Evening Star Newspaper, June 28, 1925, Page 49

Varying Amounts of Impost Collected Lead Legislatures to Recognize Impor- tance of Interstate Regulations. BY WILLIAM ULLMAN. Upheld as a ptogressive form of automotive taxation on the one hand, and condemned as illogical and unjust on the other, the gasoline tax is be- coming sufficiently commonplace throughout the country as to suggest its influence in favor of the develop- ment of standardized legislation It has been demonstrated recently that States which never before dis played an active interest in the auto- motive affairs of other States havi followed the leader with the gas ta to a point where they are rapldiv get- ting into line and discovering that the day is past when States can be com- fortable in the isolation of their own peculiar laws. The custom in Missour! has been to grant the non-resident motorist 90 days of grace while touring the State. In Kansas the limit is 60 days. is & needless variation Jjoining States, but the advocates of uniformity of motor vehicle regula- tlons appear to be poweress to remedy it. But when Missouri adopted a 2 cent gas impost Kansas was quick to follow, having adopted a similar tax May 1, 19 Regardless of the merits or faults of the gasoline tax, it is belleved the States have come out of their shells and within a very short time will recognize that wide variations in laws cannot be tolerated. Because of the Bas tax, the States are watching each other closely and this tax is viewed generally as the logical basis for get- ting together on some of the other important features of automotive ad ministration Basis of Uniformity ‘The importance of the gas tax lies in its far-reaching effect as a basis for uniformity rather than in its value as a revenue producer. So long as the tax exists in some States and not in others, and so long as there is a variation in the amount of the tax between States, the reciprocal rela- tions between States are automatically violated. This condition tends to at- tract attention to other variations in motor car regulations. The fact that the speed limit in Maryland, being 35 miles an hour, ex- ceeds that in many other States, is of little consequence. The Marylancd motorist does not sense the need for uniformity with respect to speed until he gets arrested in some State with' a lower limit. It happens so in- frequently that the States do not take enough interest in the matter to fight for standardization of the speed laws. But what is the situation with the gas tax? The New Jersey motorist may be taken as a typical example of the far- reaching effect of the tax. With a car motor Jewett Coach vehicle | THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JUNE OTORS and Gas Tax Hastens Uniformity Of Motor Laws Among States that does but 10 miles to the gallon, he would pay 40 cents in tax for every 100 miles he travels In Arkansas, 30 cents for each 100 miles in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky. Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina and Virginia, and 20 cents per 100 miles in Alabama, Cal- ifornia, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mis® souri, Montana, Nevada, New Hamp- shire, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, West Vir- ginia and the District of Columbia. Any tourist from these States can motor through New Jersey for 15 days tax free. Unless he carries his own gasoline with him, which is very unlikely, motorist from New pa; s cents to Utah on every gallon of gas he uses while touring the latter State. The non-resident law of Utah, how- ever, provides that outsiders can motor for 90 vs tax-free. New York Gives Liberties. The non-resident law of New York provides for reciprocity, but under the new regime New York really gives the non-resident motorist from a gax- tax State more liberties than he re- ceives at home. Within 90 days the New York motorist could cover 3,000 miles in Utah. If his car did 10 miles to a gallon he would pay to the State a total tax of $10.50. A Utah motor- ist with the same kind of car could travel the same distance in New York and pay nothing to the Empire State for using its roads. These facts are not escaping the at- tention of the legislators, the motor vehicle officials and the motorists. In the Springtime rush of legislatures it was a common thing to hear other States mentioned in_discussions. A few vears ago if the doings of another State were brought up for discussion they were dismissed with the state- ment, “We're running our own State.” For years Connecticut has examined applicants for operator's license, but the plan has been consistently over- looked by other States. New York, progressive as it is in matters per- taining to the automobile, just now is getting under way with a similar sy tem. There is no Nation-wide agre ment covering approved headlight lenses, yet the gas tax has spread like wildfire. Registration Fees Vary. [ It is bringing the States together and proving that motor travel is Na- tion-wide. A motorist might travi through a State without knowing or caring what the