New Britain herald., 1923-10-19
u. AND CANADA DO
 | BIG AUTO BUSINESS
Ranks Third Among Industries ol
 the United States

New York, Oct. is.-The automo'
 bile industry of North America is not a mushroom growth, hut logical de- yelopment Of the American carriage industry. says the Commerce Monthly | published by the National Bank of Commerce in New York, dealing with '-The motor car in relation 10 the economic life Of the United States and Canada"
 'sThe simple facts ss 10 the predue- ton and use Of automotiye vehicles in the United States and Canada" says the article. "are sosastounding that the attention not only of the business world but the general public as well has been focused on them and speeu- lations as to the future of the auto- motive industry are fruitful theme Of discussion"
 From the standpoint of the value of product. the industry now Is third in the United States. and there are more than 400,000 workers directly depend- ent upon it for a livelihood. while the number indirectly dependent Is much greater.
 "'rhe relationship of this vast indus try Is the general well-being of tho country is obviously very close" the article continues. "and a correst un- dcrstanding of the problems connect cd with 1t is of vital importance in judging business trends in the two leading countries of North America.
 It Is pointed out that at the begin- ming Of 1923 there were approximately l4,500.0 900 registered motor vehicles in the world and the United States and Canada possessed SS per cent of them. and the proportion of the annuel world output is probably even higher, for the United States and Canada to- gether dominate the markets of most importing countries. The argument that the industry is dependent upon road improvement Is refuted by the fact that France with population of S9,000,000 and famed for its good roads has only 100000 passenger cars and 95,o00 trucks; Great Britain with 47 ,000, 900 population has 5000 pas senger cars and 145,0o0 trucks. while Canada with population of only 9,oo0,o00 has 462,O0o passenger cars and 3S,000 trucks It also is pointed | out that in the relatively newer DOT tions of the United States, such as Montana, Idaho, South Dakota and Nebraska, the ratio of motor vehicles to population is much higher than New York, Massachusetts and Penn sylvania with their admirable high ways
 The total wholesale value of 2,859,- 900 mtor vehicles produced in the United States and in American con- trolled plants in Canada in 1922 was s1, 7S9,63S, ,000, passenger vehicles con- stituting 90 pc rcent of the total num- Der. During the first seven months of 1923 there were produced 2,127,000 passenger cars and 227,000 trucks. Registration of motor vehicles in the United States on July 1, 1923, was 13,002,000. of which 11,571,0o0 were private passenger cars. Of the pas senger car registration of 10,S00. 900 at the end of 1922, it is estimated that 3,2Oo,00O were owned by farmers.
 Tn relation to the economic life the article declares that not until the ex- penditures on motor cars begin to cut into the savings of the people can they be criticized. That this point has not been reached is shown by the fact that savings deposists in 8S6 institutions increased from s5,712,0 100000 on No vember l. 1921. to $6,667.000,0o on July l, 1923.
 It is the judgment of the trade that more than 3,O0O,OOO cars will be pro- duced in the current year.
 While somewhere there is point beyond which further growth of the industry would be unsound," the ar ticle concludes, there Is no method by which that point can as yet even reasonable expectation is that the leaders of the industry by means of careful study of their markets and by the eXertion of ordinary business fore sight will gradually adjust output to changing conditios as they may arise"