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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (May 20, 1917)
6 THE OREGON SUNDAY, JOURNALS PORTLAND SUNDAY: MORNING, MAY 20, 1917. (i El Mm WOULD CHANGE KNOCKER TO BOOSTER FOR ROADS ' Plain Talk by Former Califor nian Sums Up Situation as "Applied in State of Oregon FINANCIAL BENEFIT SEEN Proposed $6,000,000 Bond lira for Ore gon Indorsed as Mean to Wla Heeded Commercial Arteries. "Some of these Oregon road-bond objectors I would like to stake out Along the highway In California and let them watch the traffic pass; their ob servations would convert , them from objectors into projectors," remarks A. C Gagn. formerly of Modesto, Cal. "Let them go out the Columbia river highway and count the stream of auto mobiles. It will give them some id3a f the utility of the Californfa high ways roads used for business as well as for pleasure. They may come to re alize the Imperative need of Oregon for a similar system of road building and Intercommunication for towns. Merchants Use Highways. Arizona merchants do their buying ,ln San Francisco, driving their own : cars along the smooth Camino Real, or "King's highway," the ribbon of con crete road that traverses the state. "Merchants of the interior valleys of California drive to points where whole Zeal e lines are on display tnd buy from stock, inatead of sample. "Laterals of concrete highway are being built by counties to connect up with the main arteries. "Thousands of peopij who wYuld not . otherwise see the Interior of the state are given an Intimate knowledge of its agriculture and industries because of this system of good roads. "Eighteen millions in a lump sum were appropriated by the voters of the state to construct these roads, and they are still building. The conclusion from these Btatements'is this: Benefits Are Enumerated. i "Six million dollars expended by Oregon in building concrete or other ' hard surface roads to connect with the roads of California, and to radiate means of communication between Ore- gon towns, will bring nto this stato ' $6,000,000 a year in added revenues not now available. Increased business transactions will result. Tourists, in vestors and sightseeing visitors will come in thousands. Hunters, fisher men and lovers of the out-o'-doors will pread over the western hills eaon i summer. Resorts will spring up every t where, and thft state will have opened itf doors to the 200,000 automobiles of i i California. r :! "Oregon is isolated from the greatest . bunch of spenders west of the Hudson - river. Californlans -ome to Portland ! and pay par-hour hire for autos to go ! 1 over the Columbia .llghway. They go s back and tell of Its beauties, and thro are thousands who would like to mar.e the trip. Boads Vital necessity. : "But we are inaccessible, because there are no roads over which a man may drive with safety. Those who do risk their lives must carry a full set of spare tires to drive with any degree i' of confidence. "Let me tell you of travel on the San Joaquin highway, between Modesto and Fresno: V. D. Whitmore, chairman of the Stanislaus county board of super visors, had trouble with curl-leaf in his large peach orchard, and invited me t to go with him to interview the or : chardists around Fresno, to determine ; what treatment was best, and how their trees were affected. We left Mo desto at 6 p. m. on Saturday and regla 1 tered at the Hotel Fresno, 90 miles south, at 9:30 p. m., having stopped for ; dinner at Merced. Many Orchards Passed. "In this trip we made a detour of 14 miles on section line dirt roads to get around the last uncompleted portion of r th,e state highway, then under con Struotion. Wo drove the next day over excellent graded roads and pavements through laden orchards. 150 miles Left Fresno in the late evening and! reached Moilosto at 1 1 p. m. This trip, 330 miles, never exceeded 35 miles per hour, and was made in 29 hours, with many stops" at fine orcfiard homes. Good roads made this possible. It would bo Impossible in Oregon in a pe riod twice the numher of hours. Tanners Keap Benefit, "Railroads might be expected to op pose, the $r,00il,0.0 bond Irsue. because It means loss of tmffic. I,ocal mil pa tronage in California has been serious ly reduced by private machine and jitneys. "Hut the farmer and the residents of Interior towns have extended their business horizon to the limits of the roads. Creamery trucks call for cream at stations along the smooth cause way. Fruit and produce reaches mar ket and packing house in better condi tlon; vehicles and livestock show the wisdom of such expenditures, and the point of time-saving alone Is no small factor in the good roads argument "If he successfully does antagonize wis movement, it rartner removes th material development of interior towns and continues the handicap on Port land." HUDSON SUPER-SIX SPEEDSTER IS HERE - SW3 2 MAXVELL TODRING CARS ENTER ECONOMY RON WEDNESDAY Two Thousand Dealers in the U, S. and Canada Going After New Record, ins; cars now In owner service. These be will borrow for the