Evening Star Newspaper, October 31, 1924, Page 16

UNIFORMS AND PLAIN CLOTHES APPEAR SAME TO. SPEEDERS —_— Reporter Finds, However, That ““Village Constable® System Makes Law Violation Trifle More Difficult. Uniformed wraffic police the civillan clothed, allas “spy tem” or “town constable” system. That is thé controversy that has been wag- ing warm in police and automobile circles for some weeks, ever sirce the mounted traffic officers have been ynt out at certain periods with civil- fan clothes. The “outraged” motor- ists who have been caught have been protesting, backed by the auto clubs presumably because when a uniform- ed man falls in behind them they can see them in their mirrors. When he is in mufti, nobody notices him Whether the police themselves like it or mot, they have to do it. and this matter will not be discussed here. Two Sides of Controversy. The P Department points out the good results in cutting down speeding, and the motorists protest that it has been found ineffective in other communitic To get the inside of the situation a Star reporter selected Milton D. Smith of No. 4 precinct, president of the P’o- licemen's Association, and after the sary formalities of getting per- on from the head of the Police Department to accompany a _police- man in a police vehicle, started out. “Well,” said Smith, as he started ad a lot of complaints about the speed of these big trucks. They have governors on the carbure- tors, and the. 't go faster than 12 miles an hour. They beat us in court time and in on But just kecp your eves open, the first truck we get just listen.” Smith turned into Third southwest and there ahead big truck. Smith w: 38 miles. but the truc him. He set his recording h Across B street, across Maryland avenue Maine avenue and Missouri Smith stopped him before he heavy traffic at Pennsylvania avenue. lice treet was a ing out leaving Didn’t Know Speed Limit. Do you know the spee for this size truck.” asked ficer? How much' is it in Maryland?" ‘Fifteen miles an hour. How much was 1 doing?” Just 20 miles an hour, oflicer. said the t see how I could be doing said the chauffeur. has a governor and it won't go more than 12 miles an hour.” The policeman smiled and di ed the man to 4, where he put up $20, and the truck was laid up a couple of hours while arrangements were made to get it. . Leaving the station and heading west to Iighth street at 12 miles an hour. the officer saw a fine-looking automobile shoot past the intersec- tion of D street at Seventh. Smith stepped on it, sped up Vir- avenue, then north on Seventh By the time he had covered that territory the speeder was well toward B street southwest. Thirty miles an hour the recording hand reads. At B street, where the market traffic is heavy, the speed hand drop- ped back to 28. He caught the speeder, gave him an invitation card to No. 1 précinct and left him We headed southwest again, ging along. A two-ton truck, laden, almost jumped a crossing. Smith caught him and took him to.No. 4, where the coal man left $20 and the load of coal remained out- side the station house for several hours. Everybody caught said he “wasn't going that fast” but the tell-tale speedometers of the police, checked up regularly, say differently. Per- haps the drivers never read their own speedometers, or else there is a lot of them that need repairing and calibrating. And so it goes on through the day, until both reporter and policeman turn in at 4 o'clock, dust-laden and confident that a few speeders will lighten their feet on the accelerators in the future. They all forfeit, except one who stands trial. But the judge fined him $10 and warned him, the Maryland truck driver, that he can't come over here and dash through the streets. Next day is Civilian Clothes day. Automobiles are dashing around. We head for Pennsylvania avenue, e jog- coal nd. { crossed the| limit here | the of-| “This | doing 18. A delivery truck rumbles along, passes us, making pretty good time. We get his speed immediately. Twenty-six miles, reads the recording hand. Along we fly, in traffic and out. The driver, who didn't know a cop was_following him, gets a ticket, after protesting that he couldn’t have been going that fast, though he nassed every passenger vehicle on the Avenue. We head along Maryland avenue. Tust before reaching Four-and-a-Half street a big sedan turns into the venue and the driver steps on the as. He hasn't looked to see whether any cne that even looks like a police- man is around. He does 26 across street_intersections. He has no per- mit. Has been warned before. Didn't think he was going that fast. No, he couldn’t have been. Lady in car protests. But the reporter observed, during the time the car was Dbeing trailed, +that the man had looked eter. He gets a ticket. Stop Government Truck. Then we pick up a government truck—a truck from the naval alr station. He's passed every passenger car ahead of him, and yet when h: is caught he protests that he couldn’t possibly have been going that fast He gets a lecture to the effect th the people of the District of Colum- | bla.who pay the taxes have to abide | by the speed laws, and that the ko ernment must do so. His name taken for future reference. We then head for Water street. we reach the railroad viaduct a s sedan heads east. The driver looks behind and sees a motor cycle. But a colored man is on it. He knows he n't a policeman, and his foot drops heavily on the gas. He has passed the policeman close at hand going in the opposite direction, but turns around. By that time the speeder has covered two squares. We knock out a few fast miles, and get | a hundrea feet behind him at Eighth street southwest. The recording hand then set. On he rambles, across Zighth street, Seventh strget, Sixth street, Four-and-a-half street. The hand shows 30 miles. At Third street he is directed to the curb. The policeman dismounts, shows his badge | and informs