Evening Star Newspaper, December 24, 1922, Page 32

URGED TO GUARD PEDESTRIANS N. M. A. in Letter to District Motorists Outlines Ten Problems in Interest of Safety First. In a letter and statement issued to its One of the large contributing fac- tors to accident$ is the parking of THE SU. Y Down the Road. i STAR, WASHINGTON OTORS and D. €., DECEMBER 24, 1922-PART .3. DEALERS URGED Many Dealers Meet INDIANAPOLIS, Ind., December 23. —"“Quit trading used cars that you TOBE AUTIOUS TRADING IN USED AUTOMOBILES Waterloo in Stocking Up With Second-hand Cars, Says Association Manager. the rate of about fifty a 2 dealers had 2445 used cars on v. These |at { members and motorists generally i cars too near ‘he intersecion of | e e vi - throughout the District, the National| (yrles’ The District regulation pro- can't sell quickly” is the advice given | 1and on December 1. which they had Motorists' Association has outlined ten | vides for a clearance of twenty feet to-automobile dealers by C. A. Vane, | present actual market value of thes problems of a constructive character which should be looked after in the interest of safety first for all of the year. The points are: An immediate survey should be made and a chart prepared showing the loca- tions of accidents. This will determine where accidents occur in greater num- bers. An investigation and study should be made for the purpose of de- termining why accidents occur in greater numbers at these locations and Steps should be taken to eliminate any | torist is prohibited ~from using Ioneee they . T s, S e e D hess Iocations. | srects showla be Tightea.fox the pro- Z “As a means of remedying this con- are a number of used cars on tribute to accidents at these locations. 1f simply a question of congestion at these locations. then steps should be taken to relieve congestion. if possible, ar greater protection provided for both Ppedestrian and motorist. Right-of-Way Misnomer. The so-called “right:of-way” fs In most cases a misnomer and not always understandable in its operation. both by the pedestrian as well as the motor- ist. Pedestrians should cross streets at designated crossings. distinctly marked such, and his rights should be abso- Iateley protected at these crossings, and he'is to the street or_roadway between intersections it should be with he knowledge &S to what constitutes -he right of the street vehicles between | tntersections. t A more thorough marking of trafiic| nes_should be instituted throughout “he District. It IS a known feature of | <raffic psychology that the motorist wil | varlably adhere to the white paint or | 1.ent jaint lines on an asphait street .ch -are so Jaid out as to keep tratfc :n_alignment.” This has met with con- | ~iderable success in New York, Detroit, | 3 large traffic cen | TO SOLVE Treads and Chains FOUR-WHEEL BRAKES HELP from the street intersection. 1In many cases, however, cars are parked within two or three feet of the in- tersecting crosswall line, thus ob- structing the view of the street ve- hicle when approaching the intersec- tion. The District regulation should provide for a clearance of at least thirty feet at all . intersections throughout all of the Diatrict. The old-fashioned lighting system on many of our main traffic thorough- fares should be remedied at.once with modern lights, the same as any pro- gressive American city. If the mo- streets should be lighted for the pro- tection of all vehicular traffic as well as the pedestrian. No Lights on Bicycles. Bicycle drivers are required to show a light, but on many of our poorly lighted streets it is the ex- perience of motorists in this District that this regulation is not being ob- served, with resultant accillent to the bicycle rider and in many cases to. the occupants of the motor vehicle. A larger budget for street and highway_ improvements should be created for the District. The bad condition of streets is often a contributory cause of acci- National Motor Association has a list of locations in the outlying dis- tricts where guard rails should be erected and painted white, so as to be secn at night. and where the same methods used by stateshighway de- partments should be employed for the Complaints are being received at National Motor Association headquar- ters as to the recklessness of drivers of light delivery truck SKID PROBLEMS . Properly Handled xuidance and protection of ve-! | hicular traffic in the District. | UPON MOTORISTS: CHRISTMAS MORNING ISCORE “PREYING” IMICHIGAN 1923 AUTO TOUR 140 MILES HILL CLIMB More Than 100 Cars Already Listed for general manager of the National Au- tomobile Dealers’ Assoclation. “The dealer who might otherwise be reckoned financlally successful has met his Waterloo in his own used car department,” Vane declared. “Many dealers are now carrying used cars they will never be able to dis- pose of at anywhere near the price at which they were acquired, and the longer they are held the greater the < - dition—I do not suggest it as a ‘sure’ for the ‘used-car probfem mend that every dealer who expects to stay in this business and who hopes to make any rvoney out of it J will make a survey of the sales sibilities of his territory and deter- mine in his own mind just what used cars he can afford to take with a reasonable assurance that they can be disposed of. “This will not be a difficult problem. inety per cent of all the motor cars manufactured are being made by fif- teen manufacturers. The remaining 10 per cent are being made by 100 manufacturers. 