Evening Star Newspaper, February 16, 1930, Page 59

In the Mo tor World BY G. ADAMS HOWARD. NASMUCH as the automobile may play a part in one's in- come tax figures for this year, a survey of what advantages can be taken and what claims cannot be made should prove of interest to the motoring popula- tion of the National Capital ‘Through the aid of the legal de partment of the American Auto- mobile Association, the following deductions from the gross income allowed car owners under the reg- ulations of the Bureau of Internal Reventfe on account of automobile ownership and operation are set forth. First. The car owner may de- duct from his gross income all sums paid during the calendar year in the form of registration | fees, driver's license, State per- sonal property taxes and munici- pal taxes. May Deduct D. C. Gas Tax. Second. The gasoline tax may be deducted in all cases where it is a “consumers’ tax” under the State law, but not where it is spe- cifically enacted as a “distribu- tors’ tax.” It is pointed out that the gasoline tax has been ruled @ consumers’ tax, and therefore deductible, in the District of Co- lumbia and the following State: Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Delaware, Geor- gia, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, | Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, Kansas and New Mexico. Third. The interest on money borrowed for the purchase of an automobile is deductible, irre- spective of whether the car is used for business or pleasure. If the taxpayer keeps his accounts on a cash basis, such interest will | be deductible only for the year in | which paid. If accounts are kept on accrued basis, interest may be | deducted as it accrues. Other Deductions Allowed. Fourth. If a passenger car is used wholly for business, all ex- penses incident to maintenance, including depreciation at the rate of 20 per cent per annum, may be deducted. Where the car is used “chiefly,” or more than 50 per cent, for business and incidentally for pleasure, the expense may be | deducted on a pro rata basis. Fifth. Loss sustained by rea- son of damage to an automobile while being used for either busi- ness or pleasure is deductible. ‘The loss, however, must be an ac- tual loss to the person claiming deduction. In other words, if it is compensated for by insurance or otherwise, it is not deductible. Sixth. The bureau has ruled that where a motorist paid dam- ages for injury to a pedestrian, such an amount is deductible pro- vided at the time the injury oc- curred the car was being used for business. There has never been a decision, however, on whether a fine paid by a motorist might be deducted as a business expense where, at the time the expense occurred, the car was being used for business or professional pur- poses. Seventh. Loss when sustained where an automobile used wholly or chiefly for business purposes is traded in for a new car may be deducted. | Eighth. The amount paid for insurance on automobiles used for business pu may be deduct- ed, and also the amount of finance charges on a purchased car which covers interest and risk on the loan, but not the amount covering the premium on insur- ance to protect the finance com- pany’s interest. In no case is a loss deductible where it is sustained when an au- tomobile used for pleasure is traded in for a new car. At the same time, in no case is the amount paid for an automobile used for either business or pleas- ure allowed as a deduction. This | sin avenue. is regarded by the bureau as a capital investment, but is subject to claim for depreciation when |used for business purposes. In the case of purchase by a farmer for strictly farm use, only the ex- | pense incident to operation is de- ductible, as in the case of any other business or professional use. Where "an automobile is used wholly for business the items of depreciation, gasoline, oil, repairs, chauffeur’s salary, garage rent, as well as any other legitimate ex- penses, may be deducted. When chiefly used for business, or more than 50 per cent, the deductions may be pro rated according to the usage and the portion applicable | | to business purposes. Lights and More Lights. Traffic Director Willilam H. Har- land is well satisfied with the op- eration of the traffic light signals on Eighteenth street and Connec- THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, DOWN THE ROAD—Unsung Heroes. THE: BRAVE BICYCLIST WHC VENTURES ONTO A BUSY BOULEVARD=— ticut avenue. The new signals at | Thomas Circle were scheduled to| be placed in service last Friday.