Germany Takes Up Fight.

New York Times 100 years ago today, November 24, 1912:
Joins European Auto Makers In Opposing "American Invasion."
    Following the example of England and other European countries, Germany has taken up the fight against the "American Invasion," of the motor car field, and automobiles manufactured in the United States are far from popular with the manufacturers there, according to H. B. Harper of Toledo, who has lately returned from a trip of several months abroad.
    "American-made automobiles ave to be discredited at any cost in Germany if the manufacturers of that country have their way," says Mr. Harper. "Newspapers are devoting both news and editorial columns to articles calling attention to the 'Yankee peril,' and makers are devoting almost as much energy toward keeping out the foreign products as they are to the development of their own cars.
    "Germany is as fully determined to oust the American car as is England, but the opposition there is even more virulent than the British Isles. English engineers unhesitatingly admit that the popular-priced American cars are excellent value, and make their argument against our output by declaring that the English are equally capable of quality production. But the Germans, fearful of losing prestige and business, are stubbornly emphatic in their declarations that a good car at a low price is impossible.
    "The Germans have not yet learned the lesson that several American manufacturers have known for some time that quantity production will allow of the highest quality at lowest cost. They cannot conceive of a single automobile factory turning out 40,000 cars in a season. This can be more easily understood when German statistics are seen. There are 128 automobile plants in the fatherland, with a capacity for this year of only about 30,000 cars."

CROSS-COUNTRY TRIP.
    S. K. Rindge Completes 4,100-Mile Journey from Los Angeles.
    Transcontinental touring never was so popular as it has been the past season. No less than twenty individual motorists have journeyed by automobiles from the Atlantic to the Pacific Coast, and one trip was accomplished by a motor truck. According to S. K. Rindge of Los Angeles, Cal., who just completed a 4,100-mile trip from the Pacific Coast, and who is now in New York City, 1913 will see even more trips of this character made by private owners of cars.
    Numerous touring information bureaus and various automobile clubs along any one of the several possible routes have obtained information regarding roads, and by consulting the secretaries of these organizations, from point to point, the motorist can find out just what detours to make in order to avoid the bad or impossible sections.
    Mr. Rindge, accompanied by his wife, left Los Angeles late in September and completed the trip in twenty-five days. About every possible condition of road was encountered. The route ran via Phoenix, Ariz., Albuquerque, N.M., Las Vegas, Trinidad, following the Santa Fe trail to Kansas City, Chicago, Toledo, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Boston, the total distance to the metropolis being about 4,100 miles. The touring party found that the price of gasoline was most flexible, for in the Arizona desert, at a point 100 miles or so from a railroad station, the fluid cost them 75 cents a gallon.
    Mr. Rindge experienced little difficulty in driving his car through the deep desert sand and the chuck-hole country in the Far West, but all the way from Kansas City to Buffalo deep mud was encountered, and many cars were passed on the road hopelessly mired. Due to heavy rains, the Missouri mud was so deep and sticky that it required skillful driving to keep the car in the road and secure traction.

NEW USE FOR MOTOR CYCLES
Telephone Companies Find Them Valuable for Line Trouble.
    The adoption of motor cycles by hundreds of rural delivery mail carriers has given the farmer and country dweller a vastly improved mail service. And now comes the motor cycle with another form of service for those who live in the "open places."
    Telephone companies everywhere are finding the motor cycle of great advantage in keeping their country lines clear of trouble. Being able to "shoot" a repair man to any point in the country promptly, a much better telephone service is being maintained. Motor cycles have been used by many telephone exchanges in the large cities, but the advantage gained there is no greater than in the towns and villages where country service must be maintained. The advantage of a motor cycle in this form of work is shown by the experience of a company at Elkhart, Ind.
    The manager, in speaking of the motor cycle used by the company, says: "It has given the best of satisfaction and has more than paid for itself in the way of cutting out livery bills alone. One man will clear more country and toll line trouble with a motor cycle in one day than five men can do with horses and rigs — and give better satisfaction to the patrons of the company."
    This company's motor cycle was driven 12,486 miles from Sept. 12, 1911, to Sept. 12, 1912. It consumed 164 gallons of gasoline at a cost of $22.96, which was eighty-eight miles to the gallon. Cylinder oil cost $4.80; dry batteries, $1.44; other expense and repairs cost $4.6O for the year. The total was $33.80.
    This figures down to one-quarter cent per mile. That's what it cost to run, day in and day out, for a year.