Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-12-29
The Automobile in America.

ne AutOmODHe III S%1ctlSo'
There are now about 100000 automo-
biles owned in this country, with 4O
or so factories, representing an invest
ment of fully $20,O00,000, turning out
new ones every day. Half a dozen
years ago automobiles We're not much
more common than flying machines
are now and their growth in popularity
with the consequent rise in Importance
of the business of manufacturing
generation. The figures given above
are from an article in the january
number of Munsey's which tells III III
teresting fashion the development ol
the so-called devil wagon from 1au
to a factor in our everyday life. 1t
was but the other day that automo-
bilcs were laughed at as piaythihs
of the milIionaires. They are in other
countries still the playthinG of the
rich hut here, where there are so many
neople in good circumstances, they
have come into general use. Twenty
five thousand machines have been
made in the United States this year.
Twenty-four thousand are registered in
New York state alone. There will be
1000 of them owned here in Maine in
1906, and by 1907 the horses on the
country roads will pay no more heed
to them than they do the occasional
bicvcle which survives the great bicy-
Gle fever of Il decade ago.
The writer i'll Musey's makes the pre-
diction that 100000 automobiles will
be in use in this country within few
years, or five times the present num-
Der. The fulfillinent of this prediction
seems not improbable. 1t will mean Il
great further expansion of the automo-
bile industry in the United States, for
there can be no doubt that vast ma
jorty of the machines here will be
made at home. For some time foreign,
and especially French machines were
considered much superior to those of
American manufa cture. A few years
OF American ingenuity have produced
automobiles almost, if not quite, equal
to any foreign ones. At the same time
American inventors have done what has
not been done elsewhere. They have
cCntrivcd machines which may be sold
at prices that are not out of the reach
of people without long purses. Ma
chimes of domestic make are protected
from foreign competition by tariff
OF As per cent. Secure in the home
market. American manufacturers are
be ginning to look abroad. The value
of the automobiles exported during the
The value of those imported during
the same time was s1,475,299. In view
of the way the automobile industry in
this country has developed recently, it
seems probable the sales abroad will
continue rapidly to increase until the
figures relating to them take a promi-
nent place in the tables of exports.
The bicycle once had a popularity
hardly less than that which the auto
mobile enjoys now. The question
is often raised whether the auto
mobiles popularity will also prove
cphemcral. Its day as Il fad will end,
as the day of every other fad does. but
that it will go as the bicycle has gone
is improbable. 1t has such obvious
and great advantages for purposes of
both pleasure and business over the
bicycle that comparisons between the
two machines are pointlcss. The auto
mobile mas as surely come to stay as
the trolley car. The business of man.
ufacturing it may, therefore, be con-
iidently looked upon as d permanent
industry which is destined to attain
great magnitude and prosperity.