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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 24, 1915)
t 6 TTTE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX. PORTLAND. . OCTOBER 24, 1915. optlandeps OREGON HAS 23,333 MACHINES LICENSED Motor Registration Tags for 727 Are Taken Out During Month Starting September 15. 1914 MARK 7000 LOWER I c iJve'VVbitctei: Ceur" jj L - A- .-'v ' x sir I T'pCf - .. ' . iyJl Z5 "V J RALPH W. WILBUR, who. when he isn't arguing a case ft court or writing briefs on some big legal question, is apt to be found driving his automobile or engaged in sport at one or other of Portland's leading clubs, once- was arrested on & charge of speeding. Being a good lawyer, nowever, he was honorably discharged without even a reprimand and to this day he stoutly affirms that the officer' grabbed the wrong number. At any rate, the rec ords show that his complete alibi was accepted Dy tne court as convincing. Every day Mr. Wilbur uses his car for in-town busine&s trips and. occas ionally for pleasure. His present ve hicle is a 1913 Chalmers, his fifth ma chine of that ancestry. Mr. Wilbur is not a fiend for long trips and frankly admits that he has motored over the Columbia Highway only once. He is president of Ahe Multnomah Amateur Athletic Clubhand maintains an active membership in the Waverley Country Club, the Portland Hunt Club, the Portland Rowing Club and Irving ton Club. ' GIANT STRIDE SHOWN Production of Some Years Back Cited for Comparison. MAXWELL SCHEDULE BIG In July Company Has Entire Output Assigned and Only Over-Produc-tlon Enables Jiving He- ' lief In Emergencies. DETROIT. Oct. 23. Before his board of directors, the general manager of one of tne leading automobile-building concerns of a few years ago. earnestly advised that, in the season to come, the company build 1040 cars, instead of the SOO it had just finished. The directors, aghast, termed the ex ecutive a dreamer and declared there weren't 1000 prospective automobile owners in the world. It is the executive who tells the story. . He is one of the biggest men In th Industry today. The directors and the eampany they directed van ished some time ago from the active list. - Men of the same type as this early optimist have been back of every auto mobile manufacturing success in De troit and Michigan. Thetr early efforts in manufacturing were crude and hec tic. But, with time and experience, they have developed their optimism into scientific lines and have organized plans of production and distribution so efficient as to bear creditable compari son to any industry of long standing. AmIiiw1i Made Kar A b rati. The Maxwell Motor Company, for in stance, began its production of the present model in July with a definite schedule of production and delivery for every car of the 60.000 to be built. Kach day's work of the mammoth plants here and at Newcastle and Dayton was laid out in advance. - Each car in- this schedule was definitely assigned a cer tain Maxwell dealer. Its date of ship ment formed part of the dealer's con tract and the contracts covered the whole fiscal year. It was arranged to give each dealer his cars In carload lot. For long distances, trainloads were dated, weeks and months ahead. To stick to this schedule in every de tail is a Maxwell principle, although, to do so, the Maxwell sales department has. in the last two months, been forced to decline more than $6,000,000" worth of orders, from dealers who fairly begged for more cars than their sched uled number. Iacrrase in Production Promise. During August and September the Maxwell plants, pushed to their limits, built, nearly 11.000 cars 1000 more than the schedule of the sales department Tills surplus was divided conaclerAjous- ly among Maxwell dealers la greatest need, but was relatively only a drop in the bucket of demand. So carefully was the division mads, however, that even the retail branches of the com pany were held to their original allot ments, the surplus going entirely to dealers. ' The Maxwell factory is " promising 6000 cars a month, beginning in Oc tober. This production will enable Sales Manager Stebbins to retain enough of a margin to take care of a fraction, at least, of the dealers whose first estimates fell so far below the de mand which their respective localities have developed. Lubrication Problems Arise. With cold weather at hand motorists who are accustomed to all-the-year-around service face new conditions of operation and maintenance. None of the problems that low temperature brings has more bearing on good