The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1912-01-01

for the twelve months just ended are,
or course, not avallapie, but figures
FOR the eleven months cuGing Novcm-
ler 30 clearly snow the trend. During
this period our exports ran S231 100000
aLcad Of the same time iast year, while
cur imports fen S3LOj0,O00 behind This
expansion of exports and contraction
Of imports left MS with an excess Of
exports amounting 10 Si57, 100000 dur
Ing the eleven months specified, COM
.ured with S2l1 100000 at the same
time last year ana $2i9OJo.00D the year
nCfore. IN all probaD;iity the excess
f exports in 1911 has been only once
srupasscd, ana that In 1908 when the
oAcess ran as high as S11o01o,o00. In
exports tli. Increase for the year was
Wcll distributed amour the great di-
plsiuns. Cotton, our chief article Of
cAoprt, showed a large gain In values.
The most suggestive feature however,
In the export line was rae shipments
OF iron and stel manufacture, which
In the first ten mon;as reached the
surprising sum Of $2O0,OOO0O0. as
against SlG4.OOO,O00 the preceding year.
about S350,oO0O00 overtaKng our chief
rival In the foreign trade, which Of
lers an unlimited field for American
enterprise. This country already leads
az an steel producer. Before long It
VIII also lead us an IRON exporter,
weeping away entirely the pre-cmi-
ncnce which Great Britain and Ger
many have so long he'd In this field.
AUTOMOBILES.
The automobile muse ue taken into
consideration as a business factor. 10
is estimated that there are about 5oO,-
600 automobiles in the United states.
II these cost about 5000 apiece this
would mean an outlay of about $780,
C00OOO The automobile industry has
already assumed a position Of first im-
lportance, giving profitable employ
rcnt to a very large number Of peo-
lplc directly and indlrcc;.y. But the
automobile is generally an unproduc-
tive machine and chiery a source Of
amusement, the auto-trucK not yet
/ h wing come into common use. The
most important thlns about the auto
Mobile Is the cost of running. II Is
safe to assume that the average cost
OF running car, including repairs,
depreciation, chaufreurs, special cloth
/ Ing, entertainment, etc, is not less
than $1,000 per Year. This means that
, the people OF the United States are
spending approximately $50OO00OOO a
year in one form OF amusement alone.
With many individuals or heads Of
f9milles the increase in their expense
due TO running OF an automobile has
been in proportion to their increase
Of income. In many cases automo-
biics are compelling owners who had
previously saved money 20 spend up
To- the limits II not over their income,
Many owners, as Is well known have
borrowed heavily to invest in an auto
car The net result is that owners of
automobiles as class nave neces-
81 rily spent less in other directions,
and have saved much less than they
would otherwise have cone. In either
case the effect S moro or less detri-
mental To other lines of trade. The
iup pairmcnt OF savings Is perhaps the
most serious factor, since the new sup
ply OF capital comes onY from savings,
And if these he restricted 10 follows
! tlat capital for developing new enter
prises is not growing so fast as it
otherwise would. This is an elemens
of some consequence in the invest
mcnt situation. OF course, these re-
marks do not apply to those abund-
entity able TO own automobiles, and of
this class there is surprisingly large
number in the United States, After
ou hoe ltaop cai1 In, oufOuno obip 0ilc
Ia useful and importans place in our
social and economic makeup. 1t has
enormous pleasure. The objections
against II are only those OF eXtrava-
gance or individual ability.