El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-02-26

-HE low level in the price Of auto
mobiles, for several years at
Il least, has been reached, accord
ing to G. T. whitman. assistant general
sales manager Of the Studebaker cor
pOration, who was in the city this
week.
There are. according to statistical
experts, 100000 prospects for auto
mobile sales in the United states" said
Mr.. Willman. About 100000 of
these now have cars Wed like to sell
cars to the other 100000 but there are
various reasons why we can't do II
right away. First of all, we can't man
ufactm the cars fast enough. That
win be sufficient in the way OF rea-
sons.
Reports from our dealers show that
IS per cent Of all Studebaker sales are
made 10 persons already owning cars
so We are really getting in touch with
but Is per cent Of new business each
year Just how long II wiz take to
grab an the 5000 600 remaining pros
poets IL leave il to you 10 work out
for yourself
Material Supply Regulates Output.
"PrCouction, however, is TO be reg
ulated by the supply Of raw material
and shat is already scarce It takes
"A tremendous amount Of steel to build a
million automobiles. And the European
q
country. In Washington right now they
are talking preparedness ! am heart
ily in favor Of the campaign being con-
Quoted by president Wilson, but IL il
goes through there's going to be an
other tremendous unusual demand for
steel.
1T takes year TO develop big steel
plants and the present plants cannot
keep NJ with the demand. With their
producer in greater demand than the
supply, the steel men are naturally not
going to slash any prices. And with
the cost Of material up, the automobile
manufacturer isn't g9ing to cut any
pricez-
Factory Economies Help Price.
Factory economies in the way OF
modern machinery and increased pro-
duction have alone been responsible
for the reduction in the price OF auto
mobiles during the past few years. The
actual cost Of material has increased
IS per cent within the past year or
is months.
INSTEAD OF further reductions, It is
quite probable taat the price OF auto
mobiles viii go IN in the very near
future. I'm not saving IL is possible
for il - very probable.
"rhe Studebaker corporation viii en-
deavOr to maintain its present prices
as Ions as possible My present trip
is to arrange for economies in distribu-
ton ~ e lnkenQ 10 tNnttDlalG On us
tribution points. such as FL Paso, and
the sales territory OF the Elliott-Gar-
rett company viii likely be materially
increased. Through reliable and strong
distributors we can reach all our ter
ritory at smaller expense than by deal
ing direct with thousands Of agents in
all parts OF the country.
Real Value Of Autos.
"This western trip has made clear to
me as never before the real value OF
the automobile. When our train stopped
al Alpine we had few minutes to walk
around and 1 counted Is automobiles
parked near the depot. Some OF those
cars probably came from 100 miless The
automobile is putting the farmer in
close touch with the city and the wealth
OF America has its foundation on the
farm.
Just take the case OF Kansas City
as an instance. The bank clearings
90 Kansas City showed an increase IN
1915 Of 100000, O00 over 1914. And
Kansas City's clearings were greater
than Cleveland and Detroit combined
Now both Cleveland and Detroit are
huge manufacturing points. Henry
Ford banks his millions in Detroit and
I bank my own hundreds, to say moth
ing OF the Studebaker corporation's