ded by the Rhine on the
west and the Russian frontier on the east have been in the habit of
considering our national Uncle as a superficial sort of an old geezer;
but the way he has taken hold of his automobile business proves that
they have another good think coming. He hasn't overlooked a thing. Hard
by his big new factory there is an "organization ground," a "salvage
ground," a supply depot, and what is perhaps most important of all, the
headquarters of a highly trained technical staff.

This is a staff of experts; not self-styled experts, but the real
thing--big men in the automobile business representing all the important
motor factories in the United States. Some of these experts inspect the
broken down machines and pieces of machines in the salvage grounds, and
report whether the wearing out process was due to a chauffeur's
mishandling of the car, to the use of poor material in its construction,
or to something wrong in its original designing.

Working "On the Ground"

If it is the chauffeur or mechanic who was responsible, he, wherever he
is, is hauled up on the carpet. If the fault is found to lie with the
factory in the States that turned out the machine, the representative of
that company on the board of experts reports the facts to the home
office himself, with recommendations for future betterment. In making
out his recommendations for a car of a new design, peculiarly fitted to
traffic and combat conditions in France, his co-workers on the board
lend him their assistance. In this way defects in cars are detected "on
the ground" and the responsibility placed at once, so that future errors
of the same sort will be avoided.

This is, in brief, the journey that lies before an American made auto
shipper, say "F.O.B. Detroit." Knocked down, or unassembled, it is
packed and put aboard a transport at "an American port." It makes the
same voyage that we all made to "a French port," gracefully thumbing its
nose at any passing submarines. At the port it is assembled, painted,
duly catalogued and numbered, and given a severe once-over and several
finishing touches by the experts of the technical staff and their
assistants.

For Emergency Calls

Having passed this examination, it is loaded with supplies--for even a
car has to carry a pack while traveling--and headed towards the interior
under charge of a picked crew of mechanics, who try it out under actual
traffic