas, or ewhatever you call the pieces of paper, the schools furnish to their graduates.
 while it may be possible to learn how to push a lever or turn a steer ing wheel in the course of week or two, t stands to reason that no man can even begin to learn the compli- cations Of a gasoline motor, or an automobile, In months time, yet thousands Of so-called graduates are turned loose on the world who have nothing more than ability to drive a car and a very much confused knOwl- edge of it's internal arrangements. The woods are simply full of these graduates They can be hired for a song In fact, they have pretty near ly ruined the chauffeur business.
 "The chief result which the so-call- ed schools have attained has been to let loose this army of half-baked chauffeurs and to bring down the wages of the really competent men. with drivers seeking work, and an ad- vertisement for chauffeur in almost any New York daily paper will bring from two hundred to five hundred ap- plicatfons, no matter what may be the wages offered. If the schools continue to turn them out at the pres ent rate, the Lord knows what the end will be.
 'sThe so-called graduates form dis tinct class of chauffeur, and in a cate gory not far removed is the chauffeur who gets into the business by the gar age route. that is, the washer or helper in garage who picks up a superficial knowledge of motors and acquires some skill in handling steer ing wheels and levers, but who is no more fit to take care of car than a 10 year old child. Occasionally a competent man may be developed by garage work but if so it usually is because he has a natural aptitude for mechanics. To my way of thinking, however, the garage-bred chauffeur constitutes almost an impossible class. certainly would not trust him with my car if I owned one.
 ''These garage bred chauffeurs and the automobile school graduates have done the business a lot of harm, and their willingness to work for a bare living places a premium on their Graftinx prapensit ties, H they are pos Seeseo e A=r. .a@ willingly or unvit- tingly the automobile owner works his own injury when he employs them. Although their wages seem small they manage to eke them out by demand ing their commissions.
 'sThe trouble with the average own CT is that he rarely, if ever, distfn- guishes between a chauffeur and a mere driver. Al chauffeur knows his car, and every part of it. He has served his time in factory or a shop and. therefore, is thoroughly compe- tent to care for a car that is placed in his charge; and he has acquired, after thousands of miles of driving, that skill and clear-headedness which comes only with extended experience. Automobile owners ought to be will 1ng to pay a decent wage for such serrtces. abut, aa-I -eaiA too many of