The daily banner., 1918-01-23
TWELFTH EXHIBITION
OF AUTOS IN BALTIMORE
Statue OF Liberty Adorns Entrance
To Fifth Regiment Ar1noly at An.
nual Auto Show.

Statue O1 Liberty AdOfhS EnsIstHte
To Fifth Regiment Armoly AT An.
nual Auto Show.
In a somber, but studied nagnifl-
cence. Baltimore's Twelfth Annual
Automobile Show opened yesterday
evening at o'clock, under the joint
auspices of the Automobile Club OF
Maryland and the Baltimore Dealers
Association, in the Fifth Regiment
Armory small fortune spent upon
this effect, the interior of the great
gray military castle of stone was as
ever gorgeously decorated as back
ground to set off the glistening Won
ders of mechanism, but in these dec
orations was a suggestion of a fact
of momentous importance. Our
country is at war. In manner be-
fitting the armory of the boys of the
dandy Fifth, who marched into the
Southland to prepare to stamp upon
the reptile of conquest by brute force,
was decorated.
lowering over the heads of those
who entered the mammoth Hoffman
street building at the main gate was
a Statue OF Liberty, peerlng down
confidently from a height of 80 feet.
This served to draw the eyes to-
ward the ceiling, where Old Glory,
backed by over 900 1O0-watt nitro
gen lamps, blazed forth with strik-
ing significance This great flag is
no less than 156 feet in width and its
exact length is 240 feet. 1t does, in
deed, produce a wonderful effect.
Then, at each end of the armory
there were suspended the flags of the
Allied nations, those of France and
England being the same which were
atop the New York City Hall when
Marshal Joffre and Premier Balfour
were in the metropolis. These flags
were rescued after difficulty when
fire recently burst out in the hall,
destroying a part of the building.
OF all the Baltimore auto shows
that have been, the exhibit which
was inaugurated last evening was
the most important. Unique in that
it is the only one to be held in the
United States this year devoted to
passenger cars and wherein no mo-
tor-trucks are displayed. 1t, never
theless, promises to be the greatest
ever held. And this in the face of
the many obstacles facing the auto
mobile industry due to the war.
Hundreds and hundreds of plants are
doing war work, the freight conges-
ton has made it next to impossible
to keep the output ON the move and
the fuel crisis, of course. has had its
effect Still, the event opening in the
Armory last night had about 49 dis
tributOrs, rep esenting more than
three times as many manufacturers.
Keener, perhaps, than ever will
be the interest this year in motor We
hicles. The reason:
The automobile will win the war
for Uncle Sam. Next to his soldiers
and sailors his chief reliance will be
upon the great industry, which, scar
cely Is years old, now stands as
giant ready to fight for him in the
hour of his greatest need.
Details are unimportant. Every
one knows what the automobile has
done. is doing, will do in this war.
Already 1t has thrown the rail-
oads of Europe into the background
as means of Transporting men,
guns and war material to the front.
Already it is beginning in this
country to take the place of railroads
overloaded to Eelplessness and con-
gestion by the press of war traffic.
All the world knows what has been
done by the armored cars and the
great, resistless tank.
But of far more Importance than
these things is the ordinary CONNER
cial automobile-the truck that rum
bles up to the trenches with the guns
and munitions that mean victory
the so-called pleasure Car, which car
ries men at lightning sEeed to the
spot where they are mcst needed, or
races with dispatches AMI general Of
ficers from one strategic point to an
other.
Already the automobile has the
greatest victory of the war to its
credit-the victory of the Marne,
which turned the tide against the
Germans and saved the Allies from
immediate and crushing defeat, aud
America from the menace of a Ger
man invasion.
When Won Kluck's army was
within Is miles of Paris, when the
thunder of his guns could be heard
in the Paris streets, General Gallieni,
recognizing the value of the automo-
OAACp 6olAClC Gu lOSCtucl StcIy CdI
that could be found in the city-mo-
tor-buses, motor-truckS, limousines,
cars big and little, and crowded each
with troops.
The same tactics had been employ
ed by Napoleon at Boulogne, only
Napoleon, lacking automobiles, was
obliged to press into service the
coaches and equipages of the rich of
the vicinity as his transports.
The swiftness with which the har-
messed gasoline responded to CALI
eni's call put enough men at the dan
ger point to turn back the on-rushing
German horde. Paris was saved
and the automobile had saved it.
At this time 1t is fortunate for the
nation that the automobile industry
has grown to it's giant proportions.
1t is important to keep it at these
giant proportions, to enable every
factory to turn out it's maximum
number of cars, of whatever sort or