Fhe Omaha Sunday Bee.
PART SEVEN
A PAPER rOR THE IIOMZ
OMAHA DEE
BEST JSi THE WEST
iv AUTOMOBILES
PAGES 1 TO I.
VOL. XXXIX NO. LM.
OMAHA, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 7, 1909.
SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS.
OMAHA WESTERN CENTER OF AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY
OMAHA Is fast becoming the center of the automobile In
dustry of thewest and dealers are doing a thriving busi
ness in all classes of machines. The number of dealers
- is Increasing at such a rapid rate that It is a task to keep"
track of the new ones as they appear with some new ma
chines which have made, a reputation in the east and which seem
Automobiles have done wonders -toward making the streets of
Omaha more passable, and this Beason has seen many miles of new
pavemeita laid, to the great delight of car owners. While this city
had but one or two cars a dozen years ago, there are now 700 in
active use and most of them are cars of late make.
Great improvements are yearly made in automobiles, although
this is cot so apparent to the novice, who simply sees them flit
by from the side of the street. The general outline is changing'' but
little, but new schemes are being put into use which makes automo
blling more pleasureable.
With the beginning of the 1910 automobile season the manu
facturers have In many Instances been compelled to greatly increase
their capacity for the production of cars, owing to the unpredecented
demand from all quarters which increasing prosperity of the country
has made almost a necessity. Twelve short years ago an automo
bile was a good deal of a curiosity in the United States, there being
but a cant 1,000 in use. Times have changed and the latest sta
tistics show there are over 250,000 in use in this country. Twenty
yeara from now horses may be used but little to haul the (heavy
drays through the city streets.
Business Scarcely Begun
The automobile business has scarcely had Its surface scratched,
it costs manufacturers large sums of money to keep up with the
demands of the business, but when they see anything new that is
good they want it, no matter what the cost. The experimental days
in automobillng cost large sums of money, but experimental days are
over and cars are being made'to meet the demands.
Omaha has kept up with the procession and Omaha owners
have had as good cars as have been made in this country. H. E.
Fredrickson had the first big car, and people thought he was foolish,
but It waa a small affair beside the giant which Herman B. Peters,
proprietor of the Merchants, uses for himself and frlendsr While
his car is practically new he has ordered another larger and with
more power for nxt year, striving to keep up with the best tHa
country has to offer.
When the automobile first reached Omaha it waa looked upon
as a luxury which only the rich could enjoy, but now it is a neces
sity in many cases. Real estate dealers use these speedy machines
to whiak prospective buyers to suburban property, and several whole
sale houses in Omaha maintain automobiles with which they enter
tain their customers when they come to the market city.
All over the state automobiles are put to good use. The pro
gressive farmer has found that the automobile is a great money-saver
for bira to use in connection with his daily work. By means of
these he la able to save half a day in going to the neighboring town
and a half a day is often worth a good deal of money to a farmer.
Run All Winter
In Omaha the automobile is no longer regarded as some hot
house plant which might be injured if taken out in bad weather.
Automobiles are no longer stored away for the winter, but are used
all through the colder months. Some of the larger machines have
double bodies, an open body for summer use and a llmolsine body
for use In the winter. Some are provided with warming pans, which
keep the riders comfortable, and some of the new ltmoislncs are
provided with Inside lights for use at night.
Thirty-one dealers are now doing business in Omaha, and more
are planning to enter the game as soon as they can find a location.
Good locations are at a premium and at present five new garages
are in the course of construction. These are for the Standard Auto
mobile company,, the Buick Automobile company, the Maxweil-Brls-cce
Automobile company, the Sweet-Edwards Automobile company
tn-" the Wallace Automobile company.
Plans are now incubating for an automobile show in Omaha In
the Bprlng. Several meetings of the committee have been held and
It is planned to completely reorganize the association, that all the
dealers may be taken In. The problem with the committee is to
find room at the auditorium for all who want to display their ma
chines. For the last two years this has been quite a task, but it will
be harder this time as there are so many more who will want space.
Last year the large stage was used by the accessory men, who filled
all the space. This year there are several more accessory men doing
busies in Omaha than before.
The automobile show has come to be one of the annual fixtures
In Omaha and H brings many people from Nebraska and weak
Iowa to see what Is new in the automobile world. It is no longer
necessary for a country dealer to go to the New York or Chicago
shows to learn what is new. He may learn all he wants to know at
the Omaha show, where all tho manufacturers have learned that it
is to their advantage to send their new parts and new chassis and
machines. The west wiU have nothing but the best and manufac
turers have learned this. ... . . - .?. -!-'
Show an Annual Fixture
,
For the country trade special automobiles have been made, with
plenfy of clearance, that they may traverse the country roads which
have been worn to ruts, without injury to the vital parts of the ma
chines, j These will all be shown at the automobile show.