regulations are with respect to lights, speed and condition of safety equipment, but it takes one trip to famillarize him thoroughly with the way the gas tax is handled elsewhere. Registration fees at present vary so widely that owners pay from $1 to $60 to register their passenger cars Upper centel for one year, the fee being computed on a varlety of factors, ranging from horsepower to age. These conditions have been permitted to exist because the average motorist from the outside rarely had occasion to take out a license. Natives were satisfled and perhaps did not even know that just across the line the licensing pro- cedure was utterly different. That fs not the case with the gas tax. The moment one stops for gas in Texas he pays a cent tax on every Study the newer lines of the Jewett Coach. Notice double belt moulding— the distinctive coloring in its permanent lacquer finish. It's a distinct departure A more beautiful Coach doesn’t exist ! It’s the greatest Jewett ever built. A car of beauty inside as well as out. You’ll think of the finest overstuffed farniture when you see the new type up- its soft huxury and forget wear and tear, for it’s as durable and strong as it is beautiful. Something new in a Coach? Precisely! Niceties neglected in Coach design until Jewett announced these wanted improvements. Sedan Comfort and Roominess WASHINGT 16th and You Streets—Potomac 772 Page-Jewett owners appreciate the value of our Wasson Motor Check, whick is part of our service equipment. Open Every Evening Until 9 DEALERS George C. Rice 1601 14th St. N.W. Alexandria Motor Company 117 N. Fairfax St., Alexandria, Va. gallon. ing 2 cents on every gallon in Penn- sylvania he is impressed immediatey. The Arkansas motorist who pays a 4- cent tax at home, feels he is being favored when he goes touring. The New York tourist, gasoline tax States, knows he is being given a taste of local legislation. With much of the Nation's attention many believe it will shortly open the eyes of the public to the unnecessary va- | Upper left: Peter de Paolo, winner of the recent Indianapolis race and a favorite for world championship honors. Earl Cooper, winner of the Charlotte race and a veteran speed driver. Upper right: Tommy Milton, 1921 champion, who threatens to garner a few more laurels this Lower left: Bennie Hill, winner of the Lower right: Harry Hartz, one of the Miller team, who stands third among the contestants for championship honors. Lower center: Bennie Hill in action on the Altoona speedway. ‘ulver City (Calif.) race last Fall. It he is accustomed to pay- will be taken. This movement already in reaching the |logical and unfair, and _their motorists the gas tax occupying so terstate motor traffic. {Copyright, 192! ‘The logical result—the finest Coach ever designed. A Coach for five—with seat room, leg room, knee room, foot room, so that five can ride all day in loungy com- fort. And your family or guests can enter or leave the front. Doors a yard wide and studied arrangement of Just Drive Jewett Coach 1¢’s the easiest parking—steering—driving Coach you ever touched. Parkseasily in a 16% foot space at the curb. Enters or leaves your garage from a 14- sbly in a 42-foot street. It’s a car that finds its way quickly into the graces of any woman driver, and a car that’s ready to do its 300 miles a day on the open Wholesale and Retail Distributor Motor Sales and Service Co. 2015 14th St. N.W, year. liolds world record for 250-mile board track. riations in motor vehicle laws and that a real step toward uniformity has started, and if the enemies of the gas tax succeed in proving that it is il- it will at least have played its part in nmlndln:l.hs States that boundary lines must sooner or later yield to the force'and necessity of in- / 28, 1925—PART 3. Racing Stars on Automobile Drivers Those steady-nerved, keen-visioned drivers have stepped into their spare- Iybuilt racing _automobiles at the starting line. The engines are run ning. The signal to start is given | They're off, now speeding, now merely driving, now racing madly down the course. A score of flying streaks they go hurtling around the track. which rumbles beneath them For two grueling hours those speed demons of the motor cou drive, drive, drive. There are mo ments of tenseness as driver crawls up on driver, passes him. and spurts ahead, with the occasional unfore spectacle of misfortune when victory seemed just ahead, and, perhaps, with | the hand of death reaching into that | line of shrieking motors as one leaps | from the track to place another name | on the list of martyrs to the sport| of sports. Then the last stretch. Every spark of determination and every drop of sporting blood in the veins of those | heroes of the track; every vestige of | power left in those tiny, superpower- | ful, speeding cars Is strained to the limit. The race is over. Another victor has been acclaimed by the | thousands who have witnessed the| race of a century. That in short is a sketch of every big automobile race that has ever been run. Such a spectacle is promised lovers of this sport of keemest thrills when the kings of speed unleash their mounts | on the new Washington Speedway, | near Laurel, July 11. 