Here is a message I posted at Slate. I have quoted this here before, years ago. It is worth repeating --
Some people may feel these cars will never become popular, or Americans will not accept them because we like to drive. On that subject, let me quote the keynote speaker of the National Association of Carriage Builders in 1907: "Eighty-five percent of the horse-drawn vehicle industry of the country is untouched by the automobile. In proof of the foregoing permit me to say that in 1906 - 7, and coincident with an enormous demand for automobiles, the demand for buggies reached the highest tide of its history. The man who predicts the downfall of the automobile is a fool; the man who denies its great necessity and general adoption for many uses is a bigger fool; and the man who predicts the general annihilation of the horse and his vehicle is the greatest fool of all."
