The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-05-03
NO CHEAP AUTOS
FOR WESTERNERS
Benjamin Briscoe, Famous Au-
tomobiIe Manufacturer,
Visits Salt Lake.
WOULD LIKE BRANCH HERE
FREIGHT RATES CAUSE HIGH
PRICES IN THE WEST.

Salt Lakers and others of the inter-
mountain country who, after deciding to
buy an automobile this year. have deter
mined to postpone it until next year or the
year after with the expectation of being
able to get the buzz buggy cheaper than
at present, and who have invested else
where the money saved for the honk-
cart, will be thrown into ecstases of joy
to learn that it is the opinion of Ben
jamin Briscoe, president of the greatest
automobile manufacturing concern in the
world, that autos for many years to come
will be no cheaper to western people than
they are today.
Mr.. Briscoe is president of the Maxwell
Briscoe company, with headquarters at
Tarrytown, n. Y, and with immense
branches at New York City, Chicago and
Los Angeles, to say nothing of a newly
completed factory at Newcastle that is
the largest of its kind in the world. Pres
ident BriscOe spent yesterday in Salt
Lake in company with j. w. Wilcox, pres
ident of the Maxwell Briscoe- Wilcox Au-
tOmObile company, the corporation organ
lied to handle the western business of
the Maxwell BriscOe company.
Prices of Machines.
President Briscoe's opinion as to the
years on automobiles is shared by PTesi-
/ dent Wilcox of Los Angeles, who is in
position to know thoroughly of the west
ern auto trade conditions.
Freight rates to the west are high,
very high. They show no indications of
decreasing, and as long as they remain
at their prevailing level automobiles will
| cost as much and possibly more for west
ern people than they do now" was the
statement of these two big automobile
men to The Herald yesterday at the
| KnUtsfOTd
Manufacturers are not trying to put
out cheaper car at present" said Pres
! ident Wilcox. They are bending every
effort to improve the engines and run
ming capacity of the cars they have, at
the prices they are now selling at. In the
east cars may get cheaper in the natural
course of events. Here in the west even
| if the demand for automobiles did not
keep prices up and other things equalized
themselves with eastern conditions, the
high freight rates to the west would keep
the prices of machines up in this coun-
try
Machines for Business.
Presidents Briscoe and Wilcox reached
Salt Lake yesterday after a tour of the
Pacific coast Nevada, California and
Utah The feature of the development
OF the automobile business in the west
at present is the large number of ma
chimes being purchased by mining men
for use on the Nevada desert and between
mining camps throughout the west" said
President Wilcox. 1--WE have shown min
ing men that they can save money with
the automobile to say nothing of time.
and the business is reaching enormous
proportions. We are making cars to be
used in this way specially now"
Both men denied that the BriScoe-Max-
well company would in the immediate fu-
ture install a big distributing plant in
Salt Lake for their machines, stating that
while this will probably be done before
many years Los Angeles is at present
Headquarters for the western trade of the
Maxwell car. The time is coming when
Salt Lake will be our big distributing
point for the intermOuntain country, but
we are waiting for the situation to de-
VelOp little more thoroughly.
Buy Better Cars.
People are buying better and more ex-
pensive cars this year than ever before.
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