” Big Four' To Explore
UAW Study Proffer
Detroit — Representatives of
four major auto companies have
accepted the Invitation of the Au
to Workers to explore the setting
up of joint study committees to
meet in advance of 1964 contract
negotiations.
Two dates were set 9d^ ex
ploratory meetings — Apr. 15 for
a session between General Motors
Corp. and the union, and Apr. 16
with Ford Motor officials. Each
was held at headquarters of
the respective companies.
UAW Prat. Walter P. Reuther
said American Motors Corp. of
ficials and the Chrysler Corp. al
so hava agreed to meet for pre
liminary discussions at later
dates.
Reuther had been authorized by
the UAW executive board to pro
pose that the union and major
auto and agricultural implement
manufacturers prepare 1964 ne
gotiations by meeting at l^fl a
year in advance.
Careful advance study of joint
problems is advisable. Reuther
wrote the company presidents,
noting such studies have proved
helpful in the steel and other in
dustries. The usual 60-day bar
gaining period is not long
MOTOR CARRIERS ASSOCIATION
North Carolina Wins Award for
Prevention of Truck Accidents
WASHINGTON, D. C. — The
North Carolina Motor Carriers
Association was awarded the high
est state safety prize of the na
tional federation of the organized
trucking industry this week for
its outstanding highway accident
prevention program.
The American Trucking Assoc-
ciation presented the North Car
olina Motor Carrier oriianization
with its “Summa Cum Ijaude” A-
ward for the group’s 61 safety
enough, he said, to work out so
lutions to complicated issues, and
the failure of collective bargain
ing might increase the pressures
on government to intervene in
such a way as to “leave little
room for private decisions freely
arrived at by labor and manage
ment."
The four auto manufacturers a-
greed to preliminary meetings i was lauded for conducting all of
activities last year on behalf of
trucking firm* in North Carolina
and other highway users. NCMCA
completed the largest number in
the Nation.
Goley D. Sontheimer, ATA di
rector of safety, congratulated J.
T. Outlaw, executive vice - presi
dent of the North Carolina asso
ciation, and described the work
of the Raleigh • based group and
its Council of Safety Supervisors
as “an excellent contribution to
improved traffic safety on both
the state and national levels."
The citation is the top-ranking
award in the annual ATA State
Association Safety Recognition
Program which is designed to en
courage its 51 affiliated state or
ganizations to conduct 'well-
rounded and productive safety
programs.
The North Carolina Association
without indicating their views.
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"SAFE-BUY" USED _
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the 36 basic and recommended
activities sponsored or endorsed
by the ATAj« Department of Safe
ty. They included; the N. C. Truck
Driver Training School at State
College; a truck fleet supervisor
training course; Driver of the
month and Driver of the Year
programs to recognize outstand
ing drivers; a State Truck Road-
eo; a truck fleet i^ety contest;
participating in official state safe
ty activities; and a cooperative
road patrol.
Ford, Begun in
'03, Has Made
60 Million Cars
Ford Motor Company, founded
in ,1903 by Henry Ford, has man-
lifactured more than 60,000,000
passenger cars, trucks and farm
tractors in the United States.
Ford Motor Company was in-
coiporated June 16, 1903, by Hen
ry Ford and 11 associates. Auth
orized capitalization was $150,000,
but only $28,000 was paid in. To
day, the company has approxi
mately 300,000 shareholders and
total assets of more than $5,000,-
000,000.
Henry Ford was instrumental
in bringiiig industry, agriculture
and recreation to the South. His
offer in 1,921 to buy a govern
ment - owned nitrate plant at
Muscle Shoals, Ala., on the Ten
nessee River, kindled interest of
private and public groups, and
helped bring about the Tennessee
Valley Authority,
When Ford Motor Company was
organized in 1903, Henry Ford re
fused a doctor’s offer to invest
money in the new company.
Twelve men already had purchas
ed stock and Ford feared 13 in
corporators would bring bad luck.
On July 10, 1903, Ford Motor
Company’s bank account dropped
to $^.65. Five days later. Hen'
ry Ford sold the company’s first
car for $850.
Skeptics sneered at Henry Ford
when he entered his Model T in
America’s first coast-to-coast au
to race in 1909. After 22 days of
driving 4,100 miles di^er mud-cov
ered roads, through snow storms,
across streams and in heavy rain,
the Model T was the first entry
to cross the finish line.
