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= ie n BL Gd oe Bu al 3 fe a TE A WINNETKA WEEKLY TALK, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1924 " THE AUTOMOBILE SECTIO Rent-a-Car Idea Follows Old Livery Stable Service Idea Newest Form of Rental Be- comes Popular Through- out the Country In the many Rent-a-Car systems springing up all over the country, is found a revival of the livery stables of former days. The pendulum has swung back, and an old phase of transportation, motorized and modernized, is being brought to light. Although the com- panies already operating have had a large volume of business, due to the fact that they do not employ specialized cars ,maintenance costs are exhorbitant, profits barely cover expenses and fail- ures in business are frequent. However, a certain portion of the public likes to serve itself when it can be done econ- omically, as is attested by the popu- larity of self-serve restaurants and grocery stores. John Hertz, guiding genius of the Yellow Cab Manufactur- ing company, which specializes in' build- ing revenue producing vehicles, has an- nounced a special car necessary to the success of a Drive-It-Yourself business. It is over two years since Mr. Hertz first began his investigations of this new development of motor trangporta- tion. He maintains that a specially built car of attractive appearance and dependable qualities was necessary for the successful operation of Drive-It- Yourself service. That car, the Ambas- sador, Drive-Yourself five-passenger ser dan, is now ready for sale. i 4 But Mr. Hertz didn't stop there. He realized that the business needed a sys- tem of operation, and the Yellow Drive- It-Yourself System, in which the Yel- low Cab company of Chicago, the operating company--not the Yellow Cab Manufacturing company, is financially interested, was formed in that city. Four different stations operating Drive-Your- self vehicles have been the testing ground for this new car, and its opera- tion has proved to be economical and profit-building. ~~ During. the month of August alone the net profit from this business was $12,000. The Yellow Cab Manufacturing com- pany, through its various subsidiaries and branches is making a concentrated drive throughout the country for the development of this business. Soon every large city will have many Drive- It-Yourself companies operating on a large scale, with new,modernized, spec- ially built automobiles and financially- sound organizations behind them, it is said. Already operations are under way in Chicago and Louisville. Plans are prepared for every operator of Yellow Cab products to go into business, and the Ambassador Drive-Yourself, a spec- ially built automobile that cannot be distinguished from privately owned ma- chines, will be sold to every Drive-It- Yourself company in the United States as well. To hire the car the public will pay but a small rate per mile. Traveling salesmen will use Drive-It-Yourself service to cover territory. Government officials will find it invaluable going from place to place on investigations. In the old days young folks did their courting in a hired rig. Now they have the entire resources of the Drive-It- Yourself companies at their command. There are hundreds of uses for this service. Women who like to drive a smoothly running automobile will avail themselves of the new system on their shopping tours; delivery boys, collect- ors, and public officials will use it; com- panies who have hesitated about putting into service cars of their own will hail it with satisfaction, it is claimed. Auto- mobile repair stations will get more business now that the private owner can have a car to drive while his own ma- chine is being over-hauled. Drive-It-Yourself is a business that offers big opportunities with a mini- mum of responsibility and less effort than any other phase of the automobile business, Mr. Hertz says, now that the right car is available for the operation of such a business. Tobacco in Cans Used as "Fill' on Highway Down through the ages many odd substances have been used for the construction of highways. But it is unlikely that ever before in the long history of road building has a grade been constructed of pipe tobacco-- and in cans at that. But that is what is being used to form the grade for the important Lin- coln Highway feeder along the Hack- ensack river connecting the transcon- Hoenig] road with the Harrison Turn- pike. The 1,800,000 cans of tobacco which will go into the fill for the new high- way were purchased with the contri- butions of patriotic citizens during the war for overseas troops. Stored in French warehouses at the close of the war, the tobacco was recently pur- chased by a New York firm and shipped to this country where Gov- eriment custom inspectors condemned it as unfit to be sold. The condemned tobacco was valued at $150,000 and additional