Alfred Charles William Harmsworth

“ Though I am the possessor of one of the most powerful motor-cars in England, I am not at all an admirer of them for ordinary use. Even with what is known as the 'throttle' system of governor, by which one can reduce the speed as much as one wishes, I consider that these heavy and powerful road engines are a mere passing freak of the hour. Their weight makes them comfortable on rough roads, but the amount of petrol required to drive them is a serious item of expense. So far as this country is concerned, there are very few roads on which they can, so to speak, be let loose. ”

“ We live on the roads, and they are part and parcel of our daily lives. We look down the road for the home-comer, or the new-comer. Our gates open on the road. The road is always with us. The motor-car and the bicycle have restored to us a full remembrance of the fact. While railway travelling was so immeasurably quicker and easier than road travelling, we were forced to give up the pleasure our fathers had taken in the road, for mankind in general cannot or will not lose time. ”

“ The keen air of a frosty morning, or driving, rain at top speed, will not increase the accuracy of your aim, let alone the chance in the early autumn of a gnat in your eye, than which nothing can sometimes be more painful, or, later on in the year, a speck of gravel which may cut you like a knife. ”

“ We are aware that it is the habit of some drivers to do what is known as 'drive on their brakes'—that is to say, rush up to an obstacle at full speed and then rely upon their brakes to prevent them from dashing into it. However brilliant it may appear to the uninitiated, the practice cannot be too strongly condemned; for not only does an exhibition of this sort try the nerves of the passengers on the car—however seasoned they may be—but it also produces a bad impression on the public, who, not appreciating the control the driver has over his vehicle, marvels at his apparently narrow escape. ”

“ The voyager by road thinks less of a great expanse of scenery, bounded though it may be by the long waving line of mysterious hills, than he does of the thousand sights of beauty and interest under his eyes. ”

“ Altogether the motorcar must revolutionise our social life in the country, and let us hope before long will lead to the bettering of our cross-country roads. The horse, poor beast, has never been able to tell us what he endures from bad roads, and the pace of a horsedrawn vehicle has been too slow for even the springs to suffer much; but if you get into a motor-car going five-and-twenty miles an hour over a road which you have hitherto deemed good, the engine and car will very soon tell you the difference between what the road surveyor's work has been and what it ought to be. ”

“ It is difficult to imagine anything more grotesque than the appearance of some whose enthusiasm makes them forgetful of their appearance. However, in order to drive with safety to the health in an open automobile, special garments are necessary. Clothes which may be quite suitable for a drive in a dog-cart are altogether unsuitable for use in an open motor.
When driving at twenty miles an hour the wind will actually pass through tweed overcoats and cloth garments; the air will be felt whistling round the ribs, and coats become distended behind like balloons. ”

“ To-day my own experience teaches me that in the year 1902 a good petrol engine is infinitely the best for all-round work. That is to say, if one intends to own a single motor-car only, and desires occasionally to travel for long journeys, there can in my judgment be no doubt that a petrol engine, with a Daimler or some similar type of motor, is the wisest purchase. The point is a contentious one; but I selected this type of engine as the best for use five years ago, and since then time has brought almost every motor manufacturer to my side. ”

“ Every motor-car owner, whether he can afford to keep a mechanic or not, should make a point of studying and thoroughly understanding his engine. It is not merely that this will save him trouble and emancipate him from the tyranny of the skilled mechanic, but it will very materially increase his pleasure in the pastime, for the study of the engine affords almost as keen enjoyment as the actual driving. ”

“ At any moment his wheel and his spirits may go down literally 'like a shot,' and the gay spark who is beating records in speed and in dust raising, may find himself trying to look happy in the middle of a crowd that gapes, and it may be jeers, and in the English sense shows itself the profane vulgar, while he is toiling out his soul, and blowing up his car in more senses than one. ”

“ Motoring has already entered, and will in the future enter yet more largely, into our social life, though we may still be far from the time when the horse-drawn vehicle will be a rarity upon country roads and London has begun to save fifty thousand pounds a year now spent in road scavengering.
The utility of the motor is endless. At whatever distance you may live from your station in the country, the motor is bound to shorten the time occupied on the journey to and fro, and houses six miles from a railway become as accessible as houses three miles distant are to-day with horses. ”

“ To go back to the marital and polygamous metaphor, just employed, the motor-car has given the road a crown of price that has once again made her find favour in the eyes of her lord and master. The second wife has come to look old-fashioned and dull, and the first wife, never really rejected, renews her claims. No one can deny that from the point of view of beauty this return to the road is a gain. ”

“ When the car is finished and provided with properly designed and geared electromotors, and furnished with an adequate battery and properly constructed controller and connections, it very rarely happens that anything gets out of order, and practically mishaps can only occur when a heavy electric vehicle is being forced up a steep, hill either through heavy mud or at irrational speed. There is no doubt whatever that the trustworthiness of an electromobile is one of its most attractive characteristics, and that it comes nearer to being a 'fool proof' vehicle than any other type of automobile. ”

