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Show M ' IN THE OPEN. H Motor Cars as Educators-Road- H Building at Home and Abroad. H The educational value of 'automo- H bile shows is of high quality and B should be recognized for the oppor- H tunity these sl'.ows afford the public B of studying at first hand the product B of a comparatively new industry, 1 which is rapidly conquering America. H From a spectacular point of view K i alone these shows arc worth seeing, B and the considerable item of gait re- qcipts invariably returned indicates that the people arc not indifferent to H the opportunity. Indeed, that gate B receipts have been sufficient in the B majority of exhibition ventures to rc- bM turn a profit is suggestive of the R "show" clement which these gather- J I ings of motor cars hold for the pop- Jl ular mind. J: The 1906-07 exhibitons marked the end .of the automobile as a "rich ! man's toy." That was the signifi-; signifi-; cant revelation of the show season ji which closed recently after an at-ll at-ll cndancc and sales of unexampled J 1 figures. The manufacturers' cxperi-J cxperi-J ( menting period is very nearly over; J I so far as radical changes arc con-J, con-J, ccrncd the trial season is at an end. Jj The cars of the recent shows demon-I demon-I stratcd that the manufacturer has J immeasurably improved his output J in structural refinement, in finish, in J strength and in simplicity. These are J , the cardinal virtues of the automo-J automo-J bile; and in the important fundamental fundamen-tal tal of durability the American manu-J manu-J facturcr has learned much from the J European. That he has learned it J is evidence of the American's alert-J alert-J ncss in sensing the feel of the pop-J pop-J ular demand, and that he has rc-J rc-J . sponded so quickly is suggestive of H the enormous manufacturing capabi-J capabi-J litics of this country. J Some Amazing Figures. J ' The history of the American auto-J auto-J mobile spans about twelve years, and J ' its record during those years offers J '' an astonishing story of American in-J in-J dustrial development. It reads al-j! al-j! most like a fairy tale. In 1901 Am-JPS Am-JPS I erica built and marketed 314 cars. P2 I n T9" about 60,000 automobiles B j were manufactured in this country u1 at an estimated gross value of one hundred million dollars. Incidentally, Incidental-ly, it is interesting to insert here that during the same year (1906) the value of horse-drawn vehicles manufactured in America was estimated esti-mated at one hundred and sixteen million dollars, which is illustration in plenty that the horse has not yet passed, even though he be "passing," as so frequently we hear. The rcmarkablcness of this output out-put will be seen the clearer by a glance at the comparative figures of the number of automobiles manufactured manufac-tured in other countries. In 1901 France built 23,711 automobiles; America Am-erica in the same year built 314. In 1906, as already stated, America bu'lt 6o,ooo; France built 55,000; England 28,000; Italy, 19,000, and Belgium, 12,000. These figures are borrowed from a French statislican who is regarded re-garded as an authority on automobile automo-bile manufacturing data, and who, in addition, claims that, during the nine years since the success of the first horseless carriage about 1890, there have been 550,000 motor cars manufactured manu-factured in the world, at a total value of one billion dollars. These figures arc sufficient answer to the prophets that sec for the motor mo-tor car only a playful or an ephemeral ephe-meral career. But the impressive disclosure of these figures is, that whereas, in 1901, France, the pioneer manufacturer of lautomobiles.s 'buaUt 23.397 more automobiles than did America, in 1906. America turned out 5000 more than France. And the still further impressive clement of this showing is the jump by America from 314 cars in 1901 to 60,000, in 1906. This has been done despite the heavy handicap to the American manufacturers of inferior roads which obtain throughout the country, to its national shame a handicap that continues con-tinues notwithstanding the efforts making for better highways. It is extraordinary how we lag behind in the matter of road improvement. France has the very great advantage of having its fine system of roads under government control, bringing all highways under a common law, thus 'not only 'making their maintenance mainten-ance a certainty, but also eliminating-" the embarrassing questions of li- cense and the confusion and varying rules which automobiles meet in America. Am-erica. Not only arc our roads bad, but conflicting speed and license regulations regu-lations add insult tn injury. Good Roads and What They Do. One of the first things which England, Eng-land, the most, the only, successful colonist of the world, docs is to build good roads, which open a country as nothing else can, making it easier for the natives to bring their wares to market, and, in case of need, enabling enab-ling England to move her troops with rapidity. In the world's history his-tory road-building has been set down as of first importance in the development devel-opment of a country. In America, with our tireless energy and surpassing surpass-ing industrial progress, our road-building road-building has been with iron rails, to the neglect of the earthen highways. In the last ten years there has been considerable agitation of the subject, of which the "Good Roads Movement" Move-ment" is the result, and very largely responsible for the activity apparent in spots. Yet it really is amazing how comparatively com-paratively few good roads arc to be found in this big land, and how near to the centres of commercial and industrial in-dustrial activity arc the neglected road beds. Take, for example, the great State of New York the Empire State, so-called. so-called. Once you get off the main thoroughfares in the up-State region you plunge into a network of such miserable roads as to somewhat explain ex-plain why farm land is on the market and farmers getting into town and into some other business. The ln'g State of Pennsylvania is even worse with respect to neglected roads. One docs not expect as much in the way of roads of the middle-Western middle-Western States, but if you arc seeking seek-ing a terrible example of just how woefully abandoned a neglected road can be, make an attempt to cross the prosperous State of Illinois. These arc only examples picked by way of illustration, but the truth is that in America generally, with its great prosperity and its growing towns and expanding agricultural districts, dis-tricts, the roads, which should be the first thought of a community, appear to be about the last. How we compare with Europe in this particular may be best illustrated by again borrowing from the French statistician, who states that from Madrid, in Spain, latitude 40, to Hamburg, Ham-burg, Germany, and across into Sweden Swed-en and Norway, extending north, stretches front first to last something like 2600 miles of continuously good road. Here in our country a stretch of 200 miles of continuously good road is hard to find. Good roads arc only to be got in America by the people peo-ple getting busy in their State Legislatures, Legis-latures, and the sooner we have good roads the more assured and staple will be the small town development and the more substantial the prosperity pros-perity of the farmers. Automobilists arc agitating the subject of good roads, perhaps, more vigorously than any other clnss of citizens, but, my country friends, bear in mind that, while good roads give the automobilist merely the pleasure of touring, to the farmer and to all country-living people they bring easier eas-ier living and larger returns for their work. In other words, to the automobilist auto-mobilist good roads arc but an incident inci-dent in his pleasure-seeking. To all country folk they arc money in pocket. pock-et. That is why the slowness of State legislators to take up more actively ac-tively the subject of road improvement improve-ment is so surprising. The Post. |