| |
"The wonderful one-hoss shay" of which Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, was a wonderful vehicle in its day and generation, but the simple folk whose tongues lolled out as theY saw it go by and these who came after them, who were wont to listen with open mouths at the tale of its wonderful constructions, would have looked and wondered and wondered and looked, could they have been priviledged to see the vehicles of the twentieth century, and it is more than likely that even the "autocrat of the breakfast table" himself , wise though he was in his day and generation, would have stood agape had he seen the six-cylinder car of modern make whizz by him and be lost to view around a curve in the road, almost before he had seen what it was.
The story of the growth of the automobile business in this country is a wonderful story of achievement. It is a tale truly typical of the wonderful twentieth century in which we live, and it has grown so fast that ordinary people had just gotten used to the "devil wagons" and reconciled to their presence when they were becoming not only vehicles for pleasure but a necessity in aiding the more rapid doing of the work of the world.
It is not so many years ago, only as far back as 1893, the year of the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago, when the automobile was a curiosity. In the manufac-turer's building at that great world's fair Montgomery Ward & Company had an exhition [sic] one of the first cars ever built, a crude affair, with huge flat tires, |
|
built like a buggy and driven with a clumsy chain device. In the years since then the development of the industry has been most rapid, until today it is a giant industry, with millions of dollars invested and many thousands of men employed, and with the products of its craft skimming over the roads of this and other countries, mounting the Pyrenees and the Alps, fipping their front wheels in the Pacific after a run across the continent, and climbing the mountain fastnesses of the Rockies.
But there is another story to the development of the automobile, a story far more replete with interest to the people of this section than the other phases of the automobile and its history, and that is the effect it has had on the life, particularly the rural life of this country. The biggest purchasers of automobiles, in this section at least, are the farmers, and the advent of the auto has meant for them a broadening of their perspective, an educating influence more potent than anything else which has ever come into their lives. The old farm wagon, seated with boards for the accommodation of the family, or the old surrey, in which to make the trip to town, have been superseded by the touring car and the roadster, and the elimination of distance has given the dweller in the rural districts opportunities he did not dream of before, and an education he could have secured in no other way. It has paved the way for better highways, in themselves the greatest aid to prosperity, and has created a desire |
|
for the big clean, outdoors which augurs for the betterment of the race.
There are more than a half million automobiles in the United States of which nearly 30,000 are owned by Iowans. The garages and sales- rooms are in every village and hamlet, and the " hay seed " of the past is more likely now to show the city man what is the matter with his stalled car than anything else.
The automobile has come to stay. It has been one of the greatest factors in progress and develop- ment this country has ever had. Its influence is for the upbuilding of the people and for a healthier , more active and happier race.
The twentieth century has given to the world many marvelous things, but it has given none of more benefit to the people at large, nor noe which has contributed in so large a measure to their enlightenment as the automobile -- educator, developer, agent of progress.
point on both the river to river and white pole roads, and the facilities for taking care of tourists are admirable. The five auto garages here are splendidly equipped in every way, the hotel facilities are good and the Commerical club, if advised in time to be ready, will see to it that every tourist receives the proper attention.
The map accompanying this article shows something of the territory which is richer than any like territory in the country and in which the automobiles are thicker than the proverbial hair on the proverbial dog.
| |
