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Show mm cowl President of Franklin Factory Fac-tory Says It Will Make for Efficiency. "The increased cost of gasoline is just the thing the automobile industry needs to ;:iiiiui!aio a tendency of Improvement in the design and construction of motor cars which will be of immeasurable value to car owners." That in the opinion of H. II. Franklin, president of the II. 11. Franklin Manufacturing Manufac-turing company, expressed in connection with the efforts of a number of automobile automo-bile manufacturers, particularly J. M. SludeUike-r of the Studebaker company, to deal with the situation, believing that it menaces and will actually injure the motor indusLry unless the price is reduced and controlled. "With automobile owners paying a great deal more for gasoline than formerly, for-merly, there will arise a general demand for more economical, more efficient cars," Mr. Franklin declares. "More cars will be built on the basis of efficiency of giving maximum service at milmum expense. ex-pense. "That Is the basis on which the Frank- i lin car lias been built from the start. In 1902. It was early in 1906 that a Franklin Frank-lin roadster made eighty-seven miles on two gallons of gasoline In an Automobile. Club of America economy contest. That; car weighed 1500 pounds with two pas- i sengers in it It was light- in weight, flexible and efficient. "A continuation of the high price of gasoline will mean that engineers will devote attention to reducing friction. Cars that now require four persons to push them around will be moved by one person. per-son. Cars that now go four to eight miles on a gallon of gasoline will travel from sixteen to twenty miles on that quantity of fuel. "Looking at the matter in this light, it Is a question whether the automobile in- i dustry could have anything better happen to It than to have gasoline continue to go up and remain on a high-price level for several years." |