Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, April 17, 1910, Page 10

THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: APRIL 17, 1210, INVESTING IN A MOTOR CARq‘ First Fix the Price Limit, Then Exer- cise Judgment. SOME FIGURES ON CAR VALUES | Why to Be Considered in Huying Machines Factory Factors New or Second-Ha —Value of t Name. | eost Nuturally, the fitst question In consid- ering the purchase of a car is the amount to be paid for it Doubtiess nine out of every ten intending buyers settfe that first. | In other ds, there fs usually a certain | sum aviilable that cannot be exceeded. The problem is them, of course, how to become the possessor of the greatest possi ble value for Himit thus determined With o many good cars now on the mar- ket, this should not be a difficult matt o deeide. It is merely & question of exer- clsing the same amount of discretion and | judgment that would be applied to the pur- | chuse of any other commodity involving an | equivalent sum. But buying a motor car | is not quite Iike buying anything else. Nexi to the amount to be invested is the question of whether to buy & high-priced machine that has seen service, 6r & new car, the lfst price of which comes within the purchaser’s’ means. This is probably the commonest of all questions concerning the acquirement of a first car, and there are doubtless few connected with the | dustry in any capacity that have not been approached at one (ime or another for an answer to It. Three or four years ago, an affirmative response would usually have been forthcoming in regard to the second- hand ear. The output of any one maker ut that time was & comparatively small frac- | tion of what many companies now build anuually. A gerat deal of expensive hand | work was considered necessary and there | wers numerous economies of manufacture | that were not possible with & limited prod- uct. Moreover, the orlginal price of a machine Includes the agent's commission, a matter of 15 to 2 per cent, and a well- ing cost to cover advertising and other ex- penses of a like nature that represents as much more, How Values Shrink. It Is only reasonable to assume that the depreciation of 50 per cent, or close to it, the that the car suffers after a year of service, || 18 really not much more than a wiping out of these two items which actually add nothing to the value of the machine. When bleycles were selling at $100, it was com. monly reputed that their factory cost rep- resented about 3 per cent, or a little less, of this figure. Three years ago, the writer was Informed upon excellent authofity that It cost $1,100 in round numbers to turn out A §2600 car complete from the factory. Taking this list price as basis, it will be apparent that the agent's commission at once took off $60. Confidence In the future of (he motor car was not ®o firmly estab- lished then as now, and advertising and other Incldentals of selling doubtless cut off at least $400 more, leaving a matter of $1,600 for the manutacturer—between 40 and % per cent gross profit, but then the turn- over was comparatively small and the over- head expense correspondingly greater. Had it not been for the liberal margin, many makers would not have survived the period of experimentation Of course, none of these factors of ex- perse enters into the cost of a second-hand car. Where a car is sold by its original purchaser, “selling expense” is not & very important factor. This 1s also the case Wwhere it is disposed of by the manufac- turer's branch house or agency, for, to a certain extent, the sale of a used car is regarded as a means of subsequently sell- {ng @ new machine to the same buyer. The msjority of good makers will hardle only used of their own manufacture, and such machines are usually sold on honor: they will seldom be found otherwise than as represented. To do this with & view to making and keeping customers naturally permits of but & small margin of profit as compared with a new car. It will seem fiom this that where a used car can be acquired at a price that may be supposed to approximately fairly its future service vaiue, it can hardly prove gtherwise than & good investment. A conservative esti mate would place the average life of a well bullt machine ./ at five years: good care would naturally double this; but it is safe to say that & car bought in good condition at the end of one or two years' driving, should be good for at least three years more. Expert Examinat But there Is an element in the purchase of & uned machine that seldom, if ever, re- celves sutficient consideration in: determin- ing its value, and that is how near to fallure many of its essential parts may be, The “complete overhauling it receives at the hands of the seller prior to Its change of ownership, and the examination by an expert retained by Its new possessor-to-be, £0 ne farther than to insure the fact that it 18 In proper working order at the time of the transaction. It may be assumed, as @ working basis, that every moving part of any mechanism, regardiess of how well mado It may be, ‘or the fitness of Its ma- terlal, s capable of performing fts func tions only a certain number of times. In| earlier days, some engineers could foretel almost to a certainty just how many thou- sands of miles one of thelr cars could travel before the crankshaft failed. Improve- | ments have chgnged all that, and it would now be extremely difficult in most cases to predict with any certalnty just how long