Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-12-14
NOISE HERE AMAzES
EUROPEAN AUTO|STS
Cars in Europe Run With Less
Racket Than Those in
United States.
There Appears to Be No Premium on
Refinement, Says Lon
don Paper.

Criticisms OF American motor cars on
the ground Of noise as compared with
British makes and some other re-
Elections on the industry in this coun-
try and Canada are contained in an
article on automobiles in the United
States by H. Mossac BUST in the Lon
don Morning Post, which says, in part:
"One of the curious experiences on
returning to Europe is to be conscious
of an illusion that all the motor vehicles
are passing one in absolute silence. 1t
is only the contrast with what one finds
on the other side OF the Atlantic, where
the public appears to put no premium
wha tever on refinements as we are ac-
custcmed to them in this country. If a
private motorist in the United States
sets out for tour he thinks he is not
having his moneys worth unless he Is
going about with an open exhaust. and
he usually tries to make his car look
as much like part OF a circus as pos
sible. Thus. il he is going from Chicago
to New York, on either side Of his wind
screen he will have gay-colored pen
nants bearing the word Chicago" that
nobody in New York may be under any
Misrepresentation as to what part OF the
world he has come from.
Fuel Is Cheaper.
Allowing for the difference in the
capacity Of the gallon measure, fuel is
nevertheless much cheaper in America
than here. Another surprise is that, de-
spite the relative absence of roads out
side the city areas, tire wear and tear
is approximately equal. The steel
studded and leather treaded tire, SO
familiar in Europe, is practically un-
u tn, At1a xvii
uses rubber tires with the treads
nodded into various shapes designed to
prevent slip. Our hard roads, with their
solid foundations, grind tires to pow
whereas in America, despite the irregu-
larity Of the surface, there are practi-
cal1y no foundations to the roads. which
we should call tracks. Thus. the tire
rides on relatively soft soil: hence non
slipping patterns in q rubber tread last
remarkably long. For the rest. your
cross country motorist in America
learns very quickly to drive on the
skid. just as aeroplanists do SO for
sheer pleasure in this country. for fly
ing Is largely Il matter OF skiddinS
through the air.
..But on the average Americans and
Canadians are poor drivers. Such rough
conditions as they encounter put little
enough premium on finesse of car con-
troll. I only journeyed with two first
class drivers The reSt-quite a score
were Of the clumsiest sort. A vas
amount of money is being spent on high
way building alike i'll the states and in
Canada, but most of 1t Is of 4 sort that
amazes the European road engineer. fol
they make little or no attempt at build
ing q foundation. The usual method is
to pile up material along the center OF
a track and to call that ridge the road
The theory is that much traffic vii
presently wear that ridge into a very
solid roadbed on which, years hence, a
proper thorougilfare can be built. So il
follows that certain proportion Of driv-
ers prefer to leave the process of road
COMPRISING to their fellows. and instead
choose to run along the hollows and