Culled from Contemporaries.
Page 15
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Chiefly about Horseless Sunday.
A Smoking Carriage.
A motor omnibus caused some little excitement last week in New Oxford Street by entering a tobacconist's shop. The fondness of some of these vehicles for smoking is an undoubted evil.—"Punch."
The Penalty of Originality.
The genius who first conceived the idea of " Horseless Sunday " had to pay the usual penalty of originality; he was denounced for his selfishness, and his proposal was distorted out of recognition for the purpose of proving its inherent objectionableness.—" The Scots Pictorial," Glasgow.
London will be Healthier.
The Sunday when a certain area of London is to be entirely without horse traffic has not yet been fixed. It will be an interesting experiment. Now that we are having at last a little real summer weather, no one who goes about Loudon can fail to realise that it would be a much healthier city even than it is if there were not so many thousands of horses in it. Our sense of smell Informs us very distinctly of this. If all stables and mews were kept as they should be the objections would be less serious, but would still exist to some
extent. The odours from motors are not exactly pleasant, but they are not opposed to hygiene. The condition of the roads would he vastly improved were horse traffic done away with.— Northern Whig," Belfast.
Parliamentary Questions Invoked.
have no idea what means the committee will take to bring about their ob ject, hut it is very evident that, regard less of whom they injure, they mean eventually to drive the horse off the London streets altogether. Now I hold that there is not the slightest justification for a horseleas Sunday in London,
and I look upon any attempt to bring it
about as an unfair interference with an old established industry which is of national importance. The cab horse and the bus horse are useful in their places. and the cab and the omnibus find a mar
ket for second and third-rate horses, and a ready one. I have purposely omitted to name any individuals on the committee, but I warn my readers that there will be a sorry time for them if they do not watch its proceedings. If horses are taken off the streets by fair means, then we cannot complain. But there is only one fair way of taking them off the streets, and that is by people not using horse-drawn vehicles. I would point out most forcibly that it does not require a committee to bring this about. Not would I have my friends lull themselves into security by saying that a body of men who associate for such a purpose are cranks. They may he—perhaps they are, but cranks in these days of cranks must be sternly dealt with, and that at first, if we do not want them to have all their' own way. Will no one in Parliament ask a question about this Horseless Sunday'? —" The Looker-on " in " The Mark Lane Express," London. Badge No. 1537.
There is a cabdriver in Moscow who is 103 years of age. We thought that we had discovered an even more wonderful instance in London, but though appearances warranted the belief the number turned out to be that of the veteran's badge.—" The Evening News," London.
The Sportsmanlike Instincts ol Londoners.
Seven hundred omnibuses will be affected by the " Fforseless Sunday," which will be held in the Westminster area next month. I. or eight hours all horse traffic will he banished, and its place taken by motor vehicles to prove that the motor traffic is adequate to meet all requirements. Where the horse 'buses enter Westminster motor 'buses will be waiting for the transference of passengers. As regards the afternoon milk traffic, motor vans will be supplied to the firms using horses, free of charge. The scheme was originated by the chairman of the Westminster Highways Committee, and an ap. peal is made to the sportsmanlike instincts of Londoners to assist in making it a success.—" Shields Daily Gazette."
Streets are open Sewers.
It scarcely needs a great demonstration, one would think, to prove motor vehicles more cleanly than horse traffic. Due to the latter, many of our city streets are no better than open sewers, worse, in fact, since the whirl of the traffic frequently creates in them a condition of atmosphere which it is hard to reconcile with a vaunted deference to sanitary principles. It is a poor civilisation which has allowed such a state of affairs to exist so long. The triumph of the motor chances to bring several very knotty problems within measurable distance of solution. Street sanitation is one of them; another being the construction and maintenance of road surfaces. No doubt the time is yet remote when horse traffic will have disappeared entirely, but the factor which it represents is a steadily diminishing quantity. In other words, the period for compromise is nearing its end, and the day fast approaching when the roads will be designed especially for motor traffic. These roads will entail a heavy initial outlay, but cost very little for maintenance during a long life. Hitherto, the question of initial cost has. dominated the position to a remarkable extent, durability being relegated to a secondary consitieration. The ravages caused by horse traffic on any road surface are largely responsible for this, but.
now that the 'damage thus caused is less than formerly, there is an increasing tendency on the part of local authorities to adopt more heroic methods of providing surfaces worthy of the altered conditions. The new era will be wel
comed by all for the blessings it will bring in the form of cleaner streets, speedier traffic, and a hygienic atmo
sphere in our large cities..—" Contractor's Record."
Watercooled.
As there have been several instances recently of cars falling into rivers and sinking, the "Thames Motor Carriages" which we see advertised should supply a want.—" Punch."
" London " Without Horses.
On an early Sunday London will experience what it is like to be without horses. The " Horseless Sunday " movement aims at exemplifying how advantageously the whole of the passenger traffic can be efficiently dealt with -by motor vehicles only.—" Manchester Courier."
A Fallacy to be Exploded.
It is time that fallacy was exploded. . . . . Therefore, to speak of the cause of motorism in its proper sense is to talk of something which is the concern, not of one class, but of the entire community. Let us labour to establish this point, that the full significance of any enterprise undertaken on behalf of the cause in which we are mutually interested may be appreciated by whosoever shall be concerned. It is time that whenever anybody is found assuming that anything to du with motor vehicles is the concern of a body of a few hundred thousands only of the tens of millions who inhabit these islands, that such conclusions should be challenged unhesitatingly, and the point argued to an issue. Individual motorists are apt to be too modest, concerning the influence which they may exercise on behalf of the cause of mechanical traction, which is undoubtedly a humanitarian one, in that it will make more and more effectively for cleanliness, and in that it has within it the means of relieving dumb beasts of all manner of toil, much of it of a kind that has been admittedly undesirable; for however well-cared-for horses may be during their prime, a tragedy of increasing years is in store for them in 95 cases out of a hundred, that being one of the inevitable consequences of having to use animals strictly for business purposes, therefore under profitable circumstances only. To speak at the present time of using dogs for purposes of haulage is commonly to call forth indignant protests
in this country There will be many noble uses for horses in the future, even though they are not put to struggle along smooth-surfaced and necessarily-hard roads, at constantly re-starting omnibuses, or at dragging other heavy loads in the thronged hot or greasy thoroughfares of our great cities. Even those of us who may be so selfish as not to care that the horses that live their prime years with all manner of good grooming and feeding, only to end up in the cab rank, with exposure to all varie ties of climate, and heavier work to do than they were required to perform when in the full vigour of their strength, must be prepared to allow that, even from the point of view of sanitation, motor vehicles are going to prove a boon to civilisation.—" The Royal Automobile Club Journal," London.