All the Omaha dealers have their 1910 cars and country dealers
need not wait for the show before finding out what is the latest in
the automobile world. Automobile row In Omaha will furnish all
the desired information. The trouble with the Otnaha dealers is
that there is such a demand for their cars that they have a task to
keep a new car in stock to show prospective customers. One large
dealer has fifty-five cars sold for future delivery, for which he is
now waiting on the factories to deliver. Omaha dealers, however,
have learned how to get cars and travelers say they get more than
their quota. They have learned the value of buying early and pay
ing cash, with a clause that they must have the cars. This is what
is making Omaha the strong-automobile market that it is. When
the new garages are completed on Farnam street there will be room
for few stores of other character than automobiles, as the dealers
will have most of the available space.
Former distrust in the expediency of commercial vehicles has
been displaced by confidence In the trucks, and delivery wagons are
now being placed on the market. When the machines were first
tried there was a disappointment with the capacity of the machines
in respect to load and speed and with maintenance charges that cre
ated a prejudice difficult to overcome. Every salesman knows that
It is far easier to interest a new customer than one who has previ
ously bought and become dissatisfied. ,
A complete explanation of the causes of such a widespread con
dition ot-4i8atlsf action Is not as simple as It might seem. The first
thought Is that the early models were poorly built and could not
possibly meet the requirements and stand up to the work. While
this may be true in part, it does not entirely meet the situation. In
the early days all sorts of artificially decorated junk waa sold under
the name of "commercial vehicle." Crude Inventions, worked out
by wild-eyed inventors, were marketed as being just the thing to
revolutionize commercial street traffic. The only wonder now Is how
they managed to move along under their own power when empty and
still hold together. The builders of pleasure cars, seeing the enor
mous profit in these cars, rushed into the market with a work body
on a pleasure chassis and Immediately rushed out again when he
saw that he could not deliver the goods.
Knocking Out Obstacles
In the meanwhile the builder of commercial vehicles who knows
the needs of heavy haulers and who had an earnest desire to supply
these needs had a proper appreciation of these problems and sought
to meet the demands. All obstacles to progress are passing away
and business interests will soon be able to secure the machine which
will meet their needs. .
' While on the subject of new cars It might be well to mention an
Omaha invention which bids fair to revolutionize the automobile in
dustry. Everybody knows that the carburetor is one of the most
Important part3 of ah automobile and the part which gives the most
Omaha Automobile Dealers and Accessory Houses
DEALER. ADDRESS. CARS.
Berber's Automobile Co 1919 Farnam St The Studebaker E. M. F.
Western Automobile Co 868 Brandeis Bldg. The Great Western.
Pioneer Implement Co'. 1000 S. Main, Council Bluffs. . . The Jackson, The Fuller.
T. J. Northwall Co 914 Jones St. ... . v . . the Brush Runabout.
Maxwell-Brisco Omaha Co 18th, near Farnam The Maxwell.
C. F. Louk ? . 1808 Farnam St Marmon, Haynes, Fal-Car, Halladay, Empire.
Lininger Implement Co 6th and Pacific Sts Oakland.
Brick P. Kuhn 19th and Harney Sts Holsman. t
R. R. Kimball . . . 2126 Farnam St Cadillac, Stevens-Duryea,
Stanley Steamer Co .......... . 2315 Leavenworth St Stanley Steamer. ' ,
International Harvester Co. . . S01 Capitol Ave The International.
W. L. Huffman Auto Co 2025 Farnam St .The Interstate, Hupmobile, DeTamble.
Omaha Automobile Co .'216 So. 19th St The Auburn, Rider-Lewis.
Freeland Bros. & Ashley, 1102 Farnam St .The Apperson, Midland, Mason.
H. E. Frederickson 2046 Farnam St Pierce, Thomas, Chalmers-Detroit, Hudson.
Drummond Carriage Co 18th and Harney Sts. White Steamer, White Gasoline.
J. J. Deright & Co 1818 Farnam St Locomobile, Mattheson, Stoddard-Dayton.
The John Deere Co 9th and Howard Sts The Velie. ;4'
Velie Auto Co 19th and Farnam Sts .The Velie. ,
Coit Automobile Co 2033 Farnam St Rambler, Mitchell.
Central Implement Co 1115 Farnam St Schacht.
Atlantic Automobile Co Co. Bluffs, la Ford, Reo, Premier.
Council Eluffs Auto Co Co. Bluffs Rambler, Mitchell.
Guy L. Smith 2205 Farnam St The Peerless, Franklin.
Wallace Auto Co 24th near Farnam The Stearns, The Oakland.
The Buick Agency ! 20th and Farnam Sts TheBuick.
