The Washington times., 1912-03-09
STATISTICS SHOW
TREMENDOUS GAIN
IN MOTOR INDUSTRY
Cars, If Stood End to End,
Would Extend 1882
Miles.
BY HARRY WARD.

Some one of statistical turn of mind
has estimated that IL all the automobiles
IN use in America were Irrd up they
would extend a total of 1852 miles. al
lowing each car ten feet of space Mo-
torinS has no clearing nouse through
which one may obtain definite reports
as to the strength of the industry or
other information Of interest to the en-
| thnsiast
The Federal Government tried To 10
| this. in a way, through the Census BIZ
reau, but. unfortunately that report
| comes only once In five years. and the
| fans canpot keep up to date. Therefore,
| whenever any up-to-date statistical in
formation Of this sort is obtained it is
| only after hard research.
There is one authority, however, which
has come out Of its way to garner this
Information for use during the automo-
bile shows, and from this source comes
| the statement that registrations DURING
| 1!ll show therc are $1,000 cars in use IN
the United states. This is the report
| made bv an automobile Journal which
| got its data from the various serre-
| taries OF state.
Probably Implications.
As a matter or fact, these reports
give the total number of cars register
ed as 7l7,SI5, but there necessarily has
| been some duplication where some
States require visitors to take out tags
when they are within the confines of
those commemorative a conservative
estimate would place this at II, 900.
| Bot there is no disputinF the financial
| returns, the report showing that i'm
1m1 ther" was paid over for re2lstra-
ton tags the enormous sum of S39Sj-
$3.50 lust for the privilege Of operat-
ing motor cars on the highways of the
cOnntrV.
OF the 1855 cars registered, 1s45o1
| were tagged for the first time in 1911,
the remaining 523,3S4 having been reg
istered before. This. therefore. would
| indicate that during the year the maxi
ers of this country had sold 1901 new
cars, which bears out those critics who
had guessed 900 as the probable out
put for the season.
State Figures.
One gets an idea of the magnitude
of the industry and sport by delving
into the report by States, which shows
that at the end of 1911 New York alone
had $1,000 cars, while second on the list
| is California, which has registered &c.
202. New Jersey is third with 1885,
which probably is explained by the law
which requires visitors to take out New
Jersey licenses. Ohio is fourth, with
1919: Pennsylvania fifth, with 44.1S2:
Massachusetts sixth, with 1896; Illinois
seventh. with IS, lO4, and Indiana eighth,
with 1886.
In the way of fees New York coll
lected $751;, 975, Massac husetts $3.50, 900, and
Pennsylvania A1S.631. Utah receives less
from the motorists than any other State
In the Union, its 1870 cars netting 1t
revenue of only 1886.
The Cook & stoddard Company re-
port the sale of a Baker electric VIC
toria to Mrs. b. E. Clark.
In the early days of the automobile
industry many factories followed the
policy of get the money for their
product and then letting the buyer look
out for himself. This led to the common
belief that the first cost of the automo-
bile was small in comparison to the ex-
penses of keeping 1t up. That day Is
past. and most of the reliable automo-
bile makers maintain department
which takes care of the machines after
they are turned over to the purchaser.
Taking care of customers is now gen.
orally admitted to be the correct policy.
best advertisement. and the direct
cause of new orders. Many of the
) troubles with automobiles are today
slight; We; to the customer they are
considerable.
1t is the policy Of a number Of the
manufacturers to have cars examined
by an expert at least once month.
This expert makes whatever little ad-
justments are necessary and instructs
the chauffeur and owner as to the
proper care of the machine. In this way
9 the concern not only takes care OF the
. machine, but eduC6tes both chauffeur
and customer which alone bring the
best of results.
3 1t is estimated that more than 200
= ball players own automobiles at pres
ent, and every year from twenty-five
to fifty converts to motoring are made.
:, That it will not take the initiative to
? stage the Vanderbilt Cup and Grand
!. Prize automobile races next fall is the
, announcement made by the Savannah
q Automobile Club. 1t is expected the
Vanderbilt race will be run over the
Long Island course, while the Grand
y Prize event will be abandoned.
The Chicago Cubs own more automo-
bies than any other aggregation of ball
q players in the American or National
League. Chances men have been join
ing the ranks of the motor enthusias SITS
one at a time until about half the team
are classed as 'gasolene bugs" Chance
was one of the first men in the game to
| own an automobile. Then one at q
t time his players followed in his foot
!! steps, Joe Tinker being the last one to
buy car
- Motorcycle riders will be much in
evidence at the District Building this
afternoon when members of the Ma
tional Capital Motorcycle Club will
demonstrate passenger-Carying attach
T ments before the Police Inspection
Board.