BRIDGING THE GAP

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6544, 15 November 1924, Page 6

BRIDGING THE GAP

THE MOTOR, GAR AND DEMOC- * RACY The theory that the class struggle between wage workers and employers so miich in evidence in European countries, has been held down to a minimum in the United States thrpugh the wholesale production of -cheap automobiles, is elaborated and supported sby Dr. Colin R6ss, a welllcnowii German publicist, in an article written in Los Angeles for German papers.: Dir. Ross, who is a champion of democracy in Germany and who recently reached the U.S.A. from a tour in Latin America, begins by pointing out that if the use of automobiles is restricted practically to the wealthy, as in most , European countries, they are potent factors for breeding hatred for then; possessors in' the hearts of the proletariat that has to swallow their dust and petrol odours. He notes; that in America they have become so general as to make for democracy instead of class warfare, and then says:—

“In fact to-day the automobile in the United States, at least in the West, is in more general use by the work-ing-class as a means of transportation than the bicycle in Europe. An unskilled worker gets four or five dollars a. day, a skilled man eight to 10, and even 12 to 14. With such wages it is easy to get a motor car and to maintain it.’ If finds a new Ford too dear, one can/get a second-hand one for little money. The American generally doesn’t keep his car very long, three or four years; then he buys a new one. Above all, a person who begins with a Ford tries as soon as possible to get a more expensive type I —although even that is not dear, according to European ideas. And so there is a constant supply that bears the market. ; ' “Dealing in used cars is a simple matter in California and doesn’t cost much. All that is needed is an‘open spiace. There the cars stand, day and night, and the dealer has his office in of them. A small used car may be had for as little as 150 dollars. And you don’t have to pay all of it in cash either. It is enough to make a payment of 30 to 50 dollars down; the rest is on the instalment plan.: ■ • “But with the possession of an automobile the; social chasm is, again spanned. .The worker goes to the factory 'in motor car like the manager or the owner. He takes his sweetheart for a 1 trip on Sunday or goes with his family for a week-eryl in the mountains or at the seashore. Many take, tent and H camp beds with them and "pend Saturday* afternoon and Sunday in the open; ' The possession of a motor car makes one absolutely free in one’s movements. .If one like job in one place the c,at quickly takes him to another. “S&Tjirises are constantly overwhelming tjie European in connection with the wide use of motor vehicles mi the West.. In this country I saw, with astonishment, farm hands, unable to read or write and doing the most common day labour, enter their cars after the day’s work to go home to their families.- And the seasonal agricultural, worker also has his auto. In the San Joaquin Valley I met Mexican families on their way from gathering oranges near San Diego to cut grqpes in Central California. They lived in* tents and travelled in motor cars. '- v . V .. i- ' M.. i•>

■ v “Human labour is dear, the machine is cheap. This really smoothes over social contrasts. The small, and even the larger, manufacturers or business men, in principle, don’t live much better than the workers. Both clashes have their autos, and both have no. servants in their houses. It is easier to keep two autos than, one servant girl. I have become acquainted with very well situated families, living in fine houses and owning several motor cars, where the lady of the house does not employ a girl. Of course, the mechanical appliances for house? keeping have developed quite differently than with us. But they are also * financially available $o the worker’s family. “The widespread ownership of autos has also influenced the relationship of man and wife »and of children and parents. It is a matter of course that every woman runs a car. Without that she really couldn’t do her housekeeping. And every half-grown youth can guide an auto. When a son or daughter is sent to college a car is fjto quently furnished by the parents. At least I found the campus of the University of California in Berkeley actually surrounded by student’s cars.