the motorist he is a | member of the Metropolitan Police | Department. Usual formalities of dis- | playing permit, and he is directed to | the’ police station. Of course, says | the driver, he wasn't going that fast In the process of booking it turns |out he is an Army officer, attached to the general staff at the War De- partment. Nothing of his identity is | known until then. Wants to be p: roled to get his collateral. Smith takes responsibility and he is leased on that responsibility, provid- ed he promises ta return before 4 o'clock with collateral. Promise Released. On v out of door, be- hind policeman, mumbles something. I'oliceman says nothing. As officer is |about to start his motor cycle man comes up to him. “Do you work under Col. Sherrill?" ries the prisoner. o, sir; we are Metropolitan po- 11, I want your name and num- ber. am going to make trouble out of this.” “Well,” says the policeman, “you can come right back in the station house now and they will give you my name and number “It is not necessary to do that” says the prisoner. “I can make the report.” ‘No. You are under arrest now, and you can go back in the station house and remain there until you get some one to bring your collateral.” The prisoner. didn’t appreciate the courtesy extended him. While starting his motorcycle Smith sees a.small car coming down Sixth street, across the intersection. We fall in behind him after a couple of squares and the hand is set. It reads 24. The man runs-over on the wrong side of the street and nearly runs another car, coming in the opposite direction, to the curb. He is stopped. Left his permit at home. Officer asks him if he can get it. Admits that he has no permit. Just bought the car half an hour before and hows bill of sale. Car still has old “Pledged to Quality” 14th St. at New York Ave. Tailored to tha college loungy and Specially Priced Suits For Men and Young Men fellows—suits skillfully draped— t accepted ideal of that are shades of London lavender, Grecian gray, mouse gray and game heather brown, also of serge. In two single-breasted wide-wale blue and three-button and_ two - button double-breasted models. Specially Priced O’C Including the “GUARD,” a half- single or double breasted—44 inches long—semi- wide collar—developed in rich- belted coat, looking all-wool oals fabrics. < Goodman & Suss Rochester Tailored Clothes everywhere but down at his speedom- Smith | | re- DN vorable comment as policeman drives oft. He's lucky. He didn’t have to go right to the police station as others had done. That finishes the day. Just from a couple of days, the observer finds that it doesn’t make any difference wheth- er the policeman is in uniform or not. It might be safer for the speeders to have him in uniform. They wouldn’t have to slow down then to see whether the man on the motor was a policeman or just a real civilian. But there's speeding and plenty of it re- gardless of whether a cop does or does not wear his uniform. Only the more flagrant violations are picked ap. There could have been a lot more on both days. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1924.' - PEPPERMINT OIL NOW USED TO TEST BQILERS Many Acres of Land Utilized for Cultivation of Plant With Pungent Odor. tags. Seller told him he could run for three days on them. Police doing good work. Catch a man breaking four traffic regulations, half an hour after he purchases car. Warrant to be issued for man who sold car. Lay requires him .to turn dead tags into Traffic Bureau. Head up Third street, man is behind the bars. Get behind a couple, but they spot Nice big sedan coming down the street. Looks like a new car. Man is proud of her pick-up. So is policeman. Gets the hand on him. He's knocking out 24. Street is crowded with vehicles. Six blocks of this is enough. Policeman signals him. Itvis' a member of the bar. Policeman recognizes him then. Man keeps on driving. Policeman asks him to please go to the curb. Man keeps on. Policeman makes an- other request. Nothing doing. He's going ahead. Policeman places mo- tor cycle directly in front of him, and driver shouts madly at policeman, saying that he will drive to the curb if policeman wants him. Shows permit. Says it's spite work. But the policeman has been looking up others all day long for the same thing. “Have you a registration card?” “I have got everything they give me,”" shouts the lawyer, _angrily, as he looks everywhere for the card. It isn't there. He gets a ticket, and makes a lot of unnecessary amnd unfa- exceeds 4,000 acres. Peppermint, as|tain the a flavor, is today in great demand | fertility. everywhere. - The peppermint me In September the crop is cut wit say this is largely owing to its use|® MOWing machine in the manutacture of chewing gum 1 Ol1 of peppermint is now also em- | ployed to tegt steam boilers. If the|p .. .0 p, odor escapes, it indicates that the| Timid boiler is unsafe. A bailer that will | ticket for hold the smell of the oil is said to|that be capable of holding any pressur:| Ag to which it is ordinarily subjected. Company ravely)—M: Peppermint is raised on marsh land | you that in all the time this formerly given over entirely to the | has been in s e——and that cover production of hay. The land is used ax number of not once has « uver and over again for the same|gone to th kind of crop without rotation, though | ‘'Oh, then muriated potash is employed to malin- | me hive sofl in the desired state of Safety Assured. (about And rsday perfec the Ocean Grevho after this to by is the From the Baltimore Sun. 1fe Gum-chewers have so increased in numbers that the demand for pepper- mint flavoring extract for gum re- sults in a constantly increasing price therefor. ' The acreage In the nroduction of the plant in two Michigan counties botto; must be all right bin, please.” SATURDAY MORNI November 1st S8AMtollP M > Horn 3#‘?». 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