The daily Alaskan., 1915-01-30
EDITORIAL P AG E
AUTOS FOR MILLIONS

The most impressive phase of the recent development of the automobile inudstry in America is the rapid widening of the use of motor vehicles by people of mod crate means. It is conversion Of what was once a virtual monopoly of the rich into a convenience and source of enjoyment for millions,
 The evidence that this change is going on Is overwhelming. The cnsap and moderate-priced automo- piles are the dominant feature of the new ventures in the motor car industry. They are very conspic- uous in the big shows of the sea- sol. They swarm on the streets and roads. The growth of certain companies which make low-priced motor vehicles is noted all over l4e country.
 Other proof of the rapid widen ing of the base upon which the au- Iomobile industry stands is found in the statistics of the motor ye- nicles registered in various states. The number, relatively to the popu- lation, by no means follows the scale of wealth. Motor cars and milHonaires do not increase and diminish in corresponding ratios.
 New York, the richest of the states, the special home of men ot great wealth, has 16S,O67 automo- bIles, according to the latest rec ords, and about 1O,OOO,0OO inhab- itants. It had s,113,OV0 in 1910 and had gained about 1,S50,OO0 in ten years. Kansas, a state with few rich residents and no cities noted for their wealthy people, a commonwealth of farmers and yil- laSers, in the main, has 50,107 IL censed automobiles and only about i,I5O,OO0 inhabitants, In propor- ton to the population automobiles are 50 per cent more numerous in Kansas than they are in New York.
 Massachusetts Is another very rich state. It is emphatically state of cities, of inherited fortunes, of a large leisure class. Its peo- pie include an extremely high per centage Of the rich and the we'll to-do. Iowa is like Kansas in be- ing distinctiyely agrcultural. It is a state of comparatively few cities and its milnonaires arc rare. But Iowa, with 2,224,OO0 inhabitants, at the time of the latest federal census, has 106,250 automobiles licensed, while Massachusetts, with a population of 3,S66,416 in 1910, has licensed only T7,246 motor ye- Eicles. In proportion 10 the num- Der of inhabitants the comparative " new and plain-liying, rural state has twice as many automobiles as rich and urban Massachusetts.
 Pennsylvania is more urban and less rural than Ohio and more populous by about 2,OOO,OOO, or 40 per cent. Philadelphia and Pitts burg are noted for their very rich men, and Pennsylvania, as a whole is distinguished by many very large fortunes. They have sprung from coal and iron, oil and timber, and from the states great strength in manufactures gained at a time when Ohio was comparatively un- developed. If the automobile were a luxury of the rich alone, Penn sylvania would make a noteworthy showing in motor cars. But Ohio has registered more than 122,000 automobiles against 112,O00 In the state which has by 40 per cent the larger population.
 Similar comparisons might be multiplied at great length. It is not necessary to go farther into the astonishing automobile statistics of the country to prove that motor vehicles have become common in farming districts and have grown 10 be an everyday convenience for hundreds of thousands of men and women who are by no means rich. There is nothing of the "toy for the wealthy that the motor car was called, In it's early days, by some Of it's hostile critics. It is fast becoming the pleasure and the working vehicle Of the millions and more so In America than in any other country in the world