The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-06
UNCLESAM LEADS WORLD AS AUTO.
 GAR PROVIDER.
Despite the Big War Efficiency Production Puts American Cars at Head of Procession.
We Sold s28,OOO, ,OOO Worth of Motor Cars to. Foreign Coun- tries Last Year and Have Nearly 100000 at Home.

tries Last Year and Have
 Nearly 100000 at Home.
 Washington, Jan. 6-That the auto mobile industry in America as devef- oped by Henry Ford and others who have beaten the world in producing good cars at low prices have bllazed the trail in industrial development that is to be followed by unanufa,ctur- CTS in other lines is believed here to be proven by the figures of the gov ernment expn1tS- American brains and mechanical ability can lead the world under proper generalship, and it is believed here that skilled men with highly developed technical training can take the management of any Of the eastern manufacturing plans, the kind that have been stumbling along with the belief that they needed a higll tariff and not brains to make money, and develop the same high ef- f1ciency that the automobile concerns have developed under the strains of conpetition.
 The automobile industry is one of the telling demonstrations that the United States has passed beyond the swaddIing clothes era of industrial de- velopment. The automobile came into the world after Hflis country was well established as an industrial conHnun- ity France, Italy, Germany, Great Britain. all plunged into making mo- tor cars France, in lfaet, had the lead, as about the same time it Inade itself leader in the development of lighter r-than-air vehicles for navigat- ing the air But it seems to be a part of the genius of the French peo- pie to devise more than to develop; whether in the realm of building auto. driven cars or in the perfection of If {Je ocratic philosophy.
 The French imagination was carried away with the idea of the auto-car, but it remained for American manu- facturers to apply highly specialized 4narlIfa cturiTaesg methods to the prod1lc- ton of Standardized and cheap cars. That is the secret of the marvellous ldevelopnent of the industry in this countr-y Tt would have been econon1- lfca1ly impossible to build 2 vast in dI1stry dn cars costing $5, ,000, because there would have been such a. limited market. But when system brought the price within a third and even a sixth Of that figure, the market extended in "a fashion that has been the wonder of the commercial world.
 l Last year, according to a bulletin l Just issued by the Department of Commerce, this country sold $2S, ,000, ' GOO worth Of a.utomobiIes abroad, which ! is not half so impressive as the fact tllta. this is forty-fye times as much as its value of autonobiles imported
 and thirteen times as great as the foreign sales a decade ago. The dis i friblftfon of exported cars suggests that tarifHs of foreign countries have little to do with the ability of AE1ea1f- I can manufactures to sell their goods.
 For instance. Great Britain admits aa1- tomobiIes free, and yet takes only one f6ifth of our exports. Canada inn poses a 35 per cent. duty. and, takes as many, while it has only about one-fiftIl the population of Great Brf- tain. In other words, Canada. is in . pu-oporHion to population five times I as good customer, despite a. high ltarfff, as Great Britain is, despite free
 trade.
 Again, Australia has a high duty, and yet took g soc, 900 worth of cars from us, while Argentina with a very
 ierv duty took only 8, ,0000 900 worth.
 Brazil has about the same tariff rate las Argentina, and yet took only about tone-fourth unIlcf value in autonao- ibdles as Argentina The tariff rates. in short seem to have weIl-ndgh no trelation, certainly no obvious and log tcal relation, to the capacity and will- lingness of other countries to buy cars. Perhaps in that regard countries are like people it isn't apparently wleth Ter one can afford an auto, but how
 much he wants it.
 si There is to be no limit to the deveI-
 osprnert of the automobile and the tgasoIine engine. Boys growing ur today will make no mistake if they
 become affiliated with the trades and technical pursuits ttf1at have to dc with the development of the automo- ibile.
 The New York World in a recent is-
 sue says of the industry in Ameri- lea:
 Two Million Automobiles.
 ssThere were registered in the several states last year ], sos, Al automobiles
 against 1,127, $40 in 1913. At this. ex- traordinar-y rate of increase of near. l iy 56, 900 a Gnenth the country wil Ehave 1000. 900 automobiles in use by early spring.
 1.-TWO million automobiles represend an investment for the buyers of a-
 least $1, ,5o0, ,oo0, GOO. Placed end to ent
 they would forum a double line stretch : ing clear across the continent. Their
 up-keep and operation must cost pc . year nearly as much as the origina , cost of the machines. But they evi dentIy pay, and more and more in comm erciaI sense, or they would no 2 Der, regardless of industrial depres sion and war. disturbances. And il : the great stimulus they have given t , good-roads construction they hav : had profound effect in improving tn v economy of the country.
 , f'The great war, indeed, has bee' . demonstrating the peace value of tn
 automobile in proving its military i'm
 portance It has been of vast an
 for the transport of supplies and tn
 fnrobilizing and shifting of troops o the scale and with the rapidity wE1ic ] distinguish this war from all other.