1 have been in nu- merous cities of this country where from six to ten automobile dealers would be able to supply the volume of motor transportation for that com- munity, and find that there are any- where {rom ten to thirty dealers, all with a tremendous overhead and all trading their shirts off. The truth of the matter is, and it might just as well be aid now as any other time, there are too and too many so-called dealers in the business, and the public is paying for this, economic waste. “the automobile dealer must pay cash for all merchandise he buys { from the factory, and 90 per cent of his sales to customers are on time. Anywhere from 70 to S5 per cent of his total sales involve a used car trade in, and unless the dealer can acquire this used car at a price low enough to make a profit he is trying 1o row upstream without oars. med Car Figures Little an An “The bankers are no longer paying any great amount of attention to the used car’ as a resource in a application for bank credit BROKEN GLASS COSTLY T0 DISTRICT MOTORSTS N. M. A. Secretary Urges Policei and the faet many factorfes | ealer’s | |cars they estimat: i flat loss of $169.67 { the time there is added to this figur |the cost of conditioning the car | resale, the selling cost und the legit: ,mate items of overhead expenss | probably another $160.000 loss will be suffered, Fortystwo dealers reported the actuul value of the cars thé sam: = the acquisition cost. Forty-five eport misition cost lowe than t ctual market val but 165 dealers reported the acquisi tion cost higher than the present actual market value. at $844.64%, o to start with, By | market 1 They th nnot be moved 4t any aly from t have gu organization ive proper servi rigi pric | tories their | retused 1o | build the or even kind of an automu- s must e pric they arc | quick]. e price | high, for immediately customer v attracted to 4 new lof a lower new list price. and used car goes a-begging. i Would Make Buyer Pay. |, “There is no particular reascn the dealer should be the g taking a used car off the han, { the original buyer who mad |take. If the buyer sel d wrong car, let him pay for his take. There is no necessitr for vo | as a dealer to do it. If the owner ¢ that car wants one of your new ve hicles, let him leave his old car with |you to be sold for him at the bex price obtainable on the market, bu get his order | fore you make | ment with him. | Vane called the attention of ti= | Indiana dealers to the growing men- jace of legislation against the autc mobile, and urged the dealers and {tradesmen to strongly support th | state trade association, and “if thex |could qualify, to join' the Nationul | Automobile Dealers' Assoclation and {share in the big business d. {that is being provided thro: !service features of the association. | ERSKINE HEADS COMMITTEE. AR of South Bend, Ind # director of the National Automobil moved mainly 1o be moved nnot be too his is done the on . Greatly Miaimize Danger in Traffc |Forida citizens Denounce Event Next Summer—QCapital Is | Action Against Persons Responsic |\me o't svout cie- onis ne' i coms et dinner committée- ot N a1 { = mercial America today who regards | that a fation. The annual dinne: Streets. ble for Tire Menace. the used car as an_ asset. | will be held at the Hotel Commodore on Wet Acts of Fee-Grabbing Autoists’ Objective. { i ki { | i 1 “We are now making a survey of {in New York on January 91 Othe: d jehe used-car situation in Pennsyl- members of this committce arc: F. C i "ha ; vania. Of 3,100 dealers addresscd, Chandler. W. C. Durant, F. J. Haynes, Ofilc‘a’!s' } The “Michigan automobile tours”|fect long, over \?uh;xlimx::“:r:,pm':g °fd glass upon!compiete replies have been received 'R. E Olds, M. L. Pulcher and b8 . ; : el AL o “Michigan s | fect .o shintgon’s streets and letting t 252, lies are bei: turned | Rickenbacker. Why an antomobile skids is of in-| into use. cspecially in_continental annual trip for August, 1923, has|Dearly six feet e I s e enE kel ot Rep! e being returned ac terest to a motorist, but what to do | lSurcpe. XNot only can cars be stop- = o 2 = g inside in solid upholstered in |, S St icost 4 . T | cent skidding and what to do | ped more quickly, but they can be| Fee-grabbing officials who prey (been completely laid out and the en-| i,y Spanish leather, has two bed- | ¥ 3utomobile tires is a growing evil s ppoxent Skiddie o {0 | driven safely on wet davs and in ice fupon the motor tourists for petly tire route has been driven over LY|rooms, a combined living and dining i that should have police attention, 1s| G when the car is skldding are equally | and snow without chains. 