The Sentinel=record., 1917-04-19
HOT SPRINGS CAN
 BE AUTO CENTER
PRESIDENT COLORADO AUTOMO. BILE ASSOCIATION TELLS WHAT THAT oRGANIzA.
 TON HAS DONE.
Interesting Interview Is Had With E. E. Sommers of Denver Who Is Guest at Arlington Hotel.

Any person desiring information on
 the subject of automobiles as
 medium for increasing tourist patron
 age should converse with E. E. Som.
 mers of Denver, Colo. He is presi-
 dent of the Colorado Automobile As.
 s0ciation, and a member of the Den.
 yer Parks Commission Mir. Sommers. accompanied by his sister Mary
 Sommers, aud Miss Mayme C. Criley
 Is at the Arlington Mr. Sommers had
 been at the Arlington but short
 time when he met Sam n. Nicholson.
 president of the American Refining
 Company. Mr. Sommers' personal
 business interests are centered in the
 Great Western Oil Company, of which he is manager.
 Colorado in general and the city
 of Denver in particular" said Mir.
 Sommers. "prides itself on the result
 of good roads boosting. and our noun.
 tain parks feature will be a valuable
 tributary 10 Denver. Sometime ago
 took Governor Dunn of Illinois over
 our parks. and he classified them as
 The Roof Gardens of the World
 slogan and valuable advertising fea-
 ture now being used by the railroads.
 To exploit our facilities in the auto
 mobile line and win tourists to Den
 yer and Colorado we spend no less
 than $10O.000 each year. The rail roads contribute s5O00 of this amount.
 but the greater majority is Willinglr given by the business and profession- al interests of Denver, who realize
 this as an investment that always. brings them threefold returns
 "A low estimate of the value of eyeryy car to business in Denver has
 been placed at $20, and the same low
 average allows four persons to each
 automobile. Since coming to Hot
 Springs I wired the Denver Motor Club for a little data on automobile
 tourists and received a reply, stating
 that while no exact check on autos
 passing through Denver or Colorado
 Springs had been kept. the Denver
 Motor Club alone had served more than 25,000 tourists The game war den of the state kept a record of visiting machines touring Colorado and counted 146,000 At Colorado Springs, on Oklahoma Day, there were over 300 cars from Oklahoma in the big parade. In addition to the city park camp. for automobiles. with ac- commodations for one hundred or more cars, preparations are now be- ing made for camps in the mountains which will care for five hundred cars daily. It is estimated that the rec ords this year will show two hundred thousand automobiles have come through Colorado, and one can readily estimate what this means in the way of tourist patronage and money.
 Hot Springs has golden oppor tunity to reap a rich reward from travel of this nature. God has given you something that man cannot sup ply-your wonderful, world-famous hot water He has surrounded that | with the most magnificent scenery The most inspiring sight ever looked upon was sunset over your sur rounding mountains Too much stress 1 cannot be laid on the value of good | roads Too much active work for | this feature cannot be done. IL means | everything to your city. Automobile | tourists represent new business and | in many cases new and valuable citi- zens Hot Springs should be made | the great automobile center for this | section of the country This should l be the hub from which should radiate | good automobile roads accessible | from all the big cities of the South.
 "The present war will mean an in creased patronage this summer to in | land resorts, Tourists who hereto 1 fore preferred the ool zone from the sea will seek the breezes, pine l scented from the mountains The war is certain to hurt every sea-shore resort, and Hot Springs patronage this summer should be most substan- tial A big factor in making it so will be the automobile tourists, pro vided you have the good roads 70 bring them here and the proper facli- ties to care for them after they ar rive"