The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-02-25
AUTOPRlcES MAY
co STILL HIGHER
Increasing Expense in Secur-
ing Raw Material May
Force Manufacturers to
Charge More, Says Scott.
REQ REPRESENTATIVE

| There is no doubt about 1t, if prices
of materials continue to soar, auto.
mobile manufacturers generally will
be compelled to announce another in
crease in price within the next few
weeks" says Richard II. Scott vice
president and general manager of the
REQ Motor Car company.
! Even those concerns like REQ, who
because of their financial standing and
credit. have been in the habit of cover
ing for two years in advance for their
requirements, now find their two
year old contracts expired. and no pos
sibility of renewing them at the former
prices. Advances all the way from %
to 100 per cent are announced, and.
worst of all, few supply houses can
guarantee deliveries of prices even at
present quotations.
Everybody is in the same boat Tho
fact of the matter is, there is Il short
age of raw materials, or if YOU prefer
to put it the other way, an override
mand for them.
Il have never known n time when
market conditions We're so uncertain,
or when tho manufacturer had so
much difficulty in estimating his costs
as that which now exists.
Just take one item that the aver
age buyer would never think of-the
shortage of railway cars. Who would
suppose that would be a serious item
in the increased cost of making auto
mobiles?
When | tell you that we frequently
pay as high as $500 express charges
in any one day, in order to get ma
terials that otherwise would seriously
hold up the factory, and that our aver
hundred dollars a day, it will be seen
that this is an item of considerable i'm
portance in the cost of production to-
day.
Every time you stop a big factory
like this. YOU cntrail a tremendous loss
and consequent increased cost of the
product that is coming through.
The customers who are clamoring
for cars cannot appreciate the prob
lens that bcset the manufacturer, first
in getting the material to his factory.
and then getting the finished product
out again to the customer.
MANY times the raw material ship
ped to us gets lost, and in the pres
cnt state of congestion. it is almost i'm
possible to trace and locate. Some
times the material cannot be replaced.
We have had cars lay around some
times so days to six weeks on an OBJ
scure siding somewhere. Meantime,
we have run out of stuff and must
get the heavy material by express.
1T costs money, too, to keep men
scouting around at the different plants
to see that our stuff is shipped as per
can be done Our own men must chase
up freight cars and then see that the
material is loaded into them on time.
Machinery has doubled in value;
tool steel is out o fsight: die makers
and die sinkers are earning twice and
three times as much as they did Il
year ago; working hours are shorter
and wages are higher. Then look at
the price of coal--~not to mention the
uncertainty of the supply.
Everything that goes into an auto
mobile has taken an upward trend, and
as the REQ policy is to make cars bet
ter and better every year-anu hence
cannot accept substitutes for the ma
terial specified by REQ engineers-our
costs are most seriously affected.
80 far, We have wcathCrcd the
storm and steadfastly refused to in
crease prices, but there is no certainty
how long We may be able to do so. AS
stated before, if conditions do not
change for the better soon. not only
will we have To announce an in
crease of price, but other manufacture
crs, who have previously done so, will
have to announce another"