Bismarck daily tribune., 1915-12-25
AVERAGE COST Of
AUTOS NOW $8l4
Over 100000 Made in the United
States Last Year; Develop
ment Rapid.
Do you want an automobile?

DO yOu WdAC dH dutOHloulle:
So does everybody else.
Which means that the automobile
business is becoming one Of the big
gest things in the world.
Last year Gully, 1914, to June, 19l5)
we made 703,527 automobiles in Am.
erica. ....l
This year well make over a mil
lion. .........,..
And the industry is only II years
old.
The automobile is no longer the
plaything of the rich man. Folks on
small pay are buying more than the
we'll to do, for the price is getting
down within the reach of all.
Average Price, $814.
OF the 100000 cars sold in the Unit.
ed States last year, the average price
was $S14. Eight years ago the aver.
age price was s2,123. E'ut that year
only $4,000 cars were marketed.
The automobile today is knitting
the country together as the railroads
united the remote settlements 80 or
40 years ago. The growth of the mo-
tor car industry is even more amaz-
ling, when YOU sstoB TO consider it,
than was the spread Of the iron rail.
Eighteen or 20 years ago, when
the pioneers were experimenting with
the first ".lorseless carriages" peo-
pie laughed at them. They poked
fun at Haynes of Indiana and Winton
of Ohio, and Olds was known in cen.
trail Michigan as "Olds Fool"
1t was 1899 before automobiles be-
gan to be produced in commercially
important quantities. That year 800
we're made, worth $1,284 apiece on
the average. The cars for three or
four years made comparatively little
Roadway. In 1903 only 1900 cars
were made and the price was little
bit lower than in 1S99-$l, ,15O.
Prices Go Up.
But from that time on the price
went steady upward and the auto
makers We'd with one another for
the trade of the wealthy. Luxury
after luxury was placed in the cars,
the richest styles were invented, and
the auto craze swept over the rich
and the near-rich Of the nation.
Homes were mortgaged in order
that families might have cars as eX-
pensive as those of their wealtlies.
neighbors across the street. Extrav.
agance was the order of the day
both in buying cars and making
them.
For every auto company had a
method of it's own. There wasn't a
part in any make that would fit the
part Of another Automo.
billing meant having a high-priced
chauffeur, really mechanician, and
if anything went wrong or broke it
took days and weeks to get another
part from the factory. ~ |
Then somebody took a tumble to
what was going on. Whether it was
Ford or Olds or somebody else mat
ters little. Several makers saw that
cheaper cars would have to be pro-
that all makes would
have to be standardized. The year
1907 saw the birth of automobile san
ty. Prices started coming down.
People no longer thought it neces-
sary to pay $4,000 or $4,000 for car
lie luxe.
Tle average price paid for car In
1907 was $2,123. In 1908 it was ST.
'21. This is what the average buyer
paid-not what the average make
cost.
Output Doubled. ~
The large quantity idea of produc.
ion had it's birth. The number of
autos made nearly doubled in
:
Some firms tried to make cars as
ow as $3.50. This seemed to be car
'ying tie thing too far. These makes
lever were popular.
Standardization was born. Auto.
Mobile engineers designated stand.
lrd size parts. so that motorist was
,ot obliged to seek the nearest
branch Of his particular factory to
lave his car repaired.
Luxuries that were only in the
highest priced cars in 1906 began
creeping into the cars Of moderate
.Ost. Tails was made possible by
,roup production-turning out many
'ars at a time. instead of only one.
They used to saw that no man max
ne less than S. 900 wear could AZ
'rd an automobile. But now it is
crtain that more than half the cars
'prratcd are owned and driven by