SECTION SIX
Pages 1 to 6
Automobiles, Road Trips and
Northwest Highway News
VOL. XXXVIII.
PORTLAND, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, DECE3IBER 21, 1919.
NO. 51.
LACK OF STEEL NOW
HITS AUTO MAKERS
GDVERNMEIUT POLICY
HOW MOUNT TABOR PARK LOOKED IN THE BIG SNOW AS SEEN FROM THE SHELTER OF A FORD SEDAN
Already Their Production Is
Badly Affected.
Industrial Disturbance Rea
Proves Boomerang.
ON AUTOS CRITICISED
PLANTS RUN ON PART TIME
Manufacturers Compelled to Hold
Back Plans for Bigger Output;
May Have to Close Entirely.
DETROIT, Dec. 20. The coal strike
Is over, but not so the trouble of the
automobile manufacturers here. Even
if coal comes through from the mines
promptly, there is little hope for the
present of resuming operations in
most plants on more than a three-day-a-week
scale. The truth is that
the automobile industry just now is
previously near to being in a hand-to-mouth
struggle' for existence, due
to the steel shortage.
Little has been said of the steel
situation of late. The country at large
seems to believe the steel strike is
ended. This is not the case, as is
being proved right now to the auto
mobile plants by an acute shortage in
steel materials.
Unless the next few weeks bring
relief, manufacturers predict the tem
porary abandonment of all increased
production schedules, if they do not
curtail present production itself. The
automotive industry has planned pro
duction increases of from 33 1-3 to
100 per cent, but the fact remains
that the industry is facing a crisis
more serious than It has faced for
years.
Conditions Quite Serious.
In Detroit production is already
slumping. One of the biggest manu
facturers of axles, unable to main
tain a steady steel supply, has cut
production 40 per cent. Scores of
others are in a similar predicament
and this condition prevails not only
in Detroit, but in the other auto
motive centers of Michigan, Ohio and
Indiana.
The internal combustion motor came
valiantly to the rescue of Industrial
Detroit during the coal strike, and
has kept many plants running en
tirely or in part as soon as ingenuity
could devise a way of looking up gas
to do the work of electricity. Every
type of motor was used and many of
the smaller shops were able to keep
going 100 per cent by using their au
tomobiles when the fuel administra
tion shut down on their coal.
In the Dodge brothers' plant a num
ber of motors taken from cars kept
a considerable part of the plant go
ing. The cases where Ford cars were
used as power plants are so nu
merous that a census is all but im
possible, almost every small shop
proprietor cut off from juice calling
on his car to do duty.
In the Scripps Motor company
plant a 40 horse power marine motor
taken out of stocks was belted, tail
shaft to main shaft, by means of a
pulley and made to do the duty of
six five-horse power motors, which
were directly connected to the ma
chine and kept the plant 75 per cent
In operation. I
The Maxwell and G. M. C. truck
plants also used motors to run cer
tain departments of their plants with-
success.
One Motor Runs Whole Shop.
At one plant the motor of a Cadil
lac roadster was unshipped and Is
running practically the entire shop.
Had the strike lasted longer and had
it been probable that fuel restric
tions would be indefinite, gas-run
plants would be exceedingly common
and a good many cars would have
been taken off the streets.
It is reported that Dodge brothers
are contemplating trying out the plan
on a large scale, but the company
engineers are not satisfied the plan
is feasible.
American motordom will have its
first chance to inspect the new
Lafayette car during the week of the
New York Automobile show, January
S to 10.
The latest creation of D. McCall
White, designer of the English Daim
ler and Napier and of the eight-cylinder
Cadillac, will be exhibited in the
main lobby of the Hotel Commodore,
Instead of at the Grand Central
Palace, where New York stages its
1920 motor revue.
The apparent exclusivenss of the
Lafayette is due to the practice of
the National Automobile chamber of
commerce, which bars the doors of
the Chicago and New York shows to
any car that has not been In produc
tion for at least one year.
The Willys-Overland company Is
now building BOO Overland fours
daily. The various factory depart
ments are engaged in a spirited rival
ry to accomplish their part of the
operations so that production may
duickly reach 600 Overland fours a
day.
Ford Helping- Employes.
