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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[February 1, 1913. 



The Thirteenth Annual Automobile Show. 



THE Thirteenth Annual Automobile Show, held in New 

 York from January 11 to 25, might with great propriety 

 be called a multitudinous success, for it was crowded 

 beyond precedent. This Show has outgrown any one building 

 in New York, and consequently this year it was held in the two 

 largest show buildings in the citj' — the venerable and capacious 

 Madison Square Garden and the spacious new Grand Central 

 Palace. It not only was held in two buildings, but was divided 

 into two parts ; part one consisting of pleasure vehicles and 

 occupying the first of the two weeks of the Show — from Janu- 

 ary 11 to 18 — and part two being devoted to commercial vehicles 

 and covering the second week — from January 20 to 25. The 

 management had hoped for an attendance of 300,000 during the 

 first week and 100,000 during the second week. Both of these 

 hopes were more than realized, and probably half a million 

 people attended during the two weeks. 



About 500 exhibitors took part during the two weeks and 

 1,000 distinct exhibits were shown — the value of which has been 

 estimated at close to $6,000,000. This is certainly a wonderful 

 growth from the little initial show of 13 years ago, when there 

 were practically only 20 exhibits, and when such visitors as 

 attended were prompted rather by curiosity as- to what these 

 "buzz wagons'' might be, than by a lively sense of personal 

 interest — which was the actuating motive that took most of 

 the several hundred thousand visitors to the recent exhibition. 



Too much praise cannot be given to the scenic experts who 

 prepared the Garden and the Palace for the 1913 exposition. 

 In the Garden the roof of the edifice — not in itself a very sightly 

 spectacle — had been covered by thousands of yards of sky-blue 

 draperies dotted with thousands (to be more exact something 

 over 7,000) electric bulbs, which, flashing out of the dull back- 



lights, the whole giving a particularly brilliant effect. The rest 

 of the Garden was decorated in white and green, while the 

 names of the exhibitors — all in a uniform character of display 

 — appeared in red or white. Everything was done to make the 

 general appearance harmonious and to eliminate any suggestion 

 of incongruity. 



The Palace naturally lent itself to line decorative effects, and 

 here the scheme of ornamentation ran to nmral paintings and 

 trellises covered with running roses. 



The tire exhibitors, of whom there were 40. had their dis- 

 play at both places, on the upper floors. In the Garden they 

 occupied a very considerable part of the first and second gal- 

 leries, while in the Palace they had much of the space on the 

 third floor. Practically all the leading manufacturers were 

 represented, and represented very adequately, occupying gener- 

 ous space, in which, avoiding all appearance of crowding, they 

 showed only their leading lines. One feature that could not 

 help impressing any visitor was the liberal volume of literature 

 provided by the tire makers for the general education of the 

 public. For instance, the B. F. Goodrich Co.. on a stand at 

 the front of its exhibit had twenty different booklets, pamphlets 

 and folders, varying in size and volume of contents, but all 

 attractive in appearance, and some of them obviously represent- 

 ing considerable expense. The Diamond Co., the United States 

 Tire Co., the Firestone Co., and the rest were not far behind. 

 Anyone who made a judicious collection of this literature — • 

 free to all — and took it home and digested it carefully and in- 

 telligently, ought to know more about the tire industry than 

 has ever yet gone into any encyclopedia. 



There were not many absolutely new tire offerings exhibited 

 at the show ; and logically one could hardly expect that there 



M.MN Floor .\t M.\disox Squ.\re G.\rdex. 



ground, gave a wonderfully fine starry effect. In addition to 

 all this individual illumination there were three large crystal 

 chandeliers hung in a line through the center of the big build- 

 ing, around which there was an oval of twenty smaller crystal 



would be, as the tire industry has long since reached a conser- 

 vative basis where distinct innovations are not to be expected 

 in rapid succession. 



One tire was shown, however, that is new to this country — 