day. In each car there must be, according to the rules, four full grown passengers the driver and three official observ ers. In each town and city the two cars will make the run together, each carrying Its observers, who thus will cheek not only their own account, but the other as well. Results will be unofficial, it is stated. If the dealer falls to arrange for his observers to be either newspa per men, motor club or board of com merce representatives, or well known public officials. Two one gallon cans are to be pro vided each car participating. These will be attached to the wind shield. Instructions mailed broadcast by the Maxwell Motor Sales Corporation. De troit, point out that the records will 1nlJfl.4 1 W - W ONE GALLON OF GASOLINE used is measured into the can on each i or me two cars by one or more of the . official observers arranged for WHO'S WHO IN MQT0RD0M i Owners' Cars Will Be Used, and Each Driver Must Save Four Full Orown Passengers. The Hudson model that is attracting attention in local motordom. "If you want to realize how keenly . "Gene" Evans, publicity man of the t the average man is Interested in every- Boss & Peake organization, who took. Thing new in tlie automobile world. Just a short trip In a new Hudson Super- Six speedster, the first models of which reached Portland last week. Due to the fact that this latest and fastest Hudson model is unusually smart and original in design and that take a little drive in a car with new lines and see the Instant notice it at tracts from everv driver of every other car and from the man o-the sidewalk as welL" This was the advice of little was known about It by the Boss A Peake people in advance of its ar rival, it is accorded much attention. Small wheels, long and flat springs and low body lines give It the appear ance of speed and power, as well as a closeness to the ground that gives it remarkable ability to hold any road at any speed. BLOOMING ORCHARDS AND PLOWED FIELDS ATTRACT MOTORISTS Trip Out Sandy Boulevard to Columbia River Highway Is. Calling Sightseers. : ROAD BOND BILL WILL NOT INCREASE TAXES UK MOTORIST WILL PAY THE SAME REGARDLESS Two Maxwell touring cars privately owned In Portland will be sent out on an economy run on vveanesaay, aiay 28, by C. L. Itoss, head of the Boss & Peake Automobile company. Each car, with one gallon can of gasoline tied on the wind shield, will be run over the streets of the city until the fuel In the car is exhausted. . At the same time cars will be oper ated in a similar fashion by 2000 Max well dealers in every state of the coun try and in the eight provinces of Can ada. Prizes amounting to $5000 will be given to the dealers running upthe highest mileage on one gallon. The winner, in addition to the cash prize, also will receive possession of the na tional Maxwell championship economy cup. Passengers to Be Carried. Owners' car are to be used entirely. the rules governing that each dealer entering agrees to arrange for the use of. two Maxwell five passenger tour- What economy attainments will be necessary to capture the prizes are un derstood throughout the entire Max well organization, for the dealers are familiar witlt the marks of 44 miles In Michigan, and 45.6 miles in California accomplished by Ray McNamara, while only recently a Maxwell In southern California captured a cup and hung up the record of! 46.5 miles on one gallon, the highest official mileage so far at tained with a Maxwell on one gallon of fuel, as far as the Maxwell offices in Detroit have record. Millions Paid in Registration Fees Some Idea of the magnitude of the legislative rake-offs from which the owner suffers may be gained from the fact that during the fiscal year just ended the State of New York took t2, 658,041. 75 registration fees from automobilists, of which enormous sum the City of -New York alone chipped in $975,422.25. i ft r r " -x .w; s 1 -NivfiLn i -v V V j jf Earl Griffith. Believing that the commercial car business, in Oregon has a great fu ture. Earl Griffith severed his con nections with the . Winton company, where he has been a member of their selling organization for the past two years, and Joined the Smith Form-a Truck sales force under the direction of F. M. Randall. Mr. Griffith is one of the younger members of the auto mobile industry and is very enthu siastic over his new venture. Chalmers Goes 603 ; Miles in 24 Hours II. L. Keats, Chalmers distributor. has received notice of another Chal mers triumph. Paul Gee. Chalmers distributor- at Grand Rapids, recently drove a Chalmers seven-passenger touring car 60S miles In and around Grand Rapids in 2 hours. The car was locked In against low and Inter mediate speeds, giving the driver ac cess only to high and reverse gears. Gee's run was remarkable. Thr newspapermen, American Adtomobil association representatives, checked all the details. An official stamp wai placed on the seal binding the gears and the gasoline tank was filled and sealed. The start was made from tli I Chalmers service station In Grand Rapids. No set course was followed, tho car plunging