MOTORING 



SELDEN AND ANTI-SELDEN. 



Artistic and practical development of the 

 motor car have not been the sole results of 

 the holding of automobile shows in New 

 York. The show itself has passed from the 

 stage of crude display to a thing of beauty, 

 which splendidly exhibits the temper of the 

 people to employ all that modern ingenuit}' 

 can devise to beautify and elaborate great 

 public expositions, for after all the auto- 

 mobile show is little short of an exposition. 



The double display which was held in New 

 York this year — the show at Madison Square 

 Garden, composed of the cars of the Selden- 

 ites, and that held at the Sixty-ninth Regi- 

 ment Armory, wherein the anti-Seldenites 

 exhibited their wares — was by far the largest 

 of its kind ever held in the world. 



Very fortunately for the automobile con- 

 cerns the two great buildings are so close 

 together that their immediate nearness was 

 an incentive for sightseers to visit both, 

 rather than go to one and omit calling upon 

 the other. It was early learned that the 

 curious minded, who sauntered at their ease 

 through the aisles of the Garden, were so 

 much impressed by what they saw that they 

 could not forbear turning just down the 

 corner to look over the cars in the Armory, 

 and what was true of those who first visited 

 the Garden was equally as true of those who 

 happened to pay their first pilgrimage to the 

 Armory. 



The first automobile show which was ever 

 held in New York was an experiment, and 

 there were some motor builders who averred 

 that it was a foolish and, to their minds, 

 unnecessarily costly experiment. It is some 

 satisfaction to those who were interested in 

 the original show to know that the primary 

 objectors are now among the most enthusi- 

 astic regarding the value of motor car ex- 

 hibits. 



It is well recalled that one of the most 

 prominent automobile makers in America, 

 when first talked with regarding a motor 

 show in New York, declared that it was 

 about the silliest proposition which had been 

 promulgated by American promoters. "Who 

 in the world," said he, "is going to pay ad- 

 mission to see what somebody else has to 

 sell, and who is going to patronize a show of 

 this kind where there is nothing for sale 

 less than $1,000. You haven't got popula- 

 tion enough in New York, as great as it is, 

 to make an automobile show successful." Yet 

 he finally went in, and at the last two shows 



there has been no exhibit more complete 

 than his, and if what some of his employes 

 say is true, there is no maker who has prof- 

 ited more than he by the opportunity to place 

 his wares before the public. 



Visitors called the automobile shows "rival 

 fairylands" this year. The interior of the 

 Garden was a white and gold palace, all 

 pillars and colonnades, through which 

 gleamed a myriad of incandescent lights that 

 brightly illuminated the interior without that 

 garish effect so much dreaded by women in 

 evening gowns of light shades. 



In the Armory, the general color scheme 

 was dark green, but the tasteful expertness 

 of some genius had lighted the sombreness 

 of the background with an edge of gold, and 

 strange as it may appear, society belles of 

 blonde texture and society belles with a 

 gypsy touch of the brunette, both found their 

 beauty rather enhanced than otherwise with- 

 in the Armory's interior, and quite needless 

 to say were warmly enthusiastic about pay- 

 ing it court. 



Where clumsy disorder had scattered ma- 

 chines over the ground space without any 

 special regard to classification or convenience 

 for spectators in the past, a well regulated 

 floor plan this year not only grouped the cars 

 in symmetrical order, but provided wide and 

 spacious aisles through which the visitors to 

 the show made their way and in which they 

 were enabled to examine the various cars at 

 their leisure. 



Just a word as to who visited the automo- 

 bile show. When the idea of the show was 

 first suggested the motor car had not arrived 

 at its present distinction in the United States. 

 In fact, there were not a few, and there ex- 

 ist a very few to-day, who were disposed to 

 look upon it as some sort of a modern jug- 

 gernaut, primarily a rich man's toy, and 

 secondarily an irresponsible accessory to 

 more danger in navigating the highways of 

 the country than existed before its invention. 



So it was thought that only the automobile 

 enthusiasts might be expected as patrons of 

 the manufacturers. It is true that all the 

 automobile enthusiasts were there, but they 

 brought their friends with them, and in addi- 

 tion to those came the hundreds bent more 

 on curiosity than anything else. They wanted 

 to see a motor car at close quarters, not be- 

 ing possessors of one themselves, but hearing 

 so much about them that it aroused their in- 

 quisitiveness. 



But see how a little oil may spread! Pre- 



j6 9 



