Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-11-01
VISITING THE WAR
BRIDES.
W.-The Boom in Detroit.
By Frederic J. Haskin.

DETROIT, Mich. October 5o.-Detroit |
is hard hit by the war. She has been |
knocked upward into the position OF
third exporting city in the United
States This sudden boost has also |
made her the fourth greatest manufac-
turing city in the country, being out |
ranked by only three cities of several |
times her population. Her manufac-
tured products this year will pass the |
half-billion mark. This has all come |
about because Detroit has secured such |
a goodly share of the golden flood that |
has poured into this country from Eu- |
rope since the war began.
Detroit has never been subject to
slumps, but never have her streets been |
so filled with chugging motors apd |
hurrying throngs, her hotels so crowd, |
ed. her factories and terminals SO busy |
as today. A whole new crop of Ameri-
can miIlionaires has been created dur
ing the past year and number Of them
have made their fortunes here.
No emissaries to European govern
ments were necessary to get foreign
orders for Detroit. The city was known
as the place from whence motors come,
and here the buying agents of the al
lies came seeking the wheels of war
trucks to carry shells to the front and
ambulances to bring back wounded
men. Cars of all types they had to
have, and at once.
certain motor company here had
an immense Junk pile" a few months
ago, composed of returned. damaged
and incomplete cars and odd parts.
Since the junk pile was occupying a
good deal of space it was regarded as
more of a liability than an esset-until
the eye of a foreign purchasing agent
fell upon it, He saw a chance to get
lot of disable cars at low rate He
Offer $4,000. 600 for the junk pile and
Immediately became the owner of it.
General Motors is the Detroit war
stock whose amazing antics have caused /
m s t
Rise of General Motors of the
Like Arabian Nights Tale. - LIS ln.s
and in Wall street. This is one of the
corporations that have converted con-
dition bordering on bankruptcy into
dizzy, opulent success. Five years ago
General Motors borrowed S15,000,0OO to
put it on it's feet. and was placed In the
hands of a voting trust, representing
the bankers who advanced the money
included several well known makes
and a number that were not so well
known. In fact, it had a number of
dead plants on it's hands, and it's
stock was way down. At the time the
war broke out it was in the neighbor-
hood of IS. Then the rise began. To
the amaZement of most of the stock
holders il reached $50, and many of
them began to unload. There was
brisk trading in General Motors both.
on Wall street and the Detroit Stock
Exchange, But some of the wise ones
merely kept mum and held on. They
have been richly rewarded. On the
day that this was written General
Motors reached $685., rising twenty
one points in twenty four hours.
w. c. Durant, formerly vice presi-
| dent of General Motors, lives in Flint.
| Mich, and a good many of his friends
| had been induced to buy some of the
stock. One man. for example, bought
1000 shares at 27 u two years ago. To-
| day his stock is worth about $1,050,0OO
and he Is still holding 1t.
There is a man in Detroit who has
made 100000 dealing inGeneral Motors
through a brokerage house and an
other who has made S250,OO0, A minor
Official in another motor company was
given a few shares in the company for
| which he worked. He traded them for
175 shares of General Motors, then re-
garded as peaIly worthless. Today he
|
| x4
A glimpse into one of the Detroit
| auto factories in full blast inspires
| confidence
Cars Hustled Out of in the be-
Plants by the Thousand. n II = anas
| will get all the cars It wants You
| walk through machine shops acres in
| extent. where working parts are being
| turned out by the thousand. In an
other shop hundreds of great machines
| are stamping the parts of the chassis
out of sheet metal Then you come
upoRa long procession of skeleton cars
| moving steadily down a long room on
a sort of moving track. At one point.
| front and rear axles are Joined to-
gether; at another wheels descend
| from the ceiling and are attached; an
| engine comes bouncing down an in
| ciined plane and is fixed in place in a
| jiffy, while gasoline tank perches
precariously amidships. The car scarce
| ly pauses. Each workman seems to hit
| 1t about one rap as it goes by. Ac-
! cording to a current story, a workman
result of his carelessness the next
| shipment to London was eight cars
short.
When the machine reaches tho end
of the sliding track gasoline is squirt
ed into 1t. boy perches upon the tank
| and the car goes shooting across the
yard under it's own power. It stops
| under high shed. A great crane
swoops down and deposits a complete