Evening Star Newspaper, May 12, 1929, Page 53

1920—PART 4.’ S : w5 'ROMAN ROAD BUILDER OUTDONE BY MODERN HIGHWAY PROJECTS Automobiles Develop Need of Vast Net- Work of Costly Thoroughfares—Figure Exceeded $1.000.000,000 in 1927. sistance, a large part of which has been accomplished since 1921. The roads THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MAY. 12, SAD WORDS. —By J. T. Berryman In the Motor World BY G. ADAMS HOWARD. (NESSIR LOOKS LIKE YOUR CAR NEEDS A COMPLETE OVERHAULING; NEW RINGS, REBORING, N FACT JUsT ABOUT EVERYTHING ! \\ PULL OVER TO L police, due largely to insuf- | to vehicular trafiic whenever such %cleé}lt g)ersonnetl in the | traffic is moving on proper signal.” | raffic Bureau, to exercise . full control over pedestrian move- Facts and Figures on Gas. ment on the streets, particularly | Motorists in the District of Co- in the crowded areas, is strikingly | lumbia paid an average gasoline illustrated by the report of the|tax of $9.98 and consumed 498 traffic fatalities for 1928 and for|gallons of gasoline during 1928, FAILURE of Washington|trians shall yiela the right of way BY H. CLIFFORD BROKAW, Automobile Technical Adviser New York City West Side Y. M. C. A. A. the first four months of 1929. In|gaccording to compilations of the those 16 months 83 of the 112 per- | American Motorists’ Associatiorn, sons killed by automobiles on the | hased upon United States census streets of the National Capital were pedestrians. The comparatively small num- ber of drivers who are held for criminal action after traffic fatal- itles just as eloquently illustrates | who generally is on the wrong side of the white line when a car runs down a pedestrian. This brings light to bear espe- cially on the notable experiment that is being carried on at Dupont Circle, where there is automatic pedestrian traffic control by a 5ys- tem of lights augmented by in- structions at every crosswalk, for pedestrians not acquainted with the traffic conditions and regula- tions in the city, to read for them- selves in the simplest, most easily understood language. Signs at both ends of each crosswalk at Dupont Circle tell the pede n to go across the street on the red and amber lights, and the 20- second intervals in vehicle traffic that is afforded in the system al- lows the %edestnans to proceed acress at the many dangerous in- tersections about the circle with- out fear of molestation: Drivers Realize Danger. The complex proposition that motor vehicle operation has be- come on the city streets of today has made drivers fully conscious of the dangers not only to life and property but of arrest and fine, or jail sentence, that lurk in dis- regard to traffic regulations. The drivers, except for a small minor- ity, obey the signals and regula- tions. . But not so the pedestrians, in the opinion of the traffic experts of the Traffic Bureau. They have not yet become conscious of the need of pedestrian traffic control, and, consequently, resentfully dis- regard traffic lights and officers’ signals, taking them to be only for the motor vehicle. Officials of the Traffic Bureau are carefully watching the effect of the signs at Dupont Circle, and if their presence brings about bet- ter conditions around this section, it is likely that the system will be adopted wherever there are traf- fic lights in operation, with a like system of telling pedestrians when to proceed at the police-controlled crossings. Assistant Director of Traffic M. O. Eldridge yesterday hailed as a big aid to police the plan of the Washington Chapter of the Amer- ican Business Club to launch a drive of publicity and education to bring into the consciousness of the pedestrians of the National Capital some idea of the dangers of their disregard of the traffic lights and officers’ signals. He an- nounced that the Traffic Bureau stands ready to help the club in any way possible, and expressed the opinion that such action by an.independent group of private citizens would have a greater ef- fect upon the public than the pro- mulgation of more rules and regu- lations by the Traffic Bureau. Force Not Large Enough. Suggestions of those interested in pedestrian control, along the lines of following at all places where traffic signal lights now are in effect the precedent started at Dupont Circle—printing instruc- tions for pedestrians’ observance of crossing rules on the side- walks at the crosswalks—met the statement from Inspector Brown’s office that there are hardly enough men available in the bureau at present for maintenance of the crosswalks already painted on the streets. In addition to mainte- nance of the crosswalks, this de- tail also has under its jurisdiction the placing of all other traffic signs, including funeral and wed- ding emergency parking signs, placing of