To conquer the Elysian Fields we must establish new industries at home,
we must move our surplus population to the lands which are
underpopulated, and we must be prepared to secure our Empire against
foreign aggression. All these problems can the roadless vehicle help us
to solve.
First, the vehicle itself is a new type of machine which will demand an
industry of its own. Twenty-five years ago, as many of us remember, it
was a rarity to see a motor-car; yet there were men who, even then,
could see them in legions, and one of these men was Mr. (now Earl)
Balfour. “In the House of Commons on Thursday, May 17, 1900, Mr. Balfour
said he sometimes dreamed—perhaps it was only a dream—that in addition
to railways and tramways, we might see great highways constructed for
rapid motor traffic, and confined to motor traffic, which would have the
immense advantage, if it could be practicable, of taking the workman
from door to door, which no tramcar and no railway could do. Is it
possible for Mr. Balfour’s dream to be realized?”—_Pall Mall Gazette._
To-day, this question is apt to make us smile, seeing that the motor-car
industry is one of the largest and richest in the world; that in 1924
there were half a million cars in this country and nearly fourteen
millions in the United States,[8] and that hundreds of millions of
pounds have been spent on motor roads.
Footnote 8:
In 1924 there was one car to every eight people in the U.S.A., and one
to every seventy-four in Great Britain.
Surely then, if I be right as regards the powers of the roadless
vehicle, its future should be as great as that of the motor-car,
possibly greater, seeing that most of the world is still in a roadless
condition. Surely, here is employment for many men, and a source of
wealth which can only be guessed at in thousands of millions of pounds.
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