TRAILER CARAVANS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 102, 1 May 1937, Page 28

TRAILER CARAVANS

NOMADS IN AMERICA

LOCAL AUTHORITY, PROBLEM

It is estimated that '.4,000,000 persons are now residing in ..automobile, trailers in the United States,' avoiding .rent and taxes. . There, were-736,000 registered trailers a year.ago. At the.present rate .of-progress,, the new. fad will ; become, a .serious problem for the local authorities in whose areas these people.make their temporary- homes.,

. Formerly .known as "tiri 'can. tourists," owners of, trailers now /include captains ■of industry, rnillidnaires, and the leisured.- class, who declare that they .find in "them, more comfort .than in: trains. The; comforts and equipment of some of the newest ''travel coaches" as the manufacturers callvtherri are. surprising. They include: electricity, , hot and'cold'baths', and refrigeration, three hundred factories \are "snowed1 under" with orders. .... .'■ ■ ' ■'

A new magazine, "Trailer,; Travel," describes some of/the. .latest models. The Maharajah Scindia of Gwaliorha's just,taken delivery of one which ac-

corinmodates fifteen.travellers.:•., Ah/African' ' expedition,■"• from .■■ .the, American Museum of. Natural''History; travels Jn a. trailer -that'-,.becomes-;a r -h6us.eboat, .with watertight,; compartments.;,"'"When riverssare ,met,; it is rowed .'•or I poled across; the: car\-is;;-ferried'-■•on:/a'.Vraft. The .trailer.' .carries:. aifully-equipped ■kitchen, : electric • fans, : , ajl-wave't fadio transmitting'- arid;'receiving^ ..'set,; 'and has a.verandah;.,ten, feet wide,-running its entire .--length';' v ' v'"' v ■'''•',';':

The principals ;ofi'th.e:-:Ballet= .jEUsse travel-by, trailer; 'Trailer, dentists.-park at rural ..'cross.-roaiis.; The touring doctor's .'equipment, includes -an operating theatre.-' "■.■Tra'iler''"schb6ls -traverse. entire districts. Clergymen; hold services in trailers,' to. which a •tent-like shelter is' attached.' Trailer' pilst" and -telegraph offices attend race meetings and agricultural shows,-. Fishing .and sailing boats' are-carried across: country-v on trailers. : Barn-storming-.-theatrical companiesl travel-:iri.them. ' .\':;'» ;'";■

University students-sleep in trailer dormitories on-..the' campus. "-'Some trailer camps elect a mayor.,'.anditcbuncil each-year.- : -;'. ,■'•'-, *" ' '.''.■':;■■•',■

: The largest of existing trailer.camps is in New York, where the authorities intend providing a. "trailer .city", for, the World's Fair. ' .. •■; :.l

, The Courts, appealed : -.toi'-by.. angry home-owners, whose property lvalue depreciates when trailers camp nearby* have decided, in the first case, 'that a trailer is a 1 home, and must conform to building regulations, prescribing ,'a minimum of 500 cubic feet of space for each person. - . ..' '■-■■'.. ■ . . ;