THE MEANING OF THE AUTOMOBILE By WILLIAM J. LAMPTON

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IFE has not many better things than this,” said Dr. Samuel Johnson a hundred and fifty years ago, as he took his ease riding along in an oldtime English postchaise. To those who did not live in the twentieth century and could not know the wonderful progress of the years since Johnson, a portly man of luxurious temperament, found such comfort in a postchaise, it might seem that the distinguished gentleman had reached the limit of vehicular development, yet in that same town of Lichfield lived Dr. Erasmus Darwin, a friend of Johnson’s, who practised medicine, going about among his patients in a sulky, as many country physicians do to this day. Evidently, however, Dr. Darwin did not find his sulky such easy going as his friend Johnson found the postchaise, for his mind, between patients, was intent upon some better means of locomotion, and the dream of his life was a “fiery chariot” that might get about from place to place with speed and comfort under the propulsion of steam. Newcomen and Watt and other engineers had made a practical application of steam power to stationary engines, but it had not yet ventured into the wider field waiting for it. Dr. Darwin, of Lichfield, Matthew Boulton, of Birmingham, and our own Benjamin Franklin, too busy then with the affairs of young America at the English capital to give the matter more than a passing notice, had discussed the subject of road carriages, but nothing definite came of it. A hundred years before, Sir Isaac Newton had included the mechanical propulsion of vehicles with his other fancies, but it had not extended beyond the great mind which had forged far ahead of its time. This was in England. The first of all vehicles to go by its own power on land was invented in 1769 by Nicholas Joseph Cugnot, a French army officer, its primary object being for use as a gun carriage. At its first trial it developed a trait which has been transmitted to

its descendants, if heredity may be considered in this connection, and ran away, butting into a stone fence and turning over. A second carriage was made, with some improvements, but it was not practicable, and it was retired, to become a curiosity, reposing at last in a Paris museum where it still attracts attention. But the self-propelled carriage was a necessity to man’s progress, and Cugnot was merely taking a little longer stop in the great procession of those who never stand still. The world was developing fast through its rapidly growing population with their millions of needs and wants, and improved facilities for transportation were an insistent problem confronting every leader of mind and motion. In all the earlier history of traction enginery England had first place, the urgent demand for more expeditious coal hauling from her great mines being the always unsatisfied complaint which permitted no rest to inventive minds. Her small area, bringing centres of population more closely together, broadened the demand, and passenger carriages were wanted as well as those for freight. Little advance was made, however, for twothirds of a century after Cugnot’s carriage had run its short course on the roads of France, but in 1830 Walter Hancock had manufactured a number of carriages and put them in operation, one, called the “Automaton”—another was called the “Autopsy”—having run for twenty weeks between Stratford, Paddington, and Islington, making a distance of 4,200 miles and carrying 12,761 passengers. There were other lines in contemplation, some even reaching out to cover the distances between continental capitals; but development was slow, for the vehicles were cumbersome, complicated, and expensive, and there was the ever-present prejudice which even twentieth century enterprise has not been wholly able to eradicate. Roadways were, however, the most serious deterrent. Bad roads were the rule,

The Meaning of the Automobile and each exception of a good one was held by every available legislation for the use of those who could afford to own horses and legislators. Under these circumstances the improvement of existing roads, or the building of roads for the especial use of mechanical carriages, became a costudy with the vehicles themselves, by those who were seeking a better way.

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riages on the roads of that State. This, by the way, is the first automobile legislation in the Western Hemisphere. It may be added here that Oliver Evans, the first American automobilist, was born in Newport, a pretty Delaware town, near the Maryland line, and the automobilists of this country should make it one of the points of their tours, and in time a monu-

The Sort That May be Hired by Day or Month, with Man in Livery Included.

Wooden roads and stone roads were constructed, with more or less success, and at last the iron track of the present railway was evolved. This was the death blow to the road wagon as perfected by Hancock and others in England, and designed by Oliver Evans in America, who, as early as 1786, had secured from the Maryland legislature the right to operate his steam car-

ment should be erected there to his memory. But this is for the future. The steam carriage had been brought to such a point of advancement that when a proper roadway was provided, it was short work to combine the two, and from the opening of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, on the 4th of July, 1828, the development of railroads in America and else-

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The Meaning of the Automobile

