ABSTRACT
So far as we know, though he lived until 1929, Thorstein Veblen never owned a car. During his years at Stanford, he drove an old mare, as lovingly described by R. L. Duffus in The Innocents at Cedro. Veblen, of course, was a functionalist, a believer in engineering, and a hater of show and waste. Probably he would have thought any kind of car needless, just as he thought furniture mostly needless and washed dishes, after they had accumulated for a few days, by turning a hose on them. But it would be interesting to know what he would make of the role played by the automobile in America today.