signs for all other emergency events, and the iron- m\nt of the problems that daily with numerous construction projects about town. The members of the American Business Club go so far as to sug- gest that after a publicity and educational campaign on the sub- ject of pedestrian observance cf crossing rules, the police take a hand and arrest a few of the more flagrant offenders, and try in this manner to drill traffic-control consciousness into the heads of pedestrians. These tactics failed once in the District courts, but since then the law has been strengthened, and now traffic officials have full pow- er to go ahead and enforce pedes- trian control. The police authority for traffic control is cited in article 2, sec- tion 2, of the traffic regulations, which provodes that: “Pedestrians shall have the right of way at all crosswalks except those controlled by traffic officers and traffic de- vices, and it shall be unlawful for any person to cross the roadway through moving traffic on any street upon which traffic is con- trolled by electric lights,” and “at all crosswalks controlled by traffic officers or traffic devices pedes- in the fight,” Mr. Keefe declares. figurcs, showing the total tax on { motor fuel in the District of Co- lumbia to be $1,263,148 and the total gasoline consumed to be 63,- | 157 367 gallons. Motorists in the State of Mary- land paid an average tax of $19.01 |and consumed an average of 475 gallons of gasoline. Owners in Virginia p2id an average gasoline | tax of $23.89 and consumed an average of 485 gallons per motor vehicle last year. The highest per capita gasoline | {tax was paid by the motorists of | Florida, each paying an average in 1928 of $32.18 and each pur- | chasing an average of 635 gallons of gasoline. the association’s com- show. allest per capita gasoline tax was paid by the motorists of North Dakota, the average tax beinz $8.52 for 1928 and the aver- age gasoline consumption in that State being 426 gallons per motor | vehicle registered. The Leading States. An analysis of the figures shows that the five leading States, from {a standpoint of gasoline per vehicle consumed in 1928 arc: | Georgia, 646 gallons; Louisiana, | 639; Florida, 636; Alabama, 602, and Wyoming, 564 gallons. From the standpoint of smallest gaso- line consumption, per vehicle, the leading States are: Towa, 388 gal- lons; South Dakota, 412; North Dakota, 426: Minnesota, 428, and Vermont, 432 gallons. The five leading States’ per capita gasoline tax paid are: Florida, $32.18; New Mexico, $28.17; Georgia, $25.86; South Carolina, $25.45, and Arkansas, $2504. The States in which the tax was smallest. in the order named, are: North Dakota, $8.52; Minnesota, $8.56; Wisconsin, $9.24; ?gh'?fe Island, $9.40, and Missouri, | MOTORISTS URGED 10 HIT GAS TAXES, United Opposition Is Declared Necessary to Prevent Fur- ther Increased Levies. United and organized opposition by motorists of the country must be made to prevent further increases in gasoline taxes, according to the American Motor- ists’ Association, in declaring warfare on State officials seeking to further burden motorists of the country with unjust gasoline taxes. FLAT AS A PANCAKE POP ! THIS IS ENOUGH To BREAK THE HEART OF THE MOST PATIENT] FATHER TH MECHANICS CAN BE SO DISCOURAGING. —~———n DAD-YOU BETTER J COME HOME-V'VE JUST HAD A WRECK' WITH THE NEW CPR! AND 25 MILES FROM WASHINGTON l MILADY’S MOTORING I BY FREDERICK C. RUSSELL. The man who lags behind for the pur- pose of criticizing the woman driver ought to hear what the woman driver behind is saying about him. Some of the braking systems do not function as well when the car is mov- ing backward as when going in the forward direction. Keep this in mind when traveling with the car or getting off the beaten tracks where backing up | may be necessary. A storage battery does not store elec- tricity at all. That is a good one to try some evening on the family. And you can prove your contention by explaining to those who doubt you that the electricity generated by a bat- tery is due to a chemical process be- tween the metals of the plates and the acid and water solution known as electrolyte. When current is fed to the battery as when it is being charged by the generator the chemical process is reversed. The generator thus merely keeps the chemical condition of the battery in such shape that current will be generated when some device that consumes current, such as the horn, starter motor, ignition or lights, is con- nected into a circuit with the battery. In an emergency it is permissible to use the starter motor to pull the car out of danger. Should the engine stall on a railroad crossing, for instance, shift to low gear, take your foot off the ‘Thomas J. Keefe, general manager of the association, declared that only