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Show First Automobile Registered In 1895; Free Enterprise System Aids In Growth The free enterprise system as enjoyed in America has been responsible re-sponsible for the wonderful de- velopment of the automobile during dur-ing the last half-century, accord- ; ing to L. W. Elledge, Utah State chairman of "Know Your Auto-- Auto-- mobile Dealer Week," October 31 to November 5. "There are millions of persons now living in this country," he said today, "who can remember the time when there was no such thing as an automobile. The first car was .registered in 1895, and only four cars were sold that year. But in the intorvenintr vears. one of the most fascinating stories of all time has developed. "Seventy-eight percent of all the cars in the world and 52 percent per-cent of all the trucks are in this country. Of the 58,000,000 motor vehicles in the world, Russia has only 3,000,000. The United States has well over 40,000,000. "American enterprise and genius has brought rapid improvement improve-ment in motor vehicles. In 1925, the average car life was six and a half years. And they were scrapped scrap-ped after they had traveled less than 26,000 miles. The latest available figures reveal that nnw the average car life is twelve years with a lifetime mileage of more than 103,000 miles. "Fifty-six percent of all car-trips car-trips are involved in' someone earning a livelihood and our family cars travel an average of 800 miles a month. These facts, and many more recently assembled by the Automobile Manufacturers Association, are proof of the great part plaved by the automobile in the life 6f this nation. And, in my opinion, it never could have come about except under the free enterprise enter-prise system which has always existed in this country." |