Evening Star Newspaper, June 29, 1930, Page 49

THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., JUNE 29, 1930—PART FOU R. B W e ——————————— DOWN THE ROAD—The Penalty of Progress. In the Motor World BY G. ADAMS HOWARD. oft-repeated query of the motorist anen! the ultimate destiny of the particular road upon which he hap- pens to be traveling, and his as- oft-repeated query as to where the whole system of roads in this and aqther countries is going, are expected to be in some measure answered when the road experts of more than 40 nations gather in ‘Washington October 6 to 11 for the sessions of the sixth Interna- tional Road Congress and the ex- position of road machinery and materials offered as an adjunct to the congress by the American Road Builders’ Association. Leading the world in roads, mo- tor production and the production of the machines with which to build highways, the United States will have much to offer the visit- | ing highway experts in the way of experience born of the leadership | 1t holds in these fields. Here will be gathered the fore- most minds of the motor world to exchange ideas on the proper glanning and construction of ighways for automobiles (mostly American made) to travel upon in the safest, quickest and most eco- nomical manner. These road experts, most of | them engineers, are expected to | bring forth from the congress some highly interesting facts on | the future road-building proje~ts of the variovs nations. In the deliberations of the con- gress, the super-highway of the future, which is, by the way. the | necessity of today, is expected to have a large place. | In fact, from advance informa- | tion in papers to be presented the | congress on the road problems of | today, the super-highway as it is| now regarded, and in some few | instances exists today, will be a| puny project as compared with what will be needed for motor travel in the next few years. Radical Departure Seen. Practically all of the road ex- perts of the United States are agreed that if a road program as planned today is to be a success- ful one, as viewed by the condi- tions which will exist a few years from now, it must be a radical de parture from present ideas of road building. way of today, it is agreed, will be wholly inadequate in the majority of cases for the motor traffic of tomorrow. and will be expanded to 100 feet or more, with doubly or triply broad highways to take care of the feeder roads near the population centers. They envision a 100-foot h'lrzh-\ way from the Capital to New York, to the Middle West, to the Southward, for instance, as prac- tical necessities of today and as almost certainties of the near future. In their calculations, as in all calculations connected with the motor industry today, the first consideration is safety. The safe- ty factor must transcend all oth- ers in the planning of roads. The mistakes of road building that have gone along with the tremen- duous production of motor cars in | this country already have taken such a toll of lives in America that the problem of motor safety is a major concern of the highest officials of this Government, no- tably President Hoover, who voiced his concern recently at the annual conference on street and highway safety here. The road primarily must be safe. But the demands of today also call for speed, and the problem of | combining the facilities for speed and safety have brought many wrinkles to the foreheads of the highway engineers of this and | other countries, as well to the| foreheads of the designers of present-day motor cars. Steadily, | however, has the combination of safety and speed mounted in the | car itself. Provided the proper place to do it, practicallv anv ma- chine of today is a safe proposi- tion at a mile a minute. The trouble is to find a place to do it.| Believes in High Speed. | Capt. J. 8. Irving, the man who | designed the car in which the late Maj. Sir Harry O. D. Segrave broke the world speed record and established a new one at 231 miles an hour over the sands of Day- tona Beach, is a firm believer in high-speed road transportation. Shortly after Sir Harry estab- lished the record mile at Daytona, Capt. Irving, in Washington, told the writer the day would come in the near future when busses would make 100 to 150 miles an hour over super-speed highways between the great metropolises 0T this country. “You have the space; why not build the roads? The building of motors for 150 - miles - an - hour highway transportation would be a simple thing. Tires are safe at that speed and roads can be made safe,” he said. It was Capt. Irving’s hope that Sir Harry’s machine would go 250 miles an heur, and he is confident today that he can build a car that will do 300 miles an hour or better. “But where will I find a place to ‘stretch’ a car that fast?” he asks. The answer is the super-speed highway, many highway experts believe. Not that there would be built super-speed highways just for the testing of some jugger- MOTOR DON'TS