a given part would endure. But there must be an approximately definite life to every | moving member, and the service it has al- | ready undergone has shortened It by just| that much. | There Is the further hazard that the car Mmay have been abused, or may have suf- fored aceldents that have brought its frame or ore of its axles 8o close to the break- | Ing point that no prospect of future sery- | can be predicated upon their furthor useful lte. Yot a consclentious examina- ton by an expert will fail to reveal such | defects, and the necessity fur replacing such parts in a short time megns just th much added to the price of the car, as| well as the 1oss of its use while being re- paired. The increase in the cost of main- whanes due to frequent failures of this nature may soon be sufficlent to offset any #av12g in the initial outlay, not to mention e antoyance caused. n cases where, after haviug considered | #l\ the pios and cons, the lntending pur-| chawer's leaning is still strongly toward a| used ear, there are certain rules by which | he should be guided. The ideal condition Is nuturally to be able to acquire a machine from elther & friend or an apquaintance | whose personal respansibllity and whose care (n (he handling of the machine are both known. Fajling this, the next best| thing s the branch house of the manufa turer. The concern Is neturally anxlous to 4o everything to enhauce the reputation of | ity product and, where the car does not | tn out to be exactly as represented. will make the default good, rather than have it | #oored against their make. Avold the pro- | fossional secondhand dealer you vrould & horse trader. Both have\but & single ob- | Ject In view—to turn over their present Mock al as great an advance as possible. There cau naturally be no binding guar- antee with such & sale and the car's ante- cedcnts are frequently doubtful, whefle they | 5 per cent or less what It | destinea | & heritage of are n direct the subject of misrepresentation for the secondhand car. Its con sideration, however, involves another ques tion that is frequently brought up by the Intending purchaser. How can a car that is representod as being to all intents and of costing twice as much, be built for such a figure? does one maker offer his product at such a low figure as compared with others? The conclusion frequently Is that neither the same class of material nor the work nship can porsibly enter Into the low priced car, and hence the leaning loward & used machine of much higher original The reason lies in the need of spread- ing the. heavy burden of overhead o penke Over ten or even twenty times as many cars annum; and an additional implied or even 80 much very purposes the equal one reason in the present greatly reduced cost | of the finest materials, owing to their ex tremely widespread use and to factofy economies hitherto impossible. The elim- ination of finish, where finish does not count, adds a still further saving. In short, | lower prices for material greatly improved methods of construction and quantity pro- duction make possible a factory cost of as a few years ago. Judging from present indications 1910 is to witness & tremendous expan- sion in the American automobile industry, and unless all signs fail much of it will be of an unwholesome nature. New “manu- facturers” are springing up all over the country, and when trey disappear, as many of them must, they will leave behind them “assembled” machines that the wise buyer will do well to avold. How- ever much or little is to be pald for a car, it will not be wisely Invested unless ap- plied to the purchase of a machine that is backed by an established maker. Given that fundemental as a starting point, much of the remainder can be left to the discre- tion of the purchaser himself, even though | he be not “automobile wise Hayward In Horper's Weekly. —Charles B. MOTOPR. BOATS AT LARCHMONT International ¢ Committee, NEW YORK, April 16.—At a meeting of the motor boat committes of the Auto- mobile Club of Ameriea, held at the cluh the other afternoon, it was decided to hold the international cup race this vear on waters adjacent to the Larchmont Yacht club, ROCKS ON WHICH MARRIAGE FALL (Continued trom First Page.) desertion for five years, sentence to impris- onment for at least four years and grave injuries or il treatment endangering the life are recognized grounds. In Ttaly, Spain, Portugal and Ireland only separation is permitted. Norweglan law recognizes divorce not only by process of law on the grounds of misconduct, bigamy, malicious desertion for three years, assault, and cruel treatment endangering life, absence for seven years, or for three vears If death can be pre- sumed, and imprisonment for life after the Innocent party has waited seven years. By royal decree divorco may be obtained on the grounds of insanity, imprisonment for three years, or if separated by mutual agreement be continued for six vears and reconciliation is impossible. The law recog- nizes separation, which, by royal decree. may be chamged Into divorce on certain grounds. Roumania grants divorce on the grounds of misconduct, abuse or ili-treatment, an attempt on the life of the consort, or the fallure to warn the other party of any attempt by a third party, and the mutual consent of the parties in the manner pres- scribed by law, Variation in Ru Russia adapts her divorce laws to the various classes of her subjgcts. lievers may.obtain divorce for misconduct