COMMERCIAL VEHICLES WHICH ARE PROVING PROMINENT FACTOR IN PORTLAND'S BUSINESS
AFFAIRS.
SERVICE FEATURES
POLICY OF MAKERS
Factories Trying to Increase
Satisfaction Among Trade
and Owners Alike.
AM
IDEA GAINING PROMINENCE
factory Man Says That Vltlmau-ljr
Country's Automobile Output
Will B Controlled by a
Few Companies.
In the progressive spirit that has en
tered the automobile Industry, two Important-
Innovations of paramount sig
nificance to both the owner and the dis
trict distributer have been evolved dur
ing the past year. One deals with the
needs of the present and future xiwners
f motorcars, and the other was Intro
duced for the benefit of agents, and la
steadily raining recognition from the
leading manufacturers of tie countrr.
"Service" Is the keynote of the policy
of several companies. This service ex
ten'.s to the dealer and the owner
.i:-.c. One Is designated by the term
service" that which makes satlsfac
tin among the owners and the other
1. known as the spelcal sales corps, or
artery representative... who are com
r.l.sluucd to travel about the country
extending aid to the local distributers
In closing up sales. Both departments
are expensive for the manufacturers,
hut they bring results. One provides
rarefaction among the customers, the
othr Injects enthusiasm In the dealers
and Is an Incentive for them to get out
arM let the business.
t":ne companies, like the Olds Motor
Works, of Lansing. Mich., for Instance,
have 15 an.l 20 imperial representatives
traveling about the country In the In
terests of the numerous agents, tieorge
S. Morrow, special factory representa
tive of the Oldsmobile Company, visited
Portland last week on one of his
periodical trips to this territory, and
reviewed In detail the object of the spe
cial representation Idea. The Oldemo
blle concern was one of the first to
adopt this method of Increasing Its
buxlness. and thus far it has found the
heue of great benefit.
Poller UalBlag fever.
"It la coming about, maybe a little
elowly. but none the less surely,
and it will be only a ques
tion of a few years when
every concern In the automobile busi
ness will have a corps of special repre
sentatives In the field or establish
branch houses. declares Mr. Morrow.
"The benefits to be derived from such
procedure are manifold; it brings re
sults, and that's the most Important
part.
"With the high-grade cars there Is
little room for mechanical betterment.
Of course, refinements are made each
year, but they really count for little
when the real merit of the car is con
sidered. After passing that stage where
improvements of great value were Im
possible, it was only natural that the
geniuses should turn their attention to
another phase of the Industry. So was
born the service Hea. It Is rapidly
taking definite form, and while at
present only the large companies have
accepted It. It Is Inevitable that It will
become part and parcel of the industry
as a whole.
"The motorcar owner la entitled to a
little attention after his money is safe
In the vaulta of the dealer. It should
be the policy of every automobile dis
tributer to see that his customers have
no cause for dissatisfaction, otherwise
their business will not be Increased In
the proportion It should be. The sat
isfied customer Is the best salesman on
earth. Once let a man be Imbued with
the Idea that his car is the only car.
and by his enthusiasm he will make
more sales than the dealer's selling
force. That Is the reason why the serv
ice department Is coming into such gen
eral use. The needs of the owners
must be attended to more thoroughly
and expertly. OMsmoblle mechanics
who have an expert knowledge of our
cars now are touring the country. In
structing the various district garage
foreman how to care for our machines
and are giving personal attention to
tlie complaints of owners. j
W hen thousands of machines are pnt
In use. It is only a natural sequence
that some must get out of order, for
taere are many people operating auto
tnoblles who are Incompetent to do so.
Tl-.ev do not give a machine enough
stu.iy. or perhaps they were not thor
oughly Instructed when they bought the
car. An automobile ran be likened to
a horse. You guide all classes on the
same principle, but the numerous makes
vary so much in point of mechanical
detail that a man who thoroughly un
derstands one make might be at sea
when It comes to driving another car
rroperly. Therefore, a man should be
thoroughly Instructed when he takes a
new car. no matter whether he has
owned an automobr.e before or not.
"The district distributers should be
given consideration, too. There are
times wnrn a factory representative
ran come into a town and close up sev.
eral deals that the local agent might
lose, or at the best hve to wait sev
eral months before he would make the
sales. An illustration of this was given
by one of our men. He went to New
York, and in two weeks closed p 13
sles that the dealers did not nave
much hopes of lending. Next month
he was sent to Texas, and his work !
a rat n mas phenomenal. In three weeka i
l.e sold 1J cars to men whom the local
dealers had put down on thetr books as
tuture prospects.'
