New-York tribune., 1921-03-27

CeHC OF peak prOductlon 1Or tne lnduS-
try as a whole. Evidently some will
do less than this, if 65 per cent is q
correct average, because several auto
Tribune that they expect to get on q
100 per cent production basis.
Profit in Mass Production
Incidentally, operation on diminished
production schedules is Improbable
for the manufacturers, who profit from
mass production. This stern economic
fact makes it necessary for the auto
mobile to be vehicle Of great
democracy of users for the industry
to succeed. Another business condi-
ton brings the industry close to the
hearts of the masses. In the twenty
years of its development, it of course
grew with amazing rapidity. Produc-
ton was Away sthe thing. In order
to get huge outputs automobile max
ers bid high in the marketplace for
labor (Which, by law, is not a COM
modity). SometiWks the automobile in
dustry has been cfsticized for thus dis
turbing the equilibrium. A man whose
position gives hi ma right to speak
for the whole industry said that this
charge of paying larger wages is one
Of which the automobile msnufac
turers are ready to plead guilty.
But the industry Of optimists has in
.recnt months tasted of the bitter cup
of downward REIMBURSEMENT In some
cases, the price of cars to the ultimate
rider has fallen. Recently, the mar
ket value of used cars has dropped all
over the country to a marked degree,
and the new price tag is beginning to
attract buyers. There is no indication
that the pri ce fnew cars has posi-
lively reached the bottom. Most price
guarantees expire by July, and by sum-
mer an equilibrium ought to have been
reached
The curtailment of production, how
ever, may possibly lead to car short
age, if the demand should suddenly ex-
pand. Manufacturers are now making
cars only as fast as the dealers can
sell them, SO there is little fear of So
called reproduction.
And yet the signs of activity come
from many quarters. The makers Of
the parts which the auto manufacture
ers assemble into finished cars are be-
ginning to get releases on deferred
orders and instructions for new bust
ness. NJ. L. Heminway, general man
ager of the Motor and Accessory Manu-
facturers' Association, who has his
finger on the pulse, is not throwing his
hat into the air with meaningless talk
Of new boom. He calmly recognizes,
however, a real improvement, and re-
ports better sentiment among the max
ers of units. A general sefse of eau
tion pervades the industry, he says, and
will, in his opinion, preclude any pre-
mature and lll-advised oyerexpansion
ell takes a hopeful outlook for the
future. Al-Reeves, general manager of
the National Automobile Chamber of
Commerce, similarly takes restrained,
though optimistic, view of the outlook,
and, looking beyond the expediencies
OF the moment, perceives great career
for American auto makers in the ex-
port field, since the rest of the world
is still practically autoless.
At the New York Stock Exchange,
which Is said to have an ear sensitive to
all the slight fluctuations in the out
side world of barter and production,
traders have been relating the story of
this turn in the automotive field by
bidding up auo and taccessory securi-
ties from the depressed levels to WHICH
they had fallen in recent months
has been a leader at the
ooard and along automobile row it is
gossiped that this is to be Stude-
baker year-for the car as we'll.
In searching for the industrial basis
for the recent prediction of specula-
;ors in automobile securities, an effort
was made to bring leading automobile
executives to the witness stand.
A. r. Erskine, president of the
Studebaker Motor Car Company, tele-
graphs from South Bend: decided
Improvement in demand for automo-
biles this month. Quite general over
country. Studebaker has never had
greater spring demand than we are
now experiencing and we find our
selves unable to fill it. Last two weeks
have been compelled to allot produc-
tion among dealers Are striving to
increase manufacturing schedules up
to capacity by June"