The Washington herald., 1916-10-22

BANKERS all over the country are belnS
constantly deluged with financial prob
lens pertaining to the automobile. Prob
lens of finance begin with the purchase
of raw materials and do not end until
the sale of the car to the ultimate con-
sumner. Ever since 1913 when the auto
mobile became a thing of necessity rather
| than a luxury, the matter Of financing
has perplexed banking officials. Despite
the inherent attitude OF bankers to put
out a restraining hand on all rapidly
growing industries the growth of the
automobile industry has been nothing
short of marvellous. The automobile in
dustry today is a colossal, gigantic. pow
erful industry. From a weak infant in
1870 to powerful young giant in 1916
has been the progress of the automobile
industry. l say young giant" advisedly
for the automobile industry will accom-
plish stln greater strides in the next ten
years The era of pioneering has passed.
1t has given way to cycle of expansion.
The automobile IS no longer toy. a
plaything. 1t has become a part of our
everyday life. In capital invested, in
dividend disbursements, in numbers of
people given employment, in consumption
Of raw materials. it has reached the high
level of railroads, the steel and iron in
dustry farming and other industries Of
t: -mendOus scope, says George Weiss in
the Forum
To ClinCh the readers interest in this
subject OF the automobile which now Oc-
cupies an important niche in the eco
nomic structure, l will present in con-
crete form some startling facts as to the
industry. The retail value of all the cars
produced in the first six months of this
year pleasure and commercial cars, was
60j55C, $50. A total of 739. 326 pleasure and
IOS commercial cars made up the enor-
nous value. In 1SS9 the year Of birth of
the automobile industry on a commercial
scale. there were only 800 cars produced
with a value of S475O,OOO 1t is estimated
that 1916 will see a production of 100
600 cars having the tremendous retail
value Of Sl,O0S, 900. Ninety-nine fac
tories giving employment to over 100000
people produced these cars. The total
capital invested in the manufacture of
automobiles alone not including access
sOrieS. is estimated by important bank
ing officials at the colossal sum of S OOO,-
100000. Adding the capital invested in the
manufacture of accessories brings the
total up to $4,000. 900. When England
last Spring, asked for a war loan Of
81, 10000 the financial world was rock
ed. 1t was stated that such a sum could
never be obtained. In fact, that loan was
scaled down to SjOOOOO,OOO Yet in the
short space Of seventeen years the sum of
N4 900 900 has found its way into the
manufacture of automobiles and acces-
sories. Truly. facts presented by the
automobile industry are something to
conjure with.
What the automobile has done for fos-
tering good roads, for the gasoline in
dustry, for the rubber goods manufac-
lures, for the steel mills, for the pro-
ducers Of aluminium, brass. zinc, tin and
other metals can never be adequately
told. The automobile gave the good
roads movement its strongest impetus,
promoted gasoline and rubber manufac-
ture to the extent of 100 per cent of It's
pre-autO era capacity.
In the matter of earning capacity, the
automobile makers are war brides" of a
permanent nature. Some automobile COM
panies pay in dividends more than do
the standard railroads of the country. In
fifteen years there has been a transfor-
nation so great, so wonderful that au-
thOritiCs in economics are astounded by
the sOundness of the industry Before
1900 the automobile was an object of de-
risiOn. Today it is commonplace Prob
ably more than that. It is a necessity.
Day for day in years of life, dollar for
dollar in expenditures and profits, expan-
sion to expansion there is no industry that
can present the same wonderful record
as the automobile industry
Despite the overwhelming production
of automobiles the demand has not been
satiated. Factories are deluged with or
ders. All makers of automobiles have
sufficient business on hand to keep their
plants in full blast up to July, 1917. Busi-
ness is in excess Of capacity. Every large
automobile company plans to increase its
capacity from 30 to so per cent Ford
will increase his output of 533,921 cars in
Y
that in the fiscal year of 1917-1S his output
will total 100000 cars.
On July l of this year there were close
to 100000 automobiles in the United
States. This total would indicate an au-
tomobile for every thlrty-five persons, In
some States the proportion of automobile
ownership to population is much greater
than one to every thirty-fve persons.
For instance, Iowa has one automobile
to every eighteen persons, California to
every fifteen, Nebraska to every sixteen
and New York to every thirty-nine. New
York State heads the list with 259105
automobiles registered with the State De-
partment. Ohio is second with 20S, ,7O5 and
Illinois third with 203, 757.
The scope of the automobile industry
can be strikingly illustrated in the extent
of the business dependent on livelihood
from automobile owners. Thus on July
there were 1898 dealers in automobiles
and supplies in the United States. There
were 20, $50 garages. 1O621 repair shops,
2, ,427 supply stations and 1913 dealers in
automobile supplies alone.
How many millions of dollars manufac-
turers of automobile tires have made
since the beginning of the automobile in
dustry no one will ever be able to state
within fair degree of accuracy. The
head of the United States Rubber Com
pany declared that mora than S5Oo noo o0n
were being spent each year for automo-
bile tires by owners in the United States.
Then turn to gasoline! Oil fields in
this country, in Russia, in Java, in Mex
ico-in fact, in every cline where traces
of oil have been Nobserved-are being