Car Ownership in United States Expanding; Most Own Fords, June 25, 1919

1919 Ford Model T. Nearly four-fifths of automobiles owned by Americans in 1919 were Fords.

From The University of North Carolina News Letter, June 25, 1919

Motor Cars in the U.S.

The New York Times of Feb. 2, 1919 published a table showing the number of registered cars in the states of the Union on Dec. 30, 1918 and the increases since 1914.

When the present year opened, there were nearly 6 million motor cars in the country at large. Reckoned at the minimum figure of $600 apiece, they represented an investment of more than three and one half billion dollars.

The actual value is nearer $5 billion, but we chose the smaller estimate in order to rank North Carolina with the other states in the table. Nearly four-fifths of our cars are Fords.

During 1917 and 1918 the American people bought two and a quarter million motor cars. These figures indicate an immense increase in motor truck industries, because the manufacture and use of passenger cars were abandoned or greatly decreased during the last two years of the war. The prompt delivery of short-haul, cross-country freight in small quantities is developing a tremendous demand for motor trucks.

Tractors and motor trucks will play a great part in transportation in the future. The gas engine is working a very miracle of change in transportation in sky and sea, as well as on land. In consequence we are just entering upon a great new industrial era, as the street car and railway magnates are learning.

The South Leads

Another thing worth noting is the demand for cars in agricultural areas. The greatest increase in the number of cars during the last five years has been in the farm states—the South leading. The Rocky Mountain states, the Middle West, the North and East follow in the order named. The country over, the increase in the number of cars was nearly 4-fold, but in the South the increases range from 5-fold in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and New Mexico, to 10-fold in Mississippi and Louisiana, and 16-fold in Oklahoma, which leads the whole United States in automobile increases. The only other conspicuous increases occur in Wyoming and Idaho, a 7-fold in the first state and 10-fold in the last. It is conclusive proof that the war has made the farm states rich, and that the farm states have gained most under war conditions, or at least that agricultural surpluses are more evenly distributed than industrial or commercial surpluses. This fact explains the low rank of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Manufacture enriches the few, agriculture enriches the many.

Automobile Wealth in the U.S. Per Inhabitant in 1918

Based on the Official Registration Figures of the States—New York Times, Feb. 2, 1919

S.J. Calvert, Northampton County, University of North Carolina

Average for the United States $34.20

Nebraska, $88.84 average per inhabitant

Iowa, $88.32

South Dakota, $68.53

New York, $67.82

Montana, $61.83

Kansas, $59.58

California, $55.46

North Dakota, $53.47

Wyoming, $51.84

Minnesota, $51.45

Arizona and Michigan, $50

Indiana, $47.75

Ohio, $47.48

Wisconsin, $47.16

Oregon, $44.99

Washington, $43.32

Nevada, $41.76

Idaho, $41.48

Colorado, $41.39

Connecticut, $39.60

Illinois, $36.95

Utah, $35.98

Vermont, $34.02

Maryland, $33.86

Delaware, $33.37

Texas, $32.61

Maine, $32.33

Missouri, $32.21

Oklahoma, $30.35

Florida, $30.07

Rhode Island, $28.79

Massachusetts, $27.64

New Hampshire, $27.50

Pennsylvania, $25.24

New Jersey, $25.12

New Mexico, $23.19

Georgia, $20.26

South Carolina, $20.01

Virginia, $19.39

North Carolina, $17.57

Kentucky, $16.41

Tennessee, $15.89

West Virginia, $15.43

Arkansas, $13.87

Louisiana, $12.51

Mississippi, $11.99

Alabama, $11.56