Chapter V. It will only be necessary to say here that the psychological

effect of a daily mail upon the inhabitants of the rural districts has been most remarkable. Through its means these people are no longer isolated, they know daily what is transpiring in the world; they are thinking of the great questions of finance, politics, and what not, at the same time as their fellows in other parts of the country. The nation is thus more or less unified, the country dweller looks and thinks of himself as an integral part of the whole. Rural mail, telephone, the automobile, modern home conveniences and, now, radio telephony are rapidly making agriculture one of the great and desirable professions. The rural home need no longer be a place where there is nothing but ten hours’ work and six hours’ chores. The farmer of to-day, with his daily paper, his market reports, his books and magazines, his furnace-heated and electric-lighted house, his automobile ready at hand, is better off, more independent, and should be more happy and contented than those who dwell in the murky city.

=The Automobile and Health.=--“Health is something more than strength, it is a universally good condition,” according to Munger. The automobile, by inducing people to get more into the open air, may be considered to be a prophylactic, and something that will bring them into that universally good condition. The forgetting of business, the obliteration of household cares, the unstringing of high-tensioned nerves by a swift run like a swallow in its flight over smooth and undulating roads brings rest with relaxation, and cure with comfort. Then away from the mad’ning crowd, away from close poorly ventilated rooms, away from foul-smelling germ-laden cars, to the roads, to the hills, to the country with their varied shades of living carpets, with freshening winds and glad’ning brooks, with bees, and birds, and flowers into nature’s great laboratory where are brewed nectars and panaceas for the ills which infest mankind.

But all cannot have automobiles, pity ’tis, ’tis true, but all may have the benefit of fresh air and the style for an open air life set by those who can afford to drive the “red flyers,” the “quivering arrows,” the “bear cats” or the “poodle dogs,” have been followed by the less fortunate _hoi polloi_. Thus outdoor exercises and amusements have been popularized.

While motoring may not be the best form of exercise, may not bring into play as many muscles as walking, horseback riding, or rowing, say, it must be remembered that not many can have horses to ride or boats to row and walking is too slow. Gymnasium exercises or even home gymnastics are not exciting enough to keep one practicing, so that the outdoor life of the present day, brought about largely by the automobile, has had a more wholesome effect on the people generally than perhaps any other measure.

Styles of clothing have kept close pace, and the garments now worn by both men and women are both comfortable and sanitary, allowing freedom of bodily movement. It is to be hoped that the same influences which induced such hygienic clothing will continue and that never more may the autocratic demands of style force people into close-fitting uncomfortable, unsanitary wearing apparel. For years hygienists, health reformers, and physicians preached against tight lacing for women without results until the automobile came to their assistance. Until very recent years women’s long skirts have swept clouds of germ-laden dust into the air from sidewalks to be breathed by all passers-by. All men know that their present dressing, while it might be bettered, is so much more comfortable than formerly that they have much reason for rejoicing. Formal dressing except for an occasional party has almost disappeared. In the summer time men may be comfortable on the streets without coats. But the women, though more responsive to style changes, now go the men one better and abandon long sleeves and high collars.

Medical science, always alert to adopt modern improvements, was one of the first to take advantage of the time-saving benefits of the automobile. Its universal use by physicians and surgeons, allowing them to reach the bedside of sick patients more quickly and allowing them to visit more patients in the same time, is certainly a pathological asset of great value. Automobile ambulances called in emergency cases save the lives of many injured persons by getting them quickly to the hospitals and under the care of competent medical and surgical attention.

From a purely sanitary point of view good roads have been great agencies for health. Clean streets, clean pavements, and clean roads are much more wholesome than the mud puddles and quagmires that formerly served as passageways for man and beast. In order to get better roadways drainage was resorted to. Ponds and standing water along the side of the road were done away with, at the same time obliterating the breeding places of the myriads of mosquitoes that always abounded in summer time. Since mosquitoes are carriers, as is well known, of such diseases as malaria and yellow fever, the consequence has been a very great reduction, almost elimination, of these ailments.

Again just as the use of the horse on the highways has diminished, so has the summer pest of flies grown less. The favorite breeding place of the housefly is horse dung. When nearly every house in both city and country had its stable with a pile of horse manure by the door flies bred abundantly. The fly has been convicted of being a most energetic distributor of typhoid and other bowel complaints, hence the distruction of its breeding places will be the most effective means for its extermination, and with it one of the most virile sources of contagion.

