Evening star., 1938-01-09
By G.. adams HOward.

Dp Ne 7U~VSO ~ O1~S ~s
TINE American automobile indus
try, including both car and
truck, factory sales for 1887
Il were 4,975,000, an increase of
3 per cent over the preceding year,
according to final figures just released
by Alfred Reeves, vice president of
the Automobile Manufacturers Asso-
citation.
This compilation also shows the
wholesale value OF cars and trucks to
be $2,802, 100000. The registration of
motor vehicles in the United States
WAS $3.50 900, which was 10 per cent
of the worlds automobiles. Total mo-
tor vehicle user taxes in this country
was 100000.
Employment in auto auto body and
parts factories was estimated at ST.
0o0, with weekly pay rolls approxi-
mating $15,50O,OOO.
The above statistics certainly would
prove the importance of the automo-
tive industry to the economic and
financial life of America. Its we'll
being and prosperity Of the Nation
are most interlined.
The lull in holiday operations has
given the automobile industry time
to reflect on 1893 production, accord
ing to a North American Newspaper
Alliance survey.
Will 1898 be as good as 1887, or
will the slump in sales that was wit
messed during the last quarter of
1887 carry through the major portion
Of the year?
No answer has yet been found No
seer has been able to gauge accurately
the sales possibilities of the next few
months.
Production for January probably
will not be more than 240.000 units.
The first half of February may see no
increase in operations. Thereafter,
the more optimistic along the auto
mobile front believe, the pace may be
accelerated in anticipation of a spring
pickup.
No one ventures the prediction that
1888 output will approach the 5000, 900
units that the industry in recent years
has set up as a ld-incrusted quota.
Since the final figure for 1887 will be
not far from 100000 units. the gen.
eral assumption is that 1888 will fall
below the last year in production.
On the basis Of year-to-year sched-
ules, the manufacturers have no great
reason to complain as they contem-
plate the more than 100000 cars and
trucks produced during 1887. Only
in 1929 was production any heavier.
That year provided 5,358,420 cars.
On the sole basis Of production, 1887
compares well with the 4,454,115 units
of 1896, the 3,946,974 units of 1885
and the 2,753,111 units of 1884.
The manufacturers have maneuvered
themselves into the position. however,
where it is necessary for them to turn
out we'll over 4,500,000 cars a year
if they are to provide steady employ
ment for their workers and keep pump
ing away to support the economic LIE
of the Nation. The automobile indus
try furnishes so heavily part Of the
Nations life blood that any interrupt
ton Is Immediately apparent in At
other States besides Michigan.
The year 1897 was featured by the
greatest advance of any single year
in preparing new drivers for their
responsibility at the wheel and in the
constructive education of both motor
lists and pedestrians in sound prac-
tices for using the streets and high
ways.
This statement was made recently
by the American Automobile Associa-
ton which has co-operated through
out the year with high schools and
colleges In launching driver education
and instructor training programs This
activity, started in 1896, augments
the A. A. A. grade school program
OF posters. safety lessons and school
safety patrols in which some 250,000
boys and girls are enrolled.
The national motoring body cited
the high lights in the safety educa-
ton and driver training field during
1887 as follows:
Three States, namely, Connecticut,
New York and Wisconsin, enacted
legislation requiring safety education
In the schools, making 20 States which
now require such education as a result
of Board of Education regulations or
State laws.
More than 5000 high schools now
offer some form Of driver education
and approximately 270,000 sportsman
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