“Luxury and necessity.” The automobile maker is willing to have his product classed in this way. For the early years of the industry the car was a clear cut “luxury.” It weighed so much that its cost was prohibitive to the big family of “Necessity.” The car simply had to be “had” by men of large incomes. Automobiles were not sold by intensive salesmen in those days—the family bought them, even as a fine jewel was purchased at the great jewelry houses. Tremendous prices were paid, in comparison to the set prices of the automobile industry at this day. The “make” of the car that stood in front of the owner’s home often was accepted as a basis for rating the social position of the owner. Seat cushions, slip covers, fine upholstery and the name plate on the car told a big and varied story. Immediately following the craze to buy the high priced cars, developed the “man Friday” of the industry—the chauffeur. And the chauffeur worked readily with the wealthy man, often advising the purchase of the foreign machine upon which Uncle Sam collected a very large duty. But the foreign made car had its stamp of distinction, perhaps much easier to utilize in the form of extravagant, even snobbish, style of life that the owner of the foreign car elected to affect, and the United States manufacturer of cars was not at all prepared to put out a car that would correct the desire of Americans to drive around in an imported article. But the domestic car had a friend in this contingency. Economical living was that friend. Ruin often followed the extravagance of those who bought the high priced and, as many experts said, inferior imported cars. Homes were mortgaged and all the financial trails were traversed in the effort to maintain an impossible extravagant life. The banker began to detest the automobile. It seemed to him that it was undermining the life of the nation. Something had to be done to correct, also, the tone of the domestic automobile maker’s life. He developed a desire for watered stock. Over capitalization of his plant was suspected by the banking interests, and on every hand the motor car industry was decried. Waste and inflation stalked arm in arm through many plants. It even was said that the industry was only a “game”; that incompetent executives kept their eyes on the broker’s tape, while corps of associates in the factories were ready to play the “game” for all it would stand.