The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-28
AUTOS AND EXTRAVAGANZA
BY HAROLD O. SMITH
President Premier Motor Manufacturing Company

electric car to return to the horse car,
or giving up the steam railroad car to
return to the prairie schooner, as to aban-
don the motor car.
The spirit of the age is to keep abreast
with the march of progress and it would
be difficult to conceive of even banker
refusing to make loan on respon-
sibe business merely on the ground that
some portion of this money might be
exchanged for article which has as
tonished the world on account OF the
practical way in which 1t has effected
a marked saving Of time, being the
equivalent Of reducing distance. 1t Is
perfectly true, perhaps. that men have
been known to mortgage their homes
or to borrow on life insurance policies
to buy machines, and as an incScat1on
of reckless extravaganza and shiStiess
foolishness such a performance Is to be
deprecated, but there is no logic In blam-
ing the automobile maker or denouncing
his business as the cause of silly act.
AS a matter of fact there Is less OF
this going on than some critics would
have the public believe A farm located
an hour from the market reckoned on
the basis of horse travel, can be brought
one-third nearer in effect by the saw
ing in a practical way Of two-thirds
of the time necessary to travel the dis
lance, and why should the privilege be
refused, or the farmer censured for en-
ploying a modern agent of economy any
more than for the use of the modern
self-binder in the harvesting OF his grain.
To go further the farmer is not criti-
cised If he places a mortgage on his farm
In order to purchase advanced equip
ment to carry on his work.
But the danger of people yenturing into
unwise obligations is largely eliminated
by the fact that cars are sold for cash
rather than on payments, which means
that the purchaser must have SUM-
Client bank account, or equivalent as
SETS for settlement, and the temptation
to heavily discount the future as might
be the case with cars sold on the in
stallment plan, is entirely eliminated.
Statistics show that there Is little cause
for charging the cost of high living to
the motor car, and the most convincing
proof can be cited in a comparison OF
the $3.50 200, 900, representing total list
price of the 175,000 motor cars SOLD In
the last II months, and the impressive
and enormous amount of $500 100000 ex'
pended during the same time for liquot
and tobaccos alone. At the same time
the motor car is an investment repre-
senting an asset. which can hardly be
said of the investment made by the con-
sumner of the two commodities above re-
ferred to.
Unofficial statistics nave peeh optaiheo
which are interesting for they lndicate
that a possible rs per cent of the motor
cars purchased are bought by those who
have previously owned private convey
ances or are using the former in a COM
mercial or semi way: 1T has
also been shown that the wealthy al
most invariably buy expensive cars and
more than one car. and on a fair esti-
mate IS per cent of the money invested
in automobiles is expended by this class.
Notwithstanding many contrary reports,
1t is a fact that the mileage cost OF oper-
ating automobiles is less than the mile
age cost Of horse drawn vehicles, while
the mileage depreciation of the motor
car is not anywhere near that OF the iat-
ter. or course, this depreciation does
not take into account the whimsical IAN
cies OF those buying motor cars annual
ly, and causing depreciation by maxi
Ing new cars second-handed. It y reck-