Of all the inventions during my days the automobile seems to be the most important and most revolutionizing. Gone are the good old horse and buggy days and things of the past.
We often heard of the horseless carriage used in Europe, but folks said they would be of no use here, since there were no hard surfaced highways.
The first power driven vehicle came down the county road, now the White Horse Pike, in the fall of 1898. I was helping my brother-in-law paint his house opposite the Egg Harbor School. Word had been sent ahead that it would pass through Egg Harbor at noon or shortly thereafter.
Well, all the shop hands were given time off to watch along the road, where many residents were standing, to watch from noon until about two o'clock, when word came from Hammonton that the thing had broken down and had to be repaired before coming on. So everyone went home or back to the shop.
It was near evening and we were taking down the ladders and putting away the paint pots, when there was a commotion along the Pike. Word had been received that the carriage was on its way down, so we waited.
"Here they come!" the crowd shouted.
Sure enough, with a pank-pank-pank, a lot of dust and smoke, two men with goggles, (there were no windshields then) covered with grease and dust, driving at the breakneck speed of a mile in three minutes, came rattling and bouncing down the road. That was the first motor rig that came to Atlantic City and I was fortunate enough to see it.
Many changes have taken place since then and one of these old motor buggies makes an interesting exhibit in a museum today. Automobiles were very few at the beginning of the century, mostly sportsmen, eventually doctors and business men used them.
Dirt roads were dusty in summer and muddy in winter. Many owners drained the radiators and put their cars in a shed during the winter months. Tires were poor and there were many defects in the motors. Along the roads one could find autoists patching tires and looking for motor trouble, and the boys would holler, "Hey Mister, get a horse!" and often they did hire someone with a horse to pull them out of the mud.
It was not until after World War One that hard surface roads were built. It was then I bought my first car, a used Studebaker. It looked very good. The owner had died and his son said it just needed a few minor adjustments, but when I got the bill from the repairman, I nearly fainted!
On our first trip we took a dressed pig to a customer about eight miles away and it took only an hour. With the horse and wagon it would have taken half a day. My son said, "See what we saved?"
"Yes" I said, "now we can work for the balance of the day to pay for what the trip cost."
Well, the auto brought many pleasure trips and also much grief to many families.
In the old times, the dead and wounded were counted after every battle. Today, they are counted after every holiday.