Evening star., 1922-03-26
RISE
OF FAUT0|NDUSTRy
Growth in Twenty Years
Places It Second Largest
in the U. S.
BY III. II. BAsSETT.
President OF the Buick Motor Co.


No industry In the world ever at
tainsd such . growth in such Z short
time as tho automobile industry.
Within q period of approximately
) twenty years It has arisen. Aladdin
like, to the second largest industry in
tho United States.
Should we attribute this phenome-
nal growth Of the automobile indus
try to the intrinsic merit of tho au-
| tomobile alone? In days gone by
other inventions. such as the steam
boat and the steam locomotive, which
as the automobile and as revolution
ary in changing mans mode of liv-
| ing, took at least three times as long
as the automobile to attain q growth
| in any measure comparable to the
! automobile industry.
Slow Progress for Many Inventions.
Most Of the epoch-making inven-
tions that have spelled progress for
| mankind in large way have grown
large through painful years of labor
| on tho part Of q Jealous few The
idea underlying the invention was
startling in most cases. and humanity
| where 1t had faith in the idea by a
slow process. by passing around by
! word Of mouth the strange new idea,
! and it took a great part Of a century
| for the idea to take root And no
tNVoHtlOu ne" pTOQuCt mas ever
been accepted by humanity unless a
preponderating majority fully real
lied the utility and capacity for COM
fort the new product brought them
Advertising a Factor.
Ono great dominating factor in
putting the automobile across in such
a short time has been the real sales
This is force that most of the other
! great inventions that have made for
growth and prosperity, such as the
steamboat and the steam locomotive,
did not have. Neither the newspa-
pers nor the great national and trade
force In business life, to propa gate
now and useful products.
dare say that without this great
force-wfthout the great daily news
papers and magazines functioning as
they do today-it would have taken
the automobile industry at least a
quarter OF q century longer to reach
j It's present size The automobfle to
attain the position 1t has In such
! short space Of time not only must
designated and built, that It can
but the public must accept 1t as SUCH
And advertising and the generous
opening Of the columns Of the news
papers and magazines to interesting
items concerning the value of the
measure responsible in convincing
the public Of the merit Of this means
of transportation.
AS a result, the American public is
more motor-wise than any nation i'll
tho world. 1t is true. of course, that
the average American is wealthier
than the individual of any other ma
ton, but 1t is also true that the
American public has been sold on the
automobile. The superiority Of our
content and number, over European
newspapers and magazines has been
an important factor in the large per
capita ownership OF automobiles in
tho United States compared to the
European countries.
value Of such merchandising as One
Of tho great factors in making the
automobile and truck such recog-
nized part Of our daily and business
life, 1t Is likewise well to recognize
that the gasoline-driven vehicle fills
bic transportation, and more import
ant still that the industry is ever
alert to more usefully serve the pub
lie.
The automobile shows clearly indi-
cate the improvements that are be-
ing made each year to give each pur
chaser more for every dollar he
spends in automobile transportation.
Few great industries have tried and
are trying harder to conscIentfously
give the public full value in trans
portation utility and transportation
comfort.
Seldom Asks Favors.
Seldom does the automobile indus
try bring its case before Congress to
ask favors of any kind. 1t goes
ahead improving it's product, curtail-
ing false notions in production. seek
ing every improvement that will
make it's product stable and more
valuable to the public.
The automobile industry constantly
has its ear close to the ground to
find out what the public wants, and
today actually knows that the public
is thinking in terms of automobiles
that will cost less to operate. less to
keep up, and that will last longer. 1
miss my guess entirely if cars pro-
duced this year are not in accord with
this general desire of the people OF
tha limit ad States,