9
HOME AND FARM MAGAZINE SECTION
Automobiles and Good Roads
Showing How Cost of Operating a Motor Can May Be Lessened.
THEBE is no question but that the
fear of high cost of operation keeps
many a farmer from buying a
motor ear, says II. C. Hatch in Suc
cessful Farming. Tales told by, town
and city car owners, who hire all work
done on the car, even to washing and
polishing, tend to discourage farmers.
The average farmer does not consider
that because of his familiarity with
machinery he is moro competent to
handle, care for and repair a motor car
than tho town and city man, who, very
likely, has no knowledge of machin
ery, " therefore must hire every little
job done. Perhaps, too, the average
banker, merchant and townsman is less
inclined to tackle a job that will dirty
hi. hands than the farmer.
The present and only car I have own
ed will soon have been five years in my
possession. Somohow, I feel that this
nearly five years of experience with a
car permits me to speak of motor cars
with experience. On the first day of
November, 1909, 1 paid $1,425 for a five
passenger, thirty horsepower car that
has given me uniform satisfactory ser
vice since. Being an averago Kansas
farmer, I have no money to spend on
luxuries and nothing to pay out for
labor than can as well be done on the
farm.
The Cost of Repairs.
With tho car in my possession, I de
termined to learn it and to pay out
for its upkeep only what was neces
sary. When a repair is necessary I send
direct to tho Kansas City branch for it
and make the replacement myself. Dur
ing the four and one-half years of
actual use of the car it has been neces
sary to put in two new rear axle shafts,
a new drive pinion and an intermediate
gear wheel, as well as the main trans
mission shaft bushings. All this re
placement I have done myself, at a cost
only of time necessary to do it. It
took me longer, of course, to do this
work than an experienced garage hand,
but it was done during stormy times,
with little interference with the work
on the farm.
A new clutch was put in the second
year the car was in use, but this was a
c mpany replacement, at half price, the
original clutch not proving what it
should be, and as the company seemed
disposed to do the fair thing, they put
an improved clutch in at one-half price
rather than to havo an unsatisfactory
piece of work on the road. On tho same
basis, improved and adjustable push
rods were furnished, but I put these in
myself when I had the engine down to
clean it of carbon. Last summer the
coil box gave trouble and it was neces
sary to exchange this for a new one,
which the company did on a basis of
one-half the cost of a new coil, with
the old coil returned to them. This com
pletes the li. t of repairs it has' been
necessary to buy during the four and
one-half years the machine has been in
actual use, and the car Is now in per
fect trim for another season's work.
Tires and tubes are not included in the
list of repairs but arc taken account
of in tho running .expense.
Do Not Mind the Mud.
Living some distance from town, our
car is used at times when the roads are
not in the best of condition. Going on
the theo-y that cars aro made to be
i, T Hn not stand back for a little
mud or for rough, rutty roads. The
machine "as bought for business as woll
as for pleasure. Not laving a driving
team, it is UBcd as a saver of horses
to prevent the use of fork teams on
the roads. I often make tho trip to
town, loaded down with casM filled
with eggs, when the roads are such
that the intermediate gear must be
The Progressive
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Before September 1, 1914.
used most of tho way. The intermedi
ate gear is there for use when the pull
ing is too hard for high gear, and I do
not drive work horses to town just be
cause the roads are too muddy to per-
it driving on "high" most of the
way. I can make ten to twelve miles
an hour on "intermediata" without
overheating the engine or otherwise
harming tho machine.
Because I travel over any and all
roads, except when absolutely out of
the question to use a car, I do not
make the mileago from gasoline that
those do who travel only when the
roads are good. A basis of ten miles to
a gallon, for year around use, I con
sider conservative. When the roads are
good I can make eighteen to twenty
miles to the gallon, but it would not be
right to figure that as the mileage be
causo it is possible to do that well at
times. When the sixty gallon tank is
filled, the mileage of the car is set
down according to the reading of the
speedometer. When the tank is emptied
the speedometer is again read and the
mileage per gallon is figured. As gaso-
lin evapSrates and wastes in other ways,
it is impossible to make use of all you
pay for, but as you pay for it, it is
only fair that the entire cost of gaso
line be figured, waste as well as what is
actually used. Figured in this way, a
ten mile to tho gallon estimate is not
far wrong, particularly if ail sorts of
roads are negotiated.
Tires and Tubes.
Tires and tubes are now cheaper than
ever before. A 3 by 32 tire can now be
bought for around $16, with regular
3,500 mile guarantee. The second year
I owned the car a new tire was bought,
which then cost me $2S.50". This was
not the high point, however, as a few
weeks later the price soared to over $32,
Oi practically double what it is now.
Crude rubber is now very low in price,
consequently tires and tubes are much
cheaper, as well as averaging better,
nee there is not the incentive to
adulterate or use second-hand rubber, as
there is when the product is high. A
good quality of oil is likewiso cheaper
than it was three and four years ago.
One can buy oil very cheap now, but it
is cheap oil. I find that a grade cost
ing around 50 cents a gallon is really
cheaper, mileage and real lubrication
considered, than a poor oil that may be
bought as lo was 30 cents or less.
