Arizona republican., 1920-04-13
CAL MESSNER'S STRUGGLE FOR BUSINESS SUPREMACY
 READS LIKE A FAIRY TALE

It is long cry from a small two
 by four store room on North Central in which was installed a few carbu- retors and a few tires to the present paiatial automobile palace operated by Cal Messner- It was a hard task for
 Messner to reach this pinacle- IL has been q long, hard pull. and like most men he glories in the fight he has made from obscurity to afluence. from a position where he was the one third owner of a few carburetors 10 where he is the head of one of the
 most complete automobile organIza- tions in the southwest
 It has been a long hard pull from the bottom to the top, but it has had its humorous side too. Think Of Cal Messner today, distributor for Hud- son. Essex, G. M- C. and Trailmobile with a building at the corner of Fourth avenue and Adams street, second to nome in the southwest. and try and imagine that one time his sole capital in the business world consisted of a third interest in the Southwest Car ouretor company. and that the stock in trade of that company was so small. as to be negligible.
 Many night Messner went home from that company's headquarters. feeling that the next day would bring the inevitable crash. Many a night he wondered if they would last through the next day, and the few grey hairs which Messner now carries around can probably be laid to those sleepless nights.
 Messner got into the automobile game through more or less of an ac- cident. He was in the real estate business when the opportunity came knocking at his door in the shape Ot two men who desired him to put up the money to pay the C. O. D. on a Shlnn1PnT nF rhs ner advanced the money and ire quently thereafter put more cash in 1c keep the business going
 Finally things looked so bad and he had so much interest in the baby con cern that he gave up his real estate business and moved in to take pos session of his third share
 Messner tells his story in a humor- ous sort of a pathetic manner which brings many a smile to his listener
 w w Catlin let us have a few feet of space in the rear of his place on North Central avenue. I suppose that in all we had six or eight feet We fenced it off from the rest of the place the best way we could, acquired a few second hand chairs. a desk and a box. and set out to make our names in the world of business
 Our stock was on a par with our assets. just a little bit above nothing. Occasionally by a rare run of luck and some extremely keen financing We would manage to get as much as $500 worth of carburetorS on hand all at the same time. And it was those nights that I was afraid to go home I actually worried for fear some one would break in and put that entire stock in a suitcase and walk away with it.
 The worst part of the whole propo- sition was that people summed us They had a positive dread of putting those carburetors on their cars. I didn't know much about them. but I had lot of faith and that seemed v0 carry along.
 Finally I had a wonderful idea decided to send my two partners out over the state to get rid of 2 whole lot of carburetors and thus put us on a sound financial basis. They took that trip alright, but the only thing they got rid of was the few remaining dollars I had. After that tour I had nothing to worry about. I had nothing to lose. because it was all gone. So every thing was plain sailing But to is to get a good laugh. We were deS- perate- We had our backs to the wall and had to do something and do it iarned soon.
 There was going to be a 5o-miie track race here with s1.o0o prize and sNe ISa4lZcu there was OIe CnaIC6 TOT soyae easy money and believe me we needed it. We went into that race or rather my partners did, and they were racing for their lives, for we needed that thousand worse than anything else in the world They took all the chances that a man ever heard of and won. But here comes some more humor. The judges claimed we did not meet all requirements and refused to give us the thousand We finally on 5000 and again We had a new lease on life
 Finding that the racing game was more profitable than selling carburet- DTS we decided to enter the 1919 Fl Paso- Phoenix road race. We made every preparation in the world to make sure that we won that event for we certainly needed the money. We were somewhat afraid that we might smash ! steering knuckle, so we even went so lar as to provide ourselves with an extra one.
 We got started fine in that race and everything looked wonderful for IS to win. Our car had gone 25o miles and was we'll in the lead. We had 49 minutes on the next car and believe ne I was counting that prize money already. No one realized how deS- 0erate we were and how badly we needed the cash And then-fate over .ook us and over a stray bump thae .ar went. turned over. smashed the