1In stop- | (hile o o6 the law were dénounced |the general manager of the tours|Fo0m. bathroom and seat, bowl, lav- | the opinion of officials of the District | important topics, says B. J. Lemon of the United States Tire Company. The main cause of skidding of rear wheels of motor cars is due to the brakes operating through the rear wheels. Skidding, of course, nor-| mally occurs only when the roads are slippery. An automobile wheel rotates and progresses over the highway in but}] one direction or plane. This direc- tion for the rear wheels is determined by the front wheels under control of the driver. While the rear wheels grip the ground and rotate they con- trol the direction of the car. How- ever, as soon as the rear wheels are locked by the brakes they begin to slide. and as they slide sldewise prac- tically as easily as forward they lose the power to direct the car. Tt takes comparatively Ititle brake ping a car equipped with four wheel brakes all four wheels may slide and the car as a whole s!ip forward. How- ever, there appears to be little or no side skidding. This is especially true if the brakes are connected diagonally in pairs—that is, left hand front wheel and right hand rear wheel. With this arrangement op- posite wheels are able to roll freely, retaining their directing qualities. PEUGEOT SPEEDER WINS RACE OVER WILD COURSE Makes High Average on Sicilian " Route With, Sunbeam Car * Running Second. Andre PBoillot, driving a Peugeot with a four-cylinder Knight-type in no uncertain terms at a mass meet- ing of Florida citizens held at Clear- water, Fla., in response to a call Is- sued by the Clearwater Motor Club, affiliated with the A. A. A. Cltizens from Jacksonville, Tampa and St. Petersburg were present at the meet- ing. Citizers of Clearwater charged that arrests of motorists for petty offenses had been so flagrant and the so-call- ed costs In the case so high that tour- : ists were deliberately routing their trips =o as to avoid passing through Pinellas coun Hundreds of com- plaints had been filed regarding the abuse of the fee system by officials in this county, and when F. A. Parker, manager of the Clearwater Motor Club, called for a mass meeting to protest against methods in force in Pinellas county the courthouse was ltours, has announced that so many iited the cars to 210, and about 800 during the last four weeks. J. H. Brown of Battle Creek, Mich., who originated these tours under the title | of the Michigan Farmers’ automobile have asked to register for the fifth annual tour from Michigan to Wash- ! ington, D. C., and return, that he has| had to list more than 100 cars al- ready. = These trips have been attracting nation-wide attention, and the 1923 tour to Washington already has cars registered from nine states outside of Michigan. The manager has lim- tourists. This will he the greatest automobile tour caravan ever seen in the United Stat Proposed Route. The route will be from the George atory shower bath, folding tub and bath cabinet, dining table, writi; cooking range, | cabinet, kitchen sink, electric fan, ete. windows are The shad, linoleum and rugs estry upholstertd, spring cushjoned | chairs, wall: motor ger: travel , ha owout and the original alr has not been out of a single tire, New Road to Richmond. g desk with typ The floor is The beds are and_drop out Pullman car With such a load ed about s not had a single refrigerator, draped with covered There are with on each side of the body. It is intercsting to know that thi can equipped with provislons, twenty gallons' of water in the tapk. fifty pounds of ice in the refri gas tank full and with four 4.000 miles vardrobe, § ewriter. gas| kitchen fine with in the side the doors be fully | bedding, | gerator, | passen- this car has since July puncture or | { milk men division of the Natidnal Motorists Association. Declaring that each succeeding day brings to N. M. A. headquarters an increased number of complaints, and that the growing cost to car owners makes it imperative that the guilty be brought into court and prosecuted, the organization is e perfecting a plan While many articles of broken glase are found on the streets, the milk bu(l](-d_KePTs sto be the chief offender. according to Secretary R: & ageording Lo Secretary Raymond Beck Chether this “happens because try to carry too many bottles at one me or because con sumers do not care how they rid themselves of empty bottles, we are not prepared to say,” said Mr. Beck. “But we do believe attention to this by the police in the residential dis- “The Standard tricts of Conmiparison” When you buy a piece of eilverware bearing the mark “Sterling,” you know it is genuine. When you purchase an automobile bearing the vould soon reveal the guilty The motorists of the District are greeted with the information that the potsylvania section of the road to Richmond can now be avoided by using the new section north of Fred- friction to lock and slide rear wheels | engine. won the sixth Coppa Florio on slippery roads because there is|race, held over a wild Silician course little friction between the tire and |east of Palermo. on Sunday November the road surface. When once the|9. The French driver covered the dAriving wheels begin to slip the car | 