Evening star., 1926-03-14
AUTO WRITES NEW
HISTORY CHAPTER
President of Motor Company
Cites Great Effect on
Nations Life.

The automobile Is writing a new
chapter In the history of the United
States which. broadly speaking. is
little more than the story OF the de-
velopment of its transportation.
This Is the statement of II. NJ.
Jewett, president of the Paige Detroit
Motor Co.. who adds that ''since the
beginning of the century transporta.
tion has become individualized and
the motor car has brought about as
great a change in America as the com.
petion of the great transcontinental
railroads brought in the previous cen.
fury.
One frequently hears the assertion
that America Is the greatest user OF
automobiles because its people are so
prosperous. I do not agree with this
MY view Is that the American people
are prosperous because they are the
ggreatest users of the automobile. /
know of many instances that exempli-
fy this fact.
Kept Great Areas Open.
t'It was not many years ago that
great areas of land Of rich agricul.
tural possibilities were in danger of
abandonment, not because the people
Of these rural districts really desired
TO live In the larger towns and cities,
but because of economic necessity
they could not make these lands pay,
fertile as they were. The reason was.
of course, lack Of transportation.
Automobiles have saved these
great growing areas from abandon.
ment, because they have made 1t
profitable to operate the farms. Good
roads followed the automobile. and
made available to the farmer trans.
portation better suited to his needs
than even the best of railroad facil-
tiles. Today, the farmer, living in
section covered with fine highways
and using the automobile for trans.
portation, is immeaSurably better sit
uated than he ever dreamed of being
25 years ago. He can get his produce
to the markets more cheaply than
ever: his produce arrives in better
condition and brings better prices: he
can get his supplies quickly and eco.
nomically, even If he is miles from a
railroad.
And besides all this, the automobile
has opened up a new social life for
the farming countries. The farmer
and his wife and children no longer
are isolated, for the motor car has
placed within their easy reach the ad
vantages offered by the towns and
cities. In short the automobile has
been the means of accomplishing the
back to the farm" migration. The
farmer today is virtually a suburban
resident, and is envied by many city
folk.
Helps City Workers.
But the city people themselves
have gained greatly through the
motor car.
Consider the skilled worker. Be.
fore he had an automobile, he had to
live near his factory. and that often
meant living in tenements or in un-
attractive, even unhealthful, dwelling
houses. In seeking his employment,
he was limited to jobs existing within
q short radius from his home.
After the skilled worker became a
car owner. his lot improved. Now he
lives where he chooses-in the modern
homes that have sprung up far from
the old tenement districts, far from
the smoke and noises of the city. In
stead of paying rent on a mean dwell
ing, he is paying installments on his
modern house and its suburban lot.
And instead of being restricted in his
employment to the factory or shop
nearest his home, he Is Independent.
Now he can pick and choose his Job
and obtain work where he can get the
best wages, where the conditions are
most healthful. and where the best
possibilities exist for his advance
ment.
Il have given the farmer and the
skilled worker as two examples Of the
motor cars effect in making this
great country still better place to
live in. There are countless others
similarly affected-from the child who
is carried safely and comfortably to
the rural school in the school bus
every morning. to the city business
man who now can reach the outlying
country club in time for his daily
round Of golf.
Those who have seen the 1925 auto.
mobile shows will realize that even
better things are coming from the
automobile. AS the cars improve in
power. in ease and handling, In COM
fort and economy, so will their use be
extended.
"Soon there will be few who can
afford to be without a car, and car
manufacturers are striving to make
1t possible for every one who viii ben.
eft through car ownership to acquire
one reasonably and operate It eco
nomically."