New-York tribune., 1918-06-25
1t Would Have Produced
10000 Cars a Year but for
Indictment, Says Campbell
He Recites Contracts
Reproduction Of High-Priced
Autos Was Planned, Wit
ness Asserts

The Emerson Motors defendants
began their main rebuttal to the gov
crnment's charges yesterday when
Theodore A. Campbell. president Of the
concern that started out to rival Ford
took the witness stand before Judge
Martin T. Manton in the United States
District Court.
If the government had not inter-
vened with the indictments which cut
short their enterprise, Mr.. Campbell
contended, the Emerson Motors Com
pany could have produced 10000 cars
during the year 1917--the quantity
output upon which the estimates OF CO.
lossal profits quoted in their stock
selling literature we're based. Con-
tracts for tanks, horns. tires and hoods,
he said. had already been entered into
to supply 10000 cars. That there was
no question but what this number Of
Emerson Fours could have been imme-
diately marketed, he added. was proved
by the fact that more than 100000
orders had already been received.
Contracts Made Before Indictment
In answer to the governments sug-
gestion that the company never very
seriously intended to build car au
thentically it's own, Mr.. Campbell stat
ed that contracts for tools and jigs
which would have made possible the
building of their own motor had been
entered into before the indictments
came.
AS still further evidence that the
projects announced in the Emerson adj
vertisements were not chimcrical, Mr..
Campbell cited the fact that Robert
Craig Hupp-at the start his co-wotker
in the practical, factory end of the
projcct-had gone so far as to draw
up a schedule of estimates on the
basis of an annual production Of
1000 900 cars.
"Was there ever any doubt in your
Stanley Fowler. "that the schedule you
had undertaken was workable and pos
sible?"
absolutely no doubt at ALL" re-
turned the witness.
Mr.. Campbell told again the tale Of
how Hupp and he came from the West
looking for capital for a motor car
company, how an advertisement drew
them to the Office of the defendant
the project Of the Emerson Four, to
sell at 1895 and yield 500 profit, had
been born. In the course Of this re-
cltal the head of the now defunct firm
brought out some details that have not
been particularly stressed before.
Planned High-Priced Car
! Ali the plans that Hupp and he had
made together, he said, had been with
the idea CT producing a gh-priced car,
and they were drawn to Wilson because
they saw that he was handling the
stock of such a car. In their first
conversation with Wilson, Hupp, in
telling of his experience in the low
priced-car field, mentioned the r. G.. H.
company, which he had promoted in
order to market a cheap car, and ad-
mitted that that venture had ended in
failure: Finally, the witness said, the
original estimate upon which the En-
erson scheme was floated was almost
wholly the work of Hupp.
II was not SO familiar with low
priced cars as Mr.. Hupp was," said
Campbell. "He had the data for such
an estimate in his bag. It was taken
from the figures Of the R. C.. H. car,
and it was on this that we figured"
And that represented the car YOU
had in mind all the timer" asked Mr..
Fowler.
at did"
The witness admitted that the first
step taken toward the production of a
sample Emerson car was the purchase
Of a Ford chassis.
But that" he explained, "was be-
cause it was the cheapest car there
was at the time, and wa wanted to
study and find out all we could about
the construction and assembling Of a
low-priced car"
Ford Chassis Reconstructed
Subsequently, he said, Hupp took the
engine apart, made some improvements
in the cooling jacket and, discarding
All the parts that were not suitable to
the idea he had In mind, had special
parts cast to take the place of these.
| These specially cast parts, Campbell
declared, were used in the construc-
tion Of the ten original Emersons. AS
Tor the parts that were retained, the
witness said there was nothing i'm
proper IN that, as most automobile parts
nowadays are standardized and un-
patented, and could have been OBJ
tanned without having recourse to the
Ford engine.
Many witnesses in this case have
testified that the Emerson motor was
nothing but q disguised Ford. Mr..
Campbell yesterday went into particu-
lars to disprove this assertion and
declared that no one who knew motors
and saw the two could possibly have
confused them.
Before the first ten cars were fin
ished, Mr.. Campbell swore, the COM
pany had begun placing contracts for
the parts necessary for coo cars-the
output advertised for the first year.
This in further substantiation Of the
firms basic sincerity.
The $500, 900 worth of stock given
Mr.. Hupp for "plans, designs and
specifications" the witness said, was
not in fact SO much for plans and draw
ings as it was for "his fifteen years
experience in. the cheap car field" For
this, he declared he did not consider
the sum excessive.
Pictures of the plant finally acquired
at Kingston, N. Y, by the Emerson
people, were identified by Mr.. Camp
bell. The capacity there was 125 cars
day, he swore.
The examination Of this witness will
be continued to-day.
Alien Betrayed by Oath
Convicted "Hollander" Swore