CHAPTER XXI
AUTOMOBILE CLUBS
By C. L. Freeston
To say that the history of automobilism is that of its clubs is nearer the literal truth than a lapse into exaggeration. The debt which the sport and industry alike owe to these bodies, in every country where they have been formed, is incalculably great, and, however far the aspirations of the enthusiast may yet be from their ultimate fruition, the present stage of progress would not even have been within measurable reach but for the fostering care of the Automobile Clubs. Not in name merely, but in fact, they have been Sociétés d'encouragement throughout, and by trials and demonstrations in Great Britain, and races and hill-climbs abroad, have established the claims of the motor vehicle to the attention of the world.
The United Kingdom has been particularly fortunate in its Automobile Club, the exertions of whose numerous committees have been continuously arduous and self-sacrificing ever since its formation in 1897. By legitimate methods of propagandism it has gradually worn down a considerable amount of the prejudice and opposition to a new movement that were inevitable in a conservative country, and by its demonstrations of the practical utility of the motor vehicle it has entirely removed the evil but long-remaining impression of the appallingly abortive run to Brighton on November 14, 1896. Not the least important of the Club's services, moreover, is its conversion of the public, and, it may even be said, of the Local Government Board, to the uselessness and ineffectuality of
