EDITOR'S CORNER. 



RUN YOUR OWN MACHINE. 



A writer in this issue of Recreation 

 advises automobile owners to study their 

 machines to such an extent as to be able 

 to operate them successfully. There are 

 various reasons why every owner and user 

 of an automobile should do this. In the 

 first place, it is a genuine pleasure to know 

 and operate any fine piece of machinery. 

 In the second place, it is necessary that 

 every owner of a complicated machine of 

 any kind should know it intimately, in or- 

 der that he may direct the operation of it, 

 even if he does not see fit to give it con- 

 stant attention. 



Every man who submits blindly to the 

 dictation of an employee is liable to be 

 defrauded. There are honest and dishon- 

 est men everywhere, and many an honest 

 man yields to temptation and becomes dis- 

 honest simply from being in a position 

 where he is constantly tempted. Bank 

 cashiers and tellers who handle large sums 

 of money and who gradually win the con- 

 fidence of their employers to such an ex- 

 tent as to be trusted implicitly, and who 

 have all their lives been honest men, fall 

 victims to continuous temptation. They 

 have within easy reach the opportunity to 

 become suddenly rich. This situation 

 stares them in the face day after day, and 

 they dream of it at night. Human nature 

 is weak, and eventually many of these mien 

 fall victims to circumstances, when they 

 would always have been good, honest men 

 if these conditions had not been allowed to 

 exist. 



So it is with men of smaller intellectual 

 capacity or business ability. Placed in 

 positions of responsibility where they are 

 allowed to handle small sums of money 

 without the scrutiny of their employers, 

 or where allowed to buy goods and have 

 them charged to the employer without 

 limit, they gradually grow into the habit 

 of buying things that are not needed and 

 appropriating them to their own use. Or, 

 coming in contact with dishonest dealers 

 they are tempted to buy goods at twice 

 what they are worth, approve the bills, 

 and pocket the difference. 



I once employed as caretaker at a coun- 

 try club, a man who had for years worked 

 for a wealthy man in this city, as a coach- 

 man. From time to time, while in the em- 

 ploy of the club, I discovered that he had 

 numbers of fine whips, spurs, bits and other 

 articles belonging to his former occupa- 

 tion, which had never been used. He had 

 made his employer believe these articles 

 were necessary for the proper equipment 

 of the horses and carriages in his charge, 

 had bought them and then secreted them. 



189 



Doubtless he had bought many other such 

 articles and had sold them, converting the 

 proceeds to his own use. 



The coming of, the automobile to this 

 country has brought with it a large con- 

 tingency of French operators, many of 

 whom have .neglected to bring their con- 

 sciences with them, if they ever had any. 

 These men are to-day employed by wea^hy 

 automobile owners, a majority of whom 

 know little or nothing of the practical con- 

 struction or the working of their machines. 

 These owners must simply accept the state- 

 ments of their drivers as to what may be 

 needed in the way of supplies or repairs, 

 and as to the necessary cost of such mater- 

 ials. As a result, such owners are syste- 

 matically worked for perhaps hundreds of 

 dollars every year, for repairs or attach- 

 ments that are not needed in the least. 



In all such cases if the owner knew his 

 machine thoroughly he would be able to 

 see at a glance, when called on to pay for 

 an article or a piece of work, whether or 

 not it was needed, and thus avoid being 

 persistently and repeatedly held up. 



The man who studies his machine, who 

 masters the science of operating it, may 

 dispense entirely with the services of a 

 driver. Then he not only saves the amount 

 of the salary his neighbor pays, but he has 

 the intense satisfaction of doing a good 

 piece of work himself. There is as much 

 pleasure in driving an automobile as in 

 driving a good pair of horses. Many ex- 

 perts say more. 



Furthermore, the man who operates his 

 own automobile enjoys the valued privilege 

 of privacy, of which every man and every 

 family who employs a driver is deprived. 

 If you ride with your family or other 

 friends, you constantly want to talk about 

 things that you do not care to have re- 

 peated by a servant. Any bit of news or 

 information which an automobile driver, 

 or a coachman, or a butler, or a maid ser- 

 vant picks up in the family circle, loses 

 nothing by repetition. On the contrary, it 

 is elaborated and grows rapidly as it passes 

 from one to another of the retinue of ser- 

 vants. The family or the group of friends 

 who ride in an automobile driven by an 

 employee must, therefore, be constantly on 

 guard as to what they say. Freedom from 

 this restraint is really a luxury, which the 

 average business man may just as well 

 enjoy. 



It may take a few weeks or a few months 

 to learn your machine so that you can safe- 

 ly go on the road with it and make a long 

 tour; but aside from the advantages al- 

 ready pointed out, the man who can do this 

 enjoys the intense pleasure of doing some- 