MANY MOTORISTS HAVE HAD The 20 or 30 foot high- | naut of speed, but when speeds in excess of 100 miles an hour are provided for in highway plans Capt. Irving and a great many other experts in the motor world believe there will be evolved as a “margin of safety” a highway on which Capt. Irving might try out a machine capable of 300 miles an hour or better. At present the long, hard-packed stretch of sand at Daytona Beach is the best place for a super-speed trial, and even that is not at its best all the time. To the factors of speed and safety there are a lot of other considerations to be added, none of them really minor ones. The class of traffic the super-highway of the future should accommodate is a vital factor, experts believe. Insteal of joining the metropolis with all of the small towns on the way, the super-highway must avoid the small towns, keep to the wide open spaces, if super-speed, as it is to be regarded tomorrow, is to be attained. This would take the farmers with their produce, the afternoon pleasure motorist, the salesman making every ham- let and country cross-roads store, the loitering motorists and a great many other classes of car users on the scenic roads that will con- tinue to rerform an eve-mrov: -y task of !imkine the « I>r Roxzds Problem. How these feeder roads would | enter the super-speed highways is another problem for the road builders to wrestle with. What materials the super-road of the future should be built of is another vital consideration. A vast amount of research must be completed before the best mate- |rial for the super-speed highway |1s, if ever, decided upon. Today | there are hundreds of theories on | | what constitutes the best road {material. Commercial considera- tions, availability of raw materi- als, cost of construction, cost of upkeep and repair, all enter into | the building of the highway and furnish the engineers with more |than their quota of worrying | problems. | _The United States is so far out ahead of any other country in the world in the use of the automo- bile, truck and bus that it is squarely up to this country to{ provide the rest of the nations of the world with most of the an- | swers to the motoring problems of | today and tomorrow. But for the solution of these | problems, any experience which | | any road expert in any country on the face of the globe may have (had which would prove of value to those who have the destinies of the highway systems of the United States in their hands should prove more ti.an welcome. With their dense nopulation problems. European “oad experts are expected to have niany valu- able suggestions for 'he Ameri |cans attending the sixth Interna. tional Road Congress here in Oc- tober. | In the regulation of speed and| |safety in the more populated | areas the traffic authorities of the country, of course, face their | greatest problems. The conditions which cause a great many Capital motorists to leave their cars across the river in Jersey when they motor to New | York, there to use taxis and other | | means of transportation while in | the metropolis, or which cause the | motorists right here in town to| shun the busy downtown, dense traffic area, are not in keeping with the proper development of motor travel, and since no one! will deny that motor travel is here to stay. it is up to the powers that be in the regulation of traffic to remove these hindrances to the full use of the motor car. “MATOR-DRIVEN" CAR | DEFINED BY COURT| Administrator Unable to Collect! Insurance for Man Killed in Motor Cycle Accident. BALTIMORE. June 28-—A motor yle is not a “motor-driven car” or ‘motor " in the “general or popul sense of that term,” according to a decl- sion handed down by the Maryland Court of Appeals. The decision was handed down in the case .of Ferdinand J. Landweher, administrator of the estate of Lawrence B. Landweter, who was killed in a mo- tor cycle accident, against the Con- tinental Life Insurance Co. and was an appeal from a decision of the Su- perior Court of Baltimore. The deceased carried an accident pol- icy which provided for benefits in case the insured was injured or came to his death “by the wrecking or disablement of any private automobile, motor driven car, or hotse drawn vehicle of the ex- clusively pleasure tvpe in which the in- sured is ridine or drivirg, or by being acc'dentel'y thown from such wrecked or disabled automobile car or vehicle. - "I:ihe Court of Appeals in its decision eld: “That the policy sued on did not ! contemplate accidents suffered by pol- icy holders while riding. on a motor cycle with or without a side car. “That a motor cycle is not known a ‘motor driven car,’ or as a ‘motor car’ in the general or popular sense of that term.” . NAVY DEPARTMENT 0. K.’S NON-SCATTERABLE GLASS Report Says Use Has Saved De- stroyer Personnel From Injury Due to Impact of Heavy Seas. NEW YORK, June 28.