Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-15
BETTER START
NEGOTIATIONS
FOR BIG LOAN
RACING ENTRANTS HANDED
THE GENEROSITY LEMON"
When in Phoenix Charged -Four DOL
lar Per Day, Two for Bath
and Glaring Oil Lamp
for Light
BY d. w. sENIPLE

BY ID. w. sEMILE
Now comes the aftermath of the
Phoenix races. This is for the benefit
of the very earnest gentlemen who
strip their cars and go to extraordinary
expense in preparing their automobiles
for the long run, and who may be
looking forward to the year 1910 sc
that they may hurry and enter again
for that event 1t will be well for all
of the dealers to hurry and make extra
exertions to sell as many cars as pos
sible during the coming twelve months,
and be sure that they get all the profit
there is in them, otherwise there will
not be enough money in bank and TILL
to pay the charges Of accommodations
in the territorial capital.
Very few people have the slightest
idea of what an expensive affair 1t is
10 get a car ready for such an event
as the Phoenix race in the first place.
There is the stripping of the car, the
purchase of necessary equipment Tor
the chassis to be carried on the run,
the mechanics wages in tuning up the
machine, the extra equipment OF tires
that are to be used on the run, many
of them specially treaded for the event,
the loss of time in making all these
preparations; the loss Of time and alb
sence from business in trial trips, and
finally the race itself, with all the
danger to life and limb in the terrific
pace over hard and almost wrecking
roads; the chances of injuring the car,
possibly of wrecking it entirely, which
means all the way from $4,000 to $4,000,
as in the case of the Isotta.
But imagine the gallantry Of Phoe-
nix in the reception of the gentlemen
who gave to that city and her auto
mobile club the greatest entertainment
ever given on the Pacific coast All
that they charged them at the hotels
was four dollars per day per man. For
example, Fred c. Fenner and his two
men, Max Poismans and Harvey Her
rick were assigned to one room with
a bath connected For this Fenner
paid the modest sum of four dollars
rer day per man, and two dollars per
day for the bath, making a grand total
of fourteen dollars per day, and while
in Phoenix they had to eat their meals
at the English Kitchen, operated by a
Chinaman.
But that isn't all by a large majority.
Joe Coberley, who drove the clever
Pennsylvania to the hospitable terri
torial capital, where they were all TO
be entertained so utterly laVishly,
stated to The Herald representative
last night on his return from Phoenix
that the committee was most gen
erous in the issuing of tickets for the
grand stand and entrance fee to the
fair grounds, but when the Pennsyl-
yania owners appeared to be paid their
prize money for their race on the fair
grounds track they were presented
with a bill for twenty-five dollars for
tickets.
1t cost Fenner $3.50 to get the Isotta
into the race. Ralph Hamlin can prob
ably not square himself on his books
for less than S2500, and it is doubtful
II 111a
that it did not cost him more than
$1,000 to $500 to make ready for the
run to Phoenix, and then on arrival
there be soaked S4 per day is going
some
Poor Roger Stearns with all the hard
luck and misfortune that befell his little
FORD car, went up against it, too, when
he got there. He was assigned to a
place" in the servants quarters of
the hotel and he paid S4 per day, just
the same as though he had been at
the Lankershim or Alexandria or An
gelus in a city like Los Angeles. But
he had the privilege of disrobing in
the glare of a very handsome but an
tique pattern Of an oil lamp, of the
vintage of a great age ago, now almost
extinct and seen rarely except in such
spots as the fortieth parallel of lati-
tude-at least as far north as Mr..
Rockefeller has been able TO penetrate
with his kerosene business.
The ears next year entered by those
who might care to do so win be COM
PEELED to add another box to their
equipment, in which must be stored a
sufficient supply Of hardtack and
cheese, and goodly supply Of South
African water bags else that neces-
sity-water-might be considered a lux
ury in a city where 10000 people are
brought together to see some of the
greatest automobiles of the world and
The best drivers of the country. 1t
would be Well it has been suggested,
to have the entrants pool their COM
missary for subsistence in 1910 while
in Phoenix, or else begin now to ne
gotiate with the great banks of this
city for generous loan temporarily,
giving the bald-headed presidents the
reason that they are on their way to
Phoenix, and they will understand the
necessity of handing out the surplus
of their vaults.
The complaints Of entrants arc very
bitter towards their treatment while
there, and as has been well stated. "tbe
automobile attraction for the Terri
tcrial Fair brought that institution i'm
within $50 of Dan Patch day. over
which the money takers gloated as
their prize day"