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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 1915)
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY , 28, 1915. PROCESS TIRE LISTS ERALLY DROPPING TO NEW LOW LEVELS BEN Half a Dozen Makers Kave Followed Goodrich Example of Revising List Downward NATION FOUND USE FOR OLD JUNK HEAP PATIENT ENTHUSIASTS DEALER ALSO BENEFITED Better ' Manufacturing Methods and Itoproved Pactory Facilities Cause of Changes. The t!re situation is clarifying Itself , f n 1,1 r.biMia Mr,. 11.1a litt(A eraljy are touching: new low levels. Siirce the Goodrich company announced Its new list and th abolishment of percentage discounts in favor of es tablished list prices to the user and net prices to the dealer, half a dozen other makers have revised lists and In practlivilly every case the new figures are "lower than the old ones. For years the list prices of our tire companies have been gradually coming down, with the exception of the brief period of panic last summer when the European war threatened to cut off our rubber supply, but also for years the man who knew could always buy Dew tires at prices far below those listed by the maker and which- were meekly paid by the uninitiated. The 'experienced car owner or driver who knew how to link together the chain of possible discounts, secured hls tires at a reasonable rate, while the tyro was at the mercy of the unscrupulous dealer. The prices now in effect are appar ently much more sensible, being based on manufacturing costs and a rational degree of profit for maker and dealer. The Intricate system of discounts Is abolished and henceforth the man who buys tires will do so on a husiness like basis. Better manufacturing methods and Improved factory facili ties, together with -the lower prl-e of tlon of rrices so Hint the matter of tire expense will not now he so great a bUKaboo to the man who wants to biy- a car as is the past. Kveryone concerned is to be congratulated upon the good sense of adopting business like sales principles and. even more strongly, upon giving the automobile .public a square1 deal. The dealer Is also .benefited because he can aflhere strictly to his price list and does not have to be constantly combating the arguments of customers who claim that they know of instances where ac- jnake of tiro for less money: f NJ, F - - ; -ju -J t ; X-Cy VS'n- I : isss; ; v, UT 4 &s lM MAKER'S NSPIRA1N Portland Dealer Tells Reason Why the Auto Has Been Perfected. The automobile Is perfected. The man who buys his first car is prac tically sure of a worthy article If he uses ordinary prudence and discrimina tion In selection. Let him decide what hte wants to pay and then carefully compare the merits of cars selling around that figure. But it was not aJwavs thus. "In fact," to quote Harry U. Keats, "It seems wonderful, in looking back at the Inefficient, Incomplete, unreliable, unrefined and expensive cars of only eight or 10 years ago. that the public purchased them at all.'- In no other country la the world were they so free ly bought andstick a peg oposite this fact there lies the reason why the United States leads the world so far in the automobile field. - "Had it not been for the patient loy alty of the early motor enthusiasts, this Industry could never have risen to Its splendid present condition. It was a matter of business with the men who put their dollars back of the manufacture of cars, but for those who bought cars for their own use in the experimental years, it was a much more unselfish. If not precarious in dulgence. "It was. the encouragement of the early buyers that spurred the manufac turers to the wonderfully rapid pro gress that has been made. In brief, If there hadn't been men rich and sports manlike enough to play with those ini tial failures, the automobile could never have reached Its present uni versal acceptance as a necessity." Juniper from the Indian reservations of New Mexico and Arizona may prove an excellent source of material for lead pencils. S IVilR. SQUEEGEE Btoommtndi the Blamomd iron-Skid Tire for Bervlo. nxw moB X.XBX Sle Squeegee Tread 81se Squeegee Tread ; 30x3 Now X ft.45 84x4 Now 20..'Wi 80x3 V. Now A12.20 86x4 H Now 828.74T 82x3 