—The approval of the Navy Department of the use of non-scatterable glass on combatant ships is embodied in a report just re- leased carrying the severe specifications adopted by the Bureau of Construction and Repair and the several tests of which this glass is submitted before ac- nfirm tion of the material by many automobile companies, as a safety measure. ‘The report states that “non-scatter- able glass is used on combatant ships of the Navy in the windows of pilot houses and fire control stations.” and summarizes actual experience as fol- lows: “On the bridj of Navy de- stroyers, the use of non-scatterable glass has saved personnel UNFORTUNATE EXPERIENCES WITH HITCH-HIKERS; SO PLAY SaFe ! - DONT Piex THEM Up! THE OLD-FASHIONED HIGH HACK HAD ITS ADVANTAGES ~ 78 2N G- i filh}VMEL / ¥ L S Wyl g LT BLAGCSVITI ¢ HOCSESHIOF A e O~ (s ran BXPCRT AUTCH R rBAN s ZihWiqn ”//(4 e ?z e THOMPSON HEADS ROAD CONGRESS Johns Hopkins Facuity Mem-| ber to Manage Details of World Parley. S Appointment of J. Trueman Thomp- son, professor of civil engineering at the Johns Hopkins University, as man- ager of the Sixth International Road Congress is announced by Thomas H. MacDonald. secretary general. The congress, which will attract leading highway' engineers, adminisirators and economists from virtually every civil- ized country in the world, will meet in | Washington October 6 to 11 at the invitation of the United States Gov- ernment. Prof. Thompson has been a member | of the faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Engineering for the past 10 | , while since 1921 he has served as specialist in highway research for the United States Bureau of Public Roads. His studies have included pro- grams dealing with measurement of motor truck impact, determination of stresses in highway pavement slabs and structures and stress investigations conducted upon model highway bridges. Research Work Outlined. Under co-operative agreements be- tween the university and the bureau these researches have been conducted at the experimental station of the Bu- reau of Public Roads at Arlington, Va., and in the laboratories of the univer- sity, where he was teaching. The re- sults of these experiments have been published at various times in the cur- rent engineering journals. Prof. Thompson is & member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and for a number of years he was served on the highway research board of the National Research Council as university contact for Maryland. As manager of the road congress he will have charge of detail arrangements for one of the most representative gath- erings that has been held in the United States. He has established an office at the headquarters of the American Or- ganizing ~ Commission, which is in charge of the congress, at 1723 N street northwest, Washington. 45 Nations to Be Represented. According to most recent advices to the commission, relayed through the State Department from the several gov- ernments, approximately 45 nations have accepted invitations and will send official delegations to the sessions of the congress. Other acceptances are expected. ‘he meeting in Washington wi:. mark thd first time that the international conference of highway experts has been held in the Western Hemisphere, pre- vious sessions having been at Paris, Brussels, London, Seville and Milan. These congresses are under the general direction of the Permanent Interna- tional Association of Road Congresses, with heacquarters in Paris, of which M. Le Gavrian is secretary general. One of Mr. Thompsons duties will be to confer with M. Le Gavrian by letter and by cable regarding the many pressing delails of transporting dele- gates from the far corners of the earth to the meeting in Washington, the translation and distribution of reports and_addresses, arrangements for the comfort and enterta'nment of the dele- oates and n: s of meetine. The lan- euages of th~ conerecs wi' h> French Spanish, German and Englich. Where Sessions Will Be Held. It is expected that the sessions of the congress will be at the building of the Chamber of Commerce of the Unit- ed States, where ample facilities are florded for group meetings and for the arger assemblies. The American Organizing Commis- sion, which has the responsibility for the congress, was named by the Sec- retary of State, with Roy D. Chapin, chairman of the highways committee of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce, as president. and Thomas H. MacDonald, chief of the United States Bureau of Public Roads, as sec- retarv general. Virtusllv everv nerson in the United Stotes _interested in anv phase of high- wav affairs is exnocted to attend the congress according to Mr. Thombson, wha announces the commission’s will- ineness to supplv anv organization or individual interested with complete in- formation MOTORISTS ARE LINED UP IN CITY MERRY-GO-ROUND SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (#).