THE PIONEERS 



The automobile is one of the most important factors in 

 our everyday life. To many persons it is a conven- 

 ience and a means of recreation, but to many more it 

 is an absolute necessity. Modern transportation is based 

 in substantial part upon the services of the automobile, and 

 a slight idea of what life would be like if the automobile 

 suddenly ceased to exist can be recalled from the days of 

 tire and gasoline rationing during World War II. 



When we consider the number of people engaged in 

 manufacturing, selling, operating, and maintaining passen- 

 ger automobiles, trucks, and busses, and in incidental 

 businesses such as those connected with oil-refinery prod- 

 ucts, accessories, insurance, and highway construction, it is 

 apparent that our economic structure is most decidedly 

 related to the automobile. Our living today is definitely 

 geared to this form of conveyance, and its existence affords 

 a livelihood to millions. 



Few people, however, in a generation that has always 

 known the automobile, realize how brief its history is. 

 Not too many years 'ago the automobile was considered the 

 work of madmen determined to upset the enterprises of the 

 harnessmaker, the blacksmith, and the horse breeder; 

 while even more recently it was looked upon merely as a 

 plaything of the wealthy. 



Only 40 or so years ago highways became seas of mud 

 in rainy weather. Then the horse was still the master, 

 extracting untold numbers of mired vehicles from muddy 

 traps. But, with the continued lowering in cost of the 

 automobile, bringing its purchase within the ability of 

 more and more people, the demand increased for more and 

 better roads and streets, resulting in the relatively excellent 

 traffic arteries of modern times. 



Today, because of fine roads, and the automobiles that 

 travel upon them, it is possible to make in several hours 

 trips which formerly took as many days. Workers are 

 easily transported to and from their places of business, 