Now 814.00 87x5 Now H:t,'t.lK 33x4 Now 82Q.OO 38x5 H Now SI6.QO ARCHER AND WIGGINS OAK BTBinST, COKSTEX BIZTH We ax the official Diamond distributors. Some few months ago a second hand Marmon touring car came into the hands of Charlie Nation of the speed well garage, and he couldn't figure just what disposition he would make of same, as second hand cars at that time were a drug on the market. One 'lay Bob Blodgett. who has a tire establishment in tlif Speedwell building, had to put his Marion, built in the year 2, in a repair shop, and asked Dad Nation if he had a car around the house that he could use for a few days while the repairmen were doctoring up the Marion. Dad said the only tnTng he had was t!ie old Marmon. and he was of the opinion that It would not run, but he could try it if he wanted to. Blodgett, -After lilmbering the old lunk heap up for a few miles, sudden ly discovered that underneath the bon net of the old rig was a moto- with a wonderful "kick," notwithstanding the lact that the car had been run many thousands of miles with miserable up keep attention. When Nation found that the motor was an exceptionally good one, the idea of rebuilding the machine into a road ster came to him, with the result shown in the picture. This car Is now destined to represent Portland and the northwest in some of the race meets that will be held throughout Oregon and Washington during the summer. GIVES LEGISLATURE LITTLE SUPPORT TO GOOD ROADS PLANS Recent Session Disappoint ment to Advocates of Im proved Highways. FAPTflPV m flFlRTF . inuium U ULIUIL ATTENTION TO AUTOS Motor Truck Business Is Sold Out by Well Known East ern Company. The Willys Overland company has anounced its retirement from the motor truck: industry, having disposed of its entire interests In 'the Oramm Motor Truck company of Lima, Ohio, by the .transfer of its sfick interests to the Geiger-Jones -company, of Canton. Ohio By the terms of this transfer the Gramm company will take over th ales organizations of both the Willys Utility and Garford trucks aid will continue the manufacture of both trucks in their factory at Lima. - While the details of the transaction are not made public, it is said that by their acquisition- of the controHincr in terest in the common stock and their lntetest in the outstanding preferred Issue of the Gramm company, the Geiger-Jones company has acquired full wonting control or the business In discussing his reasons, far dis posing of the truck business. Mr. Wil lys declares that he considers it a business separate and distlm t from the quantity production of automo biles and that the raph' growth of Overland business has made It seem advisable for him to concentrate the errorts oc the oig overland organiza tion on the main industry at Toledo. The plant at Klyria. Ohio, where the Garford trucks formerly were built, it Is stated, henceforth w'"' be employed In the manufacture of Overland parts. Going .Some at 83. Though 83 years old Alfred S. Hensley of Stanhope, N. J., refuses to take a dare especially when It comes to' riding a motorcycle. Recently Hensley mentioned that he used to be quite a motorcyclist. His cronies laughed at the remark, and wagered that he couldn't even ride. Without a moment's hesitation, the veteran Jumped Into the saddle and was off down the road. When he returned, he "Well I guess I'm still one of the young una." Taken as a' whole the recent legisla ture was a disappointment to those interested in highway development. No constructive road legislation was en acted. The only approach to it was the passage of the Hollis-VInton biil which authorizes two or more coun ties to organize a road district and build public highways in the district. The specific object of the bill Is to permit the counties of Yamhill, Til lamook and Polk to unite in the con struction of a road to the coast. It is optional with the counties whether the work shall be done under! the su pervision of the state highway com mission or by themselves. There Is an inherent weakness in the measure because it does not make it mandatory that the work be done by thve state highway department. Responding to the recommendation of Governor Withycombe that the state road levy be increased