Evening Star Newspaper, March 4, 1928, Page 65

4 * GROWTH S NOTE INMOTOR SALES B. H. Cram Sees Slow but Steady Improvement Despite Unfavorable Factors. Motor vehicle sales ‘are showing a | slow but steady improvement. ‘While this is normal, it is considered a very good sign this year in face of several unfavorable factors that have crept into the picture, according to B. H. Cram, president of Cram’'s Auto- motive Reports, Inc. Were it not for the uncertainty that has been created by the early price- cutting action of several of the leading manufacturers, the holding-back atti- tude which still continues as a result of the failure of Ford to get into the mar- | ket and the willingness of deglers to rll&l up new car sales rather than take in used cars that could not be pur- chased at the right price. it is quite certain that the sales mark for the first 60 days would have been exceptionally good. New Models Introduced. While sales figures are. of course, not et available and production figures. ollowing the introduction of many new | lines and models, are not a true ba- rometer of sales. they nevertheless offer the best comparative picture for this time of the year, With only & this month, it is tion for the first two months of 1928 will show a motor-vehicle output in this sountry of approximately 525,000 units. ‘This compares with 542.000 units for the same period of last year. Omitting Ford figures for the first two months of 1927 and 1928, this would show a gain for the rest of the industry this year of approximately 117.000 units, Ford production in January and Fobruary of 1927 was around 154.000. while in the first two months of this gear this company has turned out about 20.000 compieted cars. Accordingly, the industry production remaining days in imated that produc- | A. A. A. Estimates Motor Transport At 29 Billions in- has sum_ of to 824.- Motor transport investment, cluding hard-surfaced roads, now reached the staggerin | $29,000,000,000, as compare | 000,000,000 invested in railway de- velopment, according to the Ameri- can Automobile Association. The investment in motor transport has been made in the past 25 years, says the American Automobile Asso- clation, while the railroad invest- ment extends over a period of a century. The national motoring body points out that the investment in motor transport includes $3,000.000.000 ex- rended for trucks and $8,000,000,000 nvested in hard-surfaced roads. The railroad investment is divided be- tween $7.000.000.000 for locomotices and cars and $17.000.000,000 for per- manent way structures. 'BAUGHMAN STRESSES WEATHER HAZARDS | | Official Warns Motorists and Pe- | destrians to Be Careful on Rainy Days. BALTIMORE. March 3 (Spcrin:).—vj | Traffic observations show, says Motor Vehicle Commissioner E. Austin Baugh- man, that operators of motor vehicles fail to take into consideraiion the haz- | ards imposed by weather conditions. | In general, he says, operators are prone to proceed at too great rates of speed to be able to stop within the distance they can actually see along the high-| way. Pedestrians are apt to fail to; | make allowance for their restricted vision, from behind umbrellas or high turned-up coat collars, thus entering | { the_highways more or less blindly. ! “Even when a vehicle is cquipped | | with a windshield wiper,” savs the com- | missioner, “operators should realize that their field of vision is limited to a com- | paratively small area. In addition to the dangerous restriction of vision, every (Ford excluded) is approximately 30 | : ) j operator must also realize that the per cent ahead of a year ago This|pavement is slippery and brakes are THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C. GAS N. OIL. 8uT IT IS 945 AND IM GOING TO STAND ON MY THIS €AR (S GOING TO PARK RIGHT™ HERE- 3 clocks SAY 95 - YOURE SLow, BROTHER.! Boron Tluep. —-- + G-AH. does not hold true in connection with | p. ll;: gain this ]\eu; IE‘u b;m :rmxz&n ! the road surface. i | about as a resuit of the extraordinarily | upyary . 2 | large number of new lines and models | oo & oPGAter Should be prepared to SDEnEe B e G U weather conditions. Rain, snow or fog | R requires greater caution and alertness | Sales Record Improved. |because the vision is limited, effective- | There seems to be every reason to hess of brakes retarded, and vehicl believe, however. that th> sales records | harder to control owing to slippery| are ahead of the same period last vear. | conditions. i next 80-day period should prove | “The glass parts of vehicles become the real indicator of sales possibilities (coated with snow or water, which ob- | for 1828. as the months of March, | scures the vision of the operator. Rain April and May ordinarily take some-|drops refract the light rays and pre- thine like 35 per cent of the year's to- vent clear vision. Snow or ice may ac- | ta! sales. Appreciative of this fact. the industry is at this time making ready for its real drive. Manufacturers who have intro- duced new vehicles end have been ex- periencing production difficulties in t early weeks are now