Evening star., 1936-11-22

The Washington and New York
displaying the new models and still
others are preparing to do so. The
same reception is anticipated in all
of them. The barometer OF prosperity
Is rapidly rising.
The membership of the Washington
Automotive Trade Association under
whose auspices the exhibit here was
held is to be congratulated. This
particularly applies to the associa-
tion's president, Oscar Coolican, and
its manager. Richard ]. Murphy. 1t is
no easy work in staging show of
this kind. Only faithful and untiring
efforts for weeks even months, can
bring about complete success.
So, the seventeenth annual show
here has come to a close. Memory of
the bright shining models bringing
forth the latest in refinement and
safety features will remain. Their
appeal to those in all walks of life will
remain. A new activity in sales will
be noted in the immediate future
which, it is to be hoped, will continue
throughout the automobile year.
There now seems to be three years.
the calendar year, the fiscal year and
the automobile year. May Thanks
giving day see promise in all three.
Now for the national outlook.
Last week will go down among the
record-breaking days of all auto
motive history, according to the
North American Newspaper Alliance.
Management. factories and workers
find themselves caught in the midst of
a program of sales and production
hardly before equaled, even in the
boom days of 1928 and 1929.
During the last few days the pent-
up buying power of hundreds of thou
sands of persons has seemed turned
into a Niagara of dollars for automo-
biles. High-priced limousincs, as we'll
as the lowliest of models have become
magnets for public attention. As car
load after carload of parts and raw
materials has rolled into Detroit to be
transformed into Nations transpor-
tation, this center of the motor indus
try has offered factual support to the
slogan of the New York show-"The
Automobile, the Pacemaker for Amer
1can Industry"
To the visitors to the shows, all is
tinsel, bright lights and new automo-
biles. But in Detroit are the roar OF
many furnaces, the pounding OF steel
presses, the ticking of conveyor lines.
Lights are burning again at night and
across the horizon by day rises the
smoke from many factory chimneys.
The sales Offices say they are being
swamped with orders for new cars
and the public has scarcely had
chance to study the 1887 models. Even
before the doors were opened at the
shows salesmen and dealers found
buyers on every side.
The factories had prepared for a
brisk reception for their 1887 prod
ucts. They were taken unawares.
however. by the magnitude OF the i'm
mediate demand. They have been
placed in the awkward position Of
having to parcel out carefully among
their dealers the day-by-day output
as it has come from the assembly
lines. The dealers, in turn, have found
that a surplus demand can be embar-
raising to them as well as to their
salesmen. In many cases, it has been
necessary to resort to choice by lot to
determine how incoming cars shall be
distributed.
Most of the shows will be out of the
way by Thanksgiving day. This will
leave little conflict between the auto
mobile outlets and the general retail
trade as the Christmas season ap-
proaches. Sales authorities who have
analyzed the schedule Of shows for this
year assert that the chief advantage
of compact arrangement of dates was
to be found in gathering as much ad-
vertising momentum as possible in the
wake of the New York event at Grand
Central Palace.
The tremendous interest in the 1887
models is reflected not only in the sales
barometers, but in the inquiries that
dealers have received. One dealer
said he had had 80 per cent more calls
from prospective buyers than in the
two weeks that followed introduction
of models a year ago. Another dealer
said his calls had gone up so per cent.
A third said his prospect list had risen
100 per cent and that statesmen were
hardly able to give attention to fol-
low-ups.
At the end of last week practically
all applications for the 1887 license
tags have been sent out in the mail,
according to William A. Van Duzer,
director of the department of motor
vehicles and traffic. There are about
10000 of these. So far only $4,000
have been properly signed and re-
turned to the traffic department. More
than 1900 have been returned without
being delivered This number repre-
sents those drivers who have failed
to notify of changes in address or have
moved out of the city.
Mr.. Van Duzer feels that the proper
return of only 10 per cent at this time
Is very low average. He forsees trou-
bic unless applicants move at greater
speed. The Traffic Department has
made it easy for the motorists of the
tags. It does deserve greater co-opera-
ton.
See about your tags now. Don't de-
lay. If you feel that you might have
warrant issued against you for some
trafic ticket investigate at once. If
you have, pay up. You will not receive
your new tag until you do.
II any one is still skeptical that large
automotive tax funds are being di-
verted annually, scan the following
oficial report.
Motor vehicle users paid special
State taxes amounting to $3.50, ,971 900
in 1885. according to reports of State
officials to the Bureau Of Public Roads
OF the United States Department Of
Agriculture. OF this amount $761. $685.
600 was allocated for highway purposes