Thus, upon analysis, it may be seen that the influence of the automobile extends throughout the whole domain of life, changing and modifying nearly all social customs. It is called into use at the birth of the babe to bring the physician to the bedside of the prospective mother. It is the correct equipage at the wedding and starts the bride and groom upon their honey-moon and, it is to be hoped, a happy journey through life. And finally, it bears the remains to their last resting place in the silent city of the dead.

=The Automobile and Crime.=--But not always have the changes produced by automobiles been in the interest of better living. Criminals and those who verge upon criminality have been quick to employ the superior advantages of modern means of rapid transit to assist them in their nefarious work. Automobile theft has taken the place of horse thievery, and automobiles are used daily as a means of getting to and getting away from the place of the crime. Trucks are utilized to haul the loot. Since the adoption of prohibition laws motor cars have been seized upon by booze runners as a convenient vehicle for transporting liquor from one place to another, thus becoming an aid to “bootlegging.” In several of the states cars used for illegally transporting intoxicants are confiscated upon discovery and sold by the state. Drastic laws also deal with operators and owners.

Highway robbery of trucks hauling goods across country is reported. In New Jersey two trucks were robbed of $120,000 worth of merchandise. In other places express drivers have been held up and relieved of their money. One of the earliest improvements of the roadways of England was due to the prevalence of highway robbers--the brush and trees were ordered to be cut from the highway in order that their might be fewer lurking places for robbers.[171]

Here the results of robbery may lead to interesting possibilities. For instance if the trucks above mentioned as robbed in New Jersey were owned by the shipper the $120,000 is a dead loss to him unless he had insurance. Even if the trucks were owned by a small capitalist he would probably not be able to recompense the shipper. Had it been lost on a railway it would have been paid for. If motor shipping is to continue shipments must be covered by bonds or insurance. Even then there is a loss to the public when outlaws seize a loaded truck and drive it into wilds whence its contents can be disposed of at leisure. Shall truckers, like the ancient caravans of the deserts maintain guards with long guns to fight off marauding Bedouins? The western stages of some years ago furnished employment as guards to the quickest shots in the world. Is it the duty of the community to make its highways safe for transportation or must the shipper take the risk and employ guards and machine guns?

=Vandalism.=--Complaints are made that those who drive or walk to the country are often guilty of vandalism and disregard for the rights of property. Note this editorial utterance in the _Saturday Evening Post_ of June 17, 1922:[172]

On Sunday one dare not leave one’s farm or country place unwatched or unprotected for a moment. The whole countryside is aswarm with Nature lovers from the near by city. First come the makers of forbidden beverages, trooping across fields and lawns, picking the once despised dandelion and anything else that happens to be loose; then the happy motorists in long procession, embowering their cars in the spoil of orchards, woodlands, and wayside shrubberies. If there are no flowers near the road these free-and-easy visitors will penetrate one’s garden and break off the blooming branches of the rhododendrons or lilacs or whatever other bush happens to engage their fancy. With trowel and spade the woods are looted and sometimes, if it looks safe, an unwatched garden. Following come shy maidens, in twos and threes, daintily pulling up the woodland flowers by the roots--arbutus, azalea, and a hundred little blossoms that wilt in the hand that picks them; and everywhere are bands of half-grown hoodlums helping in the spoiling of the countryside.

The bolder spirits are usually those who come in motors. They can destroy more, steal more, and get away faster than the man on foot. They meet remonstrance with effrontery and resent the notion that a hick has any rights of property and privacy that they are bound to respect. The flowers, the shrubs, the orchards, and occasionally the unguarded gardens are their prey. They camp beside the woodland brook or the shaded spring, hack the trees, trample the flowers, and turn the spot into a garbage hole with their greasy papers, tin cans, bottles and refuse food. Then up and away to the snug flat in the big town, throwing out the wilted flowers as they go.

Spooning in automobiles parked along the roadways is a subject of regulation in the city of Omaha. An ordinance makes it a misdemeanor subject to fine.

However, the motor car will not be discarded or outlawed because unscrupulous persons put it to illegal and immoral purposes. A net cast