Benjamin Gotfreason, president of
the Saxon Motor company for two
years, has resigned from that office
and will again give his entire at
tention to the American Auto Trim
ming company, of which he also is
president.
Mr. Gotf redson's' decision to retire
from active leadership of the Saxon
company came despite' opposition to
such action on the part of the edi
tors' committee and directors of the
company.
Henry Ford, in addition to estab
lishing co-operative stores at which
his 52.000 workers may buy their
provisions, will manufacture flour
from 75.000 bushels of wheat from
his farm and sell the product to his
workers. The 'farm may supply much
more in the way of produce for the
stores, one of which is a part of the
Highland Park plant and is well
patronized.
The Cyclomobile Manufacturing
company of Toledo has began the
production of a one-passenger auto
mobile which is to sell at 1360. The
company announces that it expects
to manufacture 10,000 of the cars dur
ing 1920.
Clydesdale Motor Truck company
of Clyde, O., announces an Increase
in its capital stock from $500,000 to
$1,500,000. The original capitaliza
tion was found inadequate to take
care of expanding business, it is said.
It Is reported that the Saxon Mo
tor Car corporation of Detroit has
purchased from the .Root & Vander
voort company of Moline, 111., 12,000
four-cylinder engines of which 7500
are to be delivered immediately and
the remainder next year,
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MANY CARS ARE RUINED
PORTLAND so very seldom has a
big snow that people here hardly
know how to act when one comes
along. The cold snap and snow storm
of a week ago fell particularly hard on
the motorists, who were prepared for
nothing more radical than heavy rain.
They made a grand rush for tire
chains and anti-freeze solutions,
gloves, heavy clothes and ear muffs,
and struggled along.
But drivias in aear-aerp steaUier,
even with ear muffs, two or three
heavy shirts aboard and curtains up
fore and aft, is pretty chilly business.
The only car owners able to take the
cold weather philosophically were
those lucky ones who were driving
enclosed cars.
Back east, where they have weather
like that of last week all winter long
and part of the fall and spring to
boot, enclosed cars have long been
J favorites. Is fact, most or the cars
driven there In winter, and more and
more so in summer also, are enclosed
models. The enclosed car is so com
fortable, so independent of weather
conditions that there Is really no
comparison to make between It and
the open car in point of desirability
and all-around utility.
A few years ago motorists of the
Pacific northwest seemed afflicted
with a peculiar and inexplicable prej
udice against enclosed cars. For no
particular reason that anybody could
name, they simply wouldn't have 'em.
They preferred to drive around, shiv
ering, with curtains flapping. In win
ter, and roast in summer, to driving
comfortably in an enclosed car.
That condition is changing mighty
fast. Portland motorists In the past
couple of years nave come to realize
how many are the advantages of the
enclosed car over the open model.
Properly speaking, the enclosed car
should be called the all-weather car,
for ii is as convenient and usable in
summer as In winter. Southern Cali
fornia, where they don't know what
snow looks like, is one of the best
enclosed-car markets in the United
States.
One of the handiest of all the en
closed car models Is the Ford sedan.
It is so light and easily handled, so
convenient and comfortable in all
weathers, that it is becoming a great
favorite In this territory. In fact, the
many sales of Ford sedans and coupes
form one hie reason for the sain In
popularity of all types of enclosed
models.
The photograph on this page was
taken in Mount Tabor park a week
ago. when the thermometer was at its
lowest and the snow at Its deepest.
The Ford sedan in the picture was
provided by C. E. Francis of the Fran
cis Motor Car company. He took ad
vantage of the weather to make a
run around the east side to demon
strate that a Ford sedan was made to
order for such conditions.
Army of Officials, Acting Under
Orders, Permit Motor Equipment
to Remain In Unprotected Open.
ORECOXIAN NEWS BUREAU,
Washington. Dec. 20. Why 17,000
autonioblljs, many of them new and
unused, were permitted to stand out
In the open, exposed to the elements,
to rot and rust, Is explained by an
order issued by the director of sales
of the war department, last January.
or about the time the rotting and
rusting began. It reads:
It is the policy of the director nt
sales to dispose of the surplus prop
erty of the war department so as to
disturb the industrial conditions of
the country as little as possible."
