East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1920-03-06

Although the automobile industry
has barely started 1t is already becom-
ing historic. If one counts the real be-
ginning of the American motor car
| Industry from the date of the first
sale of domestic car the industry
| will he "a years old in April as it was
in April. 1896, that Alexander Winton
soId the first car.
The public is inclined % the belief
that everybody who has beon connect
cd with what is now combiarly called
he colp.try's second larses; industry
has become immensely ricr. But if
VIZ stop 20 count the WRECKS stretchin 5
along the shore of the o;c..n of gaso-
ire tie other side of tio hcture Is
presented, ii. line OF no less than
seven hundred cars wlii.i haze start
ed and passed into oblivion. The
number II tire, parts and accessory
concerns which have fitted across the
horizon In not and will never be re-
corded quite al much money. it is
safe to say. has been lost as gained
Before the industry gets down to
business ard fully in its strides many
more wilt. doubtless, come and go but
the automobile will go on forever
Even automobile shows will continue
to grow ana multiply annually and
each year we may expect to see the
-.greatost one, New York city will
probably never have a building large
enough. in the matter of exhibition
floo. space. TO house the future auto
moti lie shows.
In past years certain men of the
car Building business have attempted
to convince themselves that the an
nual automobile show habit is pass
ing. But each one has been hooted
down by the show loving public.
which olamors each winter for still
finer exhibitions of the beautiful new
models 1t is, therefore. the public
which keeps the show business alive.
Each year some careful. conserva-
tive group of men in the industry be-
gin to talk about the "saturation
point" This is one of the most 1nys-
terious things about the automobile.
Nobody knows what "the saturation
point really means. Nobody has
ever seen anything which looks like
n 'saturation point" Just as we hear
that the real one is upon us the fool
thing takes a running jump and sets
everybody back
The ideal saturation point is COM
monty spoken of as that day when
every body will have an automobile
which will last indefinitely. When
one who appreciates an automobile
stops to consider that there are. in the
United States alone. 10000 600 people
and that only 100000 own passenger
cars. old "saturation point hops ahead
n hundred million or so. There is no
catching and holding him.
Further than that the automobile,
mechanically. is only in its boyhood.
Cur American automotive engineers
are always ten or twelve years ahead
of their bosses. the manufacturers
and the manufacturers in turn are al
ways ahead of the public, when 1t
comes to what is demanded in the
natter of smooth running and luxur-
ious bodies.
The motor buying public is speed
ing up all the while on the buying end
but the manufacturers of cars are 7
slowing down on the side of radical 4
design changes. This condition is
brought about by enormous amount
NJ money which is invested in "quan-
tity production plants. When a man !
builds a plant wich will turn out a
hundred thousand cars a year of set |
design, all the progressive engineers 4
in the world could not convince him |
that the public demands something diff
ferent though he himself may know I
that the something different which is 1
in the brains of is engineer. may be |
better than his present model.