THE MEANING OF THE AUTOMOBILE
By WILLIAM J. LAMPTON
“
L
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.
693
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-
694
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
695
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.
696
The Meaning of the Automobile
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
697
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-
699
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.