Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-17
NEARLY 10000
AT MOTOR SHOW
with Society Night Fig
ures Will Probably
"a Reach 10000
coNvERTIBLEs TO FRONT

,,o,orcar lovers are,pushing the sixteenth
II outomobile show attendance toward
,hs 10000 mark today, the fourth fuli show
- a. the Commercial Museum, Thirty
eg street below Spruce. BY tomorrow
Iou.," ,,bich Is society night" at least
snsoo clicks of the turnstiles are expected,
wy ,,ou records for coming shows TO aim
:, will have been registered
Tho tbrongs bound museumward are not
..,,,,,,ous. as are those that invade tins
n,a neiRhborhood for the University OF
,sannsvIvanla football games: nor are they
noncentrated But they are as large
ne daily aggregate as those that fll
r.s.pklin Field to the 'saturation point
~ a brief hour or so. And they are
llSaracterized by an enthusiastic determine
,iop bv a certain positNeness expressed III
their gaits
:, is significant that the persons In the
,rovds walk mostly like the animals that
san,e ont Of the ark-two by two-one
'aaring trousers the other the latest of
,,is.winter modes. This is significant be-
ssnse Il betoltens the purchase OF neces-
sity ranging in value from the nelshborhoud
~ slOO TO. StO.O 900 Some of the men wear,
IN addition to their clothing, resigned looks.
p,t for the most part, they all radiate
,ne same enthusiasm that Is born or preV".
isnt prosperity--and automobiles
A CONTRAST OF AGES
Tho value and the appropriateness of
botdipF the show in the Commercial Mu-
ssum exhibition hall Is eNempihed daily Il
hundred times only walled partition
senarates the d splay OF the achievement
~ The most modern inventors and engineers
srom exhibits that not only show the ele-
rents of the automobile in their primal
form but also offer the contrast of the
ages 1t is appropriate that these antith-
eses should he on view under the same root.
Before entering the automobile show
rooms the visitor passes through aisleS OF
exhiblts that have made the Commercial
Museum the depository of valuable specr-
mems and relics that it is. If he is obser-
want, he sees the rudiments of automobile
making, the foundation upon which the
booming Industry rests. There are glass
cases filled with specimens of crude rubber
as il comes from Para or NladagasCar-the
germ of the automobile tire. Nearby stand
cases of cotton slivers. which furnish the
fabric for tires. Further back into the his
tory Of the automobile the exhibits go-the
waxen image of a negro woman picking
cotton There are cross sections of minia
ture coal and iron mines, steel forg,ngS,
aluminium and all the elements that con-
tribute to the making of the motorcar.
There is even the motive power. jars of
clear liquid labeled refined petroleum."
As If to throw into high relief the mar
velous pieces of modern mechanism within,
outside the entrance OF the automobile ex-
hbiton room squat prehistoric Arizona
pots and dishes With these relies of by
gone ages lie others as old and older
crumbling fabric of an Egyptian mummys
shroud, clay-Colored Zuni pottery, rusty Ro-
man trinkets, primitive tools and impie-
made under the amortization or INSTALL
ments of every zone. all emphasizing by
their very crudeness the high technical and
artistic perfection of the motor vehicles on
the other side of the wall.
These cars, which are virtually magnifled
watchworks in their delicacy of movement
have welcome message for the crowds
that pour into the buildings from the wintry
air outside. Almost without exception thI
manufacturers are displaying as their 1917
Offering the semiClosed or convertible car. II
vehicle that is as much at home in bllz-
card ss in a torrid sun.
No more apt weather for showing cars
that can be closed TO the winds and that
can be heated could have been chosen. Ono
visitor today typified popular sentiment