expense for destroying it wads in sight" when permission was ob- tained to dump the cans in the Kearney meadqws as part of the fill for the new highway. Claims Good Roads will Make for Better Schools "In checking over the notes made by our road "survey cars which cover every section of the country, we find that four-fifths of the little one-room school houses have no provision for heating or ventilation except old un- jacketed stoves and rickety windows," says Charles P. Root, manager of the touring bureau of the Chicago Motor club. "Most of these buildings are poorly lighted, and the seating facil- ities are also poor. "The moral," points out Mr. Root, "is simply this: Build good roads and we shall be able to build larger and better schools, for with the existence of hard roads children can be trans- ported by bus from 15 to 18 miles to a large consolidated school." EXPECT CUT ON AUTO TAXATION No Government Levy on Gasoline, Report Congress will not impose a federal tax on gasoline. Not only is this prac- tically assured but there will be a strong movement at the next season, and, if need be, in the following one, to have the excise taxes on automobiles reduced. This movement will be backed by the American Automobile Association and other strong influences. But despite this, the tax load on the automobile steadily is growing more and more burdensome. Between them, the Federal and State governments are collecting annually almost a half billion dollars. While there may be and probably will be further agitation for a Federal tax on gasoline, such tax cannot be put through chiefly because the states are more and more resorting to the gasoline tax. They are raising large sums of money by it and they object to the Fed- eral government invading the same field. Moreover, the automobile interests of the country and organizations concerned in the welfare of the owner of the auto vehicle are strongly opposed to a Feder- al auto fuel levy. Efforts were made by the Treasury Department about two years ago to im- pose a general horsepower tax and a gasoline tax on all autos and to require Federal registration. This recommenda- Means 'Co: >. But such a protest arose from 'country. against such a plan t i blacked. '#Under i I -Jaw% there is a 3 er cent, fgets rucks and a 5 per cent stax' 0 (ri autonfobiles. Last am abt 3130.00.09. i raised by is Jevy. 5, gress last Session cut the tax "on acceSsoriés, tires and parts from 5 : "aga reduction of about $20,000. pd ear, dafid exempted truck chassis Selling" for less than $1,000. This means a reduction of $4,000,000 to $5,000,000. In other words, there has been a reduction of between $20,000,000 and $25,000,000, in the Federal tixes on the automobile industry and purchasers of machines. Because more states are applying the gasoline tax and in some cases raising the rate of the gasoline tax, the amount collected by the states is steadily climb- ing. This year the collections will be much larger than in 1923, when they to- taled $36,813,951. In the first six months of 1924 they totaled $32,430,410. This means that for the entire coun- try the gasoline tax collections will ex- ceed $64,000,000. The states also in the first six months of 1924 collected about $2000,000,000 from registrations, licenses and permits. Probably 20 per cent more will be collected from this source be- fore next January 1. The Federal taxes on the automobile industry this year, roughly, will amount to about $130,000,- tion was made to: the House Ways and | 000 These figures do not take account of the fact that thirty-six states, also have personal property taxes against auto- mobiles. Taking all taxes into account, it will be seen the automobile in this country is- bearing a tax of about $500,000,000 annually and the tendency is constant- ly to increase it, due partly to increased production and partly to insistence of the politicians on using the automobile as a source for large revenues because it is convenient to do so and, thus far, easy to pass muster with the argument the automobile is more or less of a luxury in the hands of those who can afford it. THREE-WHEEL AUTOMOBILE The Germans have perfected a three- wheel motor car, and the advantages are said to be the reduction of cost due to saving of tires, easier steering and braking. Rigidity is given to the frame by diagonal cross members reaching a point in front, % / iy fh Zz 2 Wi 7 i RN QW distinctiv Built Cadi Bodies on the V-63 chassis. attend this Sal the Chicago Br Sh Rw PISHER w CADILLAC MOTO Chicago ~ REN ND NNR x NAR N You are cordially invited to hours of 9 a. m. and 9 p. m. at and Michigan Avenue. NAA NN NR RS NR \ the first public show- ing of the new and e Custom llac-Fisher on between the anch 23rd Street October 4th to 11th AEN 0p ON AN Se NN N\ ANAS Lit Lee La Cl Standard of the R CAR COMPANY Branch NN Rh NAN \ Nt NN World - i i A ki iss ME