By WILLARD NIXON 



THE AUTOMOBILE BECOMES MORE 

 VALUABLE. 



For some years past engineers, contractors, 

 physicians , telephone company representa- 

 tives, fire chiefs, and others have been using 

 automobiles in their daily work as a reliable 

 and convenient means of transportation. Not 

 a month passes but some new field for the au- 

 tomobile is opened up, and its value becomes 

 most strikingly evident. This season has 

 witnessed a very considerable use of automo- 

 biles by rural mail carriers, who find they can 

 save much time by the use of the automobile, 

 and as they employ for the purpose inex- 

 pensive runabouts, sometimes bought second- 

 hand, the expense of operation is not much 

 and the increased amount of work which can 

 be done fully justifies any increased expense. 



The very latest employment of the pleasure 

 type of automobile for business purposes is 

 the use of a machine of standard make by a 

 New York East Side peddler, who finds that 

 a second-hand car purchased cheaply enables 

 him to make at least twice as many trips dur- 

 ing the day, thus multiplying the amount of 

 business which can be transacted in a day, 

 and making the investment highly profitable. 



AUTOMOBILE ACCESSORIES. 



There seems to be no end to the extra ap- 

 pliances suitable for automobilists, for inven-' 

 tive genius has apparently run riot along 

 these lines, and every month brings forth 

 some new article. One of the latest contriv- 

 ances is a lock fitted in the gasolene supply 

 pipe between the tank and the engine, so that 

 the owner may cut off the gasolene when_ he 

 leaves the car, thus making it absolutely im- 

 possible for anyone to use the machine in his 

 absence, and this ought to be a pretty effect- 

 ual means of stopping a frequent source of 

 trouble. 



One of this season's novelties is the Gabriel 

 Horn, designed to take the place of the hand 

 or foot-operated horn, and it consists of little 

 pipes similar to those used on an organ, the 

 chord being obtained by blowing a blast 

 through the pipes, the pressure being ob- 

 tained from the exhaust of the engine. This 

 forms a definite warning decidedly musical 

 in character, and much more pleasing than 

 the raucous bark of the usual horn. 



Automobilists are now using a neat little 

 dial on the dash-board, which not only tells 

 you how far you have gone, but how fast you 

 are traveling at any time, so that when an 

 automobilist is stopped by a police officer, 

 he can swear by witnesses present with him 

 that he has not exceeded a certain speed — a 

 good thing is these days of police traps 



Dash-board clocks ; swinging search-lights 

 for use on long night rides ; pumps connected 

 with the machinery so that no manual labor 

 need be exerted in pumping up the tires ; 

 cleverly designed tanks for carrying acety- 

 lene gas, lubricating oil and extra gasolene 

 are now on the market, together with ?. 

 hundred and one other little inventions and 

 accessories calculated to add to the pleasure 

 and convenience of the automobile driver 

 A man owning an expensive automobile can 

 easily add $1,000 to the cost of it by purchas- 

 ing various fixings. 



AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS. 



There have been a great many more acci- 

 dents this season than ever before, resulting 

 very naturally from the increased number of 

 cars in use throughout the country. Owing 

 to the comparative novelty of the automobile, 

 the newspapers make a great deal of these 

 automobile accidents, presenting them to the 

 public in a sensational manner, the facts be- 

 ing much distorted, owing to the unfamiliar- 

 ity of the average reporter with modern 

 motor cars ; while on the other hand, severe 

 accidents resulting from the use of horse- 

 drawn vehicles receive no attention, owing to 

 the fact that these are uninteresting to the 

 public. And so the automobile suffers some- 

 what more than it should. 



Most accidents are caused by driving too 

 fast, for every car has a certain critical speed, 

 beyond which safety is impossible, and as it 

 is extremely fascinating to run a car rapidly, 

 most owners run their machines right up to 

 the limit, with such results as might be ex- 

 pected. 



In connection with this matter of accidents 

 due to high speed, a parallel may be pointed 

 out in the case of steam railroads, for only 

 very recently two of our large trunk lines 

 put on fast trains to Chicago, but the service 

 had to be discontinued because of disasters 



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