—Increased fines assessed against motorists have produced a sort of “merry-go-round” at San Antonio. ‘The “merry-go-round” was started by Judge David Watson of Corporation Court who hoosted the amounts care- less motorists must pay. It works like this: Increased fines enable the city to hire more motor cycle policemen to catch more motor- ists | | Shocking passengers with sudden stops is no way to demonstrate that you've got all the breaks in driving i The early bird is not always so| clever. I was assured of this a few days ago when a_women who wanted to be especially efficient in her driving gave a signal for a left turn several hundred feet from the intersecting street. When she finally started the turn | | another driver was trying to pass around |10 the left. The man behind had seen the signal | but said he thought milady had changed | her mind. The truth was he forgot | she had given a signal. All of which is | good evidence of the need for making | your signaling more continuous, I recently had the pleasure of driv- | ing a very lavishly equipped car owned | by a women who has operated cars for years. Hardly had I launched into traffic than I found the rear view mirrors on the spare tires were of no use what<oever to me because they were out of focus. I wonder how many of these mirrors are rendered simply ornamental just because owners do not | check them for focus. Women who fear punctures should consider the advisability of shifting to the type of inner tube that is puncture-proof. Such tubes now are available and appear to be successful in providing freedom from the flat tire worry. Some tire men say the heavier laver of rubber in these special tubes makes for a little harder riding. Except in the case of old cars where | tires are depended upon to compensate | for deterioration of the springs this should be little or no objection, if true. It should not be necessary to suffer | the actual experience to appreciate | the danger of following too closely !'a car that is starting away in traffic. Many drivers get into trouble with the gears after a sudden burst of speed in low and slow down suddenly. When storing the car in any reliable garage along the route of a vacation [ trip it is usually best to leave the key | in" the ignition switch. There may | be very legitimate excuses for moving the car during the night. The old fear | of having the car stolen has little place | in the modern scheme of things where | the machine is stored in a first class | garage. By far the greatest hazard in garaging en tour is to have the car | burned. Don't aggravate ‘this risk by | foolishly locking the machine so garage attendants can't save it in event of trouble, I have watched enough women drive cars to feel safe in saying that too many of them fail to steer a_steady course. If that is your trouble then don't be surprised if you have to travel farther in order to reach the same destination over the same road as some other pilot who has made steering a fine art. Wandering over the road increases the distance. If you doubt this, check up distances with some motor cyclist and find out how many miles he saves by taking the | short cuts over the road. ‘The latest in distinctive monograms for the car is a frame with your initials which attaches to the tie rod between the headlamps. The really smart touch to the idea is the convenience of being able to pick your own car out of a group In a big garage without the usual searching. When the family goes car shopping milady is apt to hear a great deal about a certain device on the engine known as a vibration damper. Sales- men cwell on it al considerable length °nc. you are aware that much of the smooth performance of the engine is | the result of this particular mechanical feature. Yet what is a damper? Or, better <till, what brings about the need for vibration dampening? to rlcture the typical engine shaft. We call this part of the engine the “crank shaft” because it is shaped like a series of cranks joined together. The rods from the pistons are connected to these cranks and operate the shaft through this very much as you can turn the shaft by working the hand crank. With the impulses on this shaft coming at different times, however, there is a marked tendency for it to wind up. In fact, if it were made of rubber there would be very noticeable twisting. To counteract this twisting effect the vibration damper has been brought into the picture. It functions in vari- ous ways, according to the type, but the usual practice is to have it counter- act the twisting action of the shaft. “The longer the shaft, of course, the Highway in Mexico, Gulf to the Pacific, to Cost $1,500,000 MEXICO CITY (#).—A higl way spanning Mexico from the Gulf to the Pacific Ocean will be consiructed at a cost of almost $1.500.000. Starting near the mouth of the Rio Grande at the lowest tip of Texas, it will be stretched across MILADY’S MOTORING BY FREDERICK C. RUSSELL Te grasp this idea it is necessary | |YELLOWSTONE PARK VISITORS INCREASE more tendency there is toward winding | Basing Opinion on Pre-Season r‘f'; up. which ought to explain why the : older engines with short shafts did not| Ures, Officials Presage Heavy | need dampers although they would have Season run smoother with them. Crankshaft vibration is greatest at certain speeds and it is for this reason | that it pays to drive above or below | 28.