Tekniikan Waiheita 3/2013

Tekniikan Waiheita 3/13 KATSAUKSET

ECHOES OF A LOSER’S a clear, irresistible winner to the scene of traffic – veni vidi vici. Instead of a revolu- HISTORY tion, however, there was a long series of VOICES AGAINST THE AUTOMO- important changes. The arrival of the automobile was only one of them – and it is BILE IN EARLY TWENTIETH-CEN- perhaps more important to us today than it TURY INLAND was to the people who lived through it dur- F ing the first decades of the last century. So where did the automobile start its conquest Tapani Mauranen of traffic? From the easiest circumstances: summer, good weather, and the best roads. The most difficult tasks in the forests were left to horses until the 1960s. There was The automobile arrived in Finland relatively late even some resistance to the automobile, compared to the neighbouring countries. Rus- and this opposition presented real argu- sia, Sweden, Norway and Estonia had their first ments. Hooray was not the only voice heard cars long before the Benz Velo Comfortable, when the automobile arrived. which was imported to Finland in May 1900 by Unlike Tapio Bergholm in his article in 2 the leading seller of agricultural technology in this publication , I will not examine the big Finland Victor Forselius.1 Finland’s motherland economic and social frame of the transfor- Russia and the former motherland, Sweden, mation of traffic, its prerequisites and con- constructed their own car models before Finns sequences. My goal is much more modest, could even buy one – or see one. to find the opposition to the automobile, and to try to understand their points of view. Who dared to rise against the car? The Finnish transport sector experienced a Before the turn of the century new profound technological change during the technology did not have much impact on second half of the nineteenth century. The Finnish road traffic. There were some ex- content of this process was to replace the periments with road locomotives from the traditional main transport energy, muscle 1860s to the First World War. These mon- power (horse or human) with other forms sters mostly carried products or raw mate- of energy (steam, electricity or combustion rial for sawmills or the metal industry. In engine). This change included for example Britain there were about 8 000 locomotives, the railway and steamboats. Floating also in Finland perhaps five. The Finnish so- grew as a means for transporting timber, lution was to float the raw material down and took an important role in the transport waterways to the large new steam sawmills sector. Thus, change as such was nothing located near the export harbours. Over new for Finns at the turn of the century. shorter distances timber was transported The novelty of the automobile was not so during the winter, when there was an excess much the machine power itself, or spon- capacity of horses and men at farms, that taneous movement. It was perhaps more could be used for this purpose. Locomo- likely to be the human scale: owning an au- tives were too heavy and their season for tomobile was conceivable, whereas no one operation too short. Horses could use the would imagine owning a train. winter roads that cut across frozen lakes The arrival of the automobile is often and rivers, shortening the distances. These presented as a revolution, the entrance of roads were also more even, and the ice

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Series of images: “Development of the automobile”. Source: Urheilijan joulu 1914. KATSAUKSET

made it easier for the horses to transport The make he offered was de Dion Bouton. heavy loads. Schubert started his advertising campaign in March 1899, over a year before Victor Forselius’s car arrived in Turku. At the end WHERE’S THE ACCELERATOR? of July 1900 Schubert placed an advert in Finnish newspapers offering a second hand Why did the automobile arrive so late? Fin- automobile at a low price. The car was most land was a poor country with a small rich likely already in Finland – he would prob- elite and no court to set an example, or an ably not have offered it for sale unless it was upper limit to excessive consumption. The already in the country. It is therefore pos- harsh Finnish climate did not much favour sible that Schubert’s car could already have car traffic: the driving season was short. arrived in Finland in 1899. Schubert’s main The arrival of the first car did not have line of business was boat motors. It seems much of an impact on traffic. The pace of the combustion engine gained popularity car trade was very slow. The turning point on the water earlier than it did on the roads. came in 1906 when taxi traffic started in Another Swedish merchant, Fredr. Wagner, six or seven towns in Finland.3 Now the also advertised in a Finnish journal – only automobile was starting to be much more once, however. Wagner’s main business was present in people’s everyday lives. It was printing machines. He advertised these in possible to see a taxi, ride a taxi, and for a printing trade journal, where, in 1900, he the wealthy, even to own an automobile. also published one advert for automobiles. The automobile was a now seen as a viable By contrast, Schubert’s campaign was big: option in road traffic. The number of cars he had adverts in many newspapers over a began to grow. period of five years. We do not know if nei- There were some interesting connec- ther of them sold any cars in Finland.4 tions between Sweden, Finland and Rus- sia at the turn of the century concerning the sales of cars. A car merchant, Arvid Schu- bert from Stockholm advertised in Finnish newspapers that he could deliver cars to Finland. He even had sales agents, Torsten Costiander, an officer in Helsinki and Ernst Börtzell in Kuopio.

