Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-14
DEALERS TURN
DOWN EXHIBIT
WITH DULL THUD
BY NARROW MARGIN OF TWO
VOTES DOWN SHOW
AUTOMOBILE EXHIBIT KILLED
UNLESS REcoNsIDERED
Public Is More Interested Now Than
Ever Before in Machines and
New Cars Here and
Coming

Coming
Los Angeles-much as Los Angeles
wants one--is not to have an auto
mobile show for the present. That is,
unless the decision of the members
OF the Automobile Dealers associa-
tion of Los Angeles is changed.
This was the vote of the organiza-
ton at meeting of the association
held on Tuesday evening last at the
Franklin agency, Ralph c. Hamlin
being the president of the association.
But it was very close vote, The
/ Herald learns from it's little bird that
peeped and cooed from the cornice of
the handsome display rooms Of the
Franklin, something like thirteen to
eleven, there being twenty-four men,
bers present and eligible to vote.
The association is growing, having
increased the membership from thirty
, five to forty, all of which is as it
should be, for the objects of the organ
ization and its purposes, as recently
published in The Herald, are laudable
in merit, and the body, composed as
| it is of the brains and energy of the
individual members who have so sue
| cessfully conducted their own affairs
to the magnitude of the automobile
business of this city, find the adhesion
of those interested in the trade in one
common cause of sufficient value to
keep well within the splendid lines
marked out for the guidance of the
operations of the trade in this dis
trict.
But 1t is not unfair to say that a
mistake was made in the decision of
the meeting on Tuesday evening. A
committee was appointed some time
ago with authority to obtain the views
generally and advise as to the prac-
ticability of having an automobile
show at or about the holiday times
and to report back to the members
their information and recommends
tions, Several evenings passed with
out even a quorum being obtained, and
in the meantime the committee had
continued It's labors until last Tuesday,
when out of thirty-fve members, as
stated twenty-four were on hand ana
prepared among other things to con-
slider the report of the show commit
tee. The committee reported favor
ablv upon the proposition and recon-
mended that the show be held Dis
cussion arose over the matter and a
considerable show of feeling MADE
against the report and the report as
vigorously sustained in debate by
those in favor Of 1t, until it came to
the vote, when the recommendatlons
of the committee that show be held
was defeated by the small margin OF
two votes.
That this was mistake 1t Is De-
lieved that the members OF the asso-
citation will yet ascertain, and GER
tainlv in the interests of many pros
pectiye buyers of automobiles through
ont Southern California this action of
the association should be reconsidered
for a good many reasons.
Principal among these Is the splrlt
Younger members of the association,
who have and are blossoming out in
business like the wheat fields in har-
vest time. New cars have come upon
the market, new styles and lines or
the older represented cars have made
their appearance. Dealers themselves
have announced and publicly invited
prospective or would-be buyers of au-
tomobiles to come to their places and
look over the new series of cars, the
new models, or the "1910' makes, as
, they are commonly known, and II
there ever was an opportune time to
Ihave an automobile show the propi-
tious occasion is-now. If there is ex-
? istine any feeling at all that an ex-
hibit Of the magnificent machines that
are to be seen representing the COM
ing season might lead to a buyer going
; elsewhere and running into new
brand of car, surely this should nave
no weight, DGcduS6 dulOilIOUllo puJ Ali6
! has passed the experimental stage to-
day Automobiles are no longer pur-
chased as a curiosity-nor simply be-
cause it Is fashionable to have one,
nor because the buyers neighbor has
one and he must keep up with the
, procession. Automobiles are bought
today as an investment, for business
purposes, because they are an econ
omy, because they save the business
man time, which is money, as does
the telephone and wireless; because
they are easier to handle and run
about in than with horses and car
riages, because when they are not
working they are not eating. The
buyer of an automobile today is led
to a certain extent by the experiences
of what others have done with theirs.
That may lead to a purchase of the
same make as the one owned by his
neighbor. But as rule the buyer
considers that he Is about to invest
anywhere from $1,000 to $4,000 or more
in a machine, and the man who does
that is going to look about, get the
best information obtainable concerning
the cars he may have heard of or may
see and when satisfied will lay down
his coin as he does for his real estate.
| Therefore, whv not the automobile
show? San Francisco will open the
finest show ever seen in Northern Call
ifornia next week and will have the
biggest representation of autos ever
l seen in that city on exhibition. Los
Angeles has never done things half
|, hearted Her dealers are generous to
3 fault with their show rooms, build
them extensively, furnish them more
luxuriously and handsomely than any
= city in the United States. The prob
5 abilities are that all past records of
sales of automobiles in Southern Call
fornia will be wiped out and new
l mark set for the sales of all the best
. makes of cars during the coming
: season.
; A splendid site, it was learned, could
: be obtained for building to be erect
} ed thereon for the special occasion of
: an automobile show that would ac-
f commodate all the cars there are in
J Los Angeles and make display that
) would put to shade every similar event
of the past
OF course, petition was circulated
while the dealers committee was