40 Miles an Hour “Back Number.” The days when 40 or 50 miles an hour in an automobile was traveling at breakneck speed have passed into fully as great as the when present From the days when the first horse- less carriage moved under its own power to the present high-powered cars is but slightly more quarter century, but scarcely any like period is crammed with a more re- markable development than this comparatively brief “motor age.” Hand in hand with the development of the motor car has gone the evolu- tion of a sport that bas no worthv rival for its grip on the popular imagination and its potency for thrill The history of automobile racing covers a short span of vears. Its be- ginnings are well within the memory of every man or woman for whom gray hairs are still a thing of the future. However, historians of the sport may disagree as to the time of the first event that may be accepted as_the initlal auto race, the time is Use of “Heater” Is Urged. If your car is equipped with a heater, use it as much as possible. In cutting out the muffler you save clogging this unit with carbon and you eliminate a little back pressure on the engine. There are many raw days even in Summer when the heater can be useful. It is better to| certainly not more than 30 years past. drive a heated car with the windows By some chroniclers of motor racing open than to sit in an unheated car | the honor of the first race is accord- with the cold air shut out. ed to the famous road contest pro- been State history, but such history holds thrills | the racing motors thunder around the | world's greatest tracks at an average | speed of well over 100 miles an hour. | than a| Laurel Track Portrayed in Word Picture Seen in Two Gruel- ing Hours of Hurtling Around in Picturesque and Thrilling Contest. moted by the Chicago Times-Herald in 1895. It was won by Charles E. Duryea in a field of 31 entries. But | the time was far from imposing. The run of 54 miles was made in 8 hours minutes—more an endurance than 1 speed test. Record of First Road Race. The records of the American Autc mobile Association set down the first roud race in this country as the one held by the Automobile Club of Amer. ica on Long Island, April 14, 1900 Its route was from Springfield to Babylon, o distance of 50 miles, and was won by A. L. Riker, in an electric in 2 hours 3 minutes 30 seconds. Fast? It was then, but speeders on our pop- ular highways would now smile at such creeping. But such is progress Racing on one-mile dirt tracks rep- resents the next step in the racins gam 1900 meets were held Newport, R. 1 Chicago, Trenton, J.. and other places. The record of that period was set by A. C. Bostwick in « Winton, which he t les on the Gut tenberg tr 5 minutes 9 1.5 sec onds, setting a pace of a mile in 1 minute 45 seconds. The follow ing vear the mile record was reduced siderably when Alexander Winton de the distance in 1 minute 6 2-5 But this record was not to and long. Henry Fournler the same year negotiated the mile in 51 4-3 conds on the Coney Island boule- vard, where was made the first at- tempt at straightaway racing in this country The real start of the racing era is |fixed by C. G. Sinsabaugh, writer and authority on motor racing, as_the | Ormond-Daytona beach race in Flor 1802, when “Sena gan, now a dealer in Newark, N. J.. promoted a speed car nival. Winton in_his famous Buller |fell short of the Long Island record with his time of 52 1.5 seconds. Famed Florida Beach Tests. The Florida beach races gradually leaped into fame, and it was there that W. K. Vanderbilt, jr., January 27, 1904, in his Mercedes, made a mile {in 39 seconds, setting thereby a world's record. A year later, H. L Bowden bettered that time by driving the mile in 31 15 seconds. Prior to January, 1904, Henry Ford held the unofficial mile record by making the mile in 39 2.5 seconds on the ice at Lake St. Clair. Records continued to fall, and in 1906 Frank H. Marriott, in a Stanle steamer, turned the mile in 28 1-5 sec onds, at the rate of nearly 128 miles an hour, a remarkable achievement in view of the fact that it has been but slightly lowered in the intervening 19 vears. An outstanding feature which has been closely linked with the progress ntinued on Tenth Page.) 1260 B OB Dutselt, sar axtrs. HrydromBic four-wbaal beskes (Lock hoadtpped at dight extra cost Alluring new beauty—restful roominess—vitality irresistible! 5 to 25 miles an hour in 7 seconds in high! From a mile an hour, without bucking, to a mile a minute mluathmlgiwblock. That’s the kind of performe ance you buy in Jewett Coach. Performance that Endures Jewett motor—the biggest motor ever put into a mod- d:emm car—is full, high-pressure oiled, even to Just drive Jewett Coach yourself. Get acquainted with this car that is daily amasing mw.qt:hounnh. Whether you need a new car or not, the thrill of riding mjnmwvmbmpod.mm—' 3 call or phone for a Jewett Coach at your door. 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