Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1911-01-28

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out Of place on the modern country
road. No longer DO kind faced oid
ladies ambis along the turnpike to
Ladies' Aid Society every wsdnes-
day. drawn by the steady old family
nag. Ladies' Aid Society languishes.
and mother stays at home and does
her visiting over tho telephone. She
is more afraid Of the automobiles than
Is the old horse. perhaps. but together
they are no combination to meet a
sixty-horse power racer driven by
some young man whose chief object
in life is to break the speed laws
and make "a big hole 40 possible
in the paternal income
And all that the road may be bet.
ter speedway for touring cars, and that
the farmers wife may be more closely
corraled. The farmer has had expert
ence In dragging the road. perhaps.
and fricaseed chicken and crushed dog
have been his reward. A delegate to
the recent good roads convention at
St. Louis advocated q law keeping
children OF the road. No doubt he
would prefer to have them sneak down
the corn rows or across the wet past
ures on their way to school. in order
that his chances Of mussing up the
road with one Of them might be some-
what lessened. Or perhaps he thinks
that country boys In overalls. and
country girls with faces full Of sun
shine and their dinnerpails full Of ap-
pie pie detract from the beauty OF the
landscape. Until the recent cost OF liv-
ing" agitation brought the farmer un-
der indictment for cutting off the sup
ply of cheap food. the country was
nothing more than landscape to many
people. Now it is q back pasture
crossed by automobile tracks. And the
strange idea seems to prevail that II is
the farmers duty to improve these
tracks.
The older generation of horses that
took to the ditch at the first honk Of
the coming motor car are being re-
placed by younger and better broken
roadsters. These younger horses are
not so very much afraid of a sanely
silently. giving its full share Of the
road. 1t is the rec!Slessly driven auto
that does the damage. A car tearing
up the gravel at forty miles an hour.
with road-hog at the wheel, is more
than any self-respecting horse can be
expected to stand. even with a cool
hand hold of the lines.
The automobile has come to stay.
To the city residents it offers pleas
ure and recreation To country dwell
ers 1t has an added economic value
for those who can afford it. The point
too often lost sight Of is that the
farm women have rights on the road
that date back to years before auto
mobiles were thought OF. Mother and
the old gray nag have prior lien
on the right of way. A machine that
keeps the horse in the back pasture
and mother in the back yard is sadly
in need Of stricter regulation. Nor
can il be said that mothers fears
are groundless. There is more sense
than prejudice in her preference for
smell Of the barnyard. She prefers the
smell OF the lanyard to the odor OF
gasoline and arnica. Hoeing in the
flower bed has more Of an appeal for
her than a wreath Of roses and fu-
neral sermon. There is scarcely a
community where smashed buggies
and broken bones do not testify TO
the destructiveness OF the modern Jug
gernaut.
There are people who bitterly blame
the farmer for not willingly digging
down into his overalls for more
money for good roads. They COM
plain Of his lack Of foresight in not
dragging the road after every rain.
The rights Of mother and the other
members Of the farmers family who
are still dependent on driving horses.
demand much more strict regulation
of the automobile than has yet been
attempted. While ordinarily the auto
is harmless and peaceable, 1t too often
becomes an agent OF death and de-
struction. 1t should be put on the
same legal basis with dynamite.
s.rychnine and dogs. All OF these
things are useful and necessary when
properly used. Their abuse Is fraught
with such dangerous consequences as
to justify the most stringent legal
control. The same control must be
applied to the automobile II the coun-
,ry road is ever to be made safe for
mother.