through heavy traf fic up the heavy grades of (lie i-iiy and through the heavy gohiK of the outskirts. Paul Carlton a i"l, aimers salesman, relieved Gee at the wheel, and during; the major part of the aft ernoon and evening four other persons were passengers. The conditions all the way were far from ideal. In crlss-crosstnr: the city locked m high gears, all sor;s f im pediments were met with. And the heavy going assisted materiuilv in holding down the average. Without the rain and muddy streets and roads tho mark of 603 miles would easilv have been bettered. The new turned meadows, the plowed fields and the orchards in bloom con- vev a messaee to me cny uwenei worth the drive Into the open. Out Sandy boulevard to Troutdale- over the Columbia river highway, past the many falls that have increased in In volume by swollen streams, to Bri dal Veil, a reverse road on the right wlnda its way up the mountain side from the pavement. comparatively few motorists have taken it to know where it winds. C. M. Menzies, sales manager of the Northwest Auto company, at the wheel of a big black Marmon, convoyed a oartv over tms route iasi duuuhj. Plunging up the stiff grade the Mar mon had no difficulty In climbing -it In high gear and continued up the canyon over a series of easy and pic turesque grades. It was impossible to drive beyond the lumber camp at Palmer, so the car was parked at this xioint and a party continued on up to tne snow line, which was only a short distance above. From Palmer, the rest of the climb up Larch mountain can be finished over an easy trail in a short time, and the snow will furnish an Interesting tryout for the amateur mountain climber and lover of high hills. One may spend- considerable time ' viewing the surrounding country from Just above the snowline. Policemanls Beat Covers 678 Miles Officer "Wallace A. Gerard, familiarly known as "The Force," has undoubt edly the longest "beat" of any uni formed policeman in the world. His district, which is in the San Fernando valley, . recently annexed to the city of Los Angeles, consists of 170 square miles, with 678 miles of road to cover. Seventy-eight miles of this road is paved, 250 miles oiled, and the rest is in rather poor condition, sandy, dusty and unsatisfactory. With his five passenger automobile, a Buick, however, he covers the ground effi ciently. ' When Officer Gerard first took up his work he located in the town of Van Nuys, which is in the center of the valley. He then secured a map of the sectloon and divided his "beat" into 11 districts. By use of the tele phone he keeps In touch with all of these small towns and if needed can be on hand in a short time. He is on the move constantly between the various districts and from each town telephones to other districts so that every hour or so he has had Informa tion from every corner of his "bear." The adoption of the $6,000,000 road bond bill to be voted on June 4 will not increase state road taxes. The taiiuvw will rnntlmiii to nav on Quarter of a mill annually. The rejection of the measure will not decrease the motor vehicle license fee which by law already enacted by the legislature is doubled next year. Thorfn irMcnaolvn nt thA ranilit nt tlhA a AT.tinn. the contribution of tho taxpayer and the motor vehicle owner to the state road fund will be unchanged ' and will be as follows: , One quarter mill state road tax or 25 cents for each $1000 assessed valua- "rotal estimated income from this source on present valuation $220,000 per annum. Cost to motor vehicle owners: . Motorcycles and motor bicycles '-JO Electric vehicles for Dleasure . - ?-yP Elecric service vehicle -y".' Automobiles up to 26 horsepower .n nn Automobiles up to 36 horsepower Automobiles up to 40 horsepower In nX Automobiles in excess of 40 horsepower Motor trucks over one and one half tons and under two tons x&.uo Motor trucks two tons and umctcr two and one half tons J8-0 Motor trucks two and one half tone and under three tons 21. OD Motor trucks three tons and under three and one half tons Si Motor trucks three and one half tons and under four tons 27 .00 Motor trucks four tons and not over five tons 30.00 No motor truck of over five tons capacity shall be operated except with consent of county court, which shall collect a Jee of not less than $S per mEstimated income annually from motor vehicle licenses on existing: basis, not allowing for future increase, $310,000. . Total revenue from millage tax and motor licenses per annum $530 000. - rr, Air miiM invnivwi in th ntxDOsed bond issue is whether this reve nue shall be used to pay the charges of the bond issue and a sum of money secured with which to insure tne eaxiy wmhuwubu i ""s or whether the revenue shall be applied directly to rood construction requiring a long number of years to accomplish a desired result. Britons Behind UrS. ' In Car Per Capita Great Britain has about 5 per cent as many motor cars as this country has. or 171.607. New York. Ohio. Pennsylvania, Illinois, California. Texas and Iowa each have more cars than has Great Britain. CHEVROLET