Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-05-15
MOTOR INDUSTRIES GROWTH
> Its Stability, at First Questioned, is
Now Firmly Settled.
CARS NO LONGER A LUXURY
Indispensable rs a Railroad Train
A Factor in the EcOnOmic and
, Labor Situation of the
Country.

win its continued and phenomenal
growth, due to its stability in the business
world, the motor car industry is now re-
ceiving the recognition and respect of those
captains of finance who at one time treated
1t as an upstart, and as a movement which
was likely to pass away in a short time. 1t
Is like the self-madc man, for it is proba-
BILE that no such widespread business has
oyer started with so many obstacles in its
Nsthway to success and the opposition to
1t was entirely limited to Jealousy OF
those in other and similar trades. The
financiers lack of belief and faith In it's
ultimate success was well nigh universal,
and as the industry grew this opposition
seemed to increase. But progress, devel-
opment and demand could not be stopped
there was too much merit behind the
proposition While this was yet a strug-
Cling industry, seemingly floundering and
cropping in the dark FOR a guiding light, a
statement was made by one who had
doubtless made a study of the situation,
that IL would take a panic to really de-
velop the automobile industry.
Stability of the Industry.
This statement has since proved almost
prophetic, and the man responsible for the
statement must be credited with unusual
foheJght, although he probably realized
btut little of the real truth this statement
carried. The depression OF 1897 measured
the stability strength and soundness of
Sour country and every branch of trade,
and 1t will be remembered that probably
no other line held its own, while the auto
mobile business continued to grow in spite
of the would-be encouragement on all
sides.
Results have proven that there was lit
tie reason for the depression beyond the
lack OF confidence and belief that the de-
mand was not staple, and the remarka bic
part of 1t all lay in the fact that the most
discredited industry at that time, the auto.
mobile, was the greatest help in avert
ing the panic and restoring such confidence
was scarcely hoped for. The fact thai
the automobile business would not be KEEP
down caused the thoughtful to pause ant
consider.
Saving of time and lessening of distance
are two important factors in our modern
civilization. The motor car is the great
agency which has met these requirements
in a practical way and to a degree never
dreamed of. and II possesses a third and
important virtue of being able to do this
at a very marked saving in cost 1t is the
going motor car which has forced recogni-
ton, and it is today quite indispcnsa-
bic as the telephone, telegraph or raiwa:
train.
& Automobile Not IA Luxury.
1t is safe to predict that we have no
more than scratched the surface of tho
possible demand for the motor propelled
vehicle. The motor car was first locke,
upon as the rich mans and sportsman
toy, later as a pleasure vehicle to b.
classed as luxury; but today we ar
forced to admit that 1t is the practice
conveyance of the future. 1t would be quit
as reasonable to expect the transconti
mental traveller to return to the prairi
k.schooner, as for the motor car user t
, Yteturn to the horse-drawn vehicle. L
fact, the step from the horse-drawn vehicl
to the motor car is quite as advanced a
turning to the use Of the railway cars, ex
cept that the use of the motor car
brought home to us In a more general an
telling way.
Many do not today realize the firm wa
In which the motor car has establshe
itself. To the physician, the contractor,
fact any man who finds II necessary
he in divers locations in the ordnar
routine OF work, they prove indispensable