Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-21
AUTOMOBILES.
IA REMARKABLE INDUSTRY.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

Perhaps never in history has there been
such a rapid development of any industry
as that OF manufacturing and selling au-
t0mobiles. Whether viewed from the
standpoint of the expansion of the manu-
fscture of automobiles or from that OF
the economic effect the industry has had
upon American life. the development has
been surprisingly rapid
There are today more than 100000 reg
istered motor cars in the United States
and the number in use in states which
do not require registration brings the
total well up to half million. 1t Is
estimated that the total production of
ears for 1872 will approximate a quarter
of a million.
There are betwe cen go and 400 automo-
bile factories in the country. and they
turn out an annual product worth near
ly half billion dollars. The transactions
of single big corporation manufacturing
automobiles amounted to S3o,o0WO a
wear. In some cases the output or a sim
gle factory amounts TO $50 cars every
day. One plant in Michigan expects to
turn out $1,000 cars this year. To trans
port this product would require 5000 cars
and make a train 100 miles long. The
shops of one company cover ninety-three
acres, and those of another company
sixty acres.
= =
From all this it will appear that great
rs has been the automobile business
during the past
Expansion Limit few Years.
Not Yet Reached. is .x,sctsd dr.
ing the immediate future. When the output
of machines jumped from $4,000 in 1909
JS- fIn hal ipI-
that the high-water mark had been
reached. But in 1911 the output had in
creased to nearly 10000 cars. with the
result that the automobile manufacture
ing business advanced from fifth to
fourth place among all of the industries
of the United States.
That the end has not been reached is
now believed by all automobile authori-
ties. They see ahead an era when motor
cars will cease to be d luxury and begin
to be a necessity. The progress in auto
mobile design has been such that com
paratively few and rather unimportant
changes are predicted for the future.
This permits certain amount of stand
ardizatiOn and relieves the automobile
manufacturers of the burden of INSTALL
ing expensive new machinery with the
passing of each season. The result Is
that automobiles can be manufactured
a less cost and upon narrower margin
than formerly
The great demand for medium and low
priced cars is illustrated by the fact that
in 1911 nearly 80 per cent Of the total sales
in the United States We're of cars selling
for S1,5G0 less. With the gradual
cheapening of automobiles they become
available to an increasing number of peo
pie. and il is probable that in the future
this Will work one OF the greatest social
and economic changes, especially in urban
and suburban life, that have taken place
in many decades
Today one person out of every two
hundred possesses an automobile. In the
city of Toledo. Ohio. there are 2,cf0 reg
istered machines, and it is said that an
inspection of the taXbooks indicates that
there are 1J.e60 people in that city who
could afford to own a car costing 1900
or less. 1t also is estimated that there
are 100000 families in the United States
who could afford TO own motor cars. The
effort of the future among automobile
manufacturers will be the production of
cars at prices which will reach major
ity of these families.
=
One of the favorable indications for a
larger automobile business in the years
to come is the
Selling Conditions fact that the SELL
Are Now Normal. trade has settled
down TO a normal condition. irresponsible
dealers and statesmen are being banshed
from the business, and the automobile
companies are endeavoring to secure rep
resentatives who are men of standing in
their respective communities and who
value the regulations of their business
houses more than they desire to make
sales at any cost. Practically every auto
mobile manufacturer in the country adj
mits that in the past methods have been
used which were warranted neither by
good business judgment nor by the prin-
ciples OF fair dealing. II is believed that
this new policy will engender confidence
on the part of the public and remove one
of the principal barriers to a further en-
pansion of the automobile trade.
The rise of the automobile has affected
the daily lives of millions of American
people in numerous ways. There never
has been time when public sentiment
has been completely aroused in favor
of good roads as today, and it has been
the enthusiasm of the automobilist that
has served to bring about this condition.
The automobile is working change in
both urban and rural industrial condi-
tions. 1t has served TO reduce the cost
of manufacture in dozens of industries,
and To the agriculturist owning a ma
chine it has brought a degree of comfort
that he never possessed before.
With the development of the automo-
bile industry one is able now to buy
car for 81 600 which is, perhaps. better
than the best cars gold at S1.J0o four
years atO. and probably superior to he
average eighteen hundred-dOllar car of
that time 1t is this increasing quality
for a decreasing price which has served
To- bring the automobile within reach of
those who could not own one il the first
cost the expense OF maintenance, were
not lower than formerly.
The eastern states from the beginning
have been the steadiest and largest con-
sumers OF the
Eastern States output of the
automobile fac