Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-03-14

| 55. Since that time, especially during
last year, over twice this license record
was shown, totaling approximately
S9,500,000 in license fees.
While many owners keep their cars
in stables converted to new use, 81
large number of motor vehicles are
stored in public garages, or In build
fngs especially rented for that purpose,
and the cost of this service must aB-
gregate a large sum, although per-
haps the heaviest expense of all Is in
looking after the driving and care OF
the cars, the need for which has
opened a new calling of vast extent:
The actual number of professional
drivers licensed in this country during
1911 was 174,0S7, and since that time
the number in this country has in
creased four-fold. If the wages of
these chauffeurs were fixed at a rate
of $16 per week, and the compenSa-
ton of others employed about the car
We're added, the total would reach up
wards of eleven millions annually,
and thus the running expenses of the
motorists added to the purchase cost
and incidentals, would reach the enor-
nous aggregate of some billions of
dollars.
But these figures cover only the
direct expenditure upon cars and their
operation and do not take into ac-
count the moneys expended indirectly
in connection with motoring, such as
the cost of suitable clothing, hotel,
and travelling expenses while touring,
which must add several millions to
the total amount. The spending of this
money benefits, directly or otherwise,
a great number of people, especially
the Industrial classes The proper
ton of direct labor expended in the
actual production of the car varies
greatly according to conditions under
which 1t is produced. 1t is low where
highly organized machinery is en-
gagged in the production of the stand
ardized mechanical details of the
chassis, and correspondingly high in
regard to the parts of the body to
which standardization cannot be ap-
piled.
Indirect Cost of Motoring
THE average of direct labor upon
the car is small, but this does not by
any means cover the entire cost to the
manufacturer as it only covers the
labor directly employed upon the con.
struction In the motor-car manufac-
tories. There are, in addition to the
items OF rent, rates, and taxes, heat
| ing, lighting, and power, the wages OF
| the unskilled labor throughout the
works, the salaries of the managers
and the staff of supervisors, the highly
! skilled draughtsmen and the testing
/ staffs, and the clerical assistants who
deal with the supplies and keep check
1 on the work. Moreover, the manu-.
facturers purchases are high in the
way of material which is not raw.
but the finished and partly finished
products of other trades When g
! machine Is finished, still more labor
is required for its distribution and sale
and there is large staff of clerks in
commercial departments of several
| firms, managers, travellers, and sales.
men, and thousands of depots ano
agencies all over the country and for
eign lands, all employing labor ir
taking care of and selling cars.
| From the first to the last over one.
half of the cost of the motorcar repre-.
sents labor, Wilde the balance is moi
manufacturers profit, but such items
as rent, rates, fuel, lighting, heating
advertising, travelling expenses, office
expenses, agents commissions, depre.
citation of plant and machinery, all Of
which represent loss and profit
which must be distributed in dividends