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De Dion Bouton was the biggest were used to them. In November 1899 the producer of cars at the time. The French newspaper Aftonposten reported how Queen manufacturer’s engines in particular were Victoria accustomed her horses to the car. renowned and widely used. The company The same method – a harsh desensitisation had an agent in Finland from 1899: Suomen by driving a very noisy car among the horses Valokuvaus Kauppa ja Tehdas oy (“Fin- every day – was later recommended for ex- land’s photography shop and factory ltd”) ample by the governor of Häme province. sold all kinds of new technology, including Patria and Phoebus automobiles, that have since been reclassified as motorcycles. The MANY MERCHANTS, FEW CARS company also acquired an agency for de Dion Bouton in Russia, and opened a large So a Swedish merchant sold cars to Finland and luxurious shop in St. Petersburg. It was and a Finnish one to Russia. As the num- soon bankrupted, however. ber of cars began to grow after 1906, the authorities sought to regulate automobile traffic. The first set of rules was set on a COACHMEN AGAINST local level, the first in Helsinki were in 1907. THE AUTOMOBILE In the northernmost part of Finland there It seems there was less opposition to the car in towns than in the countryside. The only group of opponents in towns were profes- sional coachmen who were worried about their fate. In some Finnish towns the coachmen went on strike because of the first automobile. This happened for example in the little spa-town of Lovisa.5 were rules already in 1906, written for one The result was that in the end, the coa- car that arrived in 1907. Other towns estab- chmen bought a car. In other towns, especi- lished rules quite soon after the first cars ally in Helsinki the coachmen had meetings started to show on the streets. The idea was and wrote letters to the authorities to hinder to protect passengers. the use of cars. “Hooray for competition In 1865 Finland got a new system of – and our boys, too”, wrote the coachmen municipal administration. It did not bring of Vaasa. In their journal Ajuri (Coachman) democracy to municipal life but it was a step the Union of Coachmen wrote against the towards it. The most important new organ car. It is very clear that the two parties had was the municipal council, a meeting of the conflicting interests and claims, and it is no local landowners. In 1906 to 1908 automo- wonder that there was a fight over clients biles were frequently discussed in municipal and the market. council meetings – should the parish permit In towns, there had also been other new automobiles on its roads or not? This ques- vehicles on the streets, such as trams and bition was addressed in the municipal coun- cycles, and unlike on country roads horses cil meetings in 1906–08 by the governors

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regulations to be discussed on a parish level. Here was a possibility to get results. A council statement could propose changes in speed limits, close some roads for

KATSAUKSET the automobile, or even try to close all the roads in the parish from the dangerous vehicle. in three provinces: Uusimaa and Häme in The main themes discussed in coun- the south, and a part of the northern prov- cil meetings were responsibility and safety. ince of Oulu.6 The same question was also Horses were afraid of the automobile: its put to rural police chiefs and bailiffs who sounds, its smell – and the fear of the horse were among the highest officials in the driver – this fear spread from the human be- countryside. This indicates that the subject ing to the animal causing the horse to panic. was widely discussed in municipalities that A rampant horse was, and is, very danger- represented a significant part of the popu- ous, and thus the subject was discussed lation. This was not a question of a few in- in detail. For example peasants could no dividuals opposed to the car – although this longer send a young boy or a woman on the was not unheard of either: for example the road with a horse, as handling a panicked owner of the Sarvilahti manor in southern horse was difficult even for a grown man. Finland, V. M. von Born, banned the use This could cause problems during the busy of automobiles on his land.7 periods in agriculture. Should something The municipal council meetings were happen to the horse it would be a great one important platform for the opponents loss to the farmer. Horses were expensive, of the automobile. Newspapers were an- and raising a horse into maturity took three other one – the sins, the accidents and the years. The horse was everything in agricul- arrogance of drivers were reported. Jour- ture: it was needed for working the fields, nalists, however, were upset, as in the begin- for forestry, and for all kinds of transport ning they had to write about subjects they needs of the farm. The freight traffic on the knew as little as their readers. roads was entirely dependent on horses. For The municipal council was a good fo- example timber haulage was extremely im- rum to raise one’s voice against the new portant to the economy. vehicle. There was a possibility to change The fear of out-of-control horses was something, to set limits for the car. Be- on the agenda from the beginning – this was tween 1906 and 1908 the regulations of the most evident argument, and the easiest motorised road traffic were sent to the mu- to understand. Newspapers had reported nicipal councils of three provinces, Uusi- on panicking horses long before the first maa (around Helsinki), Häme and Oulu. automobile arrived in Finland. In Kärkölä, In the Oulu province, in northern Finland in southern Finland there was a rumour in the subject discussed was a plan to open a 1898 that a manor had bought two automo- 250-kilometre bus line from Kemi to Rov- biles to pull the plough. The farmers im- aniemi and Kemijärvi and a couple of other mediately tried to call a municipal council lines. In the southern part of the country meeting to discuss the horse problem – two the governor sent a draft for the car traffic years before the first car arrived.