was this true, her fine roads, free to all vehicles regardless of propulsion, being a powerful factor in the development of the machine. As early as 1888 the French manufacturers were turning out carriages for road service, but they lacked the proper tires until about 1890. They had taken advantage of all the modern improvements in machinery, and their carriages were free from most of the difficulties w h i c h handicapped their predecessors. We were somewhat slower in America, as we lacked the factor of good roads, and possessed such excellent railroad and trolley systems. We had very good horses, too, which we did not propose to surrender until we saw pretty clearly A Popular Use of the Automobile; a Touring Stage of New York City. that we were going to have something conwhere utterly overwhelmed the primal road siderably better in their stead. locomotive, and it was scarcely heard of But Yankee ingenuity and Yankee enfor half a century. The railways met all ergy and enterprise do not wait on what the requirements of the people, and the others may do, and though they may pause mud roads and turnpikes were given up to to be sure they are right before they go horse-propelled vehicles. But in time the ahead, it is not for long, and when they railroads had reached most of the points start they are not left in the ruck. About to which they could be extended with profit, 1893 the first American machines made and the overflow of population and inter- their appearance and the new movement in ests from these centres had created new transportation began. It was an unknown demands for transportation beyond the business, however, with many possibilities ability of the horse to supply. Then came of being no more than a “fad,” and capithe trolley car, and about the same time tal did not rush forward with the enthusthe bicycle, with its pneumatic tire, that iastic spirit of those who asked it to come. conqueror of rough roads and the real so- But it was moving in the right direction, lution of the problem of self-propelled road and three or four years later the advance wagons, and the long reposing ideas of guard appeared. Not in force at first, but Cugnot, and Boulton, and Darwin, and with the spirit of the pioneer that cannot Evans were roused again into activity. Not be stopped by an obstacle. Six years of fully awake in conservative England, but education were required, and in 1899 there vigorously so in France and America, after were fifty automobiles—not generally sixty years of dormancy the automobile called automobiles then, for it was diffiwas to the fore again. Notably in France cult to decide upon a name for the new-

The Meaning of the Automobile comer, and the difficulty is not yet quite settled satisfactorily—in use in the United States. In 1902 the number had been increased to twelve thousand, an increase of over 4,000 per cent. in three years. France, which is the leading automobile country of the world at present, cannot make such a showing as this, and England is nowhere in sight. These twelve thousand machines, not all of American manufacture, may be said to represent a value of twelve millions of dollars, the present average price of an automobile being about one thousand dollars. No official record of the number of manufacturers in America is made, but there are probably seventy-five establishments turning out machines for the trade, while there are many more small concerns which

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manufacture special machines on order. Forty-five firms are enrolled as members of the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the only organization of its kind in this country. The membership includes manufacturers in twelve States and four foreign makers. In addition to regular manufacturers there are numerous firms making parts of machines and supplies of all kinds. Millions of capital are invested and the annual output at present may be estimated at ten thousand machines valued at $10,000,000. This is largely guesswork, but it is known that up to March, 1902, one factory had turned out four thousand machines in all, and in June, one manufacturer refused to undertake the building of a machine for export because, although he was turning out twenty-three

The Plaything of the Wealthy; a Forty Horse-power French Motor Car.

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not be taken as any criterion of a business brought into being by a demand which will exist as long as man is capable of motion. Six years ago there was no automobile literature in America, but at present a dozen publications thrive in the interests of the industry, while every newspaper of repute has its automobile department, hundreds of special articles are to be found in periodicals of general circulation, the adverOne of the Lighter and Comparatively Inexpensive Road Type. tisements of makers and dealers find machines a day, and had been doing so for places in almost every high class publicasome time, he was still six months behind tion, and numerous books have come from with home orders. What is true of two the publishers. The phenomenal progress of the automay be assumed to be largely true of all, and from this some idea may be had of the mobile as a perfected vehicle, after its rest enormous business that has grown up al- of sixty years, is largely attributable to most within a night. There is scarcely a the great improvement in all kinds of mefirm that is not behind with orders, and chanical appliances during those years, very many state in their advertisements which made it possible to adapt machinery that they cannot accept orders for imme- to the vehicles without the expenditure of time, labor, and money in constructing new diate delivery. New companies are organizing every devices and experimenting with them. Other forms of power had also arisen in day, and although, except in St. Louis, there are no factories west of the Missis- the interval, and whereas the old makers sippi River, one is about ready to go into found only steam available, the modern operation at Pueblo, Colorado, and one is makers have been able to add to steam, under way at San Francisco. In every city which for certain purposes may always reof any size there is, at least, one automo- main the best, electricity and gasoline, or bile agency, and it is a poor town, indeed, similar by-products of petroleum. These to which the automobile is a stranger. The three powers are now most in use and are bulk of the manufacture is confined to the about equally divided, each having its Eastern States, New York leading with strength and its weakness, but the inabout twenty factories at last reports, but ventor, always on the alert, is combining Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin are pro- alcohol with gasoline for something better ducing machines which are doing record than either, while all sorts of chemical work in quality if not in quantity. Hun- combinations are receiving constant and dreds of companies have been formed, careful study. In the opinion of the many of them mere stock jobbing schemes writer the final power, that which will seto catch the popular fancy, and a great cure the maximum of simplicity, safety, deal of money has been lost to invest- and strength with the minimum of cost, ors. But this is to be expected in a coun- will be chemical—a combination whereby try as rich and reckless as ours, and can- two component parts may be united, as

The Meaning of the Automobile water with calcium carbide, to produce the action when needed, without combustion. Whatever the power, whatever the form of the road wagon to which it may be applied, it is a fact past all controversion that the automobile has made its final appearance as an experiment, and is now a demonstrated vehicle of transportation whose permanence is assured, and whose usefulness is practically limitless. As yet machines are too complicated and prices are too high for general adoption. The ratio of machines to population in the United

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from $2,500 to $20,000—the record price, paid by a wealthy New Yorker, for a French machine—while the highest priced American machine is $5,000 and hundreds are in use which cost their owners from $650 to $800. A good horse and wagon may be had for $200, and the automobile must approximate this figure to become popular and give the horse some hope that at last he can quit hard work and live like a gentleman. That this may be done and still be profitable to makers is shown in the history of bicycle prices, and in the

Photograph by James Burton.

