Evening star., 1922-06-11
AUTO INDUSTRY
SHOWING ADVANCE
First Quarter Of 1922 Period
of Unusual Activity Through
out Country,

A survey of the automobile indus
| try during the first quarter OF 1872.
{ made public today by the Motor and
, Accessory Manufacturers Association,
!, indicates mar ed but steady increases
in production and general better
ment in fundamental financial fac
tors
The upward swing of sales in Janu-
ary. February ard March was sharper
than the normal seasonal jump Tor
this period of the year. Preliminary
figures for April promise continued
increase in purchases by vehicle max
ers from the parts and unit manu-
facturers
NJ a. Heminway. general manager
and Sidney S. Meyers. general counsel
or the Motor and Accessory Manu-
fActurers Association, have just re
turned from a tour of the middle
west. They report that in general
manufacturers are running behind
their orders. Many factories are en-
ploying two shifts great deal or
this activity, naturally, Is purely sea
sonal. but the improvement in credit
conditions is more fundamental than
that.
Nobody is talking of feverish
boom. but almost everybody is face
to face with genuinely good and pro-
gressively, better business. There is
enough optimism about to justify
note Of caution. in the view of Off
cfals of the Motor and Accessory
! manufacturers Association. The in
dustry's experience of two years ago
is SILL a stern SchoolmasL sLer. A rig
orous liquidation process has left the
trade in sane and virile condition.
dynamic enough for sound and steady
advances. without being reckless
enough for an unbridled and hectic
runaway market.
Past Due Accounts Fewer.
Past due accounts reported by parts
and equipment makers decreased
I more than per cent in February
and approximately IS per cent in
March. Equally encouraging is a 23
per cent drop of notes outstanding in
March
About three hundred representa-
tive executives are of the opinion
that financial conditions in the auto
motive industry arc not only crafty
ingly better today than they have
been in almost two years. bat also
indicative of Il steady Improvement
for the rest of 1872
Through monthly meetings for the
Interchange of credit information.
unit and equipment manufacturers in
Detroit. Cleveland. Buffalo and In
dianapolis districts have pooled their
experiences in an effort to obtain an
lent conditions and prospects. The
following quotations are candid, first
hand views of executives in close
touch with conditions:
For the first time in two years we
have all our units in operation, and
also for the first time since we hav.
had roof over our heads we had to
tell one of our customers last week
that if he did not get his units within
seven days he would not be able to
get them for over a month"
Our collections are very, very
good. 1 don't believe there has been
any time in the last two or three
years that our accounts have been in
better shape than they are now. We
are doing, l should say, about Is per
cent more business now than we did
this time last year. While we don't
exactly know how to figure out the
summer. We feel that we will slow up
to certain extent this summer
Better Than Expected.
Our business has gone beyond our
ing in very. very well. In fact. we
have not been able to take care of
them, and will not be able to live up
to Some of the agreements we have
made the first of the month Collec-
tions have been exceptionally good"
Last month brought us great
many releases on old contracts, SO
that we are running about 60 per cent
OF what has been our former capacity
We believe that this business will
mold through the greater part of the
summer. probably increasing rather
than decreasing. That is all automo-