Volume XXI, 



RECREATION. 



SEPTEMBER, 1904 

 G. 0. SHIELD* ! >■ ~1"SA), Editor and Manager 



Number 3 



AUVC LlOBILING AS A SPORT. 



J. A. KINGMAN. 



The craze for me vehicles which 

 is now 3 or 4 ye?,, j old and steadily 

 growing, is justified not only by the 

 utility of the automobile, but by its 

 peculiar fitness as a health-giving and 

 pleasure-giving device. The question 

 has often been raised as to whether 

 fondness for automobiling will decline 

 as the fad for bicycling did ; but when 

 we consider the vast difference be- 

 tween the motor car and the bicycle it 

 is really not logical to compare them. 

 It is much more reasonable to com- 

 pare the automobile with the horse- 

 drawn vehicle. When this is done it 

 is not fair to assume that the automo- 

 bile will go out of style or fall into 

 disuse any more than will vehicles 

 drawn by horses. 



The automobile is a purely 20th cen- 

 tury product, and its coming almost 

 exactly with the century marks a 

 new era in road transportation. This 

 is an age of machinery and mechani- 

 cal effects, and the automobile is one 

 of the most interesting of modern ma- 

 chines, all of which are destined to 

 annihilate something. Most machines 

 annihilate time and expense. The au- 

 tomobile annihilates distance. The 

 automobile sometimes annihilates per- 

 sons and property, but serious acci- 

 dents have been few, when the 

 number of automobiles in use by all 

 sorts of persons is considered. There 

 are probably 40,000 of these machines 

 in operation in this country at present. 



Many people think none too highly 

 of the new form of road vehicle. Some 

 of these are horse lovers, but most of 

 them are people who have little fond- 

 ness for mechanical matters. There 

 are many people in this country who 



would like to own and operate auto- 

 mobiles, but who have not the taste 

 or liking for machinery which they 

 should have in order to own and oper- 

 ate a car. The automobile is a deli- 

 cate machine which requires great 

 care and attention. 



Some of the owners of automobiles 

 who have had the best success are 

 men who have bought their cars with 

 a clear understanding of their own 

 inexperience, and who have attacked 

 the problem armed solely with the 

 simple weapons of carefulness and 

 common sense. On the other hand, 

 some of the poorest performances of 

 automobiles have been the result of 

 operation in the hands of mechanical 

 "know-it-alls," who, though sufficient- 

 ly well trained in mechanical matters, 

 have thought it unnecessary to give 

 their cars proper care and attention, 

 or who have continually meddled with 

 the machinery, trying to make it better 

 than it was when it came from the 

 factory. 



This statement is not intended to 

 encourage those who are hesitating 

 about automobiling, but it is a fact 

 that the man who is constantly look- 

 ing for trouble and trying to prevent 

 it, is likely to have little, and that the 

 man who never "knocks wood" and 

 who knows it all, is likely to pay 

 out more money each year for repairs 

 than his less educated neighbor who 

 applies business methods to his pleas- 

 ure vehicle. 



These are strenuous times, and the 

 automobile is a strenuous plaything. 

 It has great power concealed about its 

 person, and the application of this 

 power must be made in the right way. 



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