| | Last week saw also the co-ordina- | |tion of the Sixteenth and Fif-| | teenth street lights. The system,| | figured on for months, is to allow | |all crosstown traffic to proceed |east or west across the streets {with only one possible interrup- tion, instead of the likelihood of | two, as heretofore. | The signals at New Hampshire | and Georgia avenues, off for some time because of too much conges- | tion, will be turned on again this| | week. Last week the order of the| {Public Utilities in making Rock | Creek Church road one way east from Georgia avenue became ef- fective. Their order was necessi- tated due to the rerouting of a bus line. It is not believed that with this change congestion will be eliminated and traffic will be | able to proceed through the in- tersection without difficulty. Sometimes a traffic signal light is believed to be needed because of a fire engine house. Such is the case at M street and Wiscon- An extra light has been installed there to prevent traffic blocking the entrance to the engine house when stopped by | a red light ahead. Now the traf-| fic will be stopped when necessary | before approaching the entrance.\ Other solitary lights will be| placed at similar places. It is announced that accidents on Rhode Island avenue, between Towa Circle and Connecticut ave- | nue, have been reduced one-half | in the year’s time following their installation. In no greater way can the efficacy of the lights be measured. Anent the New Car. Reports of the coming Ameri- can production of the foreign- owned bantam car, weighing un- der 1,100 pounds and listing un- der $450, are at hand again. With production six weeks off, orders of the car exceed already 85,000, it is claimed, with applications for 60,000 more still to be acted upon. The majority of these or- ders are said to be from various dealers and distributors and are | in the nature of contracts. Just| how the individual American | buyer will greet the newcomer cannot be gauged. The car was exhibited in Chi- cago at the time of the National Automobile Show there, the show- ing being held for dealers exclu- sively in one of the hotels. The general sales manager states that the car will not greet the Ameri- | can public until production is well | under way, which will be -in‘ the late Spring months. It is claimed | that the cost of the car is so small | that it will eliminate the trade-in | | problem for the dealer and will | | permit the family buying it to| | keep the larger car. Fast take-off, | |one-half the parking worries, 40 | miles to a gallon, 2 quarts of oil | for every 1,000 miles and 20,000 to 40.000 for each set of tires are ad- ditional claims. Increased Automobile Mishap Deaths Urges Improved Highway Safety Work Thirty thousand automobile accident fatalities in 1920 indicate that a great deal yet remains to be done in highway safety work, according to E. E. Duffy, highway educational writer. Deaths in 1929 were about 7 per cent greater than in the previous year, a con- dition attributed to increased motor travel. Noteworthy progress is being made in the adoption of uniform traffic rules. In the neighborhood of 25 States have adopted uniform vehicle code pro- visions. The human factor, however, still per- sists as the leading cause of mishaps. Ratlroad grade crossings and busy street and rural highway intersections con- tinue to take startling tolls, as do nar- row streets and roads. Laws Are No Curb. Accident records reveal that laws cannot instill caution and courtesy into & vast portion of the motoring family and from this it may be deduced that accidents can best be reduced by the provisions of highway facilities that are difficult to misuse. -Skidding on slick pavements accounts for countless mishaps and this skidding is something that is not always the driver’s fault. One province in Ger- many has indicated a solution for skid- ding by its refusal to permit the con- struction of pavements that become slick in wet weather. ‘Wide pavements also cut down the accident likelihood by a remarkable margin. The automobile driver may be likened to an engineer—and some of | | need at least a 10-foot | lane. In fact, 10-foot lanes are now | considered the ideal width, for with automobiles speeding along at 50 or more with ease, as is permitted by the | modern vehicle, the margin of safety must be greater than for vehicles driv- ing at 30. these engineers Plans Are Models. Relief from congestion and accident possibilities is given in full measure by grade separations, wherein one highway is elevated or depressed over or under | another highway or a raflroad. The | “cloverleaf” design used in New Jersey | and the “pretzel” plan used in Cook | County, Il and Wayne County, Mich., | have been so positively successful that there is little excuse for other com- munities not adopting this form of | safety work. | _Atfirst glance it might seem that the cost of such structures