Car Nun e THE WORSE FOR TRIP IN MOD FROM SOUTH Chief Difficulty Encountered in Crossing the Siskiyous, Says Mr. Marstrand, APPEAL TO BE MADE TO PRESIDENT TO AID T Autoist Keports on Roads to Mt. Angel Otto Schneider, state representative for Ballou & Wright, on a recent trip to Mt. Angel, reports the following conditions on the-- roads traversed: Portland to Salem, good; Salem to Sll verton, good; Silverton to Mt. Angel, had to go a roundabout way towards Scott's Mills about six miles and then back on the Mt. Angel and Scott's Mills road. This road was in very muddy condition. Vol camzmg Best Service in Portland. Tires, Vulcaniz ing Re-treading, etc. Formerly the vulcan izing and tire plant of the Western Hard ware & Auto Supply Co. Added stock enables us to meet the require ments of all auto owners. . G. M. Harrison Co. Re-treading and Silvertown Cord Work , Our Specialty. Phones Broadway 759, A-201 6 328 Pine Street, Near Burnude OAS MILITARY ROAD Nation's Executive Will Be Asked to Help Get High way as Military Necessity,- After camping and seeing southern California since March 15. Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Marstrand of Vancouver. B. C. left Los Angeles April 21 and urged their little Chevrolet on to Fortiana, arriving here last week. Hooked on behind was a trailer containing their camping paraphernalia and their entire outfit looked none the worse all be spattered with mud after a hard Dame to get over the muaay roaas. A exod deal of difficulty was en countered in climbing the Siskiyous in northern California and again in Pass Creek canyon in Oregon. "We met the meanest man in the world, said mfb. Marstrand, while going over the grade at Wolf creek. A motorcycle rider. Just ahead of us, had trouble with his machine and it broke down in me muu. The- road was rather narrow and. in utAjm of liftlntr his machine aside and letting us pass, he refused to budge until he eot ready to go The Vancouver couple are out to see America "first and intend to go to Yellowstone National park as soon as the roads nermit. A sudden call to Tacoma to settle an estate necessitated their coming up this way. Having come the entire distance from Los Angeles to Portland over almost every kind of road condition, in a Chev rolet under its own power, T. V. Grant, a Los Angeles man, passed through this city the other day en rout to New York. On his trip .up the coast very little difficulty was experienced In getting through. Going by way of the Colum bia highway and through Spokane, Grant intends to return to Los Angeles by the southern route after reaching New York. He has driven his lltths car more than 4600 miles without me chanical adjustment. Drive Starts for Small Truck Sales F. H. Downs of Ballon ft Wright Will Distribute Smith Torm-a-Trucx Xdns in Willamette Valley Towns. Having formed his organization to handle the distribution of the Smith Form-a-Truck line, F. H. Downes. man ager of the. truck department of Bal lou & Wright, started tne Dig anve on the small truck business of the state. E. G. Soward, Pacific coast manager of the Smith Motor Truck company and former sales manager of the Na3h Motors company, has been In Portland during the past week aiding in the perfecting of a live selling organiza tion. The Smith Form-a-Truck seems to fill a want especially in the Willam ette valley, according to the number of Inquiries received by Mr. Downes, It is to the commercial vehicle busi ness what the Ford car Is to the pleas ure car. Nearly 30 men were Interviewed dur ing the past two weeks by Mr. Downes and F. M. Randall, district supervisor and formerly sales manager of the Hartwell Motor Car company, and of those a crew of men has been se lected who will cover , Oregon under the direction of Mr. Randall. With this man as leader the men will set out with unlimited ammuni tion in the snaps of Smith Form-a- A direct appeal to President Wilson in behalf of the military road on the Pacific coast will bo made May 31. The Pacific Const Defense league is asking the commercial organisations, business men and state, county and city officials on the coast to send a telegram to the president on that date asking him to take action. This r.ppeal to the president has been suggested by members of c6n gress from the coast states who have taken a great interest in the roatl legislation. They say that congress I has placed the power and sufficient funds in- the hands of the president to carry out the project with other preparedness plp.ns. They say that if he does not desire to use the funds at his disposal for the road, his request to congress for action will secure an adequate appro priation at this session. Through the efforts of the league a bill has been placed before the houae of representatives calling for an ap propriation for the survey of a coast military road and Senator Jones, of Washington, has ' introduced a resolu tion in the senate calling for an ap propriation at this session. The initial move in the campaign is the appropriation for the survey of the proposed route by the army engineers. Government