El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-12-22

DnlLeo states nave Deen put 10 Work
on war orders. Some OF them are
making motor trucks. some armored
cars and others rapid automobiles for
Carrying dispatches. Many OF the
shops are making ambulances and
some, I doubt not, although I cannot
tell where, are manufacturing the
mighty tanks OF forts upon wheels,
which roll over the country crushing
down everything in their way
Long before we entered the war De-
troit was making automobiles and
motor trucks for the French and the
English One Of its firms supplied
5000 cars TO the armies in France and
another exported Sl,5QO 600 worth Of
war smbulauces. one Of the makers
of high priced cars has already
shipped 5000 trucks to Europe. and
another, which makes a $500 sutoulo-
bile has sent 5000 Of his vehicles
scress the ocean
Makes I5O AirpIane Motors Daily.
An establishment making a well
known cheap machine recently COM
p-eIed one order for 10000 ambu-
lsuceS and another company is turn
ing out $50 aIrplane motors every DAY.
The government is having the ma
chlnery of many Of the factories
adapted 60 special war work Some
are making munitions. others are con
structlng gas engines for the use of
the army and navy, and. in fact the
whole motor car industry has been
brought TO the aid Of the nation in
our fight with the Germans
To show You what this industry
amour TO as a war asset ] viii give
some 90 the latest figures concerning
Il II grows so fast that IL is almost
impossible TO Overestimste it. It
amounted 10 nothing % years ago.
\ fe al 7e
IN comparison with others of our
great industrial forces Today the
government officials admit that il
stands next to steel and ships in i'm
portance and they are rapidly mobiIiz-
ing its machine shops and men
The automobile and motor car es-
ADJUSTMENTS of the United States are
now scattered over 80 states Of the
union There are 455 of them There
are over so IN Michigan. so IN Illinois,
81 in Ohio and As in New York. Penn
sylyania has So Minnesota 20; Massa-
chusetts IS and California. &c. with
less numbers scattered throughout
other parts Of the country. In addi-
ton there are perhaps three times as
many plants making automobile
bodies accessories and parts
Employ 100000 Men.
These establishments have in their
employ the most skilled army Of ma
chinists ever got together. There are
number are double as many men con-
neCted with the subordinate indus
tries, which make parts. tires and 9TH
er things dependent upon the auto
mobile trade. There are vast num-
Der making gas engines which can
be used on airplanes boats and We
nicles OF other kinds and the whole
force is almost as important TO our
army as the men in the field.
Our motor cars now number more
n H-r
every five families in the United
states. and il is estimated by Logan
Waller Page the head Of the bureau
OF public roads. that we have a mo-
tor vehicle Of one kind or another 10
almost every mile of public and COun-
Try road In the union. The sJatisci-
clans OF the World Almanac say that
our automobiles ran last year the
enormous distance Of Is, 100000. 600
miles. which is equal 10 100000 times
around the earth. or 166 times the
distance between the earth and the
sun. The figures seem incredible, but
I take them from the almanac which
lies before me During that year We
burned more than 1000, 600, 600 gallons
Of gasoline in our motor cars, and
wore out more than $4,000 600 worth
OF tires. This Is truly something Of
= business TO have grown up in IS
years
History Of the Motor Car.
And now Just a word about the his
tory of the motor car The attempt al
It's invention is by no means new. The
idea was conceived long before the in
Vention Of the bicycle, and as early
as 1880 when Boston was but a rev
scattering houses with COW paths as
streets. Sir Isaac Newton proposed
steam carriage TO be moved by the re-
dictionary discharge Of Jet Of steam
directed from the rear About hun
dred years later Watts took out pat
euts adapting his steam engine 10 car
RACES running on land, and II was al
-lr the close of the revolutionary war
that oliver Evans obtained a patent
i'm MARYLAND for the exclusive right
TO make steam road wagons
Il was a little before the Declare
ton of Independence was signed that
n FreuChnaU- capt Nicholas Joseph
CuEuor invented the first MOTOR
-roueiIed road vehicle that actually
ran and a model OF his steam car
riaEe is still to be seen IN one OF me
museums of Paris. This man was the
rarha7- of the automobile. He was re
srardeJ for his invention with pen
sion of less than $500 a year and ne
died Door His Invention never De-
came practicable
The next advance was by an Eng
Ifshman named Trevithick, who QUILT
a steam automobile which dld better
than the car of CuEnOt, and TINS was
followed by the machine patented hT
Oliver Evans. VINO mounted an e-4=---tV
on a four wheeled wagon and drove Il
around the circle where the city nan
of Philadelphia now stands, and then
down to the Schuylkil river. where
The engine was taken OF ana con-
nected with a paddle-wheeled boat,
which IL made to move down the
stream. About 80 or 40 years later an
EnElishman named Hancock estao-
lished a coach line run by steam over
the ordinary rOadWays- he kept MS
ca- cunning for 30 weeks and during
that time carried more than 1z,uOU
passengers
The steam engine, however, DID not
prove to be practical and it was not
until the explosive gas engine was IN
vented that the commercial automo-
bfle had anv chance of success This
was first patented in England about
q years ago. Later on IL was at
tempted in France, and IN 1873 George
& Seldeu. an American filed an ap-
DIication at Washington for patent
gas engine. His patent was not
Granted until 1895. and 1t formed to
a large extent the basis of our au-
tomobile industry since then tneLe
have been inventions OF many KINGS
and the automobile business has
steadily grown.
In 1899 there were - factories
making automobiles. with an annual
ortDut of 276O machines. which sold
for a little less than 100000 ana
four Years later the production -haa
risen 10 II 600 machines In 1910. 10
wears after the Selden patent was
-~anted. the number Of cars IN use
mad grown TO more than 100000 in