would be pro- | hibitive, but in reckoning the time saved | and the accidents eliminated the actual | :cosr dwindles. | _The accident and death problem is | serious, and it is going to require a lot | of serious thinking on the part of offi- | | clals and citizens to bring about a reduction. | | AUTOMOTIVE BRIEFS The Hawkins Nash Motof Co. an- | nounced last week the following addi- tions to their sales staff: William A. McGuire, Louis V. Stevenson, Walter E. Schneider, Paul Gibson, Ralph Z. Mil- ler, Don' J. Moore and Edwin F. AUTO BRAKF OFFICIAL = = > Ao = | LIS 0 FEBRUARY 16, 1930—PART FOUR. -By FRANK BECK | MILADY’S MOTORING BY FREDERICK C. RUSSELL When a woman says she didn't see the traffic light set against her maybe she means sha didn't see the police officer. Many a woman who has conquered cold feet and who now rates as a star performer on the road finds a new an- noyange in suffering with cold hands during Winter driving. Closed cars ap- parently have not banished this diffi- culty entirely. One trouble is that cars stored in cold garages have chilled steering wheels to start with. Frequently the driver will come out of a warm house and not put on her gloves until her hands begin to feel cold, instead of donning gloves before grasping the cold wheel. It isn't necessary to keep both hands on the wheel at all times. During traffic stops, for instance, the hands should be removed and the fists clenched a few times to stimulate cir- culation through the fingers. Loose- fitting gloves are best for cold weather, but mittens may be an objection since the fingers are not free to operate the controls. A woman who has been cautioned against the danger of death by carbon- monoxide poisoning ever since she took the wheel wants more information on a recent announcement that a device has been perfected whereby this dan- gerous element from the exhaust can be eliminated. This, however, is not the first development of the kind. The idea behind most of the various plans is to compensate for the engine's tendency to create carbon monoxide through not burning its fuel properly. And here’s the real tip for any motorist —the better the engine runs, the more efficlently it is serviced, the less dan- ger there will be. A little knowledge continues to be a dangerous thing. Knowing that the streets were unduly slippery and that the wheels were ready to slide during an effort to stop, & rather experienced woman driver borrowed a lot of trouble for herself by taking the ammeter too literally. She pressed on the brakes lightly for a stop, but found that the car did not slow down. Because the ammeter pointer flickered to the dis- charge side she figured the brakes were applied enough to lock the wheels, not realizing that the stop light oper- ates, and registers through the am- meter, when the brake pedal is just starting to go down. A few days ago a woman jumped out of her car to make a hurried purchase in a grocery store. She knew it was against the law in her city to let the engine run unattended, but figured that traffic was so noisy no one would notice the idling motor. Just how a passing officer knew the engine was running was a puzzle to her until he demonstrated how a steaming exhaust pipe can be a telltale in cold weather. The way down-draft salesmen chatter about carburetion one would think it had been a household term since the beginning of time. But why not surprise them by knowing what it stands for? ‘The gas vapor has to be fed from the carburetor to the cylinders in either of three ways—up, down or transverse. For years it has been the custom to feed the vapor upward be- cause it was desirable to have the carburetor low so that the fluid gas could run to it. With the introduction of fuel pumps, however, it is a simple matter to send the fluid fuel to a high point around the engine and then let the vapor go down into the ,.cylinders. ‘That's about all there is to it, except a word about the theory which makes this newer way a_ befter one. Gas vapor is heavier than air and-thus tends to fall. When engineers direct the vapor down instead of up, naturally the engine is fed more efficiently. ‘There is a safety hint in understand- ing down-draft carburetion as well. Just as gas vapor falls in the newer engines, 5o has it always fallen around the garages. Repair pits, dug in the ground, went out of style largely be- cause they were hazardous. Many will recall the number of explosions which have occurred when mechanics short circuited ~their lighting equipment while working under a car. The dan- SERVICE CO. SERVICE Brake Relining Brake Adjusting The fact that we ARE an OFFICIAL A. A. A. Service Station is a guarantee to every car owner that our materials, workman- gerous layer of air