Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-09-24
AUTO INDUSTRY
BREAKS RECORDS
IN STARTLING WAY
There Are Numerous Good
Reasons for Present Pros
perity in Trade Entire.
World Influenced,

For nearly seventeen months the ,
srtomobilc industry has been flour |
ishing like green bay tree. There
had been previous periods of prosper /
nv. but the peculiar and apparently |
adverse conditions that have prevail !
ed during the last year and a half ,
have made the present extraordinary
and cver-eXpandinE volume of mo- !
tor car business a commercial phe (
romenon we'll worth singing out and
examining, and all the more so be
cause through sympathetic action the
present booming prosperity is not con,
fined to the makers of automobiles.
The activity of the motor car mar
ket has pulled weakening and tOtter
ing allied industries up TO an almost
equal plane Of prosperity. The en-
tire commercial world, IN fact, had its
backbone stiffcned thanks to he,
condition of the motor car business,
and what a year and a half ago prom
ised to he the beginning of national
depression and disaster has turned
triumphantly into national profit and
wcll-being.
What, then, is the explanation Of
This phenomenal advance in the mo
tor car world which means SO much
to everyone in this country?
Some manufacturers say IL is be
cause people will cut out meat for
dinner, wear last seasons clothes and
forget to pay the grocer before they
will think of eConomiZing on gasoline
consumption.
But is it? Let's look over the evi-
dence. Two years ago when the war
broke out the almost universal in
clination was to slash advertising APP
preparations and cut down on sales ef-
fort
Lets keep our money in the bank
until we see what is going to happen,
was the way most people felt about it,
In the automobile business it looked
like a small-sized panic in few days
Millions of dollars were tied up in
production schedules.
1t seemed almost a certainty that
the demand for cash abroad and the
natural conservation of the banks
would make ut impossible for dealers
to get money enough to take their
regular allotment of cars-after they
were produced
And even if the dealers could take
them it didn't seem probable that the
mind or poCketbOok.
The natural thing to do then was to
cut down the selling force, stop the
advertising put the factories on half
time, and save as much as possible
out Of the threatened wreck
And that is just what would have
been done had it not been for a few
level-headed, far-secing men who
knew something of the psychology of
the crowd and had an abiding faith
in the stability of this country Of
ours.
These few men instead Of retrench-
ing, three on a few pounds more
steam in advertising ana selling de-
partments.
They talked optimism and common
sense and by the force of their eN-
ample swung the entire industry into
line in an aggressive constructive
campaign Of confidence building trade
promotion.
Everybody knows what the result
has been
Instead Of depression and disaster
the automobile industry has enjoyed
the most prosperous year in its his
tory.
Hundreds of thousands of men
have been furnished with steady
work. Allied industries have been
benefited and the general prosperity
Of the country has been promoted
Now We are told that motor cars
and other things of that character are
tho last things that people Will do
without
This may be true to some extent
and if the motor car industry had
done only fairly well We might say