Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-04-08
AUTO HELD AS AID
TO CIVILIZATION.
Declared to Play Most Inn.
portant Part in Coun-
try's Progress.

1T is the simple truth that the
automobile plays the most important
part in the great drama Of the ad-
vance Of civilization" says C. s. Mott,
vice president of the General Motors
Corporation. Mans intellectual and
moral progress is made in terms of
transportation. Isolation has ever
been Synonymous with ignorance and
Intolerance, while means of commu
nication have ever formed a bridge
for the passage of ideas and ideals.
Interchange promotes understanding
among individuals and continents and
the automobile has taught mankind
to think in terms of the universe and
Of universal brotherhood.
The far-sighted founders of the
nation foresaw unerringly the adj
vantage of highways that should
carry the commerce of the country.
Washington personally directed sur
Veys that should select the easiest
pathways for the passage of vehicles.
Stern necessity prompted the selec-
ton of means OF communication even
in the country's infancy. That the
way should lead through pleasant
places and that the scenery should
be attractive was not by design Of
the road builders, but by the hand of
nature.
"Pleasure" Only an Incident.
"'Pleasure' in travelling was an in
cident in the beginning. 1t is far
from being the chief object of trans
portation today. 1t is sometimes said
that good roads made the automobile
possible, but this is misplacing the
credit. The automobile made good
roads not only possible, but inevi-
table. The combination of a swift.
individually controlled means of
transportation with firm. durable.
formerly distant parts of the country
within easy hailing distance of each
other.
What radio is to the intercom-
munication of thought the automobile
is to the ton of hu-
man beings and physical things.
, Products are carried between city and
country and between country and city
in hours, where days were formerly
required for the same distance to be
travelled. No man can ever count
the unreasonable benefits that have
accrued to mankind because of the
existence Of automobile transporta-
ton.
Greatest Single Force.
THE automobile represents the
greatest single force that carries on
the business of the world. Individual
and corporate capacity for service has
been multiplied MANIFOLD by the I'M
firing servant that runs on four
wheels. Through successive stages
of increasing Importance the auto
mobile has steadily made its way.
At first 1t was joke. Men who are
still young can remember when the
men who talked of the Aorseless car
riage' We're thought to be dreamers
toe l,ay 1...e, . r.
whole, but lacking common sense.
Then it was called a pleasure car.
No one seems to know why. except
that in the early days the rich man
was the only one that could afford to
own an automobile, and the mistake en-
IDEA was abroad that whatver a rich
man did was pleasurable. The poor
man today can ride with greater
pleasure in his automobile than the
rich man used to in his. But poor
man and rich man alike find the auto
mobile more of a servant than a toy.
Few men foresaw the extent to
which the joke and pleasure car were
to influence the prosperity of the ma
ton. Now the automobile is known
as passenger car. 1t is a passenger
car just as truly as the railroad car
and the trolley car. though it is not
limited to combining rails, but trans
concerns and his service to his fell
bowman may call him. Or it may be
truck. It moves goods tirelessly,
rapidly, cheaply. all over the country.
reducing an excess here and filing a
crying want there. 1t mobilizes in
dustrial armies and their supplies.
Right Hand of Salesman.
1T is the right hand Of the sales
man, of the manufacturer, of the con-
sumner. 1t brings the necessities of
life to every mans door and lays the
blessings of civilization at his feet.
NO one but a fool would speak to-
day OF the automobile as joke.
None but the unthinking could con-
slider it as means of pleasure only.
Comfortable and even luxurious as
modern methods and ingenuity have
made II, 1t is still the servant. still
the useful aid. still the outstanding
element in making possible the de-
Nelopment of civilization and the up
lift of humanity. The term pleasure
car ought to be as obsolete as depot
hack"
Mrs. Quincy Tiger a Seminole In
dian, is considered the champion
woman cattle clipper of Florida