Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-04-27

catch up with orders for future deliveries
With the approaching touring season at
| hand the manufacturers are being be-
| sieged from every section of the coun-
try for cars. more cars, until 1t seems
as though there never will be a limit to
the motor car game. And one stops and
asks the question, And where are they
all going?"
Every factory l have visited so far
presents practically the same scene.
Agents, distributors and statesmen from
every nook and corner in the United
States are to be found lined up day after
day at the Office Of the sales manager or
general manager inquiring when they
will be able to get shipments of cars
And when you see these men out here.
travelling as they do many hundreds of
miles, it's a safe bet that they have not
only orders for cars. but that they have
deposits up and are patiently waiting for
their touring car or roadster as the case
| may be.
When one stops to think that this big
| city will turn out nearly 80 per cent OF
| the entire production of the United States
| this year, which will approximate about
SSO, OUD motor cars, then you can begin
| to appreciate what a mammoth industry
| the automobile business is. The total
production this year in America will
| reach nearly $500 OUO,UUO. and that means
| some money. Detroit Is now enjoying its
| fourteenth year in the automobile indus
| try and can proudly boast OF thirty-three
automobile factories, employing nearly
5000 wage earners.
Early History of Auto.
While Detroit itself has had won
| derful growth, no other branch of bust
ness is the subject of more frequent in
quiry and none other has had such an
astonishing development as the making
and assembling of automobiles and the
manufacture of their parts and Access
series.
| The automobile industry is to be credit
| ed with a large share of the city's re-
cent growth The first company engaged
| In this work started I'm 1889 with $4,000
| capital. According to the census of
1904 the number of companies making
automobiles and their parts was nineteen.
with So, 1886 capital, employing 2,84
wage carriers, with product valued at
| $624OO51 In 1909 there were sixty-eight
companies making automobiles or their
parts, employing 11,43I persons. includ-
ing wage carners and saiaried employees.
| and having an output valued at $oo,-
| $4,000 Two years later the Michigan
state labor commission reported twenty
eight companies assembling cars and
sixty-six more whose sole business was
| the making Of automobile parts and ac
cessories Together. they gave employ
| ment to 1855 salaried officers and wage
| earners. There are. besides. many other
companies. which have the making of
| such parts as portion of their business.
| The capital employed by the ninety-four
companies was approximately $4,000.
OCO. the number OF cars built 10000,
valued at S1I5.COOOOO> Large additions
were made to a number of the plants
during 1912. The capital employed now
exceeds 10000, 600 and the output prom
| ised for 1919 is largely in excess of that
| for 1872 The largest company manu-
featuring standard low-priced car &C
| tually shipped out 1900 of them last
month.
| There are at the present time thirty
| three companies that make or assemble
/ automobiles, and about seventy-five 9TH
ers whose sole business is the making Of
automobile parts and accessories. They