officials have pointed out that there can be no appropriation fort building a road until some route has been selected by the war department. This must bo done by appropriation or order from congress. A route must be accepted in order to base the estimates of cost from which to determine the appropriation necessary. Poor Roads Costly To Owners of Cars Indication of how the average mo torist of this state is in favor of the road bond issue is shown in the fol lowing which is part of a letter re ceived by George M. Chambers, secre tary of the Oregon State Motor asso ciation: "If anybody boosts for r good roads, I do. I certainly want the at and I hope they raise the license fees on all cars as high as they can. I own a little Buick 1916-6 cylinder and pay only $3 a year. From June 15, 1916, I wore out 10 34x4 casings, each costing 328. and if we had good roads about six casings would have answered. I have driven 10,155 miles since June, 1916, and I would he willing to pay $25 a year license if we had roads like California, because I would save more than that on my tire bill." 1 turning out at the rate of more than SOO a day. The factory is now dou bling its production to keep up with the demand and the latest announce ment Is the tractor, which is formed likewise with a Ford or other light car. According to advance information which has reached Portland, the trac tor attachment can be placed on a Ford In 15 minutes without boring a hole or changing the mechanical construction of the car in any way. Simplicity is said to be the predominant feature. It is claimed that the tractor can pull two 14-lnch plow bottoms in gangs at . rata or two and one-hair miles aa I iAtiv nr4th th nlow mitt seven Innhata I Tracks whicn the smith factory imap in tut virgin soa. v -TV mm See the 31 Features Most Other Cars Omit Mitchells differ from other cars in- a hundred ways, particularly in these respects: 31 unique features 24 per cent added luxury 100 per cent orer-trength. These extra attractions are due to John W. Bate, our famous efficiency expert. They are his addi tions, paid for by savings which' his factory meth- oda create. Come see how much these extras add to a car you buy to keep. Cost Us $4,000,000 Most cars omit these extras because of the added cost. The cost to us, on this year's output, is about $4,000,000. On Mitchells we save mis by factory efficiency. And we spend it on extra values. Take our power tire pump, for instance. Every body wants that. So with our reversible headlights. our dashboard engine primer, our ball-bearing steering gear. So with our never-broken cantilever springs. So with, our tonneau light, our locked compartment, our handles on the windshield for entering the car. So with our added luxury and our over-strength. Every extra in the Mitchell is something that you want. They Are Free If Mitchells were built in an ordinary factory, such cars at our prices would be impos sible. But John W. Bate built and equipped this plant to build this one type economically. He has spent millions of dollars on efficiency methods, to cut our factory cost in two, SIXES TWO SIZES Mltrhell- roomy 7-passenger Six, with 127-inch wheelbase and a highly -developed 48 -horse power, tootor. $1460 Four Passenger Roadster, $1495. Sedan, $2175. Cab riolet, $1895. Coupe, $1995. Also Town Car and Limousine Mitchell Junior t. 5-pa,!f"!Tf Six on similar lines, with 120-inch wheelbase and a 40-horsepowex motor -inctx smaller bore. $1195 All Prices f. o. b. Racine This year our new body plant adds another big 6aving. And that pays for our added luxury. It is this model plant, with its more than 2000 up-to-date machines, which gives you these extras free. Our Biggest Extra The extra features and the extra beauty are the most conspicuous attractions. But the greatest, in the long run, is our 100 per cent over-strength. In the past three years, John W. Bate has doubled our margins of safety. Every vital part now has twice the needed strength. Over 440 parts are built of toughened steel. All safety parts are oversize. We use a wealth of Chrome -Vanadium. Several Mitchells we know of have already run 200,000 miles each. In two years not one Bate canti lever spring has broken. Yet Mitchell owners say shock absorbers or other accessories are unneces sary to assist easy riding qualities. Those are some results of this over -strength. Now an $1195 Size And now we have two sixes Mitchell and Mitchell Junior. Both are Sizes, both are roomy and powerful. Even the smaller car has a 120-inch wheelbase. Vou have never seen such values in fine cars. You have never seen cars so equipped. You have never seen, in the Mitchell class, such finish, such beauty, such luxury. You have never seen, at Mitchell prices, such vast over-strength. Come and confirm these facts. Come now, because there is bound to be a short age. In spring, the Mitchells are always oversold. MITCHELL MOTORS COMPANY, Inc. Racine, Wisconsin, U. S. A. Mitchell, Lewis & Staver Co. Northwest Distributors, East Morrison and first, Portland, Oregon East 7272, B-1216
