Milford chronicle., 1935-11-29
ECONOMIC
HIGHLIGHTS
Happenings That Afleet The Dinner
Pals, Dividend Checks And Tax
Bills OF Every Individual, National
And international Problems Im-
separable From Local Welfare.


And International Problems In
separable From IOeal Welfare.
Few Industries enter a new yea
OF business attended by as mucl
publicity as the automobile industry
The annual show, starting in DE
troit and spreading thence to every
city of any size in the country, is
given national attention. This years
show, held two months ahead of the
normal time, and grandiloquently
entitled "Motordom on Parade" has
received and deserved even more
than usual notice. 1t seems to be the
opinion of every business publica-
tlOn and commentator that the auto
mobile is leading America back to
recovery. Other industries are like
wise going ahead-such as the cleo
trict, which recently reached new
all-time high inOutput but not in
profits. But the automobile is in a
class by itself economically speak
ing-no other industry today pro-
vides so rich and large a market for
law and finished materials of a
thousand one kinds Result of that
TACT is obvious: If the automobile in
dustry does we'll, a legion of other
industries share in the improvement,
all the way from the mill which pro-
vides the materials for upholstery to
the repair shop which services your
car. 80
Greatest automobile year was 1929
when 5,62l,715 cars came off the as
sembly lines Depression brought an
amazing drop. eliminating in the
1892 low of l,43I 900 cars produced,
when almost every maker was in
serious difficulties, and several were
forced through intricate financial
denominations in order to avoid
bankruptcy. Nineteen-thirty-thr
saw production approach the 2'OOO'-
900 mark, and in 1884, 2.S69,OOO cars
we're made. This year estimated pro-
auction is 3,735, 900 That is still
long way from the 1929 peali-but in
other ways, the industry is very
close to the boom level.
The industry, for example, is pro-
viding almost as many jobs now as
il did in 1929.
Its wage level. both on an hourly
and weekly basis, is higher.
It's profits are twice as large as
wear ago, and are coming within
shooting distance of the prosperous
day experience.
Il provides the largest single mar
ket for steel rubber, plate glass,
nickel mOhair and leather
1t is the source, directly and indi-
rectly, OF 100000 jobs-One-eighth .
of all the gainfully employed in the
nation, according to the L. S. News. (
1t is a prime example of efficiency .
in production and distributiOn-efti-
cheney that was forced on it by de-
preston. It costs lot less to make /
and Sell a good car now than it did
ia 1929, and large part of that saw
ing naturally goes to the buyer.
From the standpoint of the motor
ist. the new automobiles, according
to the experts, are better. on a dol |
lar for dollar basis, than anything
he was able to get before. Cars are
larger, faster, more luxurious, more
powerful. Safety features abound.
More and more gadgets, some useful,
some of dubious value, put in an ap-
pearance. The trend toward stream
lining continues, and one maker has
come out with the sO-called car OF
the future"-a tear-drOp affair, with
the engine in the rear and with NOV
able chairs inside the body instead
OF fixed seats. other makers have
gone farther than they ever did in
the past 20 make their cars feet and
advanced, and to increase their econ
omy a2d efficiency.
Interesting fact is the narrowing
OF the spread between price of cars
i'll the low and high-cOst brackets,
excluding the cars of the S5,0OO-$l5.-
600 class. There has been very little J
change in the price of cars in the
lowest-price class. Medium-priced !
cars have been made a little cheaper.
And in the higher-priced group there
have been a number of drastic cuts.
That naturally makes competition J
still more tense than in the past. AS
Mr.. Public goes down automobile
row. he is going to have a hard time
making a choice.
The market is still dominated by
Ford and General Motors, which pro
iuce by far the greater per cent of
al cars made. Independents. such as :
.hrysler. Packard, Nash, Auburn,
Hudson, must operate in the small :
per cent remaining. Some think that
ne immediate future will witness
nroads by independents on the Big !
rwO's" corner. ,
-oOo- .
Do the American people want the
much talked about Constitutional
which would limit the ,,
Courts power to declare
Icts of Congress unconstitutional? !
The answer, according to the wide
pread poll of the American Insti-
ate of Public Opinion, which syndl- :
ates a service to a number of large
newspapers, is a decisive No!
The Institute, which breaks down
nswers to its poll into national dl- :
isions. found that 81 persons out OF
ach 100 favored the amendment.
were against it. Sixteen ,
ad no opinion. {
New England was strongest :
gainst the amendment-6S per cent
citing No and only 25 per cent Yes.
fountain states were weakest-4l =
er cent saying No, 35 per cent yes !
nd "a per cent holding no opinion.
~TAINT" :