Organization as Power
With the
introduction of a small number of experimental vehicles and the realization
that they had commercial possibilities, trade organizations were quickly
established. In November 1895, on the eve of the first race of experimental
automobiles that was to take place in Chicago, Charles B. King, a Detroit
manufacturer, wrote to the editor of the new magazine The Horseless Age:
Realizing the fact we have already a
large number of people in the country interested in the coming evolution, the
motor vehicle, and in order to pave the way for this vehicle of the future, it
is proposed to form a national organization which will have as its object the
furtherance of all details connected with the broad subject, and hold stated
meetings where papers can be read and discussions follow as to the respective
merits of all points in question. Such an organization is needed now, and upon
its formation would meet with the hearty co-operation of the newspapers, the
friends of good roads and the public at large.
It
is therefore proposed that such an organization be now formed and have as its
name “The American Motor League.”31
The first
meeting of this proposed group would take place November 1, 1895 in Chicago,
with interested parties coming from Cincinnati; Philadelphia; Boston;
Springfield, Massachusetts; Kokomo, Indiana; New York City; Canada; and
Detroit. A draft constitution was adopted that called for this organization to
“educate and agitate,” to “direct and correct legislation,” and to defend “the
rights of . . . vehicles when threatened by adverse judicial
decisions.”32
The
Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM) proved to be a more
significant and studied trade organization. Its basis and actions have been
thoroughly examined elsewhere.33 In short, the ALAM was the result
of patent 549,160 granted to Rochester, New York attorney George B. Selden for
a road vehicle that was to use an internal combustion engine using liquid
hydrocarbons. It was an egregious error on the part of the Patent Office to
grant such a patent, but it led to the formation of a number of car
manufacturers who charged a license fee to anyone making an ICE-powered car and
then distributed the proceeds to a Selden, a group of electric car
manufacturers, and the ICE vehicle makers who had joined the group and adhered
to its policies. Many car manufacturers, including Henry Ford, disregarded the
ALAM and fought it in court, eventually winning their case, which led to the
disbanding of this retrogressive organization. The ALAM story, however,
illustrates the place in the automobile story for a study of organizations,
including National Automobile Chamber of Commerce (NACC), the Automobile
Manufacturers Association, and the Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association,
which remain to be more fully examined by scholars.
In addition
to the trade organizations that emerged during the late 1800s, social
organizations were quickly established once a critical number of automobiles
fell into the hands of the well-to-do.34 The most significant of
these early automobile clubs was the Automobile Club of America (ACA),
established in New York City in 1899. Its mission was clearly stated in its
1903 Yearbook:
The objects of this corporation are the
formation of a social organization or club, composed in whole or in part of
persons owning self-propelled pleasure vehicles for personal or private use. To
furnish a means of recording the experience of members and others using motor
vehicles or automobiles. To promote original investigation in the mechanical
development of motor carriages, by members and others. To arrange for pleasure
runs and to encourage road contests of all kinds among owners of automobiles.
To co-operate in securing rational legislation and rules governing and
regulating the use of automobiles in city and country. To maintain the rights
and privileges of all forms of self-propelled pleasure vehicles whenever and
wherever such rights and privileges are menaced. To encourage the construction
of good roads and improvement of the public highways. And generally to maintain
a social club devoted to the sport of automobilism throughout the country.35
In addition
to the ACA and the American Automobile Association (AAA), by 1903 there were
thirteen automobile clubs in the state of New York, nine in Massachusetts, five
in Ohio and four in Pennsylvania, with nineteen in other states and the
District of Columbia. The AAA was organized in Chicago in March 1902.36
As a national federation of eight leading clubs, including the ACA, the AAA’s
key role was to lobby for improved public highways, protect the legal rights of
drivers, and regulate auto racing and endurance trials. In subsequently
pursuing those objectives, the automobile became less a plaything for the elite
and more a necessity for the rural and urban middle classes.
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