Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-06-08

upon the lives and habits of the
people of this country has been
tremendous. With the possible
exception of the electric light
there probably has not been any
single mechanical development In
the past century that has SC
changed the mode of living OF
. the people as has the motor car.
The automobile has become
pretty much of a nuisance in the
city. and undoubtedly will remain
in that unfavorable category until
something really conclusive is
done to allow for the absorption
on city streets of the vast number
of machines that the factories are
pouring into them. In the cities
the automobile presents problem
that has the foremost minds of
the country, from the President
of the United States to the most
humble of this Nations citizens,
frankly worried. 1t is a Franken-
Stein-a monster that must have
it's ver-increaSing toll of human
lives to appeaSe its gruesome appe-
tite. The country has paid price
beyond belief for the conveniences
of motor travel that have been
opened.
But it is in the outlying dis
tricts that the motor car has come
into its own; where it has become
a gentle, efficient, tractable and
invaluable asset to the better liv-
ing of this life.
The motor car is taking the city
folks out into the country-not on
Sunday afternoon jauntS among
the fields and woodlands-not just
on vacation journeyS-but out
into the country spots, the almost
rural suburbs, to live. 1t is put
ting the man of the city back on
the land again, getting him close
to the soil, giving him a chance
to do little digging and hoeing
and planting, giving him the joy
of seeing the seeds from his hand
blossom into flower and fruit,
bean and berry, cabbage and
caulif1ower.
The motor car is giving to the
children Of the man of the city a
place wherein to run and play
among the fields and woodlands.
It is giving to a new generation
to come the Small-town upbring-
ing that child specialists all over
the country have been crying for
10 these many years of crowded,
unsafe and inSanitary city streets.
For many years now the cry has
been that there are not enough
farmers on the farms; that an I'M
economic condition was arising in
the exodus from farm to city.
The last census has dealt that
old cry body blow, Ask any
city man today whether he'd
rather stay in his apartment in
town, or in his town house crowd
ed up against his neighbor, or
whether he'd get out into the
country If he could. In nine out
of ten cases the answer would be
in favor of the country. Census
figures bore out that all over the
country.
Many cities, including Wash
fngton, turned in disappointing
census figures in the last census.
There was great hue and cry
from the trade bodies and the
merchants. They wanted to know
how come, and threw all sorts of
accusations at the census takers.
Maybe the census takers did miss
a few-they always lose few
names along the line-but that
was not the trouble at all. Where
as the city directories, for which
the downtown Offices are can
vaSSed as well as the residences,
showed a vast increase, notably
in Washington, the residences
canvassed by the census takers
simply were not there. Where,
then, were these people?
They were right out in Mary
land and Virginia, digging Justify
in their backyard garden patches,
playing their games in the open
fields between their and their
neighbors' houses, watching their
children at play also in those
fields.
The automobile put them there.
The BUSES, the street cars and
the railroads put a small quota
there, but the private automobile,
which the owner drives himself,
comfortably, safely and swiftly, in
and out of town, carries the big
burden of Observation-Disclosures
movement.
The movement of city residences
to the open spaces about town
, had been noted by many, but very
few, until the census came along,
realized to what an extent the
movement had gone.
The movement is going to alb
serb a great many more automo-
bileS from the humming motor
factories of the Nation. That
elusive thing, the saturation point
for automobiles, that motor man
ufacturerS have been trying to pin
down for many years. only to find
1t expanding and expanding be-
yond their fondeSt dreams, has a
whole lot more expanding to do
before 1t finds itself trapped.
The movement must naturally
be slow. No such movement was
apparent when the next to last
census was taken. There was
suburban development, to be sure,
but not the sort that is going on
today. Then, too, the movement
into the cities greatly Offset this
development-at least, in the
population figures.
City planners believe the time
will come when the city-proper
population figures for fast-grow-
ing cities like Washington will
actually start declining. The cities
will remain, they think, in the
fast-growing class. They will have
their daytime populations, accord
ing to the fast-growing classical