El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-07-29
-HILE the attention Of t

-HILE the attention of the mo-
N otrist has been focused on
w gasoline in its spectacular
performance Of 1916. with its increased
Grain on the immediate cash outlay
for motoring, he has been unable to see
the fact that the total cost Of opera
ton is falling. This. according to an
article in Automobile Topics" is the
exact situation today, and 1t is due
TO the steady rise in quality OF the
ether products that are consumed, more
particularly the tires. Gasoline ana
tres are the two main items of eN-
pense cOnencted with the operation
Of a car. and in justice and wen
merited tribute to the tlTe lHuust.
II is high time TO call attention TO the
fact that so well have the tire makers
performed their task OF lncreaSlhs
quality that the lowering OF ruhllhs
costs thus occasiOned now more than
offsets the increased costs due 10
Tire prices have risen lately. OF
course as any short comparison OF
price lists will show What the price
lists do not show. however, is tnat
me service given by the tires has IN
creased far beyond the increase IN
Irice, so that the actual mile cost IS
less. It is so much less as 10 more
Than make up for the greater cost per
nile for fuel Also. tires cost less now
than they did two years ago ana run
further
Cheapest Year Was 1915.
Roughly classifying the years re-
veals that 1915 was the year when II
cost least to run a car, due 10 the 10"
Cost of fuel. comparatively. and the
high mileage given the tires. Ine
next cheapest year was 1914, while
1915 the year of the great rise IN
gasoline is at present informed ate
remained stationary this year, 1910
would show as the cheapest year Ee-
The figures are based on the per
formance of about 100 cars GOVERNS
ia 900 miles yearly in about 20 i'm
uortant centers OF the country IN the
service of the United states IRE com
pauv and are therefore delal4e =
enough 10 avoid special conditions OF
any kind. Three types Of cars were
1-sed the light. the medium ana heaNS
weight. The light car used 80 bE )
inch tires in the front and 50 Dy > =
inch in the rear. both plain tread me
n,adi11u1 weight car is a six" and uses
81 by inch tires front and rear with
non skid tread ii the rear Inc heaNS
cars are either 'fOurs' OF elghts, anu
use 3s by AZ inch tires. front anu
rear. with non skid tread at the rear
The light car averaged 20 miles 10 the
gallon the medium car i and one-halL
miles and the heavy y miles
The years covered were the SIX rom
1911 10 1915 inclusive The cars in
question all were actively engaged IN
the business of the company and were
under constant observation. Records
of the total mileage, tire mileage, TUBE
and casing life and fuel consumption
were kept with accuracy and the fls-
ures are unusually significant, be-
cause they were compiled for the IN
formation of the cOmpany's officials
Let the Figures Tell the Story.
The gasoline cost curves for the
three cars are almost identical. We
cite the one for the medium car II
cost s906S for gas for the 10000 miles
in 1911, and there was d steady rise
Tor two years, the cost in 1913 being
S123.53, followed by a precipitous drop
il one year TO s74. 2S-no less than 81
percent Since then the climb has been
steady and consistent to SI3l42- The
actual cost is s40.74 more than in 1911,
OF 81 percent. The percentage is sub
stantially the same for all three years.
During the periods in which the
cars ran their respective 10000 mile
distance the price of gasoline aver
AGED as follows 1911, 1887 cents;
1912 1912 cents 1913 2162 cents;
1914 Is cents. 1915. 1888 cents, and
1916. % cents A curve showing fluc-
luation in the price of gasoline is prac-
ticauv identical in contour with the
three fuel cost curves of the cars
showing that all three were consistent
performers in that respect
Cost Is Lower.
Taking the same medium weight
medium priced car a basis for draw