bigamy, absence for five years without news, and the condemnation to the loss of elvil rights or banishment to Siberfa. Lutherans have more than a dozen grounds available to them, including misconduct, at- tempt to polson, five years' desertion, re- fusal to fullfil conjugal duties, madnes¥, depravity of life, eruelty and treatment, grave crimes involving sentence of death or and penal exlle. In the case of jews, the rabbl may grant divorce on & large num- ber of grounds based on Mosale law. In Scotland, divoree for misconduct or for four years' malic- fous desertion. Judiclal separation may also | » Race Set by the | old be- | offensive | punishment in substitution, | obtained for either statutory habitual drunkenn In Sweden, grounds for judicial divoree “u- misconduct, fllileft Intarcourse with third party after betrothal, maliclous desertion fo provided the absen- | tee has left the kingdom, absence without | than 8.000 men aiready have made applica news for aix cars, attack on life, lite [t0N 10 g0 on the hunt after the aitimate | imprisonment and insanity, where it 1s of |#outh.’' They include all sorts and condl- | 1 | tlons of men—doctors, engineers, civil serv | ants, clerks, army officers, soldiers, sea- | an’ expenditure of and will give employment | number of skilled workmen Volunteer Explorers. Captain t will have no trouble in re croiting his party for the South pole. More proximately §200,000,000, | tor to an immens one year | three yoa duration and Is prenounced | incurable. Divoree by royal prerogative | may be based on condemnation to death or | Men. raliway porters and men of private to civil death, condemnation for a gross | Means. “The man for the work,<" sald an | oftenss, for one involving temporary | Official of the expedition, “is the man who loss of oivil rights, Imprisonment for at |I8 Absolutely physically fit in all points least two years, “prodigality, drunkenness, | Soundness is indispensable as a safeguard | or violent isposition,” and “irreconciiable | ARAINst iiiness and a defense against cold. jon and hate,” lasting after one year's 5d teeth &re necessary, With ation and hearing. that have no faults the applications are from men way unsuited for purpose.” or In Bwitzerland the grounds of divorce in every Include cruelty, base conduct, malielous | DEFEND THE AIR years pronounced incurable, and patibllity of temper rendering married life | (Continued from Page One.) our unbearable. Separation is permitted, but 043 cf the partics can demand a divorco | It 1eccrelliation does not take place. After thice ysars this dael for divarce may be put forward right. In regard to deccrt’on, an action cannot be brought until after six months from the decres calling » absentee to return Where the iaws of the Britith ¢ differ from those of England, it is chiefly by the Inclusive of such delinguen: as desertion, eruelty, Labi 1 drunkenness, attained by the excavators of the Ber Archaeological soclety on the site of Per gamon, in Asia Minor, the seat of Attalid dynasty in the third and second centuries B. C The work described the late autumn of 1000 terrace of the city hill, which, as isolated descriptions prove, was known as the imprisonment for @ period of years and | “Demeter Terrace” were discovered the lunacy. ,rpmmn of a great sanctuary and teniple 0 of that goddess. SABRES TO FLASH |,mine s hat win oy saciser O'ERWARNOMORE | dess, were altars of Aesklepol:, Hermes, (Continued from Page One.) 15 ® on wae carrlfed out in Upon an artificlal | Hellos, Zeus, Ktesios, Penthelos and others. | Of special interest is an Imperfectly pre- | served insoription on & marble altar, whieh | according to Dr. Hepding’s deciphering, was - | dedicated to “the unknown god.” If this interpretation is right, it is the first confirmation ever found for the fam- ous passage In the Areopagus speech of St Paul For as 1 passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this in- o | seription, ‘To the Unknown God.' " Rends Like Old Romance Telegrams from Breslau tell the story of an armed attack on a frontier castle which is strongly reminiscent of the old days of free-booting and privateer ralds A band of twenty robbers suddenly swept |down on the castle of Gomanirwiza the Russian frontier, overpowered and | killed the watchers, fought their way into the keep and after murdering the sister |ana cousin of the absent lord of the do- | main ransacked the castle from top to | bottom and rode off again with their booty into the night | Owen Phillips, the liberal member for Per broke, is one of three brothers—Lord St. | | Davids is among the number—whose ave | age helght is six feet four and three-quar- | | ter inches, In warship construction, manufacture of guns and gun-mountings | |and machinery, this country's resources | are still unfivalled. In the present year the | following twenty-one ships of the dread- nought type will be under construction for the British or other navies, in contrast with nine which will be buflding in Ger- many: British Colonial Brasilian Turkish Total . 