ac- tive o tion can stop the gasoline tax rates from going from 33 to 50 per cent of the average filling station price. “Gasoline taxes are now an average of 25 per cent of the filling station prices,” Mr. Keefe points out. “This is in reality a sales tax of 25 per cent, and is in addition to the numerous other taxes that a motorist must pay. ‘Will Oppose Further Taxes. “Gasoline taxes beyond this point should, and will, be bitterly opposed and our association is preparing to carry the campaign of opposition into every legislative dsitrict, if necessary, to pre- vent further increases in gasoline taxes,” Mr. Keefe declared. Through a comprehensive plan of organization the assoclation intends to enlist the support of motor clubs and individual motorists everywhere in a campaign against what it declares to be excessive and unfair gasoline taxes, it was announced. Such a Nation-wide organization would be prepared to fight any candidate for the legislature in any of the States who does not agree to be fair and reasonable in his attitude to- ward legislation affecting the motorist. g time has past when a few hand- picked politicians can gather behind closed doors and, looking for more lic revenues, soak the motorist and get away with it,” Mr. Keefe declared. “A tax on the motorist is more far-reach- ing than an income tax. The latest motor vehicle registration figures of the Bureau of Censug shows. that there are about 24,500,000 automobiles in the United States, or an automobile for every five people in the country. A tax affecting such a large portion of the public must be levied with extreme cau- tion, and only with the consent of those ‘who must pay. Charges Tax Abuse. “Gasoline taxes were first levied 10 years ago. The theory was that the motorist, who derived the principal benefit from the use of highways, should pay a fair share of their construction and maintenance. The tax was there- fore levied for the sole purpose of build- ing and maintaining highways. “But it wasn't long before politiclans, seeing that gasoline taxes were readily collectable and immediatley available for expenditure, began to abuse the taxing privilege. “The veils of abuse of this taxation is apparent. A campaign of aggression is the only effective way of curb] the growing tendency of Legislatures to in- crease taxes, and the American Motor- ists’ Association intends to take the lead Airplane Taxi Causes Auto Competition To Think Seriously of Future Business Bpecial Correspondence of The Star. LONDON.—That the taxicab of today 1s already sensing the rivalry of the air taxi of tomorrow was revealed this | week at a semi-private meeting of taxi- cab owners in Lond on. United States_visitors to London to- | day who knew London before the war have been noticing the vast difference and improvement in the abpearance of the London taxicab. Although there are | still a large number of rickety cld cabs about the London streets, they are find- ing it difficult to compete with the most arresting lure of smart cabs colored in chic shades, looking more like private autos and containing every amenity of a new car, including heating apparatus and a rack containing books and the day’s newspapers. However, still more interesting facts were revealed in London at the largely attended meeting of taxicab owners and owner-drivers, who took the opportu- | nity of their annual dinner to discuss the probabilities of aerial competition. ‘The question arose through the fact that the day before a noted aviator, who ‘was attending a lunch at the Savoy Ho- and landed on the River Thames just at the foot of the Savoy’s water gate. He carried a taxl passenger with Point was added to this demonstra- tion of aerial taxifaring by the fact that a friend of the aviator,‘also bound for lunch, picked up a taxi simultane- ously with the aviator taking to his sea- plane. He arrjved at the Savoy just 40 minutes after his friend. (Hendon is only 8 miles from the hotel.) London taxicab proprietors feel hurt at the amount of space devoted to the contest and the dismal showing of the taxicab, which they pointed out was not a new recruit to the London ranks. Other remarks made at the meeting betrayed that the tiny saloon car, the favorite of the woman driver, is hit- ting the taxicab hard. Every English- woman with any means whatever is buying her “luncheon car,” as it is called here, and reducing her taxi bills to nothing. Now, as a means of attracting femi- nine fares, some owner-drivers are painting their cabs sky blue, green, clutch pedal and press on the starter. The car should move ahead slowly but surely. = Some of these days an enw‘x;&rrmnt ‘manufacturer will sense the pop! ap- of a car named for a famous lady. ‘ou may be parking a Cleopatra at the curb in 1831, Comparatively few men