Omaha Motor Car Co 1117 Farnam St The Carter Car.
Sweet-Edwards Auto. Co N. Y. Life Bldg The American, Moon, Parry.
The Standard Auto Co v302 Neville Block. The Standard-Six, National, Traveler.
Mid-West Auto. Co Commercial College Bldg The Cole.
Van Brunt & Co .Co. Bluffs, la. Overland, Pope-Hartford.
Deright Automobile Co 1814-1816 Farnam St The Lexington, Regal, Mercer.
Western Automobile Supply Co2218 Farnam St Automobile Accessory House.
Powell Supply Co 2020-22 Farnam St . .Automobile Accessory House.
Baum Iron Works. 13th and Harney Sts Automobile Accessory House.
Central Tire & Rubber Co 2127 Farnam St Automobile Accessory House.
trouble to the novice who tried to adjust his machine. W. R. Mo
Keen, jr., president and general manager of the McKeen Motor Car
company, has perfected a carburetor for his motor car and has mad
a small model which he has successfully tried out on his Appersoa
that promises to remove all carburetor troubles.
The carburetor which Mr. McKeen has perfected, and which,
will be shown at the Omaha Automobile show, will do many things
for a car and its owner which will at to the comfort and pleasure
of automobillng. This carburetor has a downward feed instead of
an upward one and is not affected by celd weather, so that the owner
does not have to get out in freezing weather and try to warm his car
buretor with a match.
Low Speed and Power j
The most important .thing which this new invention will do ia
to permit a driver to move along at low speed and still maintain his
power. It will no longer be necessary for a machine to scoot up a
little incline at high speed in order to keep his engine in motion, but
instead he may let his engine go slowly and still have plenty of power
at hand to move along out of the way of street cars or other threat
ening trouble.
Omaha is getting to be a great center for electric vehicles aa
well as for those propelled by steam and gasoline. When the elec
tric car was first put into use it was thought the streets of Omaha,
were too steep for the use of these machines, but that idea la now
dispelled and hundreds are seen driving the streets. Electrics are
especially adapted for the use of women because of their cleanliness.
Women may don their best togs, drive in their electrics to the mati
nee or make an afternoon call without fear of soiling their clothes.
Nor Is the electric as apt to go wrong as the steamer machines. To
make these more adaptable to women, who might not be able to tend
to tire troubles, hard rubber tires, some perforated for a spring, are
being used to do away with the possibility of women being stopped
by a punctured tire.
Omaha dealers extend the glad hand of fellowship to all dealers
in this section of the country who are preparing to secure their cars
for next spring. , These local dealers have learned by years of ex
perience about what the wants of the tributary trade are and are pre
pared to meet these demands. Several dealers have bought more
than 200 cars and one has ordered 400 for delivery next year, taking
no chances of a shortage after the demands for the cars become
heavy. These dealers have all ordered their cars for early delivery;
and will be ready to consign cars as fast as they are wanted.
"Omaha has more automobiles than any city of Its size in ths
United States, I firmly believe," says John L. Bains, recently from
Philadelphia. "I have been through New England and the other
sections of the east where people are supposed to be in the vanguard
with automobiles and all other such modern machinery, but I never
run across a city of Omaha's size where autos wereas thick as they
are here. f
' ! T: ' Due to Two Reasons
"1 believe this is due to two principal reasons first, the people
of Omaha have the money to buy autos and they have the progressive
fever that makes them anxious to keep in the front ground of ad
vanced thought and action. Here in Omaha this prosperity and
progress seem to be so general that the .young and old alike, and I
was about to say the rich and poor, enjoy their automobiles. You
can go out on most any street and see the strenuous business man
driving his machine on a business errand, or the aged man or woman
in their ease of their retirement from active life taking a pleasure
ride; then you may see a young miss at the wheel with a machine
full of her young friends out for a lark, and the young youth who
is chasing down to pa's office to whiz blm home to dinner.
"Take a stroll out Farnam street and get your eye full of that
Automobile Row, one garage after, another, until you think the
town has turned into an automobile manufacturing center.
"They tell me Denver boasts of having more automobiles than
any city its size. Well. If that is true, I'll bet Denver is a larger
city than Omaha."
Automobile owners are learning how to avoid tire troubles,
which have been the bug-a-bear of drivers since the benzine buggies
with the pneumatic tires have come into such general use. The mat
ter Is a simple one and requires nothing more than care In tiro
selection to see that a heavy enough tire is bought to carry the
machine. Many Omaha automobile owners had enough trouble to
try the patience of Job until they learned the lesson of buying a
heavier tire which would carry their cars without trouble. A heavy
tire will give just as much resiliency without so much danger from
a puncture as from a small tire which has to be pumped so hard to
ths load.