STANDARDS OF VALUE

Few things could have attested the importance of the automobile in America as well as the interest that has attended the opening of the annual National Auto Show in New York this week. The significant trends and the plans of each manufacturer have been widely published and the most obscure potential purchaser is well supplied with abundant information. There is one factor, however, that is interesting on several scores for its absence rather than for its appearance, and that is the element of economy. Miles per gallon claims, so recently the source of heated rivalries, have become as unfashionable as four-cylindered engines or high-pressure tires, and are ignored by the great bulk of advertisers.

The reason probably is that this part of the upkeep cost has become too insignificant to figure in the computations of most buyers. Not only has the price of gasoline remained nearly constant while the national income has risen considerably, but the prosperity that has come upon the auto industry has so increased the value of the dollar spent in purchasing a car that the smaller fractions of it saved in such ways lose their significance. Probably the most important consideration of all is that higher consumption of gas brings increased power, and it is not without its significance in America today that this should be worth more even than gold.