"Besides getting contracts for the I
company and helping the distributers '
riake sales, the special representative '
r.as another mtA!n. That Is to find j
out. if possible. If there are any dlsaat-
tsfie.i owners of the make he repre
sents. If he finds any. ha Immediately '
ratifies the service man. who makes a '
trip to the town ana remedies the !
trouhle. The factory man also Instills
enthusiasm In the dealers, and when the ;
local representative sees that the fac- I
tory is taking some Interest In seeing j
that be makes a success of his bust- !
ness. he will have more ambition to sell
the car. A good live dealer sometimes r
proves the making of the car In cer-
tain territories, tnough in the majority
of cases the high-grade ears really sell I
tnemsrlvea." I
Mr. Morrow declares there Is a grow- j
lng tendency toward tha establishment !
of factory branches, and that ultimata- '
ly the automooil business trill be con- '
trolled by a few large companies that
will establish these houses ail over the
country.
"In the course of time I think a few
large corporations will control the vast
majority of automobiiea made In the
I nlted States." saa Mr. Morrow.
"There Is little profit In the msnufac
ture of automobiiea. and there must
come a time when tha small companies
will drop out. because there Is not auf- .
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flcient profit in the business, unless It
is conducted on a large scale.
"When this comes about the big
companies will put In branch bouses
In all the important districts. Even
now the Oldsmoblle company Is fol
lowing out the plan. We recently es
tsbltshed branches In San Francisco
and Los Angeles, to take care of the
Pacific Coast: one in Minneapolis, an
other in Dallas. Tea and one in Oma
ha. Neb. For Instance, the Northwest
Is adequately cared for by the San
Francisco branch and In other parts of
the country a like territory Is covered
by the district branch house."
Western Washington and Oregon are
productive of the best results in this
Held, declares Mr. Morrow. He says
that Eastern Washlnctin Is In the
throes of a general business slump and
that the automobile trade more is
moving very slowly.
"Racing Vm dead In Europe" was the
comment of the great Hemery shortly
after his arrival In thla country to par
ticipate in the Orand Prise race. Hem
ery. who la recognized as Europe'a
greatest automobile pilot, declares that
he has not made enough out of the
game In tee past two years In Kurope
to make the game worth the candle.
Hemery won the so-called Grand Prix
in France last Summer. Hemery. Wag
ner, Naxarro, Lancia and other famous
Kuropean pilots have turned their at
tention from racing to the manufactur
ing end. either for themselves or aa
engineers and designers for big Euro
pean factories. There ts a possibility
of Hemery staying In America.
HAS' GREAT TIRE RECORD
Mortimer Roberts Has Pone Many
Miles With the Tires 11 Now Vses.
Mortimer Roberts, of the Abbott-Te-trolt
team, doea not have to worry
about tire trouble. He haa been using
a set of American-made Mlchciin cas
ings slnca last April, competing In tha
following races and track events:
Won one of the two events at the
Algonquin Hill Climb; oovered about
15 miles at the Hawthorn track meet:
S miles more a couple of weeks later
at the Outtenburg track: then a long
Jump to the Galveston races, where he
remained two months, using the car
every day on the tryouts and taking
part In one &0-mlle event, two 25-mlle
and several five and 10-mlle events.
He also broke the track record at 46
seconds: back North to take part In
the Elgin races. In .which he won the
135-mile event: then to Cincinnati to
take part in the road race. In which he
covered about 200 miles; from there
to the Syracuse track, covering about
100 miles and winning all events; next
to tha Philadelphia races, where he
covered about 7S miles: also took part
in the track meet In the same city the
following week, covering about 60
miles: another long Jump to the West
found him at the Peoria track. In which
he won tour out of the five events,
covering about 100 miles: then back
to letrolt. during which time be tock
part In the. state fair events, cove.-tng
bout 110 miles.
From Detroit he headed for the
sunny South and landed In Savannah,
where he covered more than 1000 miles
on the race course there, finishing the
several events entered on the same set
of tires.
STARTER MOT ISSUE
Setf-Cranker No Help to Sale
, of Cars, Says Rose.
NEW DEVICE IS DISCUSSED
Head of E.-M.-F. Northwest Com
panies Maintains That Self-Starter
Has Llttlo Kffect on
Auto Purchasers.
Of the few new mechanical devices
featuring the 191J automobile there
can be little question but that the self
starter. In point of general Interest,
overshadows all others. Electric light
ing systems and silent motors have
created mild ripples In the motorcar
rond, but the mechanical . cranker's
surge of popularity resembles a tidal
wave. As yet comparatively few man
ufacturers have adopted the self
starter, but that cannot be taken aa
evidence that it la impractical and dua
for the discard In a short time.
This little device, which does away
with the necessity of cranking the mo
tor by muscle power, has caused no
end of discussion In automobile cir
cles. Its worth as a selling force is
disputed by a great many, while those
who are distributing cars that come
equipped with it are emphatic In their
contention that it makes their ma
chines go like 'wild fire."