know it and it isn't reasonable to assume that the woman at the wheel should be aware that her car may not turn in as small & radius to the left as to the right, or vice versa. A test with the car will reveal whatever difference exists and may prove helpful in the future when ?umlnz around on a public thorough- are. If the car has been used a lot in the rain the “nap” of the unhomerlv be- comes dead looking because of the dampness of passengers’ clothing. In large service stations new life is given to the uphulxurzlbi & process known as steam drying, which can be imitated on This picture says: Change spark plugs every 10,000 miles ‘Worn-out spark plugs cause hard starting, slow pick-up, poor idling, loss of power. ATl spark plugs deteriorate intime and need to be changed. Aftera season’s driving or 10,000 miles put in anew set of AC’s. That will insure easy starting, fast pick-up, brilliant performance. See your dealer today and insist upon AC Spark Pluge. AC Spark Pruc CoMPANY Frint, Michigan ©1929, AC Spark Plug Company Distributors g Southern Wholesalers, Inc. 1519-21 L St. N.W. mauve and lemon and installing flow- ers and colored curtains as a bait to -took & small eeaplans from Hendow | feminine fares Decatur 130 a small scale by the housewife by dip- ping & clean cloth in hot water, wring- ing it out and then letting it lie flat on the surface of the upholstery for a few ‘This, of course, “pile” of the fabric but when it has dried it requires only a light brushing to restore freshness. This treatment is not for broadcloth, Confine it to velour, velvet and mohair. If your instructor has taught you to | switch off the ignition when going down minutes. however. | hill in order to assist the engine in hold- ing down the speed of the car, this would be a good time to charge it up to | be pi bad instruction and to turn over a new Wuld you "DESor W. E. Moncure Quantico, v fabrics like leaf. This process is as useless as it is dangerous. If you simply remove your foot from the accelerator when going down hill the | the throttle will be closed to the idling position and the engine will hold back almost as well as if you switched off the ignitlon. Then when you have reached the bottom of the hiil and are ready to step on the gas again there won't be a lot of unburned gas vapor .accumulated in the muffler with risk of explosion as would be the case if you were tampering with the ignition. Dusting. woman's special talent, can ut to good use in keeping the wind- shield, inside as well as out, as clean as possible during night driving. makes glare. others see it. batted in several simple ways. approaching headlights, low directly behind another car. Dust The rear-view mirror would be mo- tordom’s most useful accessory if a glance into it revealed your driving as Glare in night driving can be corg- | ‘The most important is to avoid looking at | keeping the | eyes focused on the ground a hundred feet ahead of the car and near the right shoulder of the road. Another scheme that is handy for the beginner who may have other things to consider is to fol- (Copyright, 1929, by the Russell Service.) Before the automobile age the Ro- mans were tooted up as some classy road builders. The Appian Way, for instance, was described as a model. And so it was in its way, excellent for soldiers to travel over. But compared to a modern chain highway of auto- mobile trafic it had its weak points. Out of the needs created by a very healthy motor industry has developed such a vast system of almost perfect roads as the world has never seen before. buring 1927 the grand total of ex- enditures on American roads. accord- g to Government figures, was more than $1,000,000,000. New York State was leading with $85,400,000 expendi- ture, with Pennsylvania second with $84,350,000. The 1928 figures probably will be even larger. ‘The total certified mileage of high- ways in the United States is reported to be 2,887,928. Of this amount 287,928 miles of highway ere incorporated in State road systems, with 2,600,000 be- ing county and local roads. Altogetiter some 575.000 miles of highways in the United States are surfaced. In adci- tion to the huge sum spent on roads in 1927 about $484,000,000 was spent on strect construction and maintenance. Federal aid contributed to the con- struction of 8,306 miles of highways during 1927, according to a report by the chief of the Bureau of Roads. This bureau is under the Department of Agriculture and co-operates with the highway departments of the States. Altogether it has assisted in construct- ing over 64,000 miles of highways throughout the country. Independent of the State highway authorities the Federal Bureau com- pleted 453 miles of main highways in the national forests during 1927. This construction work has made