“ There is no doubt that the motor cycle will prove an effective educational medium in connection with automobilism, for the intending motorist will be able to learn all about petrol engines at a much less cost than is demanded by the purchase of a motor-car. The experience thus gained will be extremely useful should the motor cyclist ultimately become the owner of a larger vehicle, while those who begin with motor cycles will probably enter the ranks of motor-car owners after they have realised the pleasures and delights of automobilism whether with the cheaper or the more expensive form. ”

“ No one can travel down fifty miles of an English road without coming upon a hundred beautiful and unexpected things, and seeing those things in the best possible way and as they ought to be seen. When we see scenery from the railways, or, at any rate, the near-at-hand scenery, we are, as it were, looking at the brocade of the landscape on the wrong side. ”

“ For ordinary partridge- and pheasant-shooting in England motors have already taken their place as practical vehicles; and I may here remark that it is all-important that we should not lead motor manufacturers to imagine their cars are only to be used in the summer-time, when the roads are good and when you can arrive at the end of your journey with your paint showing in all its glory. ”

“ A fruitful cause of accident and of wear and tear of brakes, tyres and car generally, is the abuse of a good firm-holding brake. Maintaining high speed to the last moment and depending on sudden application of the brakes is a very bad and often dangerous practice.
The injudicious use of brakes or the rash driving which entails the excessive employment and the abuse of brake power, is not only to be condemned because it is so likely to cause the breakage of the brake gear, and so render a driver absolutely helpless, but because it is one of the fruitful causes of rapid tyre wear. ”

“ I never allow the mechanical portion of the motor-car to interfere with the interior of the carriage, a rule which experience has taught me to be very necessary. Your motor-car engineer as a rule gives but little heed to the carriage part of his vehicle; to him the engine is all in all, and he will not hesitate to thrust some of his oily belongings into the interior of one's vehicle unless such a rule as that which I have made is strictly laid down and sternly kept. ”

“ But we clip the wings of the possibilities of motors if we limit them to travels of which a home is the immediate centre. The trials organised by the Automobile Club point to the practicability of journeys for which our country is so admirably adapted. The motor-car may become a land yacht with more variety of scenery than its marine prototype, and an absence of the frequent disconcerting motion peculiar to the sea. I do not at all depreciate the pleasure of travelling over a beautiful country in a railway. ”

“ We all deplore, and rightly deplore, the decay of the village, but nothing would so quickly and soundly help the village as the resurrection of the road. If the men of the villages within the ten-mile radius of London could jump into a motor omnibus or brake and be carried to London for a penny, as they could be, we should have greatly helped to solve the housing problem. The simplicity of arrangement by which a man in the village could enter the omnibus at his own door and be carried straight to his work would greatly facilitate living in the country and working in town. ”

“ There is one point interesting to every woman on which a few words are necessary, and that is what the effect of long days in the open, and the rapid passage through the air, must have on the complexion. It certainly does not improve it, but there is not much use in trying anything, except wearing a veil, to mitigate its evils. Many people use powder and grease to prevent the skin from getting red and hard.
Alas! if women are going to motor, and motor seriously—that is to say, use it as a means of locomotion—they must relinquish the hope of keeping their soft peach-like bloom. ”

“ As every person interested in motor carriages knows, until the passing of the Locomotives on Highways Act of 1896, every mechanically driven carriage had to be preceded by a man on foot with a red flag, and proceed at a pace resembling that of an ox waggon. But now we may, if our vehicle be under a ton and a half, move at the pace of an average horse, that is to say at twelve miles an hour. ”

“ The sense of conquest is glorious. The temptation to 'scorch' down-hill is gone. Undoubtedly the high-powered motor removes the temptation to excessive speed down-hill, and consequently removes a great danger. This is illustrated by referring again to our example. Supposing that the driver of the modern car wished to descend very cautiously, he could do so at six miles an hour and yet arrive at the foot of the hill a minute in advance of the old-fashioned car which ascended at four and descended at a speed of thirty miles an hour. ”

“ As a matter of fact one can get almost any shape one wishes, but experience has proved that forms of carriage which are suitable for horse-driven vehicles are not always equally suited to motor-cars. With certain kinds of engines, too, it is difficult to adopt any other form of car than the Tonneau, or for the wet weather the Limousine. Some kind of carriage bodies are obviously heavier than others, and, therefore, take away from speed, but I regard the suppression of mere open carriages for use in warm weather only as a matter of the very near future. ”

“ Greasy roads are the greatest danger of all to the novice, and yet when the driver has acquired enough skill to gauge the correct speed to drive over them, and keeps himself within the limit of that speed, there is little or no fear of mishap. Here, again, however, even an experienced driver is sometimes inclined to run the risk of driving the car at a greater speed than the road-surface warrants; and consequently if brakes have to be applied suddenly, and the car pulled up in a short space, there is a possibility of a bad side-slip. The great point on greasy roads is to drive cautiously. ”

