Transcriber’s Notes: Italic text is clothed with _underscores_. The spelling, hyphenation, punctuation and accentuation are as the original, except for apparent typographical errors which have been corrected. The wide table of Curb Market trading for years 1906, 1909, 1912 and 1916 has been split into two, vertically, the first displays the years 1916 and 1912, the second half displays years 1909 and 1906 for each of the three folio pages. [Illustration: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN FIRST GREAT AMERICAN TEACHER OF THRIFT AND INVESTING FOR PROFIT CHARLES E. DURYEA MAKER OF THE FIRST AMERICAN GASOLINE AUTOMOBILE THAT RAN HENRY FORD FATHER OF QUANTITY PRODUCTION OF THE AUTOMOBILE] Story of the Automobile Its History and Development From 1760 to 1917 With an Analysis of the Standing and Prospects of the Automobile Industry By H. L. BARBER Economist and Financial Writer Author of “Making Money Make Money,” etc., etc. CHICAGO A. J. MUNSON & CO. 1917 COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY H. L. BARBER PREFACE. So far as I know, there is no book in circulation that tells, in concise form, the story of the mechanical and commercial evolution of the automobile, mirrors its sudden leap into popular use, and shows how it has demonstrated, in a most amazing way, the power of money to make money, describes its benefits to the world, and forecasts the future possibilities of the automobile industry as an investment. This book, the “Story of the Automobile,” shows the struggle of man for one hundred and fifty years to devise a means of propelling a vehicle without animal power. It describes the various stages of the evolution of the idea of motive force other than animal power, in France, England, Germany and the United States, and its triumphant culmination in a successful horseless vehicle. And it makes clear how, when the automobile became of practical use, its successful commercialization became most profitable in the shortest period of time of that of any product of man’s ingenuity supplying an article to meet human wants. But if this were all that could be recorded of the story of the automobile, this book would not have been written. The automobile’s success demonstrates all this, and something more—something that would not ordinarily occur to a person unless his attention was called to it. The astonishing history of the automobile’s success affords one of the most convincing and the best modern instance of the opportunities that are being constantly presented for investing for profit. It is a signal example kept in our hearing every day by the Niagara-like roar of the cars along our boulevards, of the fact that this is the age of golden opportunities for making money make money—of opportunities that disclose themselves, sometimes unexpectedly, and, when embraced, are apt to respond with a veritable avalanche of profits.