Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 89, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 April 1910 — BLACKSMITHING DECLINING. [ARTICLE]

BLACKSMITHING DECLINING.

One Effect in New York of the Spread of the Automobile. Blacksmithing is becoming a lost art in New York, especially in the branches of- horseshoeing and wagon repairing. This is owing to the way that automobiles for commercial and other purposes have been supplanting the horse in the last two years. Perhaps a generation from now the familiar sledges, anvils and bellows will be a feature of the collections In museums, says the New York Press. There were a lot of blacksmith shops scattered about on unimproved corners and inside lots all over the city as late as five years ago. One could hardly go Into any of the cross streets without hearing the pleasant ring of hammer and anvil and seeing a line of horses waiting to be shod or wagons ranged along the curb for repairs. All this Is changed now. The picturesque shops have all but disappeared. The blacksmiths, many of whom owned the land upon which their old shops stood, have put up substantial buildings and turned their attention exclusively to the repairs of automobiles. They have Installed expensive machinery for that purpose and make but comparatively small use of their old-time tools. They say that they have been forced Into this change because there are no longer enough horses to be shod or wagons to be repaired to enable them to continue profitably In their former line of work. The companies employing a large number of delivery wagons—such as the express, department store, commission house and trucking people—have been eliminating the horse more rapidly In the last two years than ever before. One of the express companies is said to have ordered 400 additional motor driven vehicles this month for Its use in this city. The employment of the horse among these large corporations has decreased more than twothlrds. Some idea of the encroachments of the automobile may be gathered from a few facts. Twelve years ago when the Dingley tariff bill was adopted the automobile was such an Insignificant commodity that it was tucked away in the schedule of “manufactured metal.” It was not Important enough for a separate Classification. There were not more than 1.200 cars then in use In the United States. There are nearly 300,000 now, and the 1910 crop is estimated at 250,000 more. There are about 100,000 professional chauffeurs. No one knows how large Is the army that is working In the shops making these motor cars—it has been estimated at 200,000 workmen. Many of them used to be workers in Iron— smiths who found a new occupation with the waning of the old one. A mule hitched to a buggy looks almost as unnatural as the picture on a magazine cover. Many a man’s life Is insured for several times its real.value. But kiss by any other name wouldn’t rhyme with bliss.