4 In addition, British firms are interested | in & good deal of other work, inciuding the reconstruction of the Spanish fleet, for which three battleships will be built, apart from various vessels needed for the col- onial fleet—units and small craft building for Brasil and other countries. These twenty-one dreadnoughts represent An Auto Collision means many bad bruises, which Bucklen's Arnlca Salve héals quickly, as it does sores and burne. %e. For sale by Beaton Drug Co. eyenight | Most of | the | INTERNATIONAL ROAD mca[ Announcement of Condition- by Pres- | ident Vanderbilt. | OCTOBER 15 IS DATE SELECT! D ed 278 Miles on 7,000 | Drivers. NEW YORK, April 16—~Willam K. Van- derbilt, jr., president of the Motor* Cups | Holding company, has announced the con- | | ditions for the international road race for | | the grand prize of the Automobile Club of | America, to be decided over the Long Is- land motor parkway October 15. The dis- tance of the race will be approximately 278.08 miles, covering the course of U“’ miles (wenty-two times. As the Interna- | tioral Assoclation of Recognized Automo- blle clubs has no formula for international | racing in force this year, no restrictions as to weight, vylinders and dimensions will be made, the only conditions being that all cars must conform to the ruling of the | technical committee of the Automobile L‘|\lh{‘ | of America as to safety requirements | In addition to the 15,000 gold challe there will be three cash priges for the drivers amounting to §7,000, divided into first, second and third of sums of $.000, $2,000 and $1.000, respectively. The Motor | Cups Holding company reserves the right 10 declare the race off If fifteen eniries have not been made by August 1. American and forelgn cars are eligible to compete in the race, although not more than three cars of any one make may be entered. Forelgii entries must be made through the recognized automobile club in the country in which the car is manu- factured, which club is the representative of the Automobile Club of America. The forelgn countries eligible are Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Hol- land, Mexico, New Zealand, Porto Rico, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Spain, 8weden and Switzerland. The conditions of |the race follow: cup Stiff Entrance Fees. The amount of the entrance fees is as follows: $1.000 for one car, §1,600 for twe cars of the same make, $1,750 for three cars of the same make Entries close August 1, 1910, A deposit of $300 per car must accompany each entry at the time the entry blank I8 filed, or before the date of closing of en- tries, August 1, 1910. It the balance of sald tee is not paid on or before October 1, 1910, the deposit will be forfeited. After August 1, and up to September 1, 1010, entries will be received at an increase over the regular entry fee of per car. If the number of cars entered s too great, taking Into account the length of the OO ABLE 23,000 OFFICES IN AMERICA. _ CABLE 8E! A R ROBERT O. CLOWRY, RIOI:IVtD at 212 South 13th Stragt, Omaha, Neb. 63 CH YT K 40 Paid. Indianapolis, Ind. April 10th 1910. Mid-West Auto Co., Omaha, Nebr. Cole Thirty won first in fifty mile clas Angeles Saturday, making new world’'s reco minutes 20 seconds, 26 miles in 22 minutes © seconds, seconds. | | | | See Us at Our New Lecation—216 Se. 19th, 2 We Can Make Immediate is granted either | mwmumnmum COMPANY. "lcl'I‘OAI-l.'flllm e A g —odu-fi- ‘ander the wanditions namad above. " President and General Manager, ten miles in 8 minutes 62 seconds, fifty miles 43 minutes 49 Henderson Motor Sales Co. o s race at Los rd in five miles 4 1114 am Deors from Farnam Deliveries Distributor Ohalmers-Detroit Arrow Plerce ‘Thomss “r.l"u Fritonle Hisotric Commercial Truoks E. H. E. FREDRICKSON AUTOMOBILE CoO. (incomronaree’ CavrvaL STOCK 100,000 FULLY PAlD 2044-46-48 FARNAM STRERT OMAHA, NEB. April 13, Palmer & Son, City. Gentlemen: We received your check for ance on the automobiles damaged in our fire .of ten days ago. and we You were the first Company to pay the insurance, wish to thank you kindly for same. Yours truly, H. B, FREDRICKSON AUTOMOBILE CO. Pre 1810. the rae Bvery atmospherie The committes in charge of the serves to itaelf the righ or entries and the conditions | its Judgment course, the committee shall declde, it need to allow the car to be, to proceed to eliminations. In this event the date and special arrangements cerhing these eliminations will be quently fixed by the committee | shall be allowed to take part in the in the preliminary pra the course, which has not been examined by the technical committee of the Auto- mobile Club of America &s to Its construc- | Bach CAg/MUSt carry two persons seated ton and which has not received a certifi- | aide by side of & minimum average weight cate from sald committes (hat, in fts opin- |of 184 pounds (sixty kilog each agent of oxidation alr 1s forbladen other ent nges n con- | subse No car » reject such ¢ the to are noce race or e on ma ch race as in BEST BUILE CARIN AMERICA STODDARD-DAYTON Limeusines, Landaulets £ Town Cars $1,200 to $3,000 Immediate Delivery Matheson Vlechanically and Structurally Superior To All Others, sight Weight—8wift—Comfortable—Reliable—Inexpensive to Operate and Maintain. The Most Experienced and Exacting Motor Car Enthusiast Can Purchase a Matheson-8ix with the Confidence of Enjoying Absolute Satisfaction Six-Cylinder The One Best Six-Cylinder Car That Has Ever Been Produced. WE HAVE ALL OF THESE CARS FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY 837360 for insur- J. J. Deright Co. 1818 Farnam St We can make immediate deliveries Inter-State, $1,750 |\ °" °ur lines. Hupmobile, - $750 De Tumble, - $650 Regal, $1,050 Anhut “Six” $1,750 W. L. HUFFMAN AUTOMOBILE CO. 2025 Farnam Street Distributers for the State of Nebraska and Western Iowa. We have the cars in stock here in Omaha,