Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, October 1, 1916, Page 45

PART SIX . AUTOMOBILES VOL. XLVI—NO. 16. THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 1, Hail the Automobile! Wonder-Worker of the New Marvellous Growth of Figures that lllustrate Part the Mas=Sie Plays in Business and Pleasure of World W orld Era Comes to Man’s Assistance 1916. SINGLE ‘PART SIX AUTOMOBILES COPY FIVE CENTS. Greatest of Great s S Ngbraska Ranks Among First in Use of the Automobile, Omahais One of AR ; Industry Told ip. much money they made during the last few months, the automobile mar- ket will be flooded with Nebraska orders and the railroad lines will be choked with machines enroute to Ne- braska homes,” Everybody's singing the same song. Great Centers Or Indflstry, Dealers Even the cartoonist no longer dares Here Handling Thousands of Cars of All Makes and Prices Annually LL HAIL to the most in- dependent man Jn the Western Hemisphere—the Nebraska auto dealer. He can afford independence. There are more than 3,000,000 autos now in use throughout the country, and Nebraska, a mecca for cash, has done more than its part to help swell that total. This state had one auto to every twenty-one persons on'Jan- uary 1, 1916. By June 30 of the cur- rent year the per capita auto wealth was 16 to 1. Even this famous ratio has been reduced, auto dealers say, by the tremendous volume of business done in July, August and September. Henry Ford, the man who made walking famous (according to Al Jol- son) is in grave danger of making more money in 1916 than he banked in 1915, when his pecunious earnings were only about $60,000,000. Now, thankg to his new Omaha offices at Sixteenth and Cuming, his profits are going to swell like a poisoned pup, or'a whole kennel of 'em. The Ford men here have charge of this state and ten Iowa counties, and are al- ready talking in superiatives. Dealers in high-priced cars, in low- Pops priced’ cars, in middle-priced Cars, all affirm that'a Nebraskan is rolling in weaith gaud doesn't hide the fact from fiis neighbor or the auto agent. And this plutocracy centers in Omaha, the thirty-third city in population, the six- teenth in bank clearings and the “big- gest city of its size in the nation.” The state at large may have al6tol per capita auto wealth, but Omaha has a 14 to 1 average, and bids fair to lower even this enviable record. Nature Good to Nebraska. The reason is not far to seek. Na- Aure has been good to Nebraska this year, and all its goodness just radiates into Omaha, a natural jobbing center by reason of geography and the busi- ness “pep” of its citizens. The wheat crop of the state was never better. On top of this pleasant fact is that the demand for wheat has been un- usually brisk, thanks to the needs of the warring nations, the needs of the American housewife and London’s lowering of shipping rates on that commodity, The cattle market has been steadily high for the same reasons. The corn crop of the state was matured before frost got a wal- lop at it. In short, the world wanted something to eat, the Nebraskan heard it howling, satisfied it and pocketed the proceeds. That's why the unwary pedestrian is more liable to get hit by an auto in this state than in forty-six other states. Iowa and California are the only two states in the United States which have more autos per capita than this corn-husk- ing home of prosperity., The Hawk- eye state, which buys many of its ma- chines here, leads the nation, with thirteen persons for each motor ve- hicle. California has one car for every fifteen of its population. Nebraska Holds Own. Including both passenger cars and trucks, there were 508,667 more autos in use July 1 than there were January 1. These figures are for the entire country, Nebraska shows for the same period an increase of 21,819 mo- tor vehicles, or 37 per cent. Of the six states which show increases, not one equals this state's percentage of increase. New York, which leads in numbers, shows a growth of 22 per cent. Pennsylvania, second, shows 25; Mignesota, third, shows 32; Iowa, fourth, has a gain of 21 per cent; Ohio, fifth, shows 15 per cent, and California, sixth, gained 14 per cent. Even when compared with the Em- pire state Nebraska has a better rec- ord for general prosperity. New York has as many as thirty-nine in- habitants to ¢very car and takes the twenty-eighth place in that respect. New York has 259,105 cars and Ne- braska has 90,000, duplicate registra~ tions not included. While New York is first in the number of registrations, Nebraska is thirteenth. These fig- ures are