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The next step was when people started In practice the automobile left the roads thinking about the practical side of the traf- to horses for the winter. From an eco- fic itself. Narrow roads and heavy traffic nomic point of view this was good – the were difficult to combine with the auto- automobile could not disturb the flow of mobile. Horse caravans transporting board goods from the harbours to the inner parts from sawmills were long and there could be of the country as much as it did in sum- hundreds of horses on the road at the same mer. There were some prerequisites for car time, going in different directions. One so- traffic during winter – for example cool- lution suggested was to have an exact time- ant, (the recipe was published in the first table, so that horsemen could stay home, Finnish automobile journal Automobilen in wait in a calm place for the automobile to 1906). However, the issues discussed in the pass by, or at least avoid the most difficult newspapers were perhaps not that urgent, roads with deep ditches and other prob- as best the automobile could offer before lems. This was impossible to achieve due to the First World War was cruising and other malfunctioning cars and because from time short pleasure drives. to time the roads were full of horses. In One popular solution to the horse some parishes they found another solution: problem was a detailed set of rules for what widening the roads at the state’s expense. the driver must do if he sees a fearful horse Finnish roads were built and main- on the road. He would have to stop, cut his tained by farmers as well as a relay system – engine and assist the horse-drawn vehicle these two can be seen as a form of taxation. to get past the car. These suggestions had The automobile opened discussion over the their problems. For example, drivers were important question of Who will pay. This expected to honk to alert pedestrians, but question received less attention in the early that would scare a horse, so instead of years, as people had no experience of how honking, the driver should shout. In practi- much damage a heavy lorry can inflict on their roads. In the newspapers these practical problems were much discussed and many kinds of solutions were offered. Speed limits were the most popular among these: either general limitations or specific ones for dark, fog or other special circumstances. Winter cal traffic on the roads a new phase began conditions were not among them, how- – horses and cars had to find a compromise ever, and the whole subject seems to have for decades. been forgotten – there was, of course, no The traffic regulations that made this experience of winter driving. The Finnish coexistence possible were first set locally, winter favoured the horsemen: the cold was town by town, province by province during a problem for the cars, as was the plough- the first decades on the century. The first ing of the roads that would need to be regulations for the whole country were es- ploughed differently for cars and horses. tablished in 1922. In those provinces where

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regulations were discussed in the municipal Time did not heal the wounds. There council, landowners could get their voice had been automobiles in the Turku region heard. Another way to do this was to gather from the beginning of the century, but a a group of parishes to petition the authori- decade was not enough to settle the argu- ties. For example in 1911 a group of small ment between cars and horses. Instead of parishes in the Turku region requested a settling it, the intervening years exacerbated prohibition of automobiles inside their the problem, until in 1911, in a group of boundaries. There was also an attempt to 11 parishes demanded a ban on the auto- establish a similar coalition in the north in mobile. 1913, but this was unsuccessful. Some par- The beginning of the automobile age in ishes tried to establish a prohibition alone. Finland was slow, and as Tapio Bergholm The first of these was Uusikirkko near the demonstrates, the pace did not pick up until Russian border in 1901. Altogether about a much later.9 The early years of the automo- hundred parishes reacted to the car prob- bile in Finland were marked with arguments lem either on their own initiative or that of within communities that in some instances the authorities. Most of them were content resulted in suggesting bans. This happened with the governors’ propositions; others at a very early stage, 1906 to 1908 – at a found different solutions, from total prohi- time when there were perhaps a hundred bition to imposing speed limits. automobiles in Finland. The number would There were about 25 parishes that pro- soon grow, as the first taxis emerged, offer- posed a total ban. These were all kinds of ing people a possibility to get acquainted parishes, large and small, south and north, with cars. those with important roads in their area, The 25 or so parishes that proposed a and those in the backwoods, altogether rep- ban were home to some 100 000 Finns. The resenting a fairly large population.8 Some of decisions to ban automobiles were, howev- the parishes had experience of the automo- er, mainly taken in the municipal councils, bile, for example Nurmijärvi and Uusikirk- which were not representative, but were ko, but others did not. Some of them even controlled by landowners. Landowners tried to unilaterally ban the automobile on were also horse owners and the role of the their roads. That was, however, outside the horse, especially in the form of freight traf- limits of local power, and needed a gover- fic, could be very important in the economy nor’s approval. of the farmers. Thus landowners were of-

