The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-07
IS FORCE
IN MODERN
BUSINESS

| BUSINESS
No Longer Means Of Pleasure
Only. But Real Aid to
Commerce.
BY c. s. MOTT.
Vice President, General Motors
CrpOratiOn.
Il is the simple truth that the
automobile plays the most import.
ant part in the great drama OF the
advance OF civilization. Mans In.
tellectual and moral progress 10,
made In terms Of transportation.
Isolation has ever beer synonymous
with ignorance and intolerance
while means OF communication have
ever formed q bridge for the pas.
sage Of ideas and ideals. Inter
change promotes understanding
among individuals and continents.
and the automobile has taught man
kind to think In terms Of the uni
verse and Of universal brotherhood.
The far-sighted founders Of the
nation foresaw unerringly the ad-I
vantage OF highways that should
carry the commerce OF the coun-
ry. Washington personally directed
surveys that should select the east.
st pathways for the passage of
vehicles. Stern necessity prompted
he selection Of means OF .communi-
alton, even In the country's in.
'ancy.
2EEASURE rs ESSENTIAL.
That the way should lead through
,leasant places and that the seen.
cry should be attractive was not
by design Of the road builders, but
by the hand Of nature. pleasure"
u travelling was an incident in the
beginning. 1t Is far from being the
chief object of transportation to-
lay. It is sometimes said that
good roads made the automobile
possible. but this is misplacinR the
credit.
The automobile made good roads,
not only possible, but inevitable.
The combination Of q swift, in.
1ividually controlled means of
transportation with q firm, dur
able, all.weather roadway has
brought the formerly distant parts
~ the country within easily haiIinE
distance OF each other.
What the radio Is to the intercOrl.
munlcation Of thought. the autonao-
Nle ID to the ntercor1munication of
human 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 dis.
lance 70 be travelled. No man can
ever count the unreasonable benefits
that have accrued to mankind be.
cause of the existence of automobile
transportation.
Force In Business.
The automobile represents the
greatest single force that carries
on the business OF the world. Indiy.
ldual and corporate capacity for
service has been multiplied many.
fold by the untiring servant that
runs on four wheels. Through sue.
cessive stages of increasing import.
ance the automobile has steadily
made its way. At first it was a
joke. Men who are still young can
remember when the men who talked
or the norseless carriage" were
i ~ w uA CGHICES ana mtIOIK
lnsane-harmless, on the whole. but
lacking common sense. Then II was
called q 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 mistaken
idea was abroad that whatever a
rlcn man did was pleasurable. The
poor man today can ride with
greater pleasure in his automobile
| IMAM the rich man used to in his.
| But poor man and rich man alike
lind the automobile more of 2
servant than a toy,
description 10 Obsolete.
Few men foresaw thu extent to
| which the joke and the plean,re
car We're to influence the pros.
perlty or the nations Now the au.
tomobiIe is known as a passenger
car. II is/a passenger car, tust
as truly as the railroad car and
the troHey car. though IL is rot
limited to combining rails, but trans.
ports man from place to place as
ms concerns and his service to his
| may be a truck.
1t moves goods tirelessly. ranidIv
cheaply. all over the country. re-.
ducing an excess here and filing a
| CRYING want there. 1t mobiIizes in.
dustrial armies and their supplies.
1t 10 the right hand Of the sales:
man OF the manufactures, Of the
consumer. It brings the necessities
OF life to every mans door and laws
the blessings Of civilization at his
feet.
No one but a fool would sneak
today OF the automobile as q Joke,
None but the minimizing could con.
slider 1t as q means Of pleasure only.
Comfortable and even luxurious az
modern methods and ingenuity have
MADE IL: 1t 10 still the servant, still
the useful aid, still the outsta ndinr
element in making possible the de-.
velopment Of civilization and the
uplift Of humanity. The term
pleasure car" ought to be as obso.
lete as depot hack"
Economy From Inspections.