268.5 miles in seven hours nine min- packed. = One Justice Impressed. One justice of the peace, whose “costs” in certain cases had been as high as $16.45, making a_fine of $1 parti While the remains of all sorts of glass containers play aquite a pro- minent part in increasing tire costs. it _is the dismembered milk bottle B. Horton farm at Fruit Ridge, and inight camps will be at Fremont and | Akron, Ohio Pitts- burgh, Uniontown. Cumberland, Hag- Jerstown, Md.: Frederick and Wash- name “Buick.” you are sure of getting the very best there is in motor car value, regardless of price. whic kept in motion by the force of seven secondsi. making an aver- inerti acting at the car's senter of gravity or mass. This forward mo- *ion is opnosed by the resistance of all four wheels on the ground, a re- sistance that is greater in the rotat- Tng front wheels than in the sliding rear wheels. Uniess the combined around resistance of all wheels tend- ing to stop the car acts on the same point as the Yorce of inertia tending to carry the car forward. there re- sults what is called a “frce couple,” which causes the car to skid or spin around. of more than fifty per sent of the]be made to induce the legislature to — > - - “Force Couple” and Skid. competitors. 5 pass a law turning all fines and costs | ficials, and these men are enthusiastic - A E GG e W|E\NE EATWEEEEEE O = After the wheels once start to slip,| For the sixty-seven miles of the |over to the state for road improve-|over the plan and will take charge "<‘- R A s rt M .\ - s i - A A = A <y 2 very small “force couple” will pro- duce skidding, and the skid distance ia dependent upon the magnitude of the “force couple,” which, in turn, de- pends on car speed and weight. Turn- g the front wheels in the direction the rear-wheel skid helps to re- ce skidding, because it reduces the itude of the “force couple.” Also riodically releasing and reapplying Ute brake so the rear wheels can get [grip offsets forward slip and conse- ent side skid. Two means are employed to pre- lent skidding in motor vehicles. The use of non-skid or rough-tread tires and of anti-skid chains. Non-skid tires are designed to give forward tion and to prevent side slip. As ng as there is traction the rear fheels will turn and as long as the r wheels turn there will be no rious side slip. unless the front ecls are blocked. Non-skid tires furnish reliability and safety In driving—reliability, in permitting the vehicle to operate suc- cesatully over almost any kind of road and during all seasons of the vear, and safety by permitting the | vehicle to hold the road at all speeds and sllowing the brakes to be most cffective. Non-skid treads on tires were first used on rear wheels and are mnow nsidered absolutely essential for such uses. Later non-skid tires were nlaced on front wheels, because the treads prevented front-wheel skid- ding, as well an permitting the rota- | utes age of 37.5 miles per hour. Second place in the race was won by H. O. D. Sergrave on a six-cylin- der Sunbeam one hour six minutes, behind the leader, and only one min- ute fifty-five seconds ahead of the third man Bequet, on a Knight sleeve- valve Peugeot. No others succeeded in going the entire distance within the time limit. Nine cars lined up at the start. ‘The race was of a most gruelling nature, the rough roads and fast pace being responsible for the elimination, circuit it is estimated that there are 1,600 distinct bends, the altitude varies from sea level to 3,400 .feet, and some of the stretches have a surface of such a nature that no rea- sonable motorist would consent to drive ;ver it at more tham six miles per our. BALTIMORE-MAY HAVE FIFTEEN-MINUTE PARKING Police Commissioner Drafts New Rule for Presentation to City Council. Special Dispatch to The Sta; BALTIMORE, December 23.—Police Commissioner Gaither announced that his proposed amendment to the city parking laws, including provision for a fifteen-minute parking limit in the business section, will be com- pleted next week and will be ready for _introduction in the City Council after the Christmas recess. Both the Automobile Club of Mary- land and the Retail merchants' Bureau of the Merchants' and the Manufacturers' Association are op- posed to the reduction of the limit of two hours now allowed automobil- ists for parting in the business zone. “The traffic stuation in the down- tion or exchange of the front and rear tires. Cheek to Rear Wheel Skid. A well designed, non-skid tread should give on rear wheels sufficient rward traction to permit the car 10 operate without chains under most road conditions and at the same time against side slip. It - o T e omooth response 1o | Proprictor—Easy enough to do that. The PHAETON . clutch accelerator and brakes. It | Whichever ones the customers pick out ‘Model No. 70 ¥ are back from the fip. must not greatly impair ease of steer- | 3¢ 15 cents._Life. = . ing when used on front wheels. It must not set up vibration in the car nor produce disagreeable humming roises. Non-skid chains accomplish the same purpose as the non-skid tire tread—that is, give additional trac- tion and reduce