Evening star., 1915-11-28
Attitude on the Road Toward
Public Factor, Declares
Francis NJ. Hugo.
TRAINING OF THE DRIVER
is WORTHY OF ATTENTION
Secretary of State of New York
Holds Good Manners Are
Essential.

1T is not too much to say that the
future of motoring largely depends
upon the behavior of motorists and
their drivers toward the public" said
Francis NJ. Hugo, secretary of state of
New York, in an address few even
ings ago before the West Side Young
Mems Christian Association, New York
city
"As fewer owners of large touring
machines drive their own cars nova
days in proportion to the number driven
than used to be the case, 1t is, there
fore, mainly the behavior of their
drivers on the road that Is important.
The subject of the training of the
chauffeur is consequently worth much
attention, and that the automobile COM
munity as a whole realize this is eyi-
dent not only by the establishment of
various schools, where the mechanical
side of the profession is taught to the
future driver, bat by the efforts of
various clubs and associa tions, nota-
bly, of the Y. NJ. c. A., which have
started schools all over the country to
help in this training.
"Chauffeur" Means "Stoker"
"For the past few years those who
drive motor cars for the wages have
been called 'chaffeurs, a word against
which protest should always be made
on the double ground of etymology and
nationality To begin with. the word
in reality means stoker.' On the foot
plate of a French locomotive the driver
is called a 'mecanicien,' while the fire.
man is designated as the chauffeur
In the case of motor cars propelled by
steam. the word chauffeur may thus
be held to be remotely correct, but on
the ordinary car, propelled by the in
ternal combustion engine or by electric
power, there is I,o sense in the term.
In the best French circles, also, the
word 'mecanicien is always used to
desgna the driver of and the
word chauffeur even in France is said
to be becoming obsolete.
The motor man, as he will, there
fore, be called, is very often the sub
ject of much discussion and sometimes
of irrational abuse. OF course, there
are black sheep in his profession, as
In every other, but one is glad to place
on record that black sheep were far
more numerous five years ago than
they are now. No one who observes
without prejudice the behavior of
motor car drivers in New York city
and elsewhere can help being struck
with the careful way in which private
motor cars are now driven, the neat
ness and cleanliness of the men them
selves and the vast improvement which
has taken place in their general ma
ners Formerly it was thought to be
the highest mark of the profession
that a motor man should be dirty in
every respect and a greasy cap, black
hands and face, oily clothes, and, as
a rule, half-sInoked, dirty cigarette
in the side of the mouth. combined
with a contemptuous scowl at every
pa asserby, was not an uncommon sight
Manners Markedly Improving.
changed for the better. Occasionally a
specimen of the primeval driver is met
with, and even now the habit of cigar
cite smoking when in charge of a car
is supposed. by the younger and less
intelligent men of the profession, to
confer an air of knowledge coupled
with disdain. In course of time this
form of swagger will die out also. The
manners, moreover, of many motor men
to their employers and to their fellow
servants have not in the past been all
that could be desired, but as stated be-
fore their general behavior is markedly
improving, and it must be remembered
that, with all their faults, motor men
are greatly superior in Intelligence to
most of their predecessors.
1T need hardly be noted here that
much depends upon the way the motor
man has been trained. When auto
MODELLING was just beginning the only
person availa BILE who even half knew
the somewhat complicated machine of
the early days was the mechanic
trained for a few months in the shop
where the car had been manufactured.
He was master of the situation because
he alone had working knowledge of
its parts. No one in those days
thought for one moment of a motor