possible the opening up of numerous sections which were up to this time inaccessible. At the beginning of 1928 there were in process of construction over 10,000 miles of highways and projects involv- ing the improvements of 2,395 addi- tional miles had been approved. In- cluding the mileage of projects in these stages of construction, the total im- proved or in the process of improve- ment with Federal aid was over 76,- 000 miles. This Federal aid highway system includes more than 185,000 miles of road selected by the consti- tuted State and Federal highway offi- cials as of primary importance for the arc&mmodafion of interstate highway traffic, of the Nation's highways and con- as possible necessity of high importance. About one-third of the system has already been improved with Federal as- included in the Federal highway sys- tem, with a few exceptions, are also parts of several State highway systems and are therefore eligible for improve- ment by the States alone under State Jegislation provided for such work. For several years the unaided efforts of the States have resulted in the improve- ment of a greater mileage than has been built with Federal aid, and the major portion of this unaided State work has been applied to the improve ment of the roads of the Federal aid system. The total cost of 8,306 miles of orig- inal construction and 1376 miles of such construction completed during 1926 was $182,770.000, of which the Federal Government paid 44.5 per cent and the States paid the balance. Of the total annual highway biil of more than a billion dollars the amount of Fed- eral expenditure is less than 8 per cent. The States themselves spent from . their own funds more than six times the amount received from the Federal Government. It appears from | this that the Federal expenditure can- | not be said to be extravagant, but is, |on the other hand, extremely moderate in view of the large and growing inter- state traffic. It is interesting to note in this con- nection that modern highways are be- ing built wider than ever before. For instance, 774 miles of highway con- structed in 1921 averaged in width only 16.67 feet. In 1927 the average widir of the highways built was 20.30 feet, which, when figured in square yards, makes a much larger number a mile of road built than heretofore. It Is exceedingly important that highways b> made plenty wide for the traffic which is now to be found. The tendency in the future will undoubtedly be to make roads even wider. A highway on which four cars can travel side by side is not too wide to accommodate traffic as i is found on most of our major high- ways. Great improvement has also been made in the matter of the quality of the lern automobile highway. The development of this technique has been rapid, so much so that highways built 10 years ago, while at that time rep- resenting a remarkable improvement, are now thoroughly outclassed by present-day construction of roads which give the automobile a hard, smooth, dependable surface equal to that found in the best paved city These are the most important |streets. The superiority of this sort of construction would be enough to make sequently to improve them as rapidly |the old Roman road builders turn represents an economic | green with envy should any of them be able to come back to life and view the results of recent progress in this form of engineering ekifl. spend #1000 or more for the same value that $845 will buy? Not if you knew the facts —you wouldn’t. costlier cars. —Not if you stopped to consider that De Soto is the only Chrysler- built six whose entire price range ‘falls below $1000. —Not if you understood and fully appreciated that the de- signers of De Soto Six are the identical group of engineers who created the first, and all subse- quent Chrysler cars. The infer- ence is plain and unmistakable. —Not if you knew that the Chrysler principle of Standard- ized Quality continually operates to endow De Soto Six with fea- tures that enhance safety and comfort, and confer a pu-t'o yrm- ance ability comparable only with —Not if you bore in mind that, as a product of Chrysler Motors, De Soto Six shares all the advan- tages of a common policy of engineering, purchasing, manu- facturing and financing—and plainly reflects these advantages in-the value it offers. —Not if you followed the ob- vious and sensible plan of safe- guarding your investment by permitting us to put a De Soto Six at your disposal long enough for you to prove to yourself that it represents a greater value at its price range than you could obtain from any other source. 091 @ CHRYSLER MOTORS PRODUCT MAYFLOWER MOTORS, Inec. Phone North 1104 2819 M Street N.W. Associate Dealers Moreland Motor Co. Waldorf, Md. Roney Motor Co. Frederick, Md. Lawrence W. White Norbeck, Md, _