The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-07-06
HOPES OF WASHINGTON AND
JEFFERSON ABOUT FULFILL LED
Automobile Brings Realization Deferred Hopes of Great
Westerly Route of Commerce From the South, and
North Carolina Should Join the Movement

=
Cars from almost every eastern state
Oh the Union have passed up and
down the government highway with
the northern movement of travel this
season, and they are the pioneers, the
exploring committee. Next fall as it |
is known the road is opened through |
the real movement will commence
Next fell more cars will be seen on
the road from Washington to Florida
for by that time the route will be |
completed from the extreme northern
frontier Of the United States, and !
every man who wants to take his car |
south with him will be sure of a good |
road all the way. The rapid develop |
lnent of local automobile traffic on the |
}. Ulding roads is only a forerunner of
It may be expected of the local
i 2A eneral traffic when the roads
arr pleted and people understand
how asily a long distance journey
can be made on the highway.
a statement III the Youths Com
pantOn last week said that this year
will see nearly two and a half million
cars in operation in the United States
| The price Of a car has come down
| until the vast majority OF them are
below the thousand dollar mark. real
| ly only a feW cars selling above that
/ figure any more. Probably nearly
| half the new cars sold this year will
| fall below half a thousand dollars.
That means very small investment
for the machine. and it means a small
| expense annually for upkeep. Auto
mobiles have been SO simplifed that
| they are easily kept in repair and at
| small cost. Which means that to
travel by automobile is no longer eX-
pensive. The Literary Digest two
81
a jitney bus at seven cents a mile. in
Guiding the wages of the driver. Three
cents mile was allowed for the
driver, which left four cents mile
for the cost Of operation, deprecia-
ton and maintenance. That may be
too big or too little. If it is big enough
it says that where a man runs his
car himself, he can take with him one
passenger and the two Of them can
travel in his low-priced car for less
money than the two can travel by
train.
There is the significant fact Of all
the road building and automobile sell
ing in this country, and it tells why
the number Of cars sold during the
last two years has been SO great. 1t
is not because the car is a fad, but
because it is the most useful innova-
!. ton introduced in this country in
years, and the most useful one ever
brought out on such large scale and
so suddenly.
From now on travel is going to be
{ in the small units, each man gOins
more in his own vehicle, and tha
I means the country road is to be the
: route of transportatiO 1t mean:
! that the section of the United State:
that can offer a road that is open al
{ the year is to be the section through
2 which the traffic will move. 1t mean:
that the government is playing NJ
favorites when it selects the southern
route for the road on which it's engi
4 neers are placed, for a road to be {
y road must be a road all the time.
Will Be Southern Route.
I SO the route from the Atlantic t
e and it will pass through the heart o
9 North Carolina and connect the cOun
e try from Canada and New England
: with all the Pacific coast country
: From Pittsburg and Buffalo on tn
I west the line drawn by the Appala
8 chan mountain system to GeOrg
s the north will look for it's coastwar'
It route west to the south Ohio an
5, the corn states will have anothe
e branch farther west from the over
e land route, but the whole Atlanti
n seaboard including New York an
Pennsul- MIA and all of the nOrtheas
will .,.Iu the southern route the mos
d desira BILE.
Y Another factor that will make tn
o southern route the chosen road is tha
IL it is not so mountainous and nc
Le muddy The north is country G
e clay. The route of the road throug