GRAPHIC NOTINGS

Otago Witness, Issue 3828, 26 July 1927, Page 5

GRAPHIC NOTINGS

By

LENS.

(Specially Written for the Otago Witness.)

Regularly year by year those American papers which delight in being exact publish the motor registrations, and always to show that America leads, and that the rest of the world is a sad laggard on the road of progress. This is how they gave them for January 1, 1927 :—

Attention is confined to that 22,059,910 because, while the authorities may have given out the figures correctly, they have been used in a way to create a false impression, and the motor registrations in the United States are invariably used in that way. The writer notes a cartoon in a San Francisco paper—Uncle Sam driving a motor car with the motor registration fully set out in front, and John Bull, Francois, and others painfully toiling uphill in the far rear; and further notes in another, though by accident, how the second-hand dealer follows suit: “ Don’t turn your nose up at a used car. Remember that there are over 22,000,000 of them on the road now.” Among the more precious historic documents is “ A Memorial to the King,” the same being his Majesty of France before the Revolution. A line reads: “ We hold, sire, that it is dangerous to indulge in an easy submission of mind.” Prete. ding to himself to believe that all those 22,059,910 were motor cars, writer, having made a square and ruled it up, putting in United States of America, and then, because he likes them, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, and adding “ Rest ” to complete, took a sheet of paper, and dividing it into four, drew a motor car in each; and then, having got down the census, and indulged in the rough-and-ready plan of dividing it evenly for adults and juveniles, he put in as many persons as would go to a motor car per selected eounti ies—if the figures were right. Then, again, to show how it would be, even if they were right, he turned up the areas, and using the square mile, satisfied himself that, even so,Jif Great Britain were taken for the basis, the United States of America would come second, and New Zealand and Australia third and fourth respectively. Who was it said that comparisons are only odious? The one value the drawings have is to show that figures can be made to indicate, not prove, anything. When it comes to anything on wheels population is not more important than

area, and sometimes not nearly so important. Area includes the nature of it, hills and dales, and so the topography, and then there is such a thing as other facilities, etc. Exception is taken to the way so many American papers give the motor registrations because, in as far as the motor indicates progress, it suggests that Uncle Sam is in the thirtieth century by 11ticipation, and the world outside of him in the fifteenth by sliding back. Nothing is gained by exaggeration. The position of the United States in motordoin is quite wonderful enough—there is no need to stretch it. In 1914, the year in which the Great War broke out, the American , motor registration was 1,768,903, and from that to 22,059,910 is indeed a step. But the motor registration is not confined to motor cars, nor are the latter all in full use at the same time. If California’s system is the general one in the United States then that 22,059,910 represents the registered motor vehicles, and a vehi e over there is definable as a motor car, a motor bus, a trolley, truck or van, a cycle, “ bi ” or “ tri,” and a trailer at least, and, seeing how far the motor goes, it may, in cases, include the motor scavenger, motor lawn mower (large swards), and motor hoist and digger (mobile sorts). That the motor vehicle, all kinds, may go one to every five of population in the United States, man, woman, and child, is possible, even though only just possible, but it is ridiculous to suggest that everything on a rubber wheel is a motor ear. In all probability the real number of motor cars in the United States is something in the vicinity of 15,000,000, and even at that it is excessive, as witness the fact that it is an eternal problem how, in the great cities, to find road room for them, and a more than anxious one, in addition how to guarantee the pedestrian a reasonable chance when he leaves home of getting back again. That there are pedestrians still is shown by the number the motor vehicles manage to run over —something in excess of 100,000 a year, over 20,000 of them being killed. The motor car and motor vehicle generally in America provide a romance in the way of industrial expansion, more worthy to pass as a tale from the “ Arabian Nights” than anything else; but a point has been reached when there is anxiety even with this, for although the manufacturers say that “ saturation ” is as far off as ever, they know better. We had proof of this in the yearly changes of the pattern, for, if not designed to make owners “ disgruntled ” with what they had already, the policy was without meaning. If there is less of it to-day a good deal may be due to the relief afforded by the very small motor car, the well-to-do being encouraged to

buy an extra. This, of course, would only be history repeating itself. In the day of the carriage (horse drawn) the argument for those having a landau was, “ Get a sociable, too,” and for those having a sociable, “ Why not a dogcart ? ” How well it has been urged in the United States is shown by the fact that over 2,700,000 families have two or more motor cars,’some three or more, and some even four or more. The acme is reached when the Gotroxes have a family motor car, Mr Gotrox a motor car, Mrs Gotrox a motor car, Miss Gotrox a mot< r car, the servants a motor car, with a sixth of some sort in reserve. But. the best proof of all that Detroit senses “ saturation ” at home is shown in the way the manufacturers arc seeking business abroad. Nor are they satisfied with their exports alone, even when the value is second only to that of raw cotton. Some of them are emulating the “ life cell ” by establishing themselves in every promising field where they can import by transplanting all their excellent methods, which include the best motor car advertising going, and such inducements as time payment, etc. In this connection the rest of the world may have learnt something— a certain grand secret by which Uncle Sam has advanced in everything. It is summed up in the words, “ Time and tide wait for none.”

In expressing some admiration of the way in which the most popular manufacturer of all surveyed the world as a single oyster for the opening, the greater part of it will be because of the speed lie showed in acting, and then getting to work. Peradventure if others were as alert as that the international balance of trade would be with a considerable degree of difference. The opinion is, however, that they are not assisted by the exaggerated style of rendering the motor registrations, as too much quantity suggests a lack of something else. The 22,059,910 of the heading does not represent the motor cars in use in the United States, but the motor vehicles there of every sort and character that would require to be registered.

We must remember that the Americans are the most thorough-paceu people on earth. They have made of the motor a kind of fetish, relegating the horse for utility purposes entirely to the background. We shall allow Punch to picture the raving nabob as he holds up the traffic over his lost wallet, the while Dick Turpin dodges in and out on his speeding way on his rubber-wheeled “Black Bess,” pursued by the patrol in a racer, but only to be anticipated by a “ bootlegger ” coming the opposite way, full speed, and crashing into the bandit. More telling is the fact that over 500,000 farmers in the United States do all their work in these days sitting on a machine where the rein is a lever —or a wheel.

United States of America . . 22,059,910 984,368 901,000 Great Britain France (ex Ireland) Canada S20.222 Australia 361,602 Germany 318,800 Argentina A . - 222,610 Italy 150,000 Belgium ■ « 130,000 New Zealand - 123,334 Brazil . . 110,741 India 100,000 Balance . - 1,225,500 Total 27,408,087