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With a car to Every Other Family in United States, Responsibility
of Driver Equals That of Voter, Says Charles Clifton, President of
National Automobile Chamber of Commerce

Of the many tests of self-government which face a democracy, not the least is the automobile.
The popular distribution of the right to vote has called for responsibility in thought and for the decisive casting of a ballot once a year.
The widespread distribution of m motor vehicles, however, demands I responsibility in action every day in the year.

With 14,500,000 cars and trucks on our highways at the beginning of 1924 we find ourselves a nation with practically every other family owning an automobile and with every one familiar with motor travel. The major problem of the year is not how many cars are going to be produced, but how well we are going to make use of the motor transportation which we have.
70 Per Cent Under $1,000
American factories turner out 4,000,000 cars last year and millions also will be manufactured in the coming twelve months. The significant thing from the public standpoint is that al-though there is a strong demand for cars in all price groups, yet the great numbers of units are of the light vehicle type selling for under $1,000. More than 70 per cent are in this class and probably in the coming year the proportion will be even greater.

These figures mean that the efficiency and safety of motor transportation depend upon the average citizen.
From newspaper editorials, letters from the public to the newspapers, the interest of city officials and the action of civic bodies, it is clear that the public is being increasingly concerned with highway traffic. This is a hopeful sign.
When there were fewer vehicles on the road it made relatively little difference whether one car kept trying to pass another, for there was road space in which the skillful could operate their vehicles almost as they pleased, even at high speed.

Road Courtesy Needed
With the great volume of automobiles on the road to-day, however, the responsibility of each individual driver becomes paramount. He is the engineer in a vast transportation system. If he selfishly tries to break ahead of the lines, endangering others, he usually ties up the general movement of traffic without any great gain for himself.

We need to develop the same degree of courtesy as motorists which we observe as pedestrians. The spirit which prompts a gentleman to say "after you" when entering a door-way, if applied on the highway would avert the confusion and collisions which occur from trying to assert one's right of way.

With the deep thought and emphasis which is being given to traffic and safety matters in many directions, I think we may look for considerable improvement in the near future.

That the automobile is one of the productive forces in our national life is being more clearly illustrated every year. Increasingly we find business houses, such as the great packing industries, using large fleets of cars for their salesmen, superintendents and other executives. Wherever timesaving is a factor, the investment for mo-tor transportation is proving an economical expenditure.

With the deep thought and emphasis which is being given to traffic and safety matters in many directions, I think we may look for considerable improvement in the near future.
That the automobile is one of the productive forces in our national life is being more clearly illustrated every year. Increasingly we find business houses, such as the great packing industries, using large fleets of cars for their salesmen, superintendents and other executives. Wherever timesaving is a factor, the investment for mo-tor transportation is proving an economical expenditure.

4,250,000 Cars on Farms
People are tiring of the clatter, stress and strain of city life and are moving into the suburbs. The car is the real estate insurance of the suburban home. It guarantees the value of that home, which would be little with-out adequate transportation. On Long Island, a suburban section of New York, the building of new homes has increased sevenfold per year in the past five years, while motor vehicle registration has increased four times.

The farmer, particularly the young graduate of agricultural schools, is interested in having quick individual transportation between farm and town. About 4,250,000 motor vehicles are now owned in rural sections.

Only this highly creative aspect of motor transportation would permit the existing widespread use of cars and trucks in its present degree, but perhaps the most fundamental appeal in motor transportation is the fact that it satisfies the travel impulse of a pioneer people. Our ancestors whether of Mayflower stock or of relatively recent immigration, were people who had, the desire to see new lands, to visit new places. This instinct is strong within us and there is no medium which supplies to the individual as independent and satisfactory means of travel as the automobile.

Add to Nation's Wealth
National wealth has increased during the same period as automobile growth. The expenditure of funds for automobiles has, in the main, been profitable to other industries rather than otherwise. Not only has the automobile business become a major customer for copper, plate glass, leather, aluminum and other products, but it has helped in increasing the purchasing power of the public through providing employment and through increasing the efficiency of millions of car owners.
From 1900 to 1922, the period in which motor transportation has developed, savings bank deposits in-creased 200 per cent, assets of building and loan associations advanced 406 per cent, the amount of life insurance written gained 485 per cent, and the value of total individual bank deposits increased 414 per cent.
Bearing in mind that motor truck and motor bus operations are increasing yearly and that exports for the current year have reached a new high total, exceeding 325,000, it is clear that the demand for all types of motor transportation is growing through-out the world.
This will be a year of motor trans-port progress, not alone in the more efficient and safe management of our highway traffic, but also in the economic advantages and conveniences which motor vehicles afford.

source: The Maine Motorist Feburary-March, 1924