Bisbee daily review., 1920-07-20

starr
 The motor car is one transforming modern invention to which the world hasn't yet been able fully to adjust itself. We are having an example the traffic problems in the down town districts. The city doesn't yet know what to do with the automo- bile. It can't quite. realize that the car has passed from the class of the luxury to that of the necessity.
 In its traffic ordinances, in deal ing with narrow streets and in ig- noring the demand for great motor thoroughfares it is still acting on the assumption that people really don't need cars and could get along with out them if they only would.
 The trouble is that it is hard for us to make our mental adjustments to new conditions. Our old ideas cling to us and hamper us when the conditions on which they were based have passed away. The present gen eration recalls wildly when the aur tomobile was regarded as sort ol freak. It was toy for eccentric persons of means to play with-and a toy that was nuisance to the rest of the community It made frightful noises. 1t emitted a terrible stench. It put every respectable family in jeopardy by making it unsafe to go out with old Bess and the family carry-all: One of the noisy mons ters was likely to come along any minute and cause runaway. Grudg- ingly, we admitted the automobile to decent society and gave it some or the privileges of modern life. II isn't so very may years since 1t was permitted on the Cliff Drive on sui ferance two afternoons week. Not so very long ago the council was dis cussing whether the speed limit within the city should be allowed to go above eight miles an hour.
 Many of us are still thinking of the motor car in terms of twenty years ago when all the prophets predicted that it would never be anything more than the plaything for rich men. We still talk about it as luxury and when in a thrifty mood speculate on how much the industry is costing the country, and how much better off we would be if the money were in vested in houses or clothing or what not.
 And yet, if we consider the mat ter fairly, we must admit that the motor car has become an essential part of m<fican life.
 The truck. of course, is indispen sible. No delivery business could get on without it. It has supplanted the horse-drawn vehicle within cit ies. 1t is crowding the trolley and the steam train for express service over sLort hauls. There is no argu- ment here.
 But the service of the passenger car. while in some respects not to be reckoned in dollars and cents, IS just as fundamental In every city tens of thousands of persons use 1t as a means for rapid transit to and from WOTk. fOT lile uOCLOI, lIlt ooiCo man, the painter and men in doz- en other occupations the motor car is business vehicle pure and sim ple.. It has become increasingly the reliance of the farmer It enables him to go to town and back in an hour. whereas it used to take him the better part of a day. Finally. it is the greatest possible aid to family life.
 There may be persons who sheer at such a statement as exaggerated and who regard the relation of the automobile to the home as of negli- gible value They simply do not comprehend the facts. To many a busy mother. both in country and city, the family motor car has been a life saver. It has helped break down the isolation and loneliness of farm life. It has enabled the city woman to keep in touch with her friends in distant parts of town in a way never possible before, and il has provided a means for recreation for