“ A man may be perfectly able to perform all the special driving functions when not flurried, and when his attention is not disturbed by exciting events, but he may become hopelessly involved at the very moment when the greatest skill and judgment are required from him—for instance, when in an emergency the pedal brake ought to be applied, instead of pressing down this brake, which would at once stop the vehicle, he may hurriedly press down the accelerator pedal, which has the effect of increasing the speed, and thus, possibly, an accident of a most serious nature results. ”

“ The motor-car, when in the hands of a careful and experienced driver, is admittedly the safest form of vehicle on the road, the chief reason for this being the rapidity with which it can be stopped, even when travelling at high speeds, and also the ease with which under the same conditions it can be diverted from its course into the direction desired by the driver. ”

“ To many of us come all the pleasures and excitement of exploration. I am sure most persons know of a corner of their counties, previously as inaccessible as the North Pole, which can now be visited with no fear of a chill welcome at the end, and with the prospect of the consumption of something better than the train oil of the Esquimaux gourmet. If we live near a range of hills there is the perpetual curiosity as to what is to be seen on the other side. ”

“ Few undertakings require more care and caution than the choice of a motor-car. Of the three or four hundred types and varieties now in existence, many are of no practical use, some are extremely complicated, not a few dangerous, and many more or less faulty in construction. The difficulty of the choice is increased by the fact that almost every enthusiast recommends the particular kind of carriage he himself possesses, and in addition every manufacturer claims, and possibly believes, that his is the only possible automobile. ”

“ It is the duty of any one who uses the roads of Great Britain for motor-cars to express his gratitude perhaps to the ancient Romans, certainly to the old turnpike trustees and to their modern successors the county councils, and I say this the more emphatically in the hope of encouraging the county councils to persevere in their good work. These roads are the sphere of the motor-car, and my belief is that, could we consult our friends the horses, there would be whatever in the case of horses corresponds to a plebiscite in favour of utilising it to the fullest extent. ”

“ The fact that will assert itself directly we have a proper supply of easy, quick, and comfortable motor-cars available, is the fact just named—i.e. that we live on roads and do not live on railways. The circumstance that a motor-car can stop at the garden gate if we live by a highway, or drive up the carriage-drive and draw up level with the porch if we live within lodge-gates, and take a man direct to the door of his office, or of his friend, or wherever he wants to go to, is bound to make the motor-car beat the train for all short-distance work. ”

“ It is maintained that a horse fears any strange object which approaches it, first slowly, and then stops, just as a wild beast would do when about to spring at its victim. Possibly the horse for this reason fears a motor-car which approaches it cautiously and then is stopped in compliance with the demand of the horse-driver.
If all motorists would drive with consideration there would be no necessity for the law which requires them to stop. But as things are, perhaps the provision which gives the driver of a restive horse power to stop the motor-car is indispensable. ”

“ But what do they know of England who only England know from the window of a railway-carriage?—the great plain or valley, even with its sunlit varieties of grass and corn and wood, contributes only a small part of the beauty which England has to show, but which she declines to disclose to the railway-traveller. ”

“ To those who can realise, by actual possession, the pleasures of the motor-car, this chapter will be of little interest. But there are many aspiring motorists to whom the original cost of a car, or its maintenance when purchased, is a barrier to ownership. Hence the favour with which motor cycles are regarded, and the growing importance they are attaining in the automobile movement. The familiar forms are the tricycle, quadricycle, and the bicycle, the latter having rapidly come to the front, to the apparent supersession of the more cumbersome type of motor cycle. ”

“ The school children, it is true, usually line the road and utter shouts of which I have never been able to discern the significance, or seek the delight, to me, I confess, wholly unintelligible, of throwing their caps under the advancing car. But when a car stops old people invariably surround it with criticism and inquiry. The witticism, 'Seems to me, measter, your horse can't get on without drinking any more than ourn,' never fails, and many an old lady gladly accepts the experience of a ride to the end of her village and back again. ”

“ It is an exceedingly awkward and dangerous occurrence when a car runs backwards down a hill, through, perhaps, a chain breaking, or the driver missing the gear in changing speed. This may possibly happen before the novice has ever thought of learning to drive backwards, and the lesson under this nerve-shattering circumstance probably results in his having a big repair bill to face, to say nothing of doctors' bills. ”

“ Passing another vehicle on the wrong side is always a dangerous proceeding, as if an accident occur the fact may weigh heavily against the motorist. It is better to use patience and insist on the driver of the other vehicle pulling in to his proper side.
It is perhaps poor comfort to the tourist to know that hecan if he like to wait long enough in the neighbourhood, summon any person who wilfully obstructs the highway, but a threat of issuing a summons might have some effect upon a carter in a country road who refuses to allow room for a car to pass. ”

“ A good many people interested in motor-car matters are prone to the assumption that the motor-car question is a very simple one. To the horror of a good many of my enthusiastic friends I have always been bold enough to make two statements, first, that in unskilled hands the motor-car is very dangerous to its owner, its passengers, and others; and secondly, that the motor-car is as complicated as the horse. ”