—Pre-season visitors to Yellowstone any car speed at which the engine does % v not seem to be performing its best, If National Park this year show a de you ever are troubled with ailments of | ¢ided increase over 1929 and, basing YELLOWSTONE PARK, Wyo., June | | the vibration damper you will find at | their opinions upon the early influx, what speed it is most needed and you | ik v will profit in the future by avoiding P2k Officials believ continuous driving at that speed. e & heavy season is | | presaged. i 2 5 | " In the week prior to the official open- Mot bl ling of the park on June 18, 4,674 per- | sons visited the park, as compared with MOTOR CYCLE POPULAR |3.633 guests ihe corresponding week in | 1929. A total of 1571 automobiles was | _ | checked, or 336 more than a year ago. Narrow Roads and Long Distances | This represents an increase of 20 per | cent in the number of visitors. | Visitors to the park thus far this year total 14.830. or 4.345 more than had en- tered up to the 1929 official opening. Automobiles total 5.132. while the 1929 pre-season car travel was composed of 3670 motors. These figures represent | a 41 per cent increase over the 1929 T Increase Norway Imports. | OSLO (#).—Narrow roads and long distances have brought the motor cycle to such favor in Norway that 1929 im- ports doubled over the preceding year The vehicles are used the year around. ecord. bels g equipped with skis for Winter| Officials of railroad lines expressed t 5 . optimism at the prospects for 1930, €C H R Y S8 L E B ‘B 1O AND UP —F. O. B. FACTORY Roadster, $810; Phaeton, $830; Busi- ness Coupe, $830; De Luze Coupe, $860; Four-Doer Sedan, $875; Con- vertible Coupe, $945. Al prices £.0.b. factory. WITH THESE FEATURES Chrysler-designed, high-compression engine, using any grade gasolime. Iso-therm ventilated bridge-type pistons, with pisten rings of tongue and groove construeti and comfort. Internal four-wheel hydraulicbrakes, with squeakless, moulded brake lining. Full-pressure lubrication — rubber insulation of engine—counter weighted crankshaft—camshaft driv- en by silent chai tie heat control—chromium-plated filter—air Copyright 1930 by De Sete Motor Corporution OMPANION CAR TO THE WO DISTRICT MOTOR COMPANY (INCORPORATED) 1337 14th St. N.W. Potomac X% 1000 Garner Motor Co. Leonardtown, Md. MacksService Hyattsville, Md. Roney Motor Co. Frederick, Md. NOW ONE OF THE LOwl Sf- the continent to connect with Mazatlan, Pacific seaport. . It will be 870 les long, and three yu’r{ will required to PLYM DE SOTO Dy TO GOLF AN D OTHER SPORTS More Than 90 Per Cent of Linksmen Own Cars. While Others Ride to and From Courses With Others. BY H. CLIFFORD BROKAW, Automobile Technical Adviser. The automobile is necessary to golf. It is an essential factor in many other sports. Golf, however, is almost en- tirely dependent upon a certain amount of motoring. While the automobile has made golf possible, golf in turn has made at least two automobiles grow where only one grew before. Probably more than 90 per cent of all regular golfers own automobiles and the other 10 per cent probably ride to and from the golf links in motor cars. The automobile’s greatest service to golf has been che vast increase of acre- age avallable in links that it has pro- duced. Without the automobile only land within easy walking distance from a railroad station or an electric car line could be used for golf. Now any piece of property that is topographically desirable can be used, if it is within a radius of 50 miles from the center of any given city. It is one of the pecul- larities of a golfer that he will enter enthusiastically into the effort required to play 36 holes of golf ‘a day. How- ever, if it should be suggested that if it were possible for him to walk half & mile to & car line when either coming to or going from the links, he would probably be tremendously insulted. Golf Held Responsible. Picbebly golf is to a large extent re- sponsible for the development of the | twa-car family, which is now becoming & three-car &nd four-car family. The wife of the golfer has turned out to be a remarkable friend of the automobile salesman. The idea of a husband Others use the automobile to convey them to the scene of other sports. During the Summer the beaches are | populated with men and women enjoy- ing swimming, so that now it makes little difference where a beach is lo- cated as long as it is a desirable place for swimming, and as long as it it within a thousand miles of where a motorist happens to be. People own- ing automobiles think very little of traveling as far as a thousand miles to enjoy their vacation on a lake if they are specially interested in swim- ming and if the lake has a unique | appeal to them as a swimming place. What has been said of golf