Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-04-06

the bicycle was placed on a sound |
basis. 1t became transportation ne
cessity to thousands of workmen and |
office men. In the heyday of the BIZ |
cycle fad less than 100000 new ma
chimes were purchased each year in |
America Last year this country con |
sumed" 100000 bicycles, and there is
a steady increase of $4,000 bicycles |
each year. There never was, nor new
er can be, a fad period with the mo-
tor car, for it constitutes the ultimate
means of individual transportation.
That fact is generally recognized.
In keeping with the subject of own
ing a motor car comes the question of
how long will an automobile last. That,
of course, depends basically upon the
cars design and materials. Then comes
the important item of the care of the
car by the motorist.
The average motor car is the most
abused piece of machinery in existence.
Yet look at the years and years that
most cars run This eXemplifies the
progress which has been made in this
industry and the sleepless nights en-
gineers have spent in designing and
constructing a piece of machinery that
could stand the strenuous use to which
! it is put. But car well cared for can
give lifetime service.
Take the railroad locomotive. Every
few hundred miles it is carefully ex-
nsl 3 10
stop the engineer gets out with his oil
can and lubricates the moving joints of
the ,steed of the rail The locomotive
has an expert mechanician in constant
attendance. 1t runs on rails that are
like level floor.
Contrast this with the treatment of
an automobile-with the roads it must
encounter-you will quickly see that
the modern motor car is a transpor-
tation masterpiece, for it performs with
more certainty in the layman's hands
than does the locomotive controlled by
an experienced man, Imagine, then,
what the motor car in the hands of the
layman who will endeavor TO care for
it can be capable of at a small expense.
it's cost to the owner.
In caring for the car the first requis-
tie, naturally, is knowledge of the car.
Makers of cars, as a rule make pro-
vision for this by issuing books on the
subject. Occasionally scrutiny of these
books-combined with the fact that the
automobile has given many business
men good mechanical knowledge-also
has tendency to give maximum life to
the car For fortified by knowledge
thus gained, a proper care of the car
is comparatively easy. And properly
cared for, there is scarcely limit to
the period of service which a family
may enjoy from single automobile
That fact also enters into the addition
of a modern motor car to a family s
possessions.
Averaging up all makes of automo.
biles you will find that the average
cost of a car is s1,100. The average
man usually wants big car. And the
average motor car is driven by the
man who owns it The automobile Is
no longer the toy of the rich, as the
facts related above well prove. Lool
at the man behind the wheel of the
next medium price car you see. YOU
will see that he is no millionaire.
/ Not so long ago you heard the CT,
/ that the ownership of an automobil,
4 must be a sign of great wealth or O
( the reckless spendthrift The automo
/ bile, according to the reckoning Of tn,
/ time, could never be the property O
the ordinary tradesman or villag
( plumber. That was in the old days
/ eight or ten years ago, when there wa
/ no absolute certainty as to what III,
/ cost of maintaining any particular ca
would be. Today that is a certainty.