The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1933-07-17
AUTOMOBILE is
SEEN NATIONS
SAFETY VALVE
Safeguard Against Drop in
Living Standards, Sum-
mary Shows.

By Times Special
NEW YORK July 1.-THE auto
mobile is revealed as a bulwark
safeguarding American standards of
living from the attacks of u%nfavor-
able business conditions in the 1888
edition of Facts and Figures of the
Automobile Industry, released re-
Gently by the National Automobile
Chamber Of Commerce. The book is
a 96-page statistical summary of
the manufacture, sale and use Of
motor vehicles.
AS evidence of the unwillingness
of American families and business
concerns to dispense with their use
of the highways, it was disclosed
that the decline in the number of
vehicles in operation and in the
quantity of gasoline which they
consumed during 1882 was only
about 6 per cent-much less than
the curtailment which occurred in
the consumption Of many other es-
sential commodities.
Also Of encouragement to the mo-
tor industry is the disclosure that
at the beginning of the current
year approximately 6,400, 900 vehicles
still in service were over six and
one-half years old-the age at
which their retirement from use
and replacement by new vehicles
normally would occur.
n--.As.- y NHo9-A
The industry maintained it's posi-
ton as of the nations largest
manufacturing industries as meas
ured by the value Of finished prod
ucts sold. Capital investment in
car and truck factories alone
amounted to ST, 489, 600, 900. Motor
factories gave employment directly
to 1924 4l Workmen, who received in
salaries and wages $282, 929, 203. The
industry provided work directly and
indirectly to 1900, 900 wage-earners.
The motor industry continued to
be the largest single consumer of
such raw materials and commodities
as steel, malleable iron, gasoline,
rubber, plate glass, nickel, lead, mo-
hair and upholstery leather.
over II per cent Of all steel pro-
duced during the year was used in
the manufacture of motor vehicles
and their accessories. The motor
industry absorbed TIC per cent of
the total output of alloy steel and
$40 per cent of the total output OF
strip steel.
1882 Decrease Small
In addition. the industry con-
sumed 80.4 per cent of the year S
rubber output, 43 per cent of the
Mate glass output. So per cent OF
the upholstery leather output, 33 per
cent of the lead output, % per cent
of the nickel output, IS per cent OF
the gasoline output, and IA per cent
of the mohair output.
At the close of last year. there
were "a. 1861 1873 motor vehicles reg
istered for operation. of which 20
qO3 422 were passenger cars 2nd
3233.457 were trucks. This marked
a decrease in total registrations OF
sc per cent under the preceding
year.
While New York maintained It's
position as having the greatest num-
Der of motor vehicles in operation
2.241.93 passenger cars and trucks
washington was the only state
which was able to report an increase
in its registrations over the preced-
ing year.
Average Life I Years
The average useful life of motor
vehicles increased during the year
from IA to 71-3 years, a STUDY
based upon production, sales and
registration statistics disclosed. Oh
the total number Of vehicles IN
operation at the close of 1882, % per
rent were more than Az years old,
462 per cent were more than 5i2
wears old. 38.5 were more than ot2
years old and 30.2 per cent were
more than 7l2 years old.
Although there were fewer motor
vehicles in operation last year than
there have been for any year since
1927. the total special taxes collected
from highway users reached a new
peak-S1, O76,0 22 900, or 10.7 per cent
of all taxes collected for federal,
state and local governments in the
United States.
1t is estimated that highway users
paid taxes at the rate of $2,947,9 1872 a
day. or $2.O41 a minute. Collections
OF state registration fees and gas
oline taxes alone last year amounted
to S34.70 per vehicle-an increase
of 800 per cent since 1919 when
the gasoline tax was first in
troduced.