The social changes wrought by the automobile had affected every phase of national life. Transportation was revolutionized, the isolation of the country broken down. No single development ever had a more far-reaching effect in speeding up the tempo of modern living. The entire face of the country was criss-crossed with highways of macadam and cement, lined with filling-stations, lunch-rooms, curio stores, antique shops, hot-dog stands, tourist camps, and signboards. It was the age of the automobile.
Nowhere were the changes more far-reaching than in popular recreation. At least one-quarter of the use of automobiles was estimated by the American Automobile Association to be for pleasure -- touring and holiday driving. Equally important was the extent to which it was used as an adjunct to pleasure, as a means of transportation from the country to the amusements of the city and from the city to the sports and outdoor activities of the country. For countless millions the automobile brought the near-by golf-course, tennis-courts, or bathing-beach within practical reach. It opened up the way for holiday picnics in the country and for week-end excursions to fish or hunt. It immensely stimulated the whole outdoor movement, making camping possible for throngs of people to whom woods, mountains, and streams were formerly totally inaccessible. It provided a means of holiday travel for a people whose migratory instinct appeared insatiable, making touring one of the most popular of all amusements.
The delights of a week-end or Sunday motor excursion into the country were spread glowingly over the pages of popular magazines in the advertisements published by manufacturers of popular models. The automobile was "the enricher of life." A midwestern bank president was quoted in one two-page spread in the Saturday Evening Post as declaring that "a man who works six days a week and spends the seventh on his own doorstep certainly will not pick up the extra dimes in the great thoroughfare of life." Another advertisement invited the car-owner to make the most of the next sunny Sunday -- "tell the family to hurry the packing and get aboard -- and be off with smiles down the nearest road -- free, loose, and happy -- bound for green wonderlands." The suggestion -- which innumerable families took -aroused the resentment of those religious elements in the population which believed church-going rather than motoring the way to spend the day, but the automobile finally completed the gradtions, lunch-rooms, curio stores, antique shops, hot-dog stands, tourist camps, and signboards. It was the age of the automobile.
Nowhere were the changes more far-reaching than in popular recreation. At least one-quarter of the use of automobiles was estimated by the American Automobile Association to be for pleasure -- touring and holiday driving. Equally important was the extent to which it was used as an adjunct to pleasure, as a means of transportation from the country to the amusements of the city and from the city to the sports and outdoor activities of the country. For countless millions the automobile brought the near-by golf-course, tennis-courts, or bathing-beach within practical reach. It opened up the way for holiday picnics in the country and for week-end excursions to fish or hunt. It immensely stimulated the whole outdoor movement, making camping possible for throngs of people to whom woods, mountains, and streams were formerly totally inaccessible. It provided a means of holiday travel for a people whose migratory instinct appeared insatiable, making touring one of the most popular of all amusements.
The delights of a week-end or Sunday motor excursion into the country were spread glowingly over the pages of popular magazines in the advertisements published by manufacturers of popular models. The automobile was "the enricher of life." A midwestern bank president was quoted in one two-page spread in the Saturday Evening Post as declaring that "a man who works six days a week and spends the seventh on his own doorstep certainly will not pick up the extra dimes in the great thoroughfare of life." Another advertisement invited the car-owner to make the most of the next sunny Sunday -- "tell the family to hurry the packing and get aboard -- and be off with smiles down the nearest road -- free, loose, and happy -- bound for green wonderlands." The suggestion -- which innumerable families took -aroused the resentment of those religious elements in the population which believed church-going rather than motoring the way to spend the day, but the automobile finally completed the gradtions, lunch-rooms, curio stores, antique shops, hot-dog stands, tourist camps, and signboards. It was the age of the automobile.
Nowhere were the changes more far-reaching than in popular recreation. At least one-quarter of the use of automobiles was estimated by the American Automobile Association to be for pleasure -- touring and holiday driving. Equally important was the extent to which it was used as an adjunct to pleasure, as a means of transportation from the country to the amusements of the city and from the city to the sports and outdoor activities of the country. For countless millions the automobile brought the near-by golf-course, tennis-courts, or bathing-beach within practical reach. It opened up the way for holiday picnics in the country and for week-end excursions to fish or hunt. It immensely stimulated the whole outdoor movement, making camping possible for throngs of people to whom woods, mountains, and streams were formerly totally inaccessible. It provided a means of holiday travel for a people whose migratory instinct appeared insatiable, making touring one of the most popular of all amusements.
The delights of a week-end or Sunday motor excursion into the country were spread glowingly over the pages of popular magazines in the advertisements published by manufacturers of popular models. The automobile was "the enricher of life." A midwestern bank president was quoted in one two-page spread in the Saturday Evening Post as declaring that "a man who works six days a week and spends the seventh on his own doorstep certainly will not pick up the extra dimes in the great thoroughfare of life." Another advertisement invited the car-owner to make the most of the next sunny Sunday -- "tell the family to hurry the packing and get aboard -- and be off with smiles down the nearest road -- free, loose, and happy -- bound for green wonderlands." The suggestion -- which innumerable families took -aroused the resentment of those religious elements in the population which believed church-going rather than motoring the way to spend the day, but the automobile finally completed the gradual transformation of the Sabbath from a day of rest and worship to one primarily devoted to recreation.
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