THE MOTOR AS A FACTOR 315 



tiously by auto when tliej entail long, straight-awaj runs with 

 few stops ; and die moving of large loads to a distant distributing 

 point can be more quickly and cheaply done by the big motor 

 trucks even than by railroad freight. 



Advantages of the Horse. — For the about-town delivery of 

 many small parcels, each one to a different house, requiring 

 almost continuous starts and stops, with frequent runs in and out 

 of short streets, the auto deliveries are more costly and less effi- 

 cient. Horses have their routes, and lend their assistance in 

 anticipating stops and starts or even turning round themselves 

 and waiting round the comer while their driver resorts to a short 

 cut across lots. 



^ATierever much time is spent in standing or waiting the ad- 

 vantage is with the horse-dra^vn vehicle on account of the smaller 

 investment ^presented and the less depreciation involved. 



Cost of Feed and of Gasoline. — Clever motor salesmen have 

 taken advantage of the abnormally high cost of horse feeds for 

 the past few years in their calculations of the relative economy 

 of horse-drawn and motor vehicles. But with feed inclining 

 again to a normal level, while the cost of gasoline is advancing 

 at such a rate as to threaten automatically to check the patronage 

 of the motor, unless other fuel or motive power is resorted to, 

 there is little weight in such arguments. 



A Motor Age — There is every evidence of this being a motor 

 age ; the motor idea is conspicuous in our mode of dress ; it pre- 

 dominates in our conversation. Whereas the small boy of past 

 generations straddled the broomstick or harnessed two overturned 

 chairs and played horse, he now turns his ingenuity to the con- 

 struction and operation of racing pushmobiles of the latest type 

 and full equipment; patrons of the remnant counters demand 

 that the goods purchased by them shall be delivered by auto, in 

 case the firm is so derelict as to still retain some antiquated speci- 

 mens of the genus Equus in their delivery service. All this is 

 fully appreciated by those engaged in the business of catering to 

 public patronage, and it is played upon in every possible way 

 by the auto salesman. 



Vogue gives to the automobile, however, a much less stable 

 advantage over the horse than does its greater efficiency in long, 