for autos registered up to June 30 and auto men in Omaha be- lieve that they are way behind the present figures in Nebraska. There is some basis for the belief that this state has already passed into the 100,- 000 class. Heretofore, the only states in that enviable division were New York, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, California, Iowa, Michigan, Minneso- ta, Indiana, Massachusetts and Texas. Of these eleven, the last four have graduated into the class since Janu- ary 1. The first three have more than 200,000 cars apiece and reflect the prosperity due to large #far orders. Money Always Here. But here in Nebraska the prevalence of ready money is founded on a more abidirg basis. It is founded in ag- riculture and stock raising, basic ele- ments of national life. Of course, the European war has stimulated to a certain extent the markets for this state’s products, but the resultant prosperity is divided among more peo- ple and is much more general than in New York, Pennsylvania and Illi- nois, where the profits from ammuni- tion making, reorganization of capi- tal and securities in foreign countries go into the pockets of a favored few. “The only reason that business is not better,” said an auto agent in Omaha, “is that the farmers of the state are not yet through counting to depict, the Nebraska or any other farmer glging to market in a one-horse shay, Today Mr. Rural Citizen is more truthfully pictured speeding along a well-built highway in a styl- ish model of a well-known car. This state has done more than its share in robbing the caricaturist of his horse-driving rustic with field-mice in his whiskers. Seven New Dealers. Omaha gets the pick of the current their profits. \’\(hen they realize how i.:e\? realization of this fact that seven *h of the auto buyer. So acute is auto dealers have set up in busi- fiess since the first of the year with the avowed object of sharing in the spoils. Omaha has now forty-one auto agents and the representatives of well-known cars can’t even come near to meeting the demand. They keep hot the telegraph wires to their home offices, pleading for more ma- chines, but no matter how fast and frequent the shipments, there remains a shortage. Things have come to such a pass that only a few agents de- mand a deposit on an order. If the prospective purchaser changes his mind between the time of filing the order and the time of the car's arriv- al the machine finds a ready buyer al- ways. ’the Nebraska Suick Auto company, Lee Huff, manager, is waxing fat and prosperous. The retail business in Omaha alone from New Year's day until September 25 is $50,000 greater than all of 1915 retail business. And last year, $150,000 worth of Buick cars was sold in this city. The whole- sale business in Nebraska, western Towa and all of South Dakota amounts to about $5,000,000, which is more than a milllon ahead of what last year netted for this company. And the agents say they are afraid to solicit because they can’t promise a definite delivery date. The wholesale business of the company represents the sales made in Lincoln, Sioux City, Omaha, Des Moines and contiguous territory. The W. L. Huffman Auto company tells a similar story, They sold $1,378,550 worth of cars since the first of the year in Nebraska, south- ern South Dakota and three western tiers of counties in Iowa. This is approximately double the business done during the corresponding period of 1915, And the shortage of cars is e \/1 the only thing that prevents the in- crease of business. “There is no talk of wait until spring,” said the manager, “The peo- ple have so much cash on hand that they figure it is just as well to buy a car now and use it during the winter as to get a few dollars interest on their money in a bank and do with- out an auto during the cold months. The auto business %cre has become an all-year round business, with no periodic floods of orders in spring or summer. I believe that every Omaha representative of well-known cars is experiencing the best fall business he has ever had.” The J. T. Stewart Auto company reports that its business has increass ed 100 per cent. It sells Nebraska and sixteen counties of lowa. Another index of prosperity is the boom in the game of selliné automo= bile accessories. Clarke G. Powell says his business from January to September shows an increase of 52 per cent over last year’s receipts for a like period, Other accessory men join in a similar refrain, And all are making plans for a bi ger business next year. Nebraska is rich pow, they say, but is even richer in promise. an you beat it?