serv ice than lubrication, for a drop in the mercury means an atmospheric condi tion that has a tendency to congeal the lubrication oil, .unless it has been manufactured in a way to prevent this difficulty. Motorists observe this most commonly when they find the motor hard to start on cold days. Auto Climbs 99 40 Feet. . Driving his Maxwell touring car and carrying more than 600 pounds, E. F. Clark, of the Pacific Telephone Com pany, successfully attained a height above sea level of 990 feet, surmount ing Tioga Pass, in the Sierra Nevadas. This is believed to be the greatest ele vation ever attained by a motorcar. It was ma(e In a trip from Los Angeles to the Yosemite over a trail heretofore used only by wagon traffic NEWREGQRDS FREQUENT STIDKBAKEB COMPANY KEEPS OS INCREASING PRODUCTION. Three High-Water Marks Set la Sep tember and October 15 Smashes Single-Day Figure. The Studebaker Corporation succeed ed October 15 In establishing a new high mark for the production of motor cars in a single day. September had proved to be the banner month in the company's history, three records having been broken. These records were for a single day's production, for the out put of six consecutive days and for the total of cars manufactured in a month. President indications, by comparison with the daily production that had been maintained, promise that October is to be made the record month. On October 15 the Studebaker facto ries produced 347 cars and without re quiring any extraordinary effort, so that officials of the corporation feel confident of a continuance of the pace that has been set. Nor has there been any slowing up in the placing of orders by dealers for cars, according to officials of the cor poration. Vice-President Oilier, who is director of sales, is quoted as saying that if conditions prevailing with the automobile industry are to be accepted as a criterion the country is entering upon one of the most prosperous eras in its history. Reports gathered from Studebaker representatives in every part of the country and from other reliable sources are to the effect that Fall business in various lines is running ahead of what was done in the Spring. Representa tives of commercial houses say that everywhere in business circles confi dence Is growing stronger and that, with the Hood of wealth soon to be re leased from the harvesting of marvel ous crops, notwithstanding the back ward season, trade may look for stimu lation to an extent even greater than may have been hoped for. Studebaker officials declare that every endeavor is to be made to keep the production of cars up with the demand. KISSEL CAR CliAlM ALLOWED Rival Manufacturers Promise to Avoid Trade Expression. ' "We were ready to go to law to pro tect our rights to the trade name 'All Year car," " says President George A. Kissel, of the Kissel Motor Car Com pany, "but I do not now think It will be necessary -to do so. . "Leading manufacturers, who have followed our lead and are announcing convertible cars, have acknowledged to us in writing the Justice of our claims and pledged themselves not to refer again to their products as 'All Year car.' "A typical letter written by an officer of one of these companies contains this appropriate decision: "We have no de sire to adopt the trade expressions of competitors. We think the Knglish language is sufficiently elastic to sug gest to the imaginative writer more than one way of conveying an impres sion.' which is the right way of look ing at It." PORTLAND AUTOMOBILE COMPANY DEDICATES NEW BRANCH HOME IN SEATTLE. CM . -V- Sir .Vt ' 'iiw Ui ra- .:. . I m sat rr WHMf'.LwuM,i. i.i.---r?:-?ca'ai T3f - i -, a. I f - - I iif"V"' '" "" I T ... SEATTLE OFFICE OF GERLl.VGER MOTOR CAR COMPANY ON FIFTH AVENUE. An evidence of the expansion of a Portland automobile firm was noted recently in the opening in Se attle of a new building to house the Washington branch of the Gerlinger Motor Car Company, of Port land. The new -building is located at 2319-23 Fifth avenue, where R. L. Saunders, branch manager, dispenses Federal motor trucks for the business men of Western Washington., Mr. Saunders, who is a pioneer truck man in the Seattle field, was promoted recently to the vice presidency of tho Gerlinger Company. EL E. Gerlinger. of Portland, is the head of the corporation. Increase Represents Investment That at Conservative Estimate Is Considered About $4,500,000. Cost Averages $760 a Car. BY CHFSTBR A. MOORES. Up to the close of business last Wednesday a total of 23.339 automo bile registration tags had been award ed by