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Show Ti AUTOMOBILE FOR UTILITY NOW WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 "Highways "High-ways transportation of passengers and freight must be greatly amplified in order that the self-propelled vehicle may In greater degree attain its maximum max-imum utility in the present congested condition of all our avenues of communication," com-munication," asserts Dr. H-. M. Howe, president of the American Automobile association, which has its national headquarters in Washington and hence is able in one way and another to prove exceedingly helpful in the premises. prem-ises. "As one who gave aid and comfort to the pioneer makers of automobiles in the days when tho motor car was passing through its probationary period, pe-riod, I have always beon convinced that when the real opportunity presented pre-sented Itself the vehicle would convincingly con-vincingly demonstrate that its usefulness useful-ness would outweigh preponderatlngly tho so-called enjoyment character which it would and does possess in adding to the social interchange that should take place in human existence. "But I am of the belief that the average car owner now employs his vehicle at leapt nine-tenths for utility and scarcely one -tenth for pleasurable purposes. Of course this is tho case more in the country than in the city. In my personal experience the automobile auto-mobile enables mo daily to go from a farm to a city place of business, a thing not possible unless I had tho wonderful convenience of an inde- I pendent means of transport. j "We should not needlessly consume fuel and rubber In sight-seeing tours, but the A. A. A. tour bureaus in Washington Wash-ington and New York report an unusually un-usually large number of owners who spend their winters in the southern states and on the Pacific coast, making mak-ing their journeys over the road instead in-stead of seeking transportation by rail for their vehicles and even for themselves. them-selves. "It is inevitable that roads improvement improve-ment should attract unusual concern, despite labor difficulties and the temporary cessation in the shipment of materials. I am of the belief that the newly created highways transport committee, of which Roy D. Chapin of Detroit is the chairman, will make clear to the Council of National Defense De-fense that the roads problem demands a serious and substantial acceleration at this time, so that both motor trucks and passenger automobiles can serve to the extent possible with their countrywide total of four and a half million strong." |