Evening Star Newspaper, July 11, 1926, Page 53

MOTORILLS CURE Baughman, Maryland Official, Says Severer Penallies Only Other Means. . Moral suasion or more and more and severer and severer penalties— which way will motorists’ actions make the pendulum swing? Propounded by E. Austin Baugh- % man, Maryland motor vehicle com- missioner, this question is one receiv- ing widespread attention and the Maryland official himself, with years of experience behind him. admits that he is not yet confident that an answer is now available. He points out that: “The present idea of automobile regulation, notwithstanding the opin- fon of many laymen to the contrary, is based largely upon dependence upon a ‘right mental attitude of the vers.” Education Is Good. *““The policy of the automobile ad- ministrative department has been not merely to administer the motor laws justly and to perform the daily routine of collecting revenues for highway maintenance, but to educate the public and, as far as is possible, to humanize the relations of this State agency with the people who ereated it declares Commissioner Baughman. “This is best accomplished at all times not alone by making the agencies, of the department readily accessible to the people and by giving publicity to the various phases of mo- toring and their proper treatment, but also by endeavoring especially to make an appeal for effective co-opera- tion so that the seamy side—dealing with convictions for violation of the law, the imposition of penalties, the investigation of irregularities and dis- ciplinary work of all kinds—will be resorted to as infrequently as pos- sible. _ “At the same time there remains uppermost the question of how long not only the administrative officials, ito whose hands this whole matter « 18 placed, but also how lorig the people of Maryland, in common with ‘those of other States, can afford to go on killing and maiming and destroying before we become satisfied that the “‘educational’ theory of regulation. is either sound, or—worthless. Conditions No Better. “In the five and one-half months of the present year 102 persons had been killed in automobile accidénts up to Jhe middle of the present week. When it is figured that this is one person more than were killed in nine and one-half months of last year, the fact that conditions are not improving be- comes plain. ‘“The vast majority of these killings was due to absence of the ‘right’ per- sonal attitude. “Shall we keep on exhorting and N begging for personal attitude improve- ment in the use of automobiles until the Legislature of 1927 convenes, in the hope that by that time betterment of conditions will be so marked that further drastic enactments will be un- called for? “Or shall we try to get improve- ment sooner by tightening up, and, through absolutely drastic repressive application of the present statutes, foroe motor vehicle operators who are involved in‘even minor accidents off the highways by suspending or re- voking their licenses? Golden Rule Necessary. “Only the army of several hundred thousand Maryland motorists can give the answer, and I do not hesitate to Y say that it would be a marvelous re- Hef to all enforcement and safety fostering agencies if, as one man, they—the motorists—would demon- strate that the present laws are ade- quate, through obeying them in both :'QGI' and spirit,” says Commissioner In this connection he added that, 80 far as the regulation in the small- er town sections is ‘concerned, the (limited number of State officers makes it absolutely necessary that thoughtful and careful motorists help out by spreading the “Gospel of the Golden Rule of the Highways.” In eonclusion, Col. Baughman de- clared: “Speeding and recklessness _must stop! In addition, observation of the so-called minor regulations dealing with the ‘right of way,’ proper ob- servance of the law’s requirements for properly adjusted non-glaring headlights, and the prohibition of driving with only one headlight— which is extremely dangerous as well as being a source of great annoyance + to other drivers—must be and is going to be enforced stringently. “The highways of Maryland, con- gested as they are, still can be used with safety if only the rule of reason is applied. Of course, more vehicles are using the roads this year than ever before. In view of this, it may be that the accident increase is no greater than might be expected, but it is greater,j when it ought to be less.” g . Exports of tire repaif material from the United States in 1925 passed the $1,000,000 mark for the first time and totaled $1,103,637, as compared with 21,001 in 1924, $338,902 in 1923 and 310,034 in 1923, John Smith and Histé.r o BY FREDERICK C. RUSSELL g John Smith il:e: .‘:Ihumr whom every motorist should welcome. He is ‘mot selfish; rat e il a motoring martyr, a chap yiflimm : ba loited, in an interesting way, his experiences for n-:'n'?éo'.'