The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-07-24
MOTOR GAR MAN EXTOLS VIRTUES
 ALTRUISTICALLY
BENEFITS FROM AUTOMOBILE


 The automobile gives, health and wholesome recreation to millions of people. extends the business and pro- fessional ranges of men, widens and deepens social relations, plays a big part as a new element in the modern transportation system for the nov ing of crops and manufactured pro- ducts, furnishes life to the move ment for good roads, employs nearly a million workers directly and billions in capital, cuts down distances, lengthens time itself. f:-
 Amy agency that performs such de- sirable and valuable functions cer- tainly is not a luxury,' declares H. H. Hills. sIt is an essential in mod ern economic and social life. Con- sidered as means of communication, as an instrument of commerce, or as a<factor in social conditions, it is more useful than any other single mecha nism you can name and stands out as the leading invention of the age.
 ''It Is impossible to place a money value on the extent and number of the automobiles serv,ces to mankind The range of the physicians capacity to speak of a single example, has been trebled and quadrup1ed by the addi- ton of the motor car to his equip ment.s The sphere of the man of af- fairs, in business, in Statecraft, in the industrial sciences, has been enlarged so that thanks to this swift, personal means of transportation his energies are spread oyer many times what he could attend to less than a quarter century ago. The result in the case of the physician is life saving; in the case of the business man, money making, asset building. How much richer America is in both because of the automobile, no one dare estimate
 Spiritually, Amer.ca, considered as one big community, has profited just as much. The automobile takes us out in the open, gives us a chance at fresh air, the fields and flowers. the scenery of mountain country, lakeland and prairie. While it refreshes us physically, it, opens new vistas to minds otherwise cramped in the mar row channels of routine life. The very law of the road which has been developed in the use of the automo- bile has taught us all how to be so- cial-1ninded, much more thoroughly than the most learned socio1ogists ever could have taught us from their books.
 '"The automobile, has brought us SoOu IOddo, e1l1CISICy III D0l- ter wages and better factory condi- tions and a higher general standard of both labor and pleasure than the world knew in all the centuries be- fore its invention. It is our great l est modern convenience. It is direct ly responsible for a big share of Americas happiness, prosperity, broad -mindedness and general alert ness"
 | As to the proportions of the indus try which the automobile has built up for America, Dr. Hills drew on fig ures which are of record in the pres ent Congress. One million five hum dred thousand automobiles were man. ufactured in 1916, valued at $S10,- 100000. There are 450 manufactur- CTS of motor vehicles and 825 man. ufacturers of parts and accessories. or wage-earners in this and allied in dustries there are S55,000, and it is a conservative estimate that 2,000, 900 men, women and children in America are dependent on this in- dustry. The automobile has increas- ed the value of the United States as improved real estate by splendid plants and sales and service es<<blish- ments the country over.
 Moreover. with each succeeding improvement of the automobile en- zine we are achieving more economi- cal operation, making better use o1