in any garage is nearest the floor. If caught without chains in slippery weather try to park the car on a hill so there will be no chance of wheels sllhpninl around when you want to get started. T recently suggested to a woman that she remove the squeals in the brakes by running a short distance with the pedal lightly applied. When she tried the plan without success I checked over D65 AND UP-F. O. B. DETROIT THESE FEATURES SPEAK FOR QUALITY Unisteel ®* Construction of Chassis and Body Dewn-Draft Carburetion Impalse Neutralizer Fall Pressure Feed Lubrication Mechanical FuelPump —Fuel Filter —Air Cleaner Thermostatie Heat Control Hydraulic Brakes Hydraulie Shock Absorbers Rubber-Cushioned Spring Shackles Double Cowl Ventilators Non-Glare Windshield Rust-Proof Parts ®In the Unisteel type of construc- tion, the body and chassis are de- signed as @ unit, eliminating body sillsand all other wooden parts. The body is bolted directly to the chassis, %0 thet the twe become mutually supporting end mutually flexible. Copyright 19%0 by De Soto Motor Corperation the process with her and found that the noise came from the front brakes. On her particular make of car there is not the same brake pressure on the front wheels as on the rear. To “burn in” the front brakes a little and elimi- nate the noise it was necessary to re- vise the rule by pressing hard enough on the brake pedal to bring the front brakes into action. Many women because they seem to have to use the choke lon than others when starting out. This may be a benefit, since is usually indi- cates that the e is not too rich. A little more choking at the start is preferable to running constantly on a mixture that may dilute the oil, blacken the plugs and collect excess carbon. (Copyright by the Russell Service.) L2 L R L LLLLLLL L2 L LL2LLLL L4 r | sometimes eight ply. BUY SAME SIZE TIRES. Oversize Often Affects ance of Car. In buying tires purchase tires of the same size as those bought with the car. There is a practice among some motorists to equip cars built for four-ply tires with tires of six and ‘Unquestionably this affects the car’s performance. En- gineers spend a lot of time determining the proper tire for a certain gear ratio, and when their findings are not con- sidered by the motorist in buying his second set of tires, the owner can usual- ly expect a sacrifice in the performance of his car. Perform- CHRYSLER | that nothing of this kind is in effect |and injuries and to 5 LEGISLATION FOR AUTO DEATH RATE REDUCTION IS SOUGHT Drivcrs' Liccnse LQ.W for Montana Urged. Automatic Insurance Law Cited. BY H. CLIFFORD BROKAW, Automobile Technical Advisor. S0 much has been written about automobile accidents that the reports of such misfortunes no longer make nny‘ great impression upon the reading pub- | lic. Yet those really interested in im- | proving this situation and reducing the number of accidents are always glad to know of any new approach designed to ‘make conditions better. | In this connection the writer recently | received & communication from a mem- ber of the Montana Legislature who believes that ninety-two automobile fa- talities in a period of nine months, in that State, justifies the calling of a spe- cial session of the Legislature to con- sider what remedies may be put into effect. In spite of the fact that special sessions of Legislature are expensive, this representative of the people be- lieves that one death means more to a family than any added expense re- quired to eliminate such catastrophes. This gentleman has in mind to pro- mote legislation which will accomplish, first, & driver’s license law. Many States | now have such ‘a law, but it appears in Montana. ‘The second suggestion has to do with an automatic insurance law covering deaths and injuries caused by automo- biles, and providing for a commission to supervise the functioning of such a | aw, to gather all the facts about deaths | press prosecution wherever the facts warrant criminal prosecution. It is pointed out that had such a bill been passed previous to 1929, at the cost of only $10 per car, or the price of one tire, it would have paid in 1929 in case of death, $5,000, and to injured persons in hospitals, $50 a week. While this might not be considered enough, it would doubtless be a very definite help to those inconvenienced by automobile accident. The idea is to have this money paid promptly by the State com- mission, without any lawsuit and when the injured person most needs it. The third feature of this proposed regulation has to do with a law per- mitting the joining as a defendant in| amage suits of the insurance company | that carries the insurance on the auto- mobile doing the injury or causing the | death. This would materially