&» or more other members of the motor clan. B No. 138—Sizing Up Other Cars. Ynu don’t have to own every car on the market to know what each will do in the way of performance and give in the lie ¢f service. This was the conclusion Smith reached after a recent observation test. It began when 1 called attention to the way the treads of tires were wear: ing on cars that still used two wheel brake: “You've been wondering whether good four-wheel brakes save rubber, I reminded him. ‘‘Well, here is your answer, Just tompare the tires on the various cars as we Eo along. There is a car with 5,000 miles on the speedpmeter. Obviously the original set of tires is beforé you, and each tire §s on its original wheel. Yet note the way the rear ones are worn. The particular design of this car and the arrangemént of the braking control is such that drivers tend tp brake more than is necessary. I'm not criticizing the design of the car, but if you are interested in knowing how the tires wear with it, here is your answer. Test Car With Brakes. “If you were going to buy this car, after seeing what you see, I think you would be sensible enough to learn to apply the brakes in greater .modera- tion. That is one of the real advan- tages in knowing as much as possible about all cars. It helps you know how to'adjust yougself to the car that) you own.” The car just in front of this one was equipped with four-wheel brakes and yet very much the same condition ex- isted with respect to tire wear. It was apparent that this was the result of unequal brake action. This sy gest two possibilities: either brakes were inherently bad in design or the owner was neglecting them., We quickly discarded the latter alte native when we noted the rest of the car. It was spic and span, and there was every indication that it went to the service station for regular at- tention. . I warned Smith against drawing conclusions from individual case: suggesting the advantage of bas ing results upon averages. a car is struggling to make a certain hill in high gear, it stands to reason that there may be many things the matter with it other than general in- feriority. Its driver may a dub. But it 9 out of 10°of !Y::b:.d::l ::; have the same way, O have to buy one to find out what it will do in the way of hill performance. Each make of car has its peculiari- ties. Now and again some one will be fortunate enough to obtain one wit these peculiarities less pronounced. But if his praise of the car is taken as a rule that applies to the whole family bearing that trade name, one is making the same mistake as in in- ferring faults in design from indi- vidual instances. For some queer reason there is a tendency to discount the great difference between cars that would seem to be identical in design, but ‘those differences exist never. theless. For six years the engine of a popu- iar make of car h:l b.‘c‘n klu‘bg:cot“‘!; an anpnoying popping bacl the carburetor when being started. Sticking valves were an, annoyance for nearly as many years. Many own- ers of the cars, and of course the trade interested in selling it, any such general characteristics, the observing. motorist ~like Smith could make up his mind about it easily enough. These cars can heard in the pangs of starting any hours of the day in a city. And it one were sitting by the road near the top of a hill in the days when these cars were having most of their trou- ble with sticking valves ome could hear them running on five cylinders instead of ‘he full six. Story in Acceleration. “Acceleration,” 1 told Smith, “is the simplest matter of all to determin In traffic every one I8 trying to get by you, and if you will. note the makes of cars that are getting by and those that fail you will have a splendid pio- ture of their relative virtues in this respect. A thing that makes this test 80 accurate is that most drivers force their engines, seldom retard the rk and step hard on the gas when. ever they want to get by. In other words, they give their éngines all they have and if there is no response. you can make up your mind the cars in question are, as a class, slow. “Observe. also the great difference between models. Often there is as much difference between this year's 1 and last as there is between makes of cars. Another interesting feature is the difference in - ance between open and ol Jobs of the same make. BATTERIES , Sales Service AUTO ELECTRICIANS Julius H. Rieley 656.58 Pa. Ave. SE. Your ‘Vamiahed for $9 to [@S “Suppose you find that the closed jobs climb hillx in an astonishing way. lan’t it reasonable to syppose that the roaditer model may be con- siderably . ovai'poyered and that it thight easily cause rear ead trouble? Suppose, on the other hand, the closed Job is a failure on hills. This may mean that the open car is designed for very little margin of surplus power, with the result that when it is old it will not be much of a hill climber. “At the garage or filling station where you buy your supplies it is easy to get a line-on the gas mileage of all the popular cars. “*You don’t have to own all the cars to know them itimately. Nor do you have to take their owners’ word for it when you want to know specific faots. Just stop, look and reason.” Crowa Sedan 2095 {ANTI-SIGNBOARD - TRUSADESTANTED Gov. Ritchie Wil Be Asked to . Permit Obstructing Trees Along Roads, . BALTIMORE, July 10,—~Planting of trees_along State highways to elimi- nate signboards will be recommended to Gov. Albert C, Ritchie by State Forester Besley. , A law la now on the statute books ptrnmuuf‘nu planting of trees, and all that now necessary is public Interest and a small appropriation necessary to plant them, ley sald Other methods of eliminating the signboard nuisance have heen tried, Besley said, objections. Relatively few trees, rted, would be needed, because w Unch upreme NEW CHRYSLER “70” PRICES $1445 $1395. $.50 + 1628 © 1528 100 1795 1698 100 - " 1865 - 1745 120 : 1698 ; 1545 150 gal Sedan 1995 1795 200 _All prices f. 0. b. Detroit, s e Chrysler sesvice have unrestricted vision to read the’ fs, et i o apart on roads would serve to make the boards useless, in Besley's opinfon. , ‘While elimination of signboards would an incidental benefit, Mr. Besley said, the main reason for his desire to plant trees is to improve the scenic effects now enjoyed in parts of the State. g Other State officials sald that the planting of trees would have little or no effect on signboards.