Secretary of State Olcott for 1915, according to the count kept by M. O. Wllkins. of Portland. Of this number 727 . were filed during the month, beginning September 15 and ending October 15, which is thought to be a remarkable record for so late in the season. The figures for the month show that 297 115 cars, 251 can of 1916 model and 178 old cars were registered dur ing tho month for the first time this year. A total of 145 cars of 1915 model and 4 of 1916 model were registered by owners -residing in Multnomah County. The total registration to date, 23,339 cars. Is nearly 7000 above the entire registration fqr 1914, when 16,347 num bers were issued. A subtraction of the two totals indicates that at least 6000 new automobiles have been pur chased In Oregon since last January. Figuring on an average car cost of J750, 1 which Is regarded as conserva tive, Oregonians have spent 14.500,000 for new cars this year. During the last month, at 1760 a car. they have spent In excess of $375;000 for 1915 and 1916 cars. Marc Bunnell, who came to Portland recently as Northwest manager for tho Interests of the Chalmers factory, tele graphed his resignation to Detroit last week and left immediately for San Francisco. . As hla successor, temporarily at least, John M. Robblns. came to Portland from Denver, where .he had been doing special work for the company. Mr. Robblns left Wednesday for a trip over the states of the Northwest and will attend the annual dealers' , convention at the Chalmers factory next month before returning to Portland. "I am not yet certain that I will be assigned permanently - to the Portland territory." said Mr. Robblns before his departure. "But I truly hope so, for I like the looks of Portland." For the past several years Mr. Rob blns has been acting as a special trav eling representative for the Chalmers Company, in which capacity he visited the agencies and branches in all parts of the United States, particularly in the Central West, where he was raised. A letter from H. N. Lawrle. dated Atlantic Highlands. N. J October 15, elves Interesting details, which were not included in a recent report in The Oregonian, relating his trip as far as Detroit. "Between The Dalles and this point my Dodge has covered 3467 miles," writes Mr. LawTie. chairman of the Oregon State Mining Board. "The t tal cost of gasoline has been 1 1-6 cents a mile and the average distance to the gallon of fuel 15.68 miles. The aver age cost of gasoline to the gallon was 18 1-3 cents, and the average distance per quart of oil 102 miles. "Figuring the length of the traveling day, eight hours, we averaged 144.4 miles a day, or 18.05 miles an hoar. Considering that we had six passen gers, not counting the baby, the aver age cost of the entire trip, including 20 per cent depreciation on the car it? 3hi cents a head a mile. While 1 have figured 20 per cent for depreciation on the car and buying a new set of tires all around. I have still two of the original tires on the machine now, made bv the United States Tire Com pany, which, have traveled 5500 miles without a blowout and look as though they would give me another 1000 miles." - After driving a 1915 Cadillac Eight at a speed of 67 miles a hour across some of the level desert near Burns, Harney County. Howard M. Covey, tho Cadillac distributor for this territory, reached what is known as the Wild horse country. Here Mr. Covey and Frank Dlbblf, the Cadillac agent for Harney County, landed a good-sized deer. Mr. Covey returned to Portland on Apple day. when the giving spirit seemed to be In the air. Result, every employe of the big Covey plant received a hunk of that deer. Mr. Covey ana Mr. oirowger alone did without. From The Dalles to Burns and return the itinerary embraced about 1'iuu miles. Most of the roads in Central Oregon were in good condition. Mr. Covev savs. with some dust in stretches. The best place for racinir was in Harney County, where thers was absolutely no vegetation for miles and miles. C. W. Churchill, general manager of the Winton Company, was a prominent visitor in Portland tne otner aay. While here he was driven by A. C Stevens, manager of the Portland branch of the Winton Company, over the Columbia River Highway as far as Warrendale. The members of the entire party, which included the local Winton force,. were Mr. Stevens' guests at a chicken dinner served at one of the taverns along the highway. Mr. Churchill remained in Portland only one day. while W. E. Minor, or tno auditing department, tarried for two or three days, placing nis o. a. on mo books