Los Angeles herald., 1907-02-17
CASTS SLURS At
YANKEE AUTOS
SAYS AMERICAN MACHINES
ARE INFERIOR
First Things, However, Which In-
press Him in This Country Are
the Reeklessness Of chauf-
feurs and Poor Roads
anncinl Cable to The Herald.

special Cable to The Herald.
LONDON, Feb. t6.-The Hon. 6. s.
Rolls evidently used the time which he
spent in the United states to the best
advantage, both from a commercial and
educational point of view. At n lunch
con at the Trocadero restaurant to well
como Rolls back to England he told
his friends the lessons he learned
across the water and said that the first
thing that struck him In America was
the total disregard for human life. No
body seemed to get any shocks, he said;
that was about the only relief an auto
mobillst had in driving car i'm the
States. lie had words to say of the
roads.
Rolls said that people who never had
been In America couldn't imagine what
the roads were like. for a few bad holes
or ruts i'm them were never needed, no
repairs being undertaken until the thor
oughfare was in a practically hopeless
state from end to end, such as to justi-
fy It's being entirely shut UP and made
good on what might be called the "eter-
nal Standardization system"
The consequence, he said, was that,
when automobiling in America one
needed considerably more clearance of
ground than in this country, else he
would bump the hywheel, while the
springs must be larger and stronger
and equipped with a shock absorber.
Further short wheel bases were neces-
sary, because they render the likeli-
hood of skidding in the snow less i'm
minent.
Small Cars Our Good Point
Rolls was of the opinion that Amerl-
cans led the world in the small car
trade because they were pastmaSters
In the science of Standardization of ap-
piled manufacturing, but they failed
comparatively at the production of high
powered machines because motor en-
gineerinE had not reached that stage of
development when it was possible to
achieve, by mechanical labor, the pitch
of refinement that is essential for the
highest grade of machine.
No manufacturer could put lump of
raw steel in at one end of the machine
and show first class automobiles drop
ping out at the other end, he said, yet
in a general way the American makers
do not seem to understand any other
way of producing horseless carriages.
This could largely be accounted for
because in the states the cost OF abor
was so great that it was essential to
employ as little hand work as possible,
and 1t is by hand labor alone that the
highest degree of refinement can be
achieved.
Another trouble of the American man.
ufacturer, he said was the procuring
of the necessary specialized and high
grade Steels through one or other of
the gigantic trusts which would not
deign to manufacture particular sorts
unless the order were given in guam
titles of thousands of tons.
Sees Some Good Machines
Rolls admitted there were three or
four American built cars that were
really excellent machines, but said that
many of the parts embodied in them
were imported. while such foreign
makers as set up works of their own
did not seem to be doing well, because
those automobilists who were willing
to pay the necessary price for a first
class American built machine would
rather have one that was imported
from Europe, for then they would
know it was equal to the rest of that
make.
Rolls displayed real good sportsman
ship in giving his rivals in England
many valuable hints on what he had
learned in America. The matter of OBJ
tanning suitable steels, he said, would
be satisfactorily settled sooner or later,
hence 1t behooved the British firms to
get known to the American as quickly
as possible that they might have suf-
ficient good will to justify them in set
ting up works of their own, to be ready
w ldSC eih CoIlpellIlOn Wnen the Time
came. ~
There were few six cylinder cars in
America, he said. and they were most
ly deficient, bee use those who made
them had overlooked the fact that no
amount of four-cylinder practice would
furnish you with the necessary ex-
perience to make siX-cylinder cars,
hence the difficulties experienced in
connection with the ignition, carbura-
ton, whipping of extremely long
crankshafts and so forth.
When he considered the nature of the
roads in the states, Mr.. Rolls said he
marveled that any cars were used
there at all, and the fact that there
were great numbers of them in service
was an indication of the enormous flI-
ture there was for motor traction in
America, now that the states had start
ed to build special highways for this
form of traffic