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1 Bergholm, 2001; Mauranen and Levä, 1999; Vähä- kangas, 2000. Masonen, Antila, Kallio and Maura- Parishes opposed to the use of au- nen, eds. 1999. tomobiles within their boundaries, 2 Bergholm, 2013. 1901–13 3 Mauranen, 1995. 4 Anjala Mauranen, 2012. Askainen 5 Sirén, 1995. Hauho 6 Mauranen, 2001; Mauranen, 2003; The data of the Jokioinen councils’ views is from the archives of the provin- Karjala ces and the Historical Newspaper Library (digi.lib. Kemin maalaiskunta helsinki.fi). See also Heurgren,1997. Kiiminki 7 Sirén, 2003; Tandefelt, 2010. Laitila 8 Approximately 100 000, of a total population of Lemu 2.6 million in 1900. Source: Statistics Finland. Masku 9 Bergholm, 2013. Mietoinen Mynämäki Myrskylä BIBLIOGRAPHY Naantalin maaseurakunta Nousiainen BERGHOLM, Tapio: Suomen Autoistumisen yhteis- Nurmijärvi kuntahistoriaa. In Toiskallio, Kalle, ed. Viette- Pornainen lyksen vaunu. Autokulttuurin muutos Suomessa. Pusula SKS, Jyväskylä 2001. Raisio BERGHOLM, Tapio: The Making of the Finnish Auto- Rovaniemi mobile Society – Comparative, Social and Econo- Snappertuna mic Perspectives, Tekniikan Waiheita 3/2013. Tervola HEURGREN, Vendela: När bilen drabbade landsbyg- Tuulos den in Drömmen om bilen, Fataburen 1997. Uudenkaupungin maaseurakunta MASONEN, Jaakko, ANTILA, Kimmo, KALLIO, Veikko Uusikirkko (Turun ja Porin lääni) and MAURANEN, Tapani, eds. Soraa, työtä, Uusikirkko (Viipurin lääni) hevosia. Tiet, liikenne ja yhteiskunta 1860–1945, Ylikiiminki Tielaitos. Helsinki 1999. MAURANEN, Tapani: Taksi! Matka suomalaisen taksin historiaan. Helsinki 1995. MAURANEN, Tapani: Satavuotias autoilija, in Tois- kallio, Kalle, ed. Viettelyksen vaunu. Autokulttuu- rin muutos Suomessa, SKS, Jyväskylä 2001. ten opposed to automobiles, but they were MAURANEN, Tapani: Kräsh! – ja turvallisesti eteen- simply advocating their own views, not päin. A-Vakuutuksen seitsemän vuosikymmentä, Helsinki 2003. those of the other parishioners. MAURANEN, Tapani: Autoja! Autoja! Autoja!: Lisää! The situation on the roads was com- Lisää! Lisää! In Lehtomäki, Kirsti (ed.) Autoja, plex, and it was difficult for the farmers to Autoja. Mobilia säätiö, Kangasala, 2012. see how the automobile could have a posi- MAURANEN, Tapani & LEVÄ, Kimmo: Ostakaa auto- mobiili! Saatte sekä vaunut että vetojuhdan – ja tive role when most of their practical expe- voitte erottaa kuskin, Helsinki 1999. rience was negative. Of course we can try SIRÉN, Olle: Loviisan kaupungin historia, Lovisa to find a role – starting from the pictures in stads historia, Lovisa 1995. this article. SIRÉN, Olle: Pernajan pitäjän historia, 2003. TANDEFELT, Henrika, ed. Sarvlax, herrgårdshistoria under 600 år, 2010. Tapani Mauranen is a researcher at the automobile and road museum Mobilia and Oy Chronicon VÄHÄKANGAS, Ismo, ed. Sata lasissa, Turun Histo- Ltd. His best-known work includes the history of riallinen Arkisto, Kaarina 2000. taxis.