Tombstone epitaph., 1915-05-16
USING HORSE SENSE
Owner of Automobile That Runs on Country Roads Must Ex-
 ercise Discretion.
NO MACHINE "FOoLPR00F"
Car Requ"es Care in About the Same Degree That a Team of Horses Would-Should Be Treated at All Times as an h.
 .estment

If you want your automobile to stand up under the wear and tear of country highways and country usage take care of it, If you don't do this, don't go around telling people that the farmer has no business to be owning and running an automobile, writes M. H." in Farm Progress.
 So far. no manufacturer has made an indestructible car. Not one of them has turned out a machine that could be called "foolproof" You can smash up and twist any machine, no matter how we'll built it may be, if you will just be reasonably careless. No motor car is going to keep right on looking like a new car if it is brought in off a muddy highway and allowed 10 stand in the shed with a coat of mud varying in thickness from half an inch to an inch spread care lessly over its paint. You cant blame the manufacturer if your automobile looks bit scaly and dilapidated after | a month or two of such treatment. Suppose you try cleaning it and pol ishing 1t up bit from time to time. and see if the car cant retain its good looks
 Of course. you bought the car to use. but why insist on taking it out in weather that turns the ordinary dirt road into a mud canal, and where ey- cry revolution of the wheels throws the yellow clay or the rich dark foam as high as the tree tops? You may want to get your moneys worth out of your car and be able 10 boast that you run CT" all winter long, and that nothing headed" you. That is all right. of course. and the car is yours; but why make business any better for the automobile people than it is at present?
 A car is a considerable investment for the average sort of farmer. Why not figure that you have a piece of machinery that. under the present con ditions in a dirt road community. can Tot be used, say. four months in the year? On the other hand, it can be used for the balance of the year, and used 10 good advantage.
 
 eight months satisfactory usage. good service and long life to the motor and let it go at that? At least until your neighborhood gets a system of roads that will be as good in March and April as ii is August ard September?
 Do you realize that every time you abuse your car you furnish the moss back" with a fine lot of arguments against people on the farm who buy automobiles? There is always some enc waiting around to pick up your latest piece of bad luck" with a ma chine and use 1t as a text on which to preach a sermon with a poorhouse you. but it is little more pleasant not to be used as the neighborhood
 horrible example"
 It is fact that an automobile is a good investment for the farmer who can afford it, if he will give it req sonable care. Any man who has owned one, used 1t. taken care of it and made it a part of his everyday farm equipment. knows that it is a good investment in the way Of farm ma chinery. On the other hand, if the machine is given no more care than the farm buggy. the farm wagon, or the moving machine, 1t is about the most costly luxury that can be shel- tered by a farmer.
 The difference between the farm auto that is a iuxuvy and one that is yearto-year necessity. lies in the care and the upkeep that you are willing to give it. If you don't take good care Of it. lengthen its period of service and thus save your own money, the farm car is a luxury. When you take care of it right and use 1t sensi- ply it is not a luxury.