"The fact that a car comes direct
from the factory equipped with a self
starter is no indication that the car ts
easier to sell." declares L. H. Rose,
manasrer' of the Northwest branches of
the fctudehaker corporation, the con
cern which manufactures the Flanders
"20" and E-M-F "30." "At least, that
Is the way I have found It. Of course.
It ts beyond denial that nearly every
prospective purchaser of an automobile
la Interested to some extent In the lat
est device, but beyond wanting to
know Its principle of operation, the
possible damage It can do to a motor
and the good to be derived front Its
employment, there Is nothing to indi
cate that It decides for thebuyer,
sales nice Have E'.qnal Field. .
"The dealer selling a car without a
self-starter haa Juat aa wide a field
to argue In as his colleague who es
pouses Its cause. I have found that
It la possible. In the majority of cases,
to get the self-starter Idea out of a
buyers head easily If he will listen to
reason.
"Now. I do not wish to give the im
pression that the self-starter Is not all
right. I have never teen one that I
know has been given proper tests, and
until I have, I am Inclined to await the
decision of the manufacturers.
"Like the vast majority of men con
nected with the automobile business, I
believe that It will be only a matter of
two or-three years when every car on
the market will be equipped with a
self-starter. This is inevitable. The
Idea Is one that makes for the motor
car greater popularity, and any Im
provement that can be made of gen
eral use will gain proper recognition
in due course of time.
"Again I am disposed to lean with
the majority. While we of the non-self-starting
brigade admit the prac
ticability of the device. Its ultimate
perfection, its natural conduciveness
toward a more liberal use of the auto
mobile, and the probability of it reach
ing that stage of simplicity -where
danger of misuse is minimized. I will
not advise Us use until it is perfected,
as It is certain to be.
"As evidence of this note the equip
ment of the leading car of the world
the big. luxurious machines, where
cost of construction, in adding new
features, is not considered. They have
no self-starters. The Packard, Olds
mobile, Plerce-Arrow, Alco and the big
European machines are still started by
the old method. And in deciding the
worth of some new features, we must
pay a little attention to what the
Why Not Give The Family J
An Automobile for Xmas o'
I
A White would make a most
handsome gift. This is our plan:
We will issue a certificate of
deposit good any time for any
car you may choose, whether it be a
,Limousine, Touring Car or a Roadster.
The White is the car for style, com
fort and stability. The graceful lines
make it an aristocrat wherever it
appears. Where the White gasoline
cars are driven they are known for
their performance. They have the
refinements of design and of building
which make them typical of the best
that money will buy. None of the
White cars is large and cumber
some, but tread the crowded streets
with an ease out of all proportion to
their actual capacity. Nothing has
been omitted that could contribute
to the family's enjoyment of a car.
The White M
otor
Car Co
in
Nineteenth and 1
Washington Sts. J
S. C. HUSTON, Manager
PORTLAND,
OREGON
J.
'big fellows' do. Not In all cases, mind
you, but In Instances where a device la
on the open market and easily can be
obtained by any manufacturer. The
makers of hlghgrade machines have
& reputation to sustain; they cannot
afford to take a 'flyer,' with the pos
sibility of emerging with their stand
ard lowered. You can rest assured that
if they surmised that the self-starter,
in Its present stage of development,
would not Jeopardize that reputation
pfor absolute worthiness they so Jeal
ously cling to, they would adopt It.
"In dealing with a person who has
set ideas, which he will not change,
no matter how much logical argument
Is brought to convince him that he is
wrong, and he will have nothing but a
machine that starts itself, we can give
him what his fancy dictates. We are
not handicapped by the inability to
obtain one. There are half a dozen
accepted self-starters on the market
that can he attached to any machine.
and prominent engineers have pro
nounced them up to the present stand
ard. "From my observations I have corns
to the conclusion that a man who can
sell a machine equipped with a self
starter would have just the same suc
cess handling a line without one, and
vice versa. It does not require any
extraordinary amount of salesmanship
to sell automobiles not equipped with
a self-starter if the machine the man
is handling Is a good car."
Srwwssss
Only a Few Days
Left in Which
to Buy
CB
i ll'V"l.l T. i.i iiiiil'i-! ;m iiii
w j r& l& j-fl ii j
See Our Window
Display
for Suggestions
1D.Q
10
H ti n Ti
N El El . la
Are Showing Their Appreciation of Our New Store and Well -Selected Stock
LUNCH BASKETS AND KITS -make very acceptable gifts
' Robes, Gloves, Hats and Caps, Auto Trunks, Coats, Shields, Speedometers,
Flashlights, Thermos Bottles and Cases Everything for the Automobilist.
Bicycles and Motorcycles. Reach Athletic Goods. Air Rifles
BAL
LOU & WRIGHT
Of QO C Opea evenings all week
c5U-oZ oeventn tl i30. 80,rday cren.
St., Cor. Oak