applies eight or nine months of the year in | the northern part of the United States and throughout the year in the south- ern part. What has been said of swim- | ming applies in the main to a briefer ! period and to a time of hotter weather. | What has been said of these sports could be applied to all Summer s and to many Winter sports as well, Mr. Brokaw will be glad to write on any subject pertaining to the automo- bile that a reader may request. \ROADSIDE INFORMATION HELD TOURING HANDICAP Great Cause of Annoyance and | Inconvenience. A. A. A. Division #a,s. Dependence on roadside information spending most of his week ends on the ' is one of the greatest causes of an- gOIf course has never been one to causs | noyance and inconvenience during the great joy on the part of the wife. But| touring season. according to the Dis when in addition to being away he also | trict of Columbia division of the Ameri- relieved his wife of any use of the fam- | can Automobile Association. ily car, this appeared to be extending | The American Automobile Assocta- insult to injury. The result has been, | tion pointed out that with a network of course, extra cars for the use of the | of highways extending in all directions golfers' wives and with conditions on them, because people | meai M 0 T 0 R S these husbands to oppose the idea on the grounds of expense, because the wives might ask how much golfing was cost- ing their husbands. No husband would care to state these facts and at the same time plead that the family budget would not stand for a new car for the wife. Now the golfer husband drives to the golf Links in his own car, and increas- ingly the golfer wife is driving her car 0 some golf links. The next demand for automobile facilities will be from the children of the family who are left be- hind during these week ends. Necessity of Golfer. It was probably & coincidence that the automoble and the game of golf began to have their development in America at about the same time: that is, early in the present century. That the development of golf has kept pace with the development of the auto- mobile is due undoubtedly, to a large extent. to the availability of the auto- mobile for the use of the golfer. The automobile has become a necessity to the golfer, whereas in many cases with- out the development of golf the auto- mobile to such families would be con- sidered a luxury. The automobile is an important fac- tor in the participation in most kinds of sport. Automobiling in itself is a sort, of sport which is enjoyed on its own merits. One doesn't need to be & follower of any other sport if he has an automobile. The driving of a car just for the pleasure which one gets out of such an experience is in itself one of the most delightful sports, and many are taking this up as a desirable of recreatio There is no chance for | P R 0 P U of construction, etc., changing from day to day, it is almost imperative that the motor vacation be planned in an orderly way. The handling of the Nation's moter transport is now as complicated as the movement of trains and requires the attention of experts on routing and road conditions. “In the past”” says the statement, “‘car owners have been hesitant to con- sult maps, due to their unfamiliarity with them and the trouble of foldin However. highway maps are now greatly simplified and for main-travel high- ways route cards can be secured from motor clubs, “The modern map also designates points of interest as well as a choice of routes and are kept up to the minute, In addition, the American Automobile Association publishes detour maps twice each month, giving all detours on prin- cipal highways and besides saving sime and trouble for the car owner. also serves to reduce the travel expenses.” Misunderstood, College Boy (walking) : Gimme a gal- lon of gas Well, Garage Man About a mile (snappishly) : where's vour can. down the road.—From the Wheel. College Boy (sadly)* District Has Largest Gain. The largest gain in automobile regis- trations for 1920 was 19.7 per cent in the District of Columbia. according to the District of Columbia division of the Ameri Automobile Assoc cC T | A BETTER AUTOMOBILE AT LOWER COST That’s the plain matter-of-fact story of today’s finer De Soto Six—a better automobile at lower cost. Even better than the famous De Soto Six that broke all sales records for a first-year car — and this means unapproached supremacy in its price class. Better! Swifter! Smoother! Smarter! Safer! The fir;er De Soto Six has a larger, more powerful engine. And a new Steelweld Body —a real advance in body- building, a threefold achievement in strength, silence Here’s value not to be found elsewhere at anywhere near the new lower prices of the finer De Soto Six. THE FINER SETX S LOWEST NATIONAL AUTO SALES CO. O. R. Blanton, Prop. 33 New York Ave. N.E. Metropolitan 9225 L. W. White W. E. Moncure Moreland Motor Co. Norheck. Md. PRICED CARS IN T OUTH Ay WORL " VERYW Quantico, Va. l1dorf, Md. 590 Apdwp, L. 0. b fastory