The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-02

So that there was too little variety to the
ping pongs OF the Philippines, and the
magazine editors ourled up on them.
The pingpongs that get the top prices
nowadays, Of course, are the automobile
klnd-we never use the word 'autom obile.
Of course. in a plngpong--it's always
car I've written slows and slathers OF
them during the past year, and they pay
at least twice as well as ordinary ping
pongs. had considerable bother with
my motoring p~ingpongs at first. got a
whole bunch Of orders for them, all at
about the same time, and l eat down and
tried to fill the orders without knowing
anything whatever about buzz wagons;
bridge rails I'M such Hike. Well, hardly
any Of these first automobile pingpongs
that ! sent in stuck. You see the editors
were motor car cranks. and they knew all
about automobiles, and my early batch
OF motor car pingpongs weren't technica
enough for them. SO they sent my motor
ing pingpongs back with the suggestion
that / get into touch with a real. live and
kicking automobile. dissect IL and put il
together again. learn all about its kinks
and parts, and then sit down and revise
my stories--the stories, they told me were
ali right in themselves, with the technique
Of the motoring game chucked in
We'll, / certainly did not intond 20 lot
such a fine thing as the market demand
for motoring ~pingpongs get away from
me. SO | rented the car OF a friend of mine
who was going of to Europe and began to
study'it, My idea then vas simply to mas
ter the spsrkpluE ratter for my pingpong
purposes, but il wasn't my time at all
before | became a motoring bug myself,
and long before my friend returned from
Europe i had sent the car / rented from
him back to tbs, garage and bought one of
my it's a daisy, too, 40 horse
power, six cylinders. Without hold on!
] mustn't get sprawling around on the sub
ject of motor carr or I'll forget all about
what ! am talking about.
well, | proceeded to find out all that any
human being ever finds out about auto
mobiles, and then was in shape II write
buz2-buggy pingpongs as was them kind.
| completely rewrote that first batch OF
automobile pingrongs that | had sent in
and how perfectly idiotio they did seem
to me in the light Of my new firsthand
knowledge Of automobiles-and you ought
to see the enthusiastic letters of oommendn-
ton | got from the magazine editors when
/ sent in the revised stories! j crowded
every rage Of those motoring ~pingpongs
with technical stuff that nobody on earth
could possibly understand EXCEPT folks
owning automobiles. The answer is. you
see that these magazines that print the ping
rongs, as | said before, have their biggest
hold in the middle West. n everybody
in the middle West, including the farmers,
I'm told. has a buzz wagon. The mar
ket for the motoring pingrongs is still
booming, and it bids fair TO be a bull market
for years to come. The editors are fairly
pleading for them, and they eagerly offer
double rates for them. As a matter OF fact,
the double rate is no more than right, for a
fellow actually has to use his mind quite
a bit in writing a buzz wagon ~pingpong-.
not, Of course, in those parts dealing with
the mere love element OF the yarn, but In
dishing up the technical terms and phrases
that delight the soul Of the motoring crank
who happens upon these ~pingpongs.
"The organization of the amateur aero
clubs created quite a steady demand for
~pingpongs dealing with ae~ronautios. Now.
there are only a very few p~ingpongers
who know anything about ~ballooning, and
I'm not one of them, I'm sorry to say. But
watch my, smoke! Ii the ballooning thing
develops into a genuine and widespread
bug in the United States I'm going to be
there right enough for the big demand
bound to ensue for ~ballooning pingpongs.
I'll have a balloon OF my own II 1t causes
EN- to double my life insurance rate: l
shall decline to be left out in the cold when
it comes to keeping up with the newest
ideas in pingpongs, ..
by the way, the jamestown Exposition,
IL they ever get it started and it amounts
to anything, will give us ~pingpongers a
fresh field. Expeditions are the bully
DlnrfsS IN winch 10 lhHfLt plukpOukb.
been writing EN- ever since the Chicago
fair and many a tidy check did the White
City bring my way, though ! never had
time to go out and have a look at 1t. Same
way with the .Pan-American exposition, the
st. Louis fair. he San Francisco exposi-
ton and all the rest-they're the up to the
minute spots in which to bring the man and
the girl together, and the readers Of ping
pongs like to read about things that they've
seen themselves-and everybody in the
Middle West, I'm told, takes in all OF the ex-
positions. That reminds me that ! must
assemble a bunch Of printed matter and
pictures about the jamestown Exposition
| must bone up on some of the local color.
Il often write as many as six ~pingpongs
a week, but the average turnout is about
four a week. 1 get from ss5 to SIS apiece
for 'em. Am | not afraid OF depressing the
market by giving the snap away in this
fashion? Not a bit Of it! The demand for
pingpongs Ia far and away ahead Of the
supply and will be for many years to come.
They can't queer the market during the next
two years, no matter how many break into
it, and III be ready to retire at that time il
the market does show signs of weakening.
I could retire now. for the matter Of that.
IL | wanted to. But what would be the use,
when it's so dead easy to manufacture
pingpongs?'