Can It Travel?
Let ns figure what it will cost to
travel 100 miles with the average five
passenger car, witn the roads in aver
age condition. Ten gallons of gasoline
will cost $1.40. Wear and tear on the
tires will average. 2 cents a mile, or
$2 for the 100 miles. Oil and grease to
make the 100 miles will cost about 25
cents moro, making a total of $3.65 for
gasoline, tires, oil and grease to travel
the 100 miles. This takes no account
of repairs or wear and tear on the ma
chine. If the machine is well taken
caro of, however, and the few repairs
needed by the machine that is well
cared for aro installed by the owner
himself, thus escaping the garage bill
that is often exorbitant, tho cost of
running 100 miles need not be more
than $5, or 5 cents a mile. On the
whole, for the farmer's car, taken care
of by the farmer himself, I think that
an estimate of 5 cents a mile is not one
bit too high or too ow. This means 1
cent per mile per passenger, a cheap
rate for transportation.
As Cheap as a Team.
One cannot do it for less with a driv
ing team, considering me mga cost, oi
hay and grain the team will eat. This
is not all; with account taken or tnc
extra time saved by the car, the cost of
traveling by motor car is lowered still
more, for a farmer's time is worth
money, and just when timo on the farm
is worth the most tho car runs the best
and the roads are likely to be best.
Notice that I speak of the use of the
car purely from a business standpoint
as a means ot transportation oi live
passengers or their equivalent in weight
of farm produce. What it accomplishes
in a business way it surpasses as a
pleasure vehicle. With the car, trips
will be made that would not be under
taken with a team, such as going some
distance across country to visit rela
tives and friends or to town in the
evening to attend an entertainment.
All this is possible regardless of the
horses or the work they must do. After
nearly five years of experience, I am
convinced that the medium priced car,
of standard make, will "break up" no
farmer who has tho ready money with
which to buy it. The cost of operation
is really less than I figured it would bo
before buying the car.
French Automobiles
THE year 1913 was one of great pros
perity for the French atuomobilo
trade. Tho production and home
demand increased, whilo the foreign
trado reached record figures. Tho value
of the exports of pleasuro motor cars in
1913 was $41,978,850 as compared with
$39,970,879 in 1912. More noticeable
was the increase in the foreign ship
ments of French motor cars for indus
trial purposes, the valuo of the ship
ments in 1913 being $1,914,753 against
$944,735 during tho previous, year.
Tho use of foreign automobiles is be
ing moro and moro felt in tho French
market, especially as regards the motor
cars inado in England and in tho United
States. The imports of passenger motor
cars increased from $2,481,980 in 1912
to $3,617,399 in 1913. No official sta
tistics are available which would indi
cate tho countries from which the auto
mobiles were shipped, but from infor
mation obtained from unofficial sources,
there were G27 American motor cars
imported into France in 1913 against
264 cars in 1912. The invasion of the
American motor car has caused much
comment in the French press and pre
dictions have been made that the total
imports of motor cars from the United
States will greatly increaso during the
present year.
Get the Facts
Every young nan and woman in the North
west, who thinks of business as a career,
should send for our free booklet "The Step
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Portland - - Oregon
defore Ton Buy Investigate
DAYTON MOTORCYCLES
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Bargains In Used Machines.
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210 Broadway. Portlai. , Oregt i
the
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ROAD MISEOE3.
TIIE municipality of Bombay has de
cided upon tho plan of making use
nf rnn.l mirrors at dangerous turns
or junctions of streets or roads where
there is considerable traffic, the idea
beinff that drivers will be able to see
on approaching such junctions whether
otherwise blind streets are tree irom
traffic or not. The Bombay Times says,
concerning this plan of road mirrors:
"While this will be the first road
mirror introduced in India it does not
take tho form of an experiment, as road
mirrors exist in manv towns in Eng
land and they have fulfilled their ob
ject with distinct success. But Bombay
is going further than England in that,
as far as is known, tho mirror to be
provided at the corner of Gamdovi
Road and Hughes Koad will be the big
gest road mirror in the world. The
most common Bized mirror employed at
home is 2J by 3 feet and tho biggest
one is 8 by 3 feet, while the mirmr to
ha erected in Bombay will be 10 by 5
feet. The completion of tho mirror will
be awaited by motorists and otners
with interest, for in many parts of
Bombay there aro dangerous corners,
and if they can be freed from their
diiniror hv the provision of road mirrors
a difficult problem will be overcome."
Hustling Needed.
Thero is plonty of good dairy blood
!- 1L. 1 4lw.vn nra tnn fnW
dairymen who havo the perseverance
and pluck to get out and find it.
THE STORY
of a STUDENT
No. 2.
He began with a course In Busi
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thereby becoming accurate, reli
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thorough training given by us.
We have trained thousands of
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farmers, some for good positions
in town and city, and some to go
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Fourth Near Morrison, Portland, Ore.
L M. WALKER, President.
We guarantee positions to all
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Are you coming to Portland t Why nol
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TOUT Q, ANDERSON
328 Chamber of Commerce Bldg.
Portland, Oregon.
I tluiu iiH "