at the Portland branch. Mr. and Mrs. Frederick A. KrlbJ have Just returned from California after making a remarkable trip In their new Chandler car. For the entire 1100 miles covered on the main trip and the detours Mr. Kribbs says he aver aged 16 miles of travel to the gallon of gasoline consumed, and that the car suffered no breaks and needed no re pairs of any kind. The car used one gallon of lubricating oil. He assures J. E. Wlndle. salesman of the Dulmage Manley Auto Company who sold him the car, that it is the best rig among the seven' that he has owned. J P. Schiller, Jr.. Northwestern rep resentative for the Willard Storage Battery Company, has Just return from a trip through Eastern Oregon and Washington, where he found the re spective Willard service stations work ing full forces in rendering service. H 1 now traveling through Southern Oregon looking after the interests of hia, company. MOTOR BARGE IS DEVISED Aberdeen Merchant Travels In Car Over Water at 1 5-MHe Speed. . ABERDEEN, Wssh., Oct. 83. (Spe cial.) Fifteen miles an hour on. a barge propelled by fthe automobile It carries caa now bo made, duo to aa Demountable Rims The 1916 Maxwell is equipped with ! monn table rims, and has tke same size lira on all i oar wheels. Two ritslly important features. To replace a tire on the road it is only neo to looses fire bolts ; slip off the flat tire; sp on spare rim and tire; tighten three bobs, and proceed. We are waitxnr to take yoa for m test ride in die car that has broken JI low "First-Cost" records, and is breakmc all low "After-Cost" records. TheAfat'AiafazrJcp a j i, r" D,rraoiT 8 r ii 1 C. L. BOSS & CO. S Eg? 615-617 Waahlngtoa St., Portland. Marshall 4022, A SOS3. Ill Invention of Charles W. Huotari, Aber deen and Raymond merchant. Huotari built a barge several months ago for automobile carrying, which traveled eight miles an hour. Additions to his original barge have been" responsible for the increase in speed. Huotari is now engaged in building a new barge, this to be long enough to carry three touring cars or two trucks. It will have a commercial value. The auto-propelled barge promises to be of great value in crossing bodies of water where bridges have not been built. Huotari uses his barge In cross ing Willapa Harbor, thus making it possible for him to take a beautiful beach drive when going between .Aber deen and Raymond. OVERLAXD WIXS HOXOR POST Best Place at New York Show Is Re sult of Sales Record. For the third successive year the Willys-Overland Company will occupy the position of honor at the New York automobile show to be held at the Grand Central Palace from December 31 to January 8. This was definitely decided at the meeting just held n New York by tha National Automobi.e Chamber of Commerce. The space allotments are based en tirely upon the volume of business done by the companies affiliated with the National Automobile Chamber of Com- NEW METHOD TIRES Bring in your old tires and have one new tire made from .two old tires before it is too late. Double tread tires wear twice as long and are puncture proof. i R. W. PRICE HARNE S CO. 14 North Broadway merce. This organization includes aU but one of the prominent pleasure-car manufacturers In the United States. The conclusion arrived at by the governing body was not the result of, hearsay evidence. Every member :f the organization is required to submit a sworn statement showing the actual amount of business done during cha year. In long stroke motors, of high com pression that are hard to turn over by hand or starting motor, the resistance may be reduced somewhat by using a I thin lubricating oil. 1916 REPS Can be seen at the MANUFACTURERS' & LAND PRODUCTS SHOW At the Armory THE LONG-LOOKED-FOR 1916 REOS are coming as fast as steam can bring them and are expected to arrive on October 28th, to be displayed at our exhibit at the Manu facturers' & Land Products Show. REOS more than ever before, beautiful with no expense spared no minute detail of excellence overlooked to give to the 'Sixteen REO owner, as in the past, the same incomparable value. - OLD-FASHIONED quality no matter what hap pens STAYS WITH REO. Everything that puritanical inspection, careful construction and superior material can do towards motor-car per fection has been done and the result we have today in tKis 1916 REO. 1916 REOS SELL FOR LESS REO, The Fifth, "The Four" you can purchase at the astonishing price of $875.00. And the REO "Six" at $1250.00 F. O. B. Factory. NORTHWEST AUTO COMPANY F. W. VOGLER, President First Booth at Right of Main Entrance