Not Exceeding the Speed Limit in 1908

"Not Exceeding the Speed Limit. 10 Miles to Bungtown. 1908, Union Card Co., Montpelier, Vt."

Postmark on the other side of this postcard: "East Greenwich, N.Y., Aug. 11, 1909."

Addressed to: "Mr. Roland Spring, R.F.D #1, Santa Barbara, Cal."

Handwritten message: "Aug. 10, 1909. Dear Brother, I hope this finds you well again. You would have enjoyed a boat ride on Lake George with us on Sat. Guess it beats Cal. for fine scenery. Vermont Mts. were beautiful. N.Y. has a fine crop of apples and potatoes. Your sister, Mabel."

The mundane message on the back of this postcard, which was published by the Union Card Company of Montpelier, Vermont, in 1908, doesn't shed any light on the meaning of the cartoonish illustration on the front, unfortunately. Created at a time when automobiles were a rarity and most people traveled from place to place by walking, riding in horse-drawn vehicles, or boarding trains, this postcard seems to be poking fun at both motorists and farmers.

"Darn that old gas wagon" is what the people riding in the horse-drawn wagon are saying as they complain about one of those newfangled automobiles.

"Don't get blue, dad will get you to town safe," says the farmer's daughter to the motorists, whose car has apparently broken down. Did they run over what appears to be a log in the road behind the car, and why is that kid carrying a tire--if that's what it is--as he runs across the road there?

"Here is where I get back at them. I'll soak him $25.00 for this job," mutters the farmer under his breath as he hitches his oxen to the automobile and prepares to pull the car along the road, perhaps the whole "10 Miles to Bungtown" as the sign says. I'm not sure whether Bungtown was a real place or a fictitious name like Podunk.

The caption on the card suggests that the only time drivers are "not exceeding the speed limit" is when their "gas wagons" have broken down. I wonder what a typical speed limit was in 1908.

And, finally, I don't understand why the farmer intends to overcharge the motorists to "get back" at them. Did their car damage the dirt road? Were early automobiles like this generally regarded as nuisances that traveled at dangerous speeds?

In any case, this provides an interesting example of how difficult it can be to fully understand the meaning that something as ordinary as a postcard had for those who created and used it over a hundred years ago.