Omaha daily bee., 1910-03-20
CLIDDEN TOUR THIS YEAR
Reliability Run is an Annual Institu-
tion to Be Kept Up.
ABOLITION IS NOT CONSIDERED
7Iaces the Cars Before Buyers as in
No other Way and MHnufnc-
turers Propose to Keep
the Game Going.

Shortly after my election as chairman Of
American association would ever hold an
other reliability run, or as it is more
generally known, Glidden tour" said $. NJ.
Butler Of the American Automobile
association. al replied that the annual re-
liability run OF the American Automobile
association has become an institution Of
motoring, a contest Of such Importance
that tho manufacturers win not even con-
slider it's abolition.
THE Glidden tour, more than any other
endurance contest held in the United States
brings the principal makes Of automobiles
before the owners and prospective owners
Of the country IN direct review. It places
the standard makes Of cars IN competi-
ton OF reliability which shows the whole
country Just what these cars are capable
Of doing The tour has always been one
Of national scope as far as the entries
are concerned, and its magnitude has made
the findings Of the committee in charge Of
every appreciable value to the motor buy
ing public.
THAT the manufacturers Of the country
realize how much automobile buyers are
tour is proved by the support which they
give the contest They realize that the
car that wins I'm its class in the Glldden
tour has firmly established reputation for
reliability which could he acquired In no
other way Take the results of last years
event, for instance. when the Pierce
Arrow and the Chalmers won the trophies.
j believe that the cars which could win
those trophies in competition with the
standard makes Of the country and over a
route approximatlng $500 miles of the hard
est roads in the country are proved re-
liable beyond doubt. Think also of the
other cars which negotiated that tour with
comparatively perfect scores Could any
thing do more to prove the stamina Of
those cars?
Automobile manufacturers realize these
advantages; hence, they give the Gidden
tour their unqualified support. A contest
like the Gldden tour means more to the
public than any other sort of automobile
contest because t. comes nearer than any
other to the conditions under which the
average owner uses his car day after day.
The buyer wants to be sure of reliability
above anything else"
"But there is one other great advantage
from the entrants point OK view. The
Glidden tour Is each year so mapped as to
carry the contesting cars into new mar
ket. relatively speaking. Last year the
Glidden tour opened up vast new terri
tory to the industry; this year the route
will be laid out with the same end in view.
II really believe that the south and the
southwest hold vast possibilities for the
automobile industry. This territory has as
yet been very little developed. The country
through which the 1910 tour will pass is
rich and is ready for the automobile.
II am convinced from the early interest
which has been shown In the tour, that the
southern states through which the tour will
pass realize the Importance OF an enter
prise or contest of this scope. Reports
from the cities along the tentative route
indicate that the contesting cars will be
ri en- a royal welcome at every control.
Because the manufacturers realize these
things, l firmly believe that this years
Glldden will be the largest in the history
of the event. Entries have already beer
received from the Chalmers, Premier and
Moline companies. When such prominent
companies as these give the Glidden tour
their support this early it is to my mind
fully proved that the event will be an un-
qualified success.
las to the official route l can say moth
ing. The association has indeed mapped
cut tentative route, but when the official
Chalmers pathfinder and Dai Lewis get or
the road It may be found advisable to
change this in many respects. The prin-