from one-quav-ttr to one-half a mill several bills were 1 Introduced but they all failed of pas ; sage. As a result it is probable that I no new work will be undertaken. The I 3260,000 that the eixsting levy will ! bring in will doubtless be approprlat i e l to those counties that have already shown a disposition to do something, such as Jackson. Columbia and Hood River. A bill was passed granting Jackson county 20 per cent of th fund for the purpose of completing the Pacific highway over the Siskiyou mountains. Brown Bill Defeated. A bill of considerable merit that was killed was the bill of Representative Samuel Brown of Marion county pro viding for state aid to counties. . The bill provided that the state should ap propriate 40 per cent of the cost of a road, the county 40 per cent and the property owners of the district bene- , fitted, 20 per cent. Probably the most meretorlous bul introduced was one that allowed coun ties and municipalities to contribute to the improvement of permanent roads I outside their limits. This would have permitted Multnomah county to as sist in Hie improvement of market roads which extend into Clackamas, Washington ami Columbia counties. It would also have allowed municipali ties like Hood Kiver to aid outlying road districts In the county. The bill pot through the house but was killed in the senate. No good reason was advanced for its failure to pass. An influence that was probably used against it was that of the suburban railways which view with some alarm the growing competition of the auto truck and the auto bus. Besides enabling Portland to have assisted in the improvement of mar ket roads in adjoining counties the measure, had it become a -law, would have led to the construction of a scenic road through Clackamas county around the base of Mount Hood to a connection with the Columbia highway. Notwithstanding it has been shown that taxpayers have been swindled by bridge contractors there was no legis lation to correct that evil and protect county courts by placing bridge con struction under the supervision of the state highway engineer. Another toleration of an old abuse in road work was the failure to enact a law decreasing the number of road supervisors. There were a number of measures introduced that were deservedly killed. Among these was an attempt by Sen ator I. N. ttey of Multnomah county who, as president of the Oregon Inde pendent Paving company, endeavored to secure legislation that would prac tically prevent the consideration of bids by patented paving companies. It will be recalled that two years ago Senator Day was interested la paving measures but at that time he endeavored to prevent the placing of any restrictions upon the patented article. 5000 Automobiles To Cross Continent Lincoln Highway Association Makes Estimate of Motor Tourist Traffic to San rrandsco Exposition, Widely divergent estimates have been made as to the number of auto mobiles that will cross the continent during the coming season. E'en the most conservative figures are startling. The Lincoln Highway association es timates that 5000 cars will drive to the Pacific coast and return. Three thousand of these cars are to come from east of the Ohio river, 1000 from between the Ohio and Missouri and 1000 from west of the Missouri, but not including cars owned in Cali fornia. The cars east of the Ohio would cover out and back approximately 6000 miles each or 18,000,000 miles. One thousand cars between the Ohio and the Missouri, out and back cover approximately 4000 miles each or 4, 000,000 miles, while the 1000 cars from the Missouri west would cover approximately 2000 miles each of 2, 000,000 miles. This makes a total of car miles covered, without counting in any side trips whatever, of 24,003,000 miles. Figuring 10 miles to every gallon of gas, these cars would require 2, 400,000 gallons of gasoline. Figuring one gallon of oil to every 200 miles 120,000 gallons of oil would be needed. And on the basis of 5000 miles per set of tires, 4800 sets of tires would be used or 19,200 tires. The total expense of these tours. Including gas, oil, supplies, night stops, tires, meals, etc., and figuring three people to the car, as estimated by the Lincoln