The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1919-03-27

NE1ESN upon the market in the near future a automobile Ito sell for
IuMAN between $3.50 and $500 His latest credited declaration o this
NSNnN subject is, if anything. more emphatic than his earliest I'VE
NGWXYU ares going to give h people something IN tn "a OF a II
NN automobile" he says. Not only will it be a finished product
within the reach off every family. but it will give them IS well the last word
IN a motor car-all for $3.50 DR. $780," In explanation of his decision to
launch a e company for the production of these machines, Mr. Ford de-
clares that he has actually been forced into it by a decision of the courts,
which upheld the demand oft the minority stockholders for increased divisions
of the Ford company dividends. 1t may be recalled that lie undertook to use
the surplus earnings in tractor manufacture, but as enjoined. Many mil
lions of dollars came % m with that decision" he says. II could not give
or throw that money away 1 decided to bund a new type of automobile"
This is, of course, a matter of private enterprise; but if carried out sue
cessfuly-and there is every reason to believe that it will bet cannot fail
eventually to be a matter of public concern. 1t STANDS to reason la II Mr.
Ford al sell a complete automobile fol- $3.50 or $500, the number of motor
vehicles using the streets and roadways will be multiplied; that the problem
of road construction and road maintenance will become more pressing in
local and state administration, and that the entire system o. transportation
is likely to be affected and largely complicated.
Mr.. Ford is right tin assuming that there will be a great and immediate
demand for the car which he proposes to build. His son. an officer Oft the
present Ford company, also is right in assuming that the introduction of
certain phases of the prospective enterprise which seem bound Ito mite trouble
some to economists; some which are decidedly promising to the general
public. The Introduction of so cheap a motorv vehicle appears certain greatly
to affect values elsewhere. The diversion of passenger traffic from rail to
highway has already cut severely into the earnings of trolley and steam
railroad companies.
The cost of transportation, urban, suburban, interurban, and long distance,
has become o heavy that many thousands off people low dependent IN the
rail- lines will make extraordinary efforts to obtain the cheap motors, and
justify this effort by counting the small difference of outlay required in the
new expenditure. The production of the lew cal should relieve urban trolley
congestion greatly; it should open to the wage and salary Garner better
opportunities for thu enjoyment of home life ar from the crowded city; and
it should add immensely to the convenience and the comfort of families in
moderate circumstances.
Better than all else, a cheap motors ar for passenger service is certain to
be followed by the introduction of a cheap cal for trucking service, and in
this there is hope beyond measure for the future of distribution, says the
Christian Science Monitor. Cars that cal be operated swiftly and cheaply
between the producer and the consumer will do moret toward breaking down
monopoly than all the antitrust laws that have ever been enacted
There is no reason why the nation should nt welcome Mr. Fords decision
has possibilities that reach down to the yer roots of discomfort with present
economic conditions. on the n hand, and to the very foundations of far