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Show UTAH IKES rlEHlfiP i II SALE OF AUTOS ! Registration Shows Gain of Fifty Per Cent Over Past Twelve Years. While the reports o the salo of curs iu the Unitod States have not been published lor the season ot 10 1", it is douhtfuh it' those roports will show auy state to havo made a greater percentage percent-age oi gain than Utah. For years Utah has lasted away in tho rear in tho annual salo of curs, white population popula-tion being taken into consideration. Somo of the southern states buow less cars per capita tnan Utah, but this is on account ol! tho largo negro population popula-tion iu that section. Last season's rocord showod Wyoming, with a far less population, with moro cars than Utah. Idaho and Montana also had more, while Nevada had. loss cars, but moro per capita. The season of 1913 has beon a banner ban-ner one nnd for this reason Utah wiir probably show a greater percentago of gain than any ot-er state. At tho bo-ginning bo-ginning of 3'Jl3 thoro woro about 2700 cars in tno entire state of Utah. Tho number passed tho 4000 mark at the soerotarv of state's offico this week, showing" a gain of about 1300 cars in the year just passed. The 2700 cars in use at tho ooginning of tho year 1913 were sold ovor a period of twelve ; years, showing the numbor of automobiles automo-biles havo increased 50 per cent in the past year. This is a remarkable showing, and when tho report for tho yoar is published pub-lished state by state, it will probably bo seen that this state has led in tlie percentago of gain in the automobile business. Howevor, Utah is still away behind her sister states, population considorod, in tho use of automobiles. This indicates that, contrary to tho popular opinion Utah Is not yet much of an automobile state, but that it is making a roraarkablo strido to catch up for its lack of intorost in the motor car in tho past. Poor roads are. w generally speaking, the cause of tho slowness of the people in general to take up with tho automobile automo-bile in Utah. It would be safe to es-timato es-timato that at least 1S00 of tho 4000 cars now in Utah are in use in Salt Lake City. This is entiroly contrary con-trary to the conditions in othor Btates, where the country and country towns far excol the largest city in the total number of cars used. In Utah thore is need of better highways, high-ways, more so than in nny other state, with the exception of the states in the South Atlantic division, whoro soil conditions demand highly constructed and high-priced roads to stand the weather conditions. Of tho western statos, howevor, Utah has tho poorest roads. The country people in this state will tako to the motor car only when these roads become improvod, which is now being done. |