New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-05-27
Motor Car Makers Expect
Season Of Big Bushes
One Drawback Looked for Is Shortage in Materials-W.
Tax Also Will Have an Effect but Manufacturers
and Dealers Feel Sure of Prosperous Year

city OF 10000, sold seyenty-one ear. -
high-priced make from Jsnuarv !.
May. He sold them out Of = su.n
store and garage 46Y70.
The profits arc going into a NJ,
building, and he expects q cleans, l.
the autumn. He has bought and stsv.S
twenty cars for the extra demand ~
he is sure prices will 90 I'D enou,h !.
offset storage and banking essr..-
You couldn't discourage him Fits .
club,
Everybody in the business h,s H..
making good money, so even the n.s
etary setback didn't hurt any OF ~
much. This is perhaps more trus -
dealers than OF manufacturers. ~.
dealer hasn't, IS rule, the "a
overhead of the manufacturing
doesn't permit himself 10 get h -
far. The dealer may often 4 -.
conservative for his own good. NJ,
he is conservative.
So, when one Of them tsIls "a
"You can sell anything on whe,ls ~
Montana" you can just 90 out az
bet on j. that business Is great. a..
tInc dealer gets ell "het ups s,.
smiling, it is good sign he 10 seCir,
on the lines Of -resistancs. =,
nearly that.
Effect on tho Labor Market
An odd effect on the labor marie. \.
that Of the big money that some ne.
chanics have been making, coupled. leo
with the fact that munitions WORK b.,
made such mechanical labor high sr1
scarce. A few Of the Detroit fsctori.s
for instance, had TO lay of men b.
cause shortage of materials made nee.
esssry temporary shortening ~
schedules. But that didn't help Other
factories that could have used NOR,
men. Not for a minute. These wors.
men, most of them, for the first tin,
had money to spend and to spare. al
many have been working steadily 70,
months. So they seized on this q
good time for a vacation, and ths,
won't go back to work, in some casss
until their old jobs are open again. b,t
in any case not until they are good cad
ready.
Toledo is a place where labor shor,.
age is making itself felt. Yet there ere
not enough accommodation there for
/ the extra laborers that manufacturing
expansion has brought in. A man who
earns a good salary, but is not q labor.
ing man, told me that Toledo is 50 busy
! building houses for the lsborers that
accommodations for the middle class,
so called, are almost ignored. Rent,
are high in Toledo.
So they are, too, in Detroit, srd
| houses are so scarce that | have been
told railroads refuse to accept ship.
/ ments of household goods to Detrc.t
unless the shipper can show either 4
house or fiat lease or storage facilities
at the other end. A good many freight
cars full of household stuff were hang
were taken, because the shippers felt
sure they would be able to get housing
when they got TO Detroit and found
they were mistaken.
Detroit Still Booming
Detroit is still "subdividing" Near
ly out to Pontiac, along Woodward
Avenue, the country is plotted with
real estate Developments And the
prices! As much as $50 front foot
tfor property in a development nearly
fifteen miles from the City Hall. Farms
are offered at $1,000 an acre that . few
years ago didn't bring fifth OF that
"Subdivide and rule" is the idea
Detroit is growing to the westward.
A number of motor car factories are
going out that way, and there sgsin,
the subdividers are busy. Long Island
in its greatest development days never
saw anything like it.
III ever Henry Ford wants to add .
few more millions, ne can sell his
5000 acres at Dearborn when the DE-
velopers reach there. His place Is
right on the line to the westward.