A barn • like building on Mack
Avenue in Detroit was Henry
Ford’s first factory. There he
built a total of 1,700 cars the
1003 Model A — during the first
15 months of operation.
Henry Ford began foreign man
ufacturing operations in 1904,
when, he established a plant near
Windsor, Canada. This plant was
the forerunner of Ford facilities
on six continents.
From his youth, Henry Ford
was fascinated by engines and de
cided to provide a more economi
cal and practical way of mechan
ical farming by developing a gas
oline - powered Fordson tractor
in 1917. This year is being ob
served as the 100th anqiversary
of Blr. Ford’s birth.
Tax Amounts
To Half of
Gasoline G>st
The American motorist has be
come the unwilling favorite on
the tax-collector’s list, a dlstine
tion from which he derives lijttle
comfort.
In addition to paying the sajoe
income taxes, sales taxes, proper
ty taxes and nuisance taxes a:
other taxpayus, he pays $11,000,-
000,000 a yen for the privilege
of owning and operating a motor
vehicle. ^
This year some of New York’s
5,000,000 car owners won a min
or victory in a revolt sparked by
the State Automobile Association.
They turned back Governor Rock
efeller’s plan to increase car lic
ence registration charges by up to
150 per cent.
As a rule, though, taxes on mo-
toHsts keep going up and up be
cause the levies generally are col
lected in "painless” pennies. Last
year these pennies added up to
$6,300,000,000 in the form of tax
es on gasoline. That means that
the Federal, state and local gov
ernments were collecting $11,940
a minute. .
A Painful History
This is more than the Federal
Government collected from all
sources combined in any peace
time year before World War n
end is 12 times larger than the
entire Federal budget of 1900,
when the automobile age dawned.
‘Why do they pick on me?” is
the motorist’s favorite plaint.
The best answer seems to be
that motorists are so numerous
(85,000,000 registered drivers)
and so convenient.*
Through the centuries, men
have twisted the tax principle in
to some pretty strange shapes.
The Romans, for example, col
lected a tax on the toga, a popu
lar garment of ancient times. The
more elegant the toga, the higher
the tax.
Ancient Greece taxed doorways
that opened outward on public
footways — possibly as a means
of expediting traffic.
A tax on windows forced many
to live in dark and cheerlees
homes in Elngland and Holland,
and a French fireplace tax re-
suited in a lot of frostbitten
Frenchmen.
Beards, wigs, funerals and even
bachelors have been taxed at one
time or another.
A wise old Frenchman named
Jean Baptiste Colbert, who man
aged his nation’s finances for 22
years during the reign of free-
spending Louis XIV, defined tax
ation as "the art of plucking the
goose in such a way as to produce
the largest amount of feathers
with the least possible squawk
ing.”
Colbert’s disciples in recent
times follow the theory that
penny here and a penny there
will seldom be noticed, but will
add up to a lot of dollars in time.
The gasoline tax, for example,
began as a so-called “painless
penny" in Oregon in 1919.' The
legislator who sponsored the tax
commented later titat he never
thought the idea would spread be
yond the state line. But like for
est fires, epidemics and bad news,
it did spread — and rapidly.
Everybody Dees It
By 1929, all 48 states and the
District of Columbia were collect
ing gasoline taxes, most of them
for the avowed purpose of financ
ing road and highway construc
tion.
In the Depression year of 1932,
the Federal Government needed
money. Congress levied a "tempo
rary" penny-a-gallon tax that not
only remained in effect, but has
grown up with the times and now
is 4 cents a gallon.
State gasoline taxes average
more than 6 cents a gallon. Some
states also permit local govern
ments to levy gasoline taxes.
As a result, on the national av
erage, the motorist is paying the
equivalent of a 50 per cent tax
on his gasoline. This means that
for every $3 he pays out, he re
ceives only $2 worth of fuel. The
tax man gets the third dollar.
In the last 10 years, as gaso
line quality was improved, the av
erage price of regular grade gas
oline dropped 4.3 per cent below
the 1953 level. During the same
period, the cost of all commodi
ties rose 13.1 per cent and gaso
line taxes climbed nearly 39 per
cent, according to the American
Petroleum Institute.