cleaning up t! loose ends and expect to get into inte sive manufacture next month. Crude Rubber Importations. A total of 956991508 pounds of crude rubber was imported into the Tnited States during 1927. and of this amount 84.7 per cent wes used by American motorists. Their tirc bill aggregated $342.532.009. and was a~proximately $166,000.000 less than cumulate and form an impenetrable | | blanket. The arca surrounding any ob- | | ject is filled with particles which seri- | | ously limit one's vision. The highway | on a rainy night becomes an area of | blackness full of glistening light streaks | and deceptive shadows where danger to | ‘me and limb may lurk unseen unless | one is constantly on the alert. { | "It should be clearly evident to any | thoughtful person that weather condt- | tions are not the cause of highway ac- |cidents, but rather, that such accidents | cceur because and through the careless- | ness of the users of the highways not | displaying the caution demanded and | necessary by such conditions.” MARCH_ 4, 1928—PART 4. CLOAKS SAY- (™M P GolNG BY MINE' NOW SNAP \NTO (T RBEFORE | TRARRE You TO THE MOTORIST WHO SETS HIS WATCH &Y RADIO TRYING TO PROVE TO AN OBDURATE COP THAT HE |'S OUT=CLOCKED UNANIMOUSLY- MANY AUTO ACCIDENTS | it 582 fere S “an AT STREET CROSSINGS rivers were exoncraiea.” > " Baltimore Safety Council Reports‘ - 20 Per Cent of Mishaps Occur I Now ls the Time at Intersections. f | to Get Your Car || BALTIMORE., March 3 (8pecial).— ! Refinished cwenty per cent of the 14484 traffic | accidents in Baltimore last year occur- | red at street intersections, according to | a Ircporv. of the Baltimore Safety Coun- | cil. | The council pointed out many drivers | violate intersection regulations and do not have their cars under control at | crossings. At least 4,740 drivers failed to_give right of way. There were personal injuries in 4,746 accidents, with 169 killed. Of those | killed, 137 were pedestrians. [ Of the accidents to pedestrians, 550 resulted al intersections, 449 between | intersections, 288 from stepping in front of veaicles, and 105 to persons crossing streets against signals. | In 119 accidents the persons injured | had been drinking. Vehicles involved included 16,960 pri- ing colors, Central Auto Works 449-51 Eye Street N.W. Washington, D. C. The best in metal body and fender work, and also match- | { some job on their hand | the annual report of the city engineer- Lamp-Post Crashes Cost New York City $17,769 Each Year| Replacement of lamp-posts hit and demolished by careless or exuberant automobile drivers in New York City costs $17.769 annually. In Manhattan 345 Jamp-posts were ruined or damaged year and in Central Park alone 1 posts were damaged or demolished during the same period by bad driving. - . |LOS ANGELES STREETS SET RECORD FOR NATION 6,100 Thoroughfares, Covering 4,- 448 Miles. Are Most Ex- tensive in U. 8. Visiting motorists who expect to “drive all over Los Angeles” will hav according to published. This 6,100 streets ex- tending 4.448 miles are more extensive in the United States ork ing department from Los Angeles to New York and back to Chicago. The latest improved type of streets includes 2428 miles, or more than the distance between Chi- cago and the Paci During the pas y ex- pended more than $10,000,000 in street work and added 269 miles to its thor- | oughfares. With that vast network of streets to confuse the tourist. the Automobile Club of Southern Caiifornia has pledged itself to relicve the visiting motorist's embarrassment by giving free maps and touring information to all out-of-State motorists. Keep Up With Style Insist_on Balcrank Bumpers (The Round Bar) Beautiful Strong Guaranteed Forever Against Breakage 7 |POST OFFICE ROUTE SHORTENED BY PLANE | 1,014 Miles Cut From Distance Be- tween National Park Stations. | What air travel may do In shorten- {Ing distances between given points is | lllustrated in Grand Canyon National | Park, where the touring bureau of the Automobile Club of Southern Cali- fornia directs many motoriss annually. The establishment in February of a new post office under the name of Kaibab Forest, Ariz., gives the canyon two post offices. By airline these are { less than 11 miles apart and both are in the same national playground. How- | ever. to go from one post office to th> other, a letter must traverse a dis- tance of approximately 1.025 miles. | The mail communication from the Grand Canyon National Park post of- fice goes westward to Barstow, Calif, thence through Nevada to Cedar City, Utah, from which point it reaches it | destination back in Arizona some 170 miles by auto stage. This roundabo: | travel through four States is ma | necessary by the fact that the pos offices are separated by the world's | greatest chasm, the Grand Canyon of | Arizona { The new post office is on the north | rim of the canvon at Bright Angel | Point. It was made necessary by the | constantly increasing number of vis- | itors to ‘the North Rim, which only rr'r;'mly was made accessible to mo- torists. 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