side slip. Non-skid chains should supplement non-skid tires only when road conditions ab- solutely require them < Because they make available in road friction the total weight of the car Instead of only half the car weight. four-wheel brakes are coming L e " Radiators and Fenders ANY EIND MADE OR REPAIRED. Cores installed o a 10 DIFFERENT IA"IS‘ ATORS. & K AT R e tion is becoming a seri problem.” said the commissioner. “A fifteen minute parking limit in this section would help to lessen the con- gestion.” — New Clerk—You say the articles in this basket are 10 and 15 cents? How can I tell them apart? e i Taranto & Wasman 1017 NEW YORK AVE. W.W. TRADE SCHOOL _ AUTO 'INDUSTRY LARGEST SOHOOL-IN THE Owners, Day_ and Evening Glasses. American Motor School 1613-1628 You St. Phone North 10400, and costs amount to $17.45, was suf- ficlently impressed with the purpose of the meeting as to promise to throw | out all petty cases coming before his court. He explained, however, that the deputles and other officials work- ed on fees, and that they would prob- ably continue to be zealous about making arrests until some action is taken to divert these fees to the use of_the state. Mr. Parker declared at the conclu- sion of the meeting that a concerted effort of Florida A. A. A. clubs would ment. He declared that the fee sys- tem is at the bottom of most of these petty arrests and that it should be attacked at its source. Fight on Fee System. ‘This question will come up in sev- eral state legislatures next year, ac- cording to A. A. A. national officials. There is a concerted movement in many of the states to eliminate that class of official who works on the so- called fee basis and to replace him | with an official who will give some [sbe divided int attention to the more serious trimes | committed in his community, and not | spend his time looking for some in- | offensive motorist whose tail light | happens to have gone out. American Automobile Association officials feel that Florida is to be con- gratulated for taking this forward step. —_— The Boss—We need a far-sighted man for that job, you know. Do you really think Jones is that sort? His Partner—Well, he and I helong to the same church and T've attended more than a dozen - Sunday school picnics with fiim and he’s never for- gotten his umbrella. The Boss—He'll do—Leglon Week: . Multiplied by 3. It is significant that Davig production for November and the first two weeks of Decem- ber trebled that for the same period a year ago. See the Davis—then decide. Rine Motor Sales Co., - 1612 14th Street’ |long grades and hairpin turns e ington. Returning the route will be by W of Uniontown, Wheeling, Zanesvill Columbus and Findlay Ohio. Th route both wa b tirely improved and there will be no detours on account of road construc- tion. Mr. Brown has arranged details at Washington for a fine camp and pro- gram for six days. He has conferred with the Department of Agriculture, Postmaster General, S.‘J. Lowell master of the National Grange, T. C. Atkeson, Washington representative of the National Grange, and other of- of: the program in_ Washington and give the tourists the time of their lives, Over a month has been de- voted to going over_the road by Mr. Brown and his new Reo Pullman car. The route has over 140 miles of | mountain drive each way, commenc- ing at the Uniontown speedway, the | foot of the west slope of the Alle-| gheny system, and ending at _the| foot of the east slope of the Blue| Ridge between Hagerstown and Fred- erick, Md. The mountain drive will o0 a two-day stunt each ixty-five miles teep and ach day. This will make an casy drive for the cars, as many of the drivers who have registered have had some experience in going up and down steep hills, including those members the tour to Pittsburgh, vear. The Reo Pullman ch Mr. Brown covered the route is an un- usual one in many respects. The body and Its complete equipment was designed and much of it personally | constructed by Mr. Brown. Has Speed Wagon Chassis. It is mounted on a Reo speed wagon chassis. The body is fourteen way, making about up and down more or less s “Built of the Best” $1195 ericksl the ro burg through Bo; fand Ashland into Richmond. affords a fairly good road through out the entire distance of 133 mllc: | is the report of the N. M. A. finder car which has just surveyed The touring bureau of the national association has printed com- ute. wling Green “This l 1 path is more frequently which is doing the groatest damage according to the N. M. A. secretary. Most glass is encountered in the out- Iying distrigts, he says. 3 “Let the drepping of glass upon o streets be an unpardonable offense. and letting it remain there a punishi able offense, and we will have found and Retail 1015 14th St. N.W. less plete tour cards showing all of the new | of the former and none of the latter,” route, tributi with milsages, et; jon. for free dis-{ is the way Mr. Beck sums up the matter. INCOLN Get Behind the Wheel Tke ease of mind and sense of security in driving a Lincoln endures from the minute you open the throttle until you Stanley H. Horner Dealer Mainh 5296