The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-05-09
BY GEORGE II. DENNY


THE odds are even you
will be living in a house
trailer within 20 years, a
famous economist has pre-
dicted.
You may believe this statement
ridiculous. You may argue that
such shift in living conditions by
100000 persons would set up
stresses that our present forms of
society and government could not
survive. This may be true.
But as I suggested in an earlier
article. you can cut the estimate
in halves or quarters and still have
something to ponder on when the
dishes are washed and the chill
dren put to bed.
Let's explore a few possibilities.
1t will be pure speculation, but we
have the history of the automobile
industry as a guide and the trail
er industry should follow as truly
as my trailer follows my auto to-
Cay.
Remember the first years of the
horseless carriage? There were
scores of factories struggling for
the market. Three concerns DOM
mate today.
Trailer Travel, the magazine of.
this new industry, said in the first
issue that there are more than $50
factories building house trailers in
the United States.
ONLY a few are factories as
~ we think of the word in con-
nection with the auto industry;
with assembly lines, large daily
output, engineering and research
departments, a national sales or
ganization and time-payment
plans. More than 80 per cent are
small shops that turn out trailer
or two a week, often as Sideline
to some related activity.
The same is true of the factor
les, large and small, that build
parts and accessories for the per-
sons who assemble their own auto
coaches.
If we give credence to sources
that predict millions of house
trailers in few years, we admit
the field is worth the notice of
big business. How long will the
little trailer builders last in that
event?
For six months there have been
rumors that the largest auto
manufacturer in the world was in
vestigating the future of house
trailers. Two small trailer manu-
facturers told me last winter they
expected the announcements at
the 1887 auto show, if not before.
They admit they cannot survive
such competition; that they are
just trying to make little hay
before the storm breaks.
AS long as we are specializing
We might as well guess what a
house trailer will be like five years
from now We are pretty sure the
best engineers of the country are
bending over their drafting
boards: figuring weights, balance,
space, safety factors. They are
studying all the best points of
today's models; discarding, adapt
ing and improving the trailer you
will buy tomorrow.
A LREADY we have trailers
L n with hot water, baths, air.
conditioning and electric general
ing plants for cooking, heating
and refrigeration. But the cost
is prohibitive.
The problem is to include as
many of these comforts as pos
Sible, plus improvements we can't
imagine now, and keep the whole
in reach of the average purse.
There will be trailers selling for
$500 that are better than today's
$500 model, if the history of the
auto industry tells us anything.
Trailer bitches must be stand
ardized. Few models use the same
hitch now and it would be a
nuisance on a trade-in. Auto de-
signs may be changed to meet the
trend. A thousand problems will
be met and overcome.
What about trailer camps?
Trailers, of course, are made to
be perfect, complete little houses;
independent of utilities. But we
are gregarious. We like to bunch