Evening star., 1925-03-01
Necessity Held Primary Reason
For Development of Auto
Increasing Demands of Mankind to Meet
Needs of Aduancing Civilization De-
cIared to Haze Doomed Industry.

More and more people are finding
that ownership of an automobile is
| essential to their welfare. The auto
mobile came into being because there
was a demand for it to meet the com
plexities of advancing civilization.
Examination OF conditions might
have led to the belief that the sit
uation was exactly the reverse Of this
that the car was developed and
that by various means a demand was
created for 1t, explains Z. IT. Strong,
general sales manager of the Buick
Motor Co, in tracing the place of the
motor car in the history of trans
portat1on. Facts, however, revealed
this thought to be contrary to the
whole history of human progress.
The automobile could not play the
vital part in the worlds life that IL
| does today IL the demand for it had
been artihcially created" says Mr.
Strong IF the demand for it had
| not existed IL would have been one
more addition to the list of useless
| inventions that clutter the patent Of
fees of the Nation. Its brief appear
| ances would have made hardly a rip
pie In the stream of advancing hu-
manity.
Inventions Come With Needs.
THE progress OF man has been
| marked by his inventions. Never has
he created anything until he needed
II. The caveman was content TO ford
or swim small streams he encountered
| in his wanderings. But when the
| need for food and the fear OF his
enemies made it necessary for him to
cross broad rivers, he took log, hol-
| lowed 1t and invented the dugout
4 had
| into the deep waters of the ocean
\ and even his sturdy muscles proved
| insufficient for long voyages over
| stormy waters. So he invented the
sail and harnessed the wind.
With sailing vessels Columbus
| discovered New World and, sailing
| vessels brought to it the first con-
| quering armies and the first adven-
| turous settlers. But there was need
for still better link with the Old
| World from which had TO be drawn
| SO much of the material necessary
to the development of new countries
| Accordingly the steamboat was in
| vented
| Other Steps Listed.
"On land, history followed much
| the same course. Inland peoples
| found that they could not carry all
their possessions on the backs of
| animals. They invented crude wagons
| and these, with numerous improve
ments, were mans only form of land
| transportation for centuries.
while inventions such as the
! steamboat and steam engine meant
| much to the progress of nations, they
/ did not have such direct bearing
| on the individual. He still found
| himself behind the march of events
! He needed better means of communi-
| cation, and the telegraph was in
vented for him. Still remained the
need for a more personal means of
| communication, and the telephone
! came into being. Wireless met
| another need by flashing it's messages
! across the oceans and adding to the
| safety of travel on the sea Better
! methods of lighting were needed for
| huge. modern buildings and for busy,
modern thoroughfares, and the cleo
| trio light met the need.
Nowhere was progress more es-
sential than in the field of personal
| transportation. Horse-drawn vehicles
proved inadequate to the demands of
modern life. Railroads could not
turn from their appointed courses.
| Something more flexible and yet fully
as dependable and speedy was re-