aid, it is felt, in getting final statements of !:ldfmel‘lt. ‘This is a variation of what known as the financial responsibility laws in effect in some of the Eastern | States, which permit the car owner to| carry $5,000° protection in liability in- | surance or in the form of a surety bond, or a deposit in cash or securities. ‘The owner is required to pay a fee of $10 for filing and investigating se- rendition, the judgment creditor may for his own use and benefit, and at his sole expense, bring an action in the name of the State against the company or person executing such bond. In other words, the injured person may have two lawsuits before he finally re- covers what would promptly be paid without expense under the bill proposed for Montana. A fourth feature includes a law giv- ing the courts in this State jurisdiction of non-residents sojourning in Montana in damage suits brought for injuries caused by such non-residents to Mon- tana citizens. The State of Massachu- setts has a law in effect similar to this. ‘The fifth and final item in this pro- posed legislation includes a law depriv- ing automobiles involved in accidents resulting in personal injuries from fur- ther use of the highways for stated periods on the arrest of an owner or driver for criminal offense. This, it is felt, would be quite effective in barring reckless drivers from operating auto- mobiles along public highways. In general, the main idea of this pro- posal is that the owner of an auto- mobile would pay the State, at the time of paying a registration fee, also an additional fee of $10 per car, which would go into a fund to compensate for injuries and deaths caused by any automobile to any man, woman or child, and regardless of any negli Ice as to the loss to him or her if in- Jjured or to his family if killed. The fund would be administered by a State commission, which would insist on criminal prosecution where the facts warranted them. What moneys were not used of this fund, estimated to be about 25 per cent each year, would be invested in interest-bearing bonds and create a reserve. It would be ex- pected that as years went by the $10 fee could be reduced and Derhlfi. even- tually, with sufficient reserves in hand, could be entirely eliminated. On all of these points there is mot entire agreement with this legislation. The principal point on which there is not agreement has to do with the m- ing of $50 a week to those under pital care from automobile accidents, or the paying of $5000 to the estate of one deceased on account of such accidents. It is asserted by up restraints that will making automobile drivers more care- ful. It should not lay the same burden | upon the careful driver that is lald upon the careless fellow, it is 2 otherwise the incentive to be careful is not properly in evidence. The legis~ lative proposal would tax both the care- ful and the reckless and thus penalize the careful person. Whether or not the proposal has 100 per cent merit, it does curities. If the owner is sued for dam- ages and the judgment rendered is not s::l:neu within thirty days after its MOTORS represent constructive thinking on this important subject and a contribution toward its solution. § WORLD'®S IOWEST-PRICED \) STRAIGHT EIGHT '.l‘he low price of the new De Soto Straight Eight is indeed sensational, but an equally great semsation is De Soto Eight’s extraordinary excellence. The price does not begin to index the quality and ability of this fine car. On inspection you find that it possesses an unusual number of distinctive quality features—and Chrysler Motors engineers have given it a performance ability not surpassed by Eights costing hundreds of dollars more. The su- periority of the new De Soto Straight Eight is so plain and unmistakable that all authorities agree in predicting for it a success equally as great as that attained by its famous companion car—the record-breaking De Soto Six. orTo s EIGHT MOTOR COMPANY ( lNCOR.PORATED) ship and service are of the highest order. DISTRICT ' New Car Sales 1337 14th St. N.W. Potomac 1000 RONEY MOTOR CO. Frederick, Md. The fact that our prices are lower than other service stations indicates we know how to buy our materials at a saving which we are satisfled to pass on to you, Used Car Sales 1324 14th St. N.W. Potomac 1000 W. E. MONCURE MORELAND MOTOR CO. Quantico, Va. Waldorf, Md. The fact we are Washington's oldest specialized brake service company indicates that we could not have lived this long on brake service alone if we had not played FAIR with the public. 427 K Street NW. 3360 M Street N.W. Met. 8208 West 2378 THE OFFICER ALWAYS HAS THE ADVANTAGE -HIS TICKET” MEANS MORE THAN YOUR WHOLE VOCABULARY ! GARNER MOTOR CO. Leonardtown, Md. L. W. WHITE Norbeck, Md.