As Seen on One Occasion at Newport; Mrs. A. Ladenburg and John Jacob Astor in the Floral Parade.

States, 12,000 to 78,000,000, say, that is one to every 6,500 persons, does not at first glance appear promising, but when we consider that only three years ago the ratio was one to 1,500,000 persons, a very different aspect is presented; and it may be safely concluded that with such possibilities of demand, the automobile must, of necessity, grow to meet the measure of its greatness. American makers are quicker to see this opportunity than are their foreign rivals, as is proved by prices. Foreign machines are sold in this country at

further fact that one of the first American makers, with the popular idea in view, made machines to sell at from $400 to $600, and advanced his prices later because he could get whatever he asked, so enthusiastic were those who had caught the auto fever—and more people had it than could be relieved by manufacturers. When Robert Dudgeon, fifty years ago, rode from his Long Island home to his New York office in his steam wagon, using two bushels of coal and a hogshead of water in transit, he probably imagined something

On the Track; Mr. S. T. Davis in the Machine with Which He Made the World’s Steam Record of 1 min. 12 sec.

of what may be seen on the streets of the big city to-day, for Robert was a pioneer with the great unexplored world rising on his sight. But he could scarcely have imagined the machine of to-day, or he would have improved his own sufficiently to have prevented the authorities from ruling it off the road as they did and turning it into the barn to rest and rust as an heirloom to his posterity. True the authorities are not yet all favorable, but it is not the machine to which they object so much as it is to the manner of the men who drive it. The insatiate thirst to go faster will not be quenched, and when the autoist gets out on the road he forgets himself as well as others, and the obedient but helpless machine is condemned for his offending. Time will in a measure prove the corrective to this, and as automobiles increase in number and use the novelty will wear off, and a saner speed will prevail, with only such occasional outbursts as are common to drivers of horses which thousands of years of use have not succeeded in suppressing. Accidents have happened and will continue to happen, as with locomotives, and steamboats, and horses, and

bicycles, and trolleys, and street cars, and to all forms of motion and rest-outside of the grave—but if we risk nothing we can have nothing, so the risk must remain as part of the price paid for possession. But the automobile goes on. America leads the world in the number manufactured, France in the value. England is advancing, for the automobile is a liberalizer, and Germany is trying to repeal or modify her laws so that “Made in Germ a n y ” may appear on many automobiles as it now appears on many other articles of use and value. The distribution of the automobile is characterized by a universality never before known of any manufactured article at so early a stage of its existence, and there is scarcely a civilized country of the globe in which one or more automobiles may not be seen seeking the best roads and speeding along ahead of the horse. Every civilized ruler, King Edward, the Tsar, Emperor William, the Mikado, the president of France, sultans, ahkoonds, maharajahs, all, from Greenland’s icy mountains to India’s coral strand, have their automobiles, with one notable exception, the President of the

The Meaning of the Automobile United States. Thus far it would seem that Mr. Roosevelt has reversed the established rule that two negatives make an affirmative, and, apparently believing that two affirmatives make a negative, has declined to combine his own strenuosity with that of the automobile lest dire disaster follow, to man and machine. The traveler may find an automobile to take him to the shadow of the Pyramids, a line of automobiles extends from Haifa to Jerusalem, they have crossed the Alps and the Cordilleras, they have tracked the sands of Sahara, they have rattled over the streets of three thousand years old Damascus, they have climbed the Chinese wall of obstruction, they have gone into regions of ice and sun, and they are following the equator and heading for the North Pole. And what is the meaning of the automobile? Briefly it means that complete development of the entire country which without it could not be possible, for it will compel the building of good roads. No country can command its full strength until all its parts are easily accessible, and its people and their common interests are brought into the closest commercial and social union. We know what railroads have done in a general way for the ad-

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vancement of nations, particularly this nation which has given right of way to more lines than all the rest of the world. What greater benefits may accrue from the automobile with good roads everywhere and speedy means of transportation within reach of each individual for himself and the products of his factory or farm, cannot thus early be estimated. The horse will not be entirely eliminated as a factor of industry, but his sphere will be circumscribed and the automobile will not only do what he attempted to do in the past, but it will do a millionfold more to meet the ever-increasing demands of a people growing daily in numbers and wealth and power. The millions of our rural population will be brought into closer relations with the towns and with neighbors, and the loneliness of farm life, which drives so many to the cities, with detriment to all, will no longer retard our agricultural growth, nor prevent a proper distribution of population for the national welfare. That is the meaning of the automobile, and while the statement may be disputed now, it is made with the earnest belief that when to-day’s men of fifty have rounded out their three score and ten years, it will be fully verified.

On the Road; a Century Run on Long Island.