And M»re and Mere
Since the end of World War n,
states have put into effect 86 in
creases in gasoline tax rates, and
the Federal tax has been raised
three times. Stiffening taxpayer
resistance is credited -with hold
ing the line in 1062, the first
year since the war ended in
which no state increased the gas
oline tax rate. However, increases
have been proposed in several
states this year.
IN AUTO INDUSTRY
THE CAROLINA TIMES
DURHAM. N. C. SATUROAY. MIAT 4, 1
Teen-agers Set New Trends
Half a dozen years ago Ameri
ca b^ame aware that ou^ teen
age population was a major So
cial and economic force. As • re
sult, indusb^ after industry is ca
tering, with much profit, to the
tastes of the und0r-2O set, whose
mentbers have sboiwa a surpris.
ing ability to put their money
where their mouths are.
This year a new factor has en
tered the picture, one that is of
special interest to «utmioMle
manufacturers: the first of the
postwv bttbics liave reached dri
ving age.
There can be no denying that
teens are car eraay. From the
age of 16 on automobile is a
boy’s best friend in the quest for
popularity. To youngsters a car is
a great deal more than transpor
tation; it is a maturity symbol, a
conversation piece, a hoM>y, a
mobile club house, a back pon^,
a chromed and multi-colored per
sonality extension.
L»oken or SuyenT
Unfortunately, it is also quite
expensive, especially when com
pared with suich things as phono
graph records, Ben Casey blouses
and pocket transistor radios. This
has caused many to wonder if
teens can really afford automo
biles and if Detroit hasn’t started
to confuse lookers with buyers.
To 'begin with, a teen-ager of
ten does not have to buy a ear
himself to affect the sale of one.
Approximately a third of teen
agers hold driving licenses and in
many areas of the country it is
necessary for them to drive in
order to get to school, to the
store, to visit friends, etc. Once
they actually begin to drive the
family car Dad is inclined to lis
ten more closely when they ex
press a preference for one make
ovw another, especially ^nce
many teen-age boys are much
more knowledgeable sibout the
mechanics of automobiles than
their fathens.
The fact is, however, that quit*
a few teens are buying autos. Be
fore you begin to worry about
where they are getting the mon
ey, it should be pointed oat that
most of them purchase used cars.
This is a big help to the auto
manufacturers. Unless an automo
bile dealer can “move” used cars
he will not do well with new-car
sales.
StaggertiiB FtfWea
The big question is, just how
large is the teen - age ear mar- averaging ap^oximately
ket? Three year* ago a,60#,00l) births each /ear since,
reached the age of. It; by 19W, The reault is that in Uie I44o-
there will be 3.800,#M peno«# ar-1 18 group atone there hai beea as
riving at that same age. A*d if I increase of 8M.Oon in ebe iBtt
the entire 13-through-f9 age group, year. By 1306 thi.s number is
is considered, the figures are ev-: to increa.se again by ahnoirt
en more staggering. j 500,000 In the n«xt two yean
■During the war years the year-! (Continued on Page 5-C)
a mtim M nporto by i)im aewepeper and th« Print AHv«rt»ins Aewocietkwi rm thr aHvantii«m of ^nt m«Hi«
Don’t you read before you buy ?
Most people do.
They count on advertising in print to Rive
them the information they want on products
that interest them—information on features
. . . designs . . . and prices, for example.
People not only read about products and
services, they show ads to their family and
friends; they clip coupons for information
and samples; they tear out ads to take along
when they go shopping.
When you add it all up. print alvt»rtHing—
the kind you read in tiic pa*;ps of this news
paper—makes sense.
And because it mea^ure^i up to the buying
habits of most consumprs. print m.ikes sales.
Most people read—and ttien buy.” Don’t yuuf
DODGE
FOR 1963
ALL DODGE SALES RECORDS HAVE BEEN
BROKEN BY THESE THREE CHAMPIONS
★
DODGE
POLARA
★DODGE
DART
★
DODGE
CUSTOM 880
AU 1963 DODGE CARS Arp TRUCKS ARE GUARANTEED FOR 5 YEARS OR 50,000 MIIES
UNIVEItSITYiWOTOIISjM.
Open Ti\ 9:00 P.M.
806 W. MAIN ST.
N. C. Dealer No. 1964
Phone 681-8931
DURHAM. N. C.
I