That industrial conditions were not
disturbed. Is proved by the rapid ad
vances in the prices of the automo
biles sold by private agencies to the
public since that statement was Is
sued. It was brought out at investi
gations made by the Graham war In
vestigating committee of the house
that the director of sales who formu
lated that order and Issued It. of
course, with the approval of Secretary
of War Baker, was formerly the head
or the sales department In New York
City for one of the great automobile
manufacturing concerns. His name
was Guy Hutchinson.
Automobile Firms Control Poller.
The hearings disclosed many mat
ters of interest. One was that Brtr-
adler-General Drake, chief of the mo
tor transport corps, made numerous
efforts to have the surplus automo
biles, many of which were delivered
after the armistice was signed, dis
posed of. but his efforts all came to
naught in the interest of the automo
bile concerns.
What was happening to these auto
mobiles in the meantime, may be un
derstood by what took place at Camp
Holablrd, Md., which Is only 50 miles
from Washington. In a letter from
Colonel Chltty, who was commanding
officer at Camp Holablrd, It was
shown that 488 passenger cars were
declared surplus on February 13,
which Imposed the duty upon the
sales depar.ment of selling them, but
these cars stood out in the open at
Camp Holablrd until the latter part of
September before they were sold.
Meanwhile Inquiries were coming
from all parts of the United States
from Individuals who expressed a de
sire to bid on the surplus motor cars
of the government, an opportunity
which they were never permitted to
have.
It was brought out clearly by Rep
resentative Reavis of Nebraska In
questioning General Drake that there
was no attempt to prevent the cars
at Camp Holablrd from being de
stroyed. During all those months, as
described by Mr. Reavis in a speech In
the house, "they were standing in the
open, with no protection, subjected to
the elements, rapidly covering with
rust, the tops rotting, the upholstery
tearing loose, the paint faded and
cracked, and the department of sales
doing absolutely nothing with refer
ence to their disposition."
Machines Lie Oat In Open,
Mr. Reavis took occasion several
times to point out that the chief of
the motor transport corps continued
his efforts to have the surplus cars
sold, continuing:
"It is well to bear In mind that
during the time the motor transport
corps was seeking to have these ma
chines sold there were 130.000 motor
vehicles held by the war department
In the United States. Before the war
started the total number of motor
vehicles need for the army was 4000.
It must have been very apparent to
anyone of average intelligence that
there was tremendous surplus of these
vehicles. It was known to all the bu
reaus of the war department that
there was no storage sufficient to
care for this tremendous number of
machines. No farmer would permit
his farm implements to He out In
the open all winter, and yet farm
implements, because of the material
and character of their construction,
would not deteriorate in any degree
as an automobile when so exposed.
"Notwithstanding winter was ap
proaching, notwithstanding the tre
mendous loss that the government
would suffer by permitting these cars
to stand in the open, nothing was done
either to sell them or provide storage.
This Indifference on the part of the
war department to the rights and
welfare of the American people is be
yond understanding, but the testi
mony Is undisputed in this record that
this condition continued through all
of the winter and through practically
all of the past summer.'
France Reaps Profit.
One of the most amazing disclos
ures of the investigation was that
70,180 automobiles were delivered to
the army after the armistice was
signed and demobilization was' begun.
And more remarkable still, 3,993 au
tomobiles were shipped to France
after the armistice, 20,607 in Novem
ber, 15.421 in December, 2091 In Jan
uary. 1815 in February, 431 In March.
42 in April, 81 in May and five In
June.
This was done to avoid "disturbing
Industrial conditions at home."
"In the month of August." said Mr.
Reavis, meaning last August, "we
sold to the French nation all of the
motor vehicles we had In France,
which were valued at $310,000,000, for
20 cents on the dollar, on 10 years'
time. In other words, the motor
equipment we had In France was
worth approximately as much money
as it cost to build the Panama canal,
and in this motor equipment were 26,
000 vehicles that we sent abroad after
the war was over, after we had re
ceived the motor equipment from Ger
many and after our troops were being
brought home. It may be In bad
taste at this particular time to reg
ister a protest against such a shame
less waste of the people's money. It
may be with so many voices In the
air appealing to us to be generous to
the other people that one is not Jus
tified in demanding that we be Just
to our own people. There is no one
more sympathetic with the people of
the Old World than am I, but I must
confess that generosity such as I have
revealed is an unwarranted disregard
at the rights of the American people."