Connecticut western news., 1916-11-30
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1916.
THE AUTO-WHAT NEXT

It is officially announced that this little state of Connecticut has more than 48,000 licensed automobiles; Massachusetts has nearly a hundred thousand; other states in proportion, and the number is growing at an alarm ing rate.
 There are over hundred manufac. turers making machines, one of which is turning out over 2200 every working day. When the total output of this one concern and the ninety nine others is added to the number of autos already on the road what will be the result in few years What will it be next summer? There is not room on the streets in the cities and larger towns for them now.
 The horse has not entirely disap. peared yet and the horse-drawn vehicles are entitled to their share of the high way. The auto is unquestionably driving "old Dobbin" to the wall, but for certain lines of work, and in cer- tain localities. the horse is still more practical, and it will be a long time before our highways are horseless.
 While the auto generally costs more at first than the horse, it is less care and relieves the owner, who must look after his own motive power, or the necessity of feeding, watering, groom ing, harnessing, keeping it properly shod, and caring for it. Besides, the expense of travel, per mile, is acknow. Iedged to be-except, perhaps in the case of the largest and most expensive cars where a chauffeur is employed considerably less by auto, and, too, the saving of time is big item. To be sure, the horse can plod through deeper snow, and there is little time in the winter when an auto cannot be used, but, unlike the horse, when it is not working it does not eat nor require care, and this is quite an item at the present price of grain.
 To be sure, the auto does some reck. less stunts in the hands of reckless drivers, but is the machine to blame for obeying its master? It does not kick over the traces, shy out of the road and dump you in the ditch at the sight of 8 railroad train, is not subject to collie or the heaves, and will stand without hitching. Perhaps it would be better if autos could be made afraid of the cars, so they would exercise bet- ter judgment than some of their drivers and take fewer chances at the crossings, but we cannot expect a ma. chine to possess superhuman brains. When an accident happens with an auto, we generally find the driver to blame
 But what are we coming to ? There will soon be not room on the roads for the machines, in fact it is so now in some places. The states will not get the present highways improved to where they can be called good roads be- fore it will be necessary to double.tr them.
 To many it has seemed that autoing is the limit of fads, but it looks now as if the flying machine would become a practical thing and the science of flying reduced to an everyday science. When a girl can take a machine that is con. sidered by experienced aviators to be among the "back numbers" and cover nearly 600 miles at the rate of more than a hundred miles an hour without a stop, as Ruth Law did last week what does it look like to the imagina tive mind? Does the common use o1 the flying machine appear any more wonderful than covering hundreds ot miles with an ordinary voice did before the advent of the telephone? We pre- dict that not many years hence N CIV
 Workers will leave their places of bu si
 ness in the afternoon, enjoy spin O.
 an hour and half through the pur
 and invigorating atmosphere, free iron
 the dirt, cinders and coal gas of slov
 express trains, and alight at their home
 in the Berkshire hills in time for tea
 As we live in the direct path of thi