World's Record

Walter P. Chrysler, super-mechanic, has been much laughed at.

He achieved an immense reputation as the man who took the Buick Motor Co. from a production of 40 to one of 560 cars per day. He added to it by pushing the Willys-Overland Co. out of its post-War depression. He was about to crown it, thought the public, when the Maxwell and Chalmers Companies asked him to drive them round a perilous curve which overlooked bankruptcy. His salary was quoted at almost fabulous figures--$100,000, $200,000, even $500,000.

Then, two years ago, it was announced that Mr. Chrysler would manufacture a new car, his namesake. In spite of everything, people laughed. A new medium-priced car could not possibly stand the already fierce competition.

The natty little machine appeared--with its crest like the helmet-wings of Scandinavian gods. It was discussed, approved. Last week, the report for 1924 announced 32,000 cars made and sold. "Your company," said Mr. Chrysler to stockholders, "has established a record for the industry, no other car ever having sold in such large volume during its first year."

The directors of the Maxwell Motor Corporation met in Manhattan. They gladly capitulated to the triumph of their foster-baby, the Chrysler car. They announced the formation of a new concern, the Chrysler Corporation, to take over the properties and assets of Maxwell.

But it would not be safe to predict that the career of 49-year-old Walter Chrysler had reached its climax. Ordinary men, says Mr. Chrysler, achieve ordinary success by honesty, fair ability, hard work. "But men who get very far ahead have some other qualities. Some are idea-resourceful. They possess imagination. They dare to take a chance and be different. They are willing to tackle anything." That, with mechanical expertness, explains Walter Chrysler. The new U. S. city is one of his ideas--rail traffic underground, motor traffic on viaducts, no street cars, no elevated railroads; electric refrigeration in all homes--no ice men; automatic heat regulators; radio-education; branch stores with consolidated delivery systems. The answer to a letter posted in the morning will be received the same, afternoon as it is in many large cities.

These are the ideas of a man who knows he is living in a world which has revolutionized every decade. But Walter Chrysler does not get excited. He has learned to appreciate the beauty of Persian rugs. He knows a Shiraz from a Kulah. He possesses one of the finest collections of rugs and needlepoint tapestries in the U. S. Some collectors would hang such things in cold galleries. "I walk on mine," said Chrysler to a friend, "and enjoy them."