Highway association, is approvimately $4,470,000. The as sociation admits this estimate is ex ceedingly low. The Panama-Pacific International Exposition experts estimate on much the same basis as the association ex cept they take as their first figure 25,000 cars making the trip instead of 5000. Their figures therefore call for 120,000,000 car miles covered and a total expenditure of about $22,357,- r.oo. -in mileage is fai, better than patched-up adjustments When you buy Diamond Tires you buy tires that are built to give you the maximum tire service tires that give you freedom from trouble and relieve you ot the necessity of having adjustments made. This is what a dealer who sold many thousands of Diamond Tires last year has to say about the service they gave the buyers "Gentlemen : "Cleveland, Dec. 15, 1914. "The performance of Diamond Tires during the past year has been eminently satisfactory. The claims for adjustment were almost a negligible quantity. On the other hand, we have bad a great many voluntary reports as to the excellent service our customers have had from Diamond Tires. We feel that a perfect balance has been worked out in the scientific construction of these Tires. The net result is that there appears to be the proper relation between the inside carcass and the outside rubber, so that there is no excess of either. The tire seems to wear out naturally and only after having given a very large mileage. "THE FOREST CITY RUBBER CO., "W. E. Crofut, President." Similar reports of Diamond service have been received from dealers all over the country. Added to the wonderful Diamond service you can now buy Diamond Squeegee Tread Tire at the following ' FAIR-LIST" PRICES: , Diamond Diamond Sl2e Saueeeee Slze Squeegee 30 x 3 $ 9.45 34 x 4 $20.35 30x3j4 12.20 35x4 28.70 32x3)4 14.00 37x5 33.90 33 x 4 20.00 38 x 5& 46.00 PAV NO MORE New 1915 M axwells WHILE THEY LAST PORTLAND DELIVERY COMPLETELY EQUIPPED With Electric Lights and Self-Starter LARGE STOCK OF PARTS 20 PER CENT OFF Pacific Motors Co. 682 Washington St. Portland, Oregon yPhone Main 75 DIAIVIOIVD TIRE WE ABE OITICIAL SXSTBTBTJTOBS OAZ STREET, OOXKEB SIXTS GRAY & DAVIS SERVICE STATION Storage Batteries Rebuilt and Recharged Magneto, Recharged Car Wiring GIBSON ELECTRIC GARAGE & STOR AGE BATTERY COMPANY We Would Suggest That NOW Is the Time to Buy GASOLINE THE PRICE IS PER GALLON Every wet and greasy pavement knows that PENNSYLVANIA VACUUM CUP TIRES Are the best. Ask your friends that are using them. A. J. WINTERS CO. 67 SIXTH STREET FREE AUTO SUPPLY CATALOGUE for the asking or mailed upon request. TtaMrMMM-MGATtMlft Takes the Slant Out of. the Piston headRacking Rings hui$ BALLOU & WRIGHT, Broadway at Oak 10,000 CARS BURNED UP IN 1914 Most of these would have been saved had they been stored in a fireproof building OUB BTTXXBXirO IS ABSOZ.VTEX.T IISEFBOOF ' MULTNOMAH GARAGE & AUTO CO. Expert repairing at lowest prices consistent with good workmanship. Storage and Auto Supplies. Electric Charging. Sixth St. and Madison, only 3 blocks) from the Heilig. Phones Marshall 2300. A-4636. AUTOMOBILE AND SHOP SUPPLIES Spark Plugs TOOLS Brake-Lining , ; MOTORCYCLES AND ACCESSORIES Freer Tool and Supply Co. T4 Sixth and 3X1 Oak Cts. Paonva jftalm 1683. A 183 Dlammood TIRES Vulcanizini & Retreading R.E. BLODGETT. "-3 VKE sUfc'w?"" A WORLD'S RECORD! 100 Double-Decked Carloads of 500 Automobiles VALVE-IN-HEAD V KM a I MOTOR CARS Value $644,44022 In One Train and on One Bill of Lading Left the Buick Factory at Flint, Michigan, at 11 a. m., Saturday, February 20, consigned to the Howard Auto Company, for distribution on the Pacific Coast. ...... n w UHHJ -ftMEl fciSt-! ft ii h V. ', - s i,,ii .1 man . st."?' ',' W v--V''mtv A .CI - ; If 'Hn. t v . OUR LAST TRAINLOAD OF TWO HUNDRED BUICKS THAT ARRIVED JANUARY 18 ABSOLUTELY THE LARGEST AND MOST VALUABLE SHIPMENT OF AUTOMOBILES EVER MADE IN THE ) WORLD'S HISTORY IT STANDS TO REASON THAT THERE IS MERIT TO AN AUTOMOBILE THAT CONTINUES TO SELL BY THE TRAINLOAD YEAR AFTER YEAR When Better Automobiles Are Built, Buick Will Build Them" HOWARD AUTOMOBILE GO. MEL G. JOHNSON, Manager PhonesMain 4555, A-2550 FOURTEENTH AND DAVIS STREETS Marshall 1752 434 Alder Street ,A-7435