- The best way to eliminate “them, they said, is through tion. An exorbitant tax, they declared, could be. placed on the erection of signs, and this would quickly elim- inate hmhfl:‘ of them. Mr. Besley said that. while planting of roadside trees would pattly shield some of the signs, the State Road Commission is now experiencing dif- ml!y. in that it has no jurisdiction r the placing of signs on trees now planted just outside of the State’ right of way. Signboard operators, it is said, could easily move their signd from behind the trees {f théy were planted 100 feet rt and place them in such a ition on private property that they could be seen from the but have met with. legal | road, For several years Mr. Besley has been attempting to have the State plant trees along the roac ‘With the Btate nureery ready to furnish the trees, the State forester believes this work could be done at a cost of §1 a tree. In many rural communities this work would be donme by those inter- ested in it, he sald. ‘While admitting a possibility of a large number of trees being: de- stroyed each year, Mr. Besley said that the present law, with a maxi- mum fine of $50, would prevent the wholesale damage of the trees. ———— MANIFOLD IS DETECTIVE. White Spots on Exhaust Show En- gine Has Been Overheated. There is no need to employ a special detective force to ascertain whether the new car has been driven too, fast before delivery. The exhaust mani- fold is telltale enough. If it or the exhaust pipe that con- nects with it shows any white. spots the indications are that the engine has been overheated, which invariably a result of speeding in the case of a new car. . v 2 American motor bus manufacturers have a_dominating grip on the New Zealand field, according to the De- partment of CHANGING OIL OFTEN WOULD BE EXPENSIVE 200,000,000 Gallons a Year Would Be Thrown Away if Changed 2 in 500 Miles. “If the ruling, frequently 'recom- mended, that oil in automobile en- gines be changed after 500 miles’ run- ning were followed: we would throw away about 200,000,000 gallons of oil per annum.” 8o declared O. M. Burkhardt at the recent Summer meeting of the So- clety of Automotive Engineers. Mr. Burkhardt arrived at this fig- ure, he said, “by assuming that 20, 000,000 cars, when running an aver- age of 5,000 miles per annum, would change ofl 10 times. Each change is assumed to involve a discard of one gallon .of oil. The economic loss en- tailed in this practice is obvious’and staggering.” “The lubricating oil,” he continued, “i3 as important to the proper func- tioning of an internal-combustion en- gine as any structural part. It is also recognized that of all the materials l Today Chrysler “70”, changed Cm-hrdefled motorists — , in no way except new lower ten and women who hayen’t prices which save you #50 to been really enthusiastic about #200, continues more em- phatically than ever in its a motor car in years—now eagerly tell about the perform- . record-making history the ance and the long life of their ~ car of American preference. Chrysler “70”. ; ‘Everywhere it is adlfime the greatest of values. . an individual discovery by ' 2 it is welcomedu six-cylinder ence these revolutionary re- sults delivered by the Chrysler ... “70”, which now offered at these sensational savings, are as far ahead of contemporary } virtue-of its inbuilt quality, -~ achievement as the compact ce,grace,economy, and dashing #70” itself out- Modaao pérforman and finishéd units that enter into the construction of a complete engine there is none that changes its char- acteristics as rapidly as the oil. This shortcoming is well known to the majority of designers and ofl refiners, and for this reason specifications have been established, after lengthy discussions, to the end that lubricant= shall meet with some certainty of er- durance the variable conditions en- countered in the operation of engines for motor vehicles. “It is quite feasible that contam- inated ofl may be rectified. This is done very successfully in many | branchies of engineering. In the Air Servics during the war a necessity existed for conservation of lubricating oil. Engines have been found to re- main cleaner with used than with new. oil. Fifty per cent of the en- gineers at the flying field stated that reclaimed oil was preféerred to new oil, while the other 50 per cent found that it was just as good.” Remedy for 0il Trouble. The throwing of oil on the right brake drum can be minimized—some- times entirely overcome—by driving more to the center of the road. Under a recent decree, automobiles belonging to tourists may remain in Cuba for 90 days without hrysler70° ngedin Quality mValue