Evening Star Newspaper, September 13, 1931, Page 49

In the Mo tor World | BY G. ADAMS HOWARD. T 7 am. day after tomor- row the uniform center left-hand turn will be the prescribed m’xglt;hod for otl}‘n‘e nal Capital. ere is noth- gl}“gomplexpabout this turn. It was in vogue here up to a few ago, when the rotary turn was ‘dlggzedeven then, the left turn from the center of the street in- tersection was made at all cor- ners not controlled by lights or trafic policemen. 300 Controlled Intersections. There are approximately only 200 controlled intersections out of 2,000 intersections. So Tuesday morning, at 7 o'clock, all turns will be made alike. If you are at Sixteenth street and S street and wish to turn left do exactly as you would if you were at Seven- teenth and S streets, only be sure | that you are facing a green light. No turn or forward movement can be started anywhere on the red light. ; Of course, there will be some tie-ups for the first few days, as some iotorists will get bewil dered whether theer exists any ex: cuse or not. The main thing, ac- cording to William A. Van Duzer, began sniffing the air of easy money. Bills for com; ulsorfi in- surance laws of various kinds | were introduced in the Legisla- | tures of 27 other States. Fortu- | nately automobile clubs and simi- lar organizations were able to pre- vent the passage of these measures. The plea advanced for not putting such laws on the statute books was that it would be wise to wait and see how Massachusetts got along with its pet measure. The Bay State was to be a sort of labora- tory to test out compulsory insur- | ance. “The laboratory is tired of func- | tioning in that wav and shortly | we shall hear it speak in no uncer- tain terms.” Could anything be written more | foolishly or more biased? If the | trade people could only get over |the fal notion that such a law | means less cars sold they would | be hollering for it. | 18 States Uniform. | While all States have some form | of rules of the road governing the | movement of motor vehicles, in only 18 States are these rules uni- | form, according to the District of | Columbia division of the Ameri- |can Automwobile Association. THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. director of the Department of| "'The association declared uni- Vehicles and Traffic, is to watch | formity in the provisions covering out for the pedestrians. They rules of the road, such as speed must be safeguarded at all costs.|limits, signs signals and markers, Marking of the streets explain-| passing street cars, overtaking and ing the new turn will be started | passing other vehicles, ete. will g0 at midnight tomorrow. Members | of the Traffic Bureau are praying| against rain. Should the streets; be wet the marking will be impos- | sible. Three of the most dangerous practices, according to Mr. Van| Duzer, are running across a red| signal light, failing to stop at a| designated stop sign and driving| on the wrong side of a street.| These are dangerous practices,| and violators should be severely | punished. | Attention to the signs on the| loading platforms is called by In-| spector E. W. Brown of the Traffic Department. Motorists, he states, | must obey these signs, which pro- | hibit vehicles from being driven to the left of them. In cases where the loading platform is not | marked vehicles may be driven to the right or left at the election of | the operator. | Zone Changes. ' With the new turn effective this | week many loading and unloading zones for busses will have to be changed. At present many of these zones are on the near side of the intersection. Where the| route of the bus goes to the left,| these zones will have to be moved | to the far side of the imtersections | to prevent jams caused by driving | the bus from the curb to the cen- ter of the street in order to make the turn. | ‘The skip-amber light system is working out well. It would prob- ably work out better if the amber light were left out entirely. This| has proven satisfactory in many cities. Trafic on Rhode Island avenue northeast has improved since the new timers were in- stalled. The flashing of the amber far to assure an crderly movement of the motor transport. “Absence of uniformity,” it was stated, “with a large number of contradictory practices in differ- ent jurisdictions, r in the ut- most confusion, failure to obey regulations, hazards to all con- cerned and delay in the actual movement of traffic. “The importance of rules of the road is now apparent in every State, and the advantage of hav- ing the basic principles uniform throughout the country should be equally so. It was further pointed out that uniform rules of the road are em- bodied in act four of the Uniform Motor Vehicle Code, drafted by the National Conference on Street and Highway Safety, of which the American Automobile Association is one of the sponsors. The 18 States which have uni- form rules of the road are as fol- lows: Arizona, California, Colorade, Delaware, Idaho, Louisiana, Mich- igan, North Carolina, North Da- kota, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia and Wis- consin. Gasoline Consumption. Motorists in the District of Co- lumbia and visitors used 80,538,000 gallons of gasoline in 1930, as compared to 71,884,000 in 1929. | For the country as a whole there | were 15,761,400,000 gallons of gaso-| line consumed by motorists in| 1930, as compared with 13,962, | 120,000 gallons in 1929, an increase of 5.3 per cent. New York led the States in gas-| oline consumption last year, with| a totz2l of 1,511,997,000 gallons, 1t! was stated, while California was second, with a total consump- tion of 1,335,556,000 gallons. Ne-| ;can Road Builders’ Association. SUNDAY AFTERNOON P ©/93) N.Y TRIBUNE , 1N C., SEPTEMBER 13 7 | I |||l I m!i’ NS s 1931—PAR/ FATHER FINISHES HIS' NAP. v WORKED ALL MORNING GETTING HE THE CAR READY, AND UNEMPLOYED AIDE BY ROAD BULDING W. R. S'mith and A. P. Greensfelder Would Find Jobs. Road building has been tested du ing the past year as a means of re- lieving unemployment and has been found most_satisfactory, according to W. R. Smith, president of the Ameri- More than a million men are now employed on roads and streets. Two other men are busy furnishing each road worker with supplies, he estimated. Wide Area Aided. “Money spent on public roads is spread over a wide area in both coun- try and city. The dollar spent in road and street construction has double value: it pays the bills of the worker, and thereby adds in creating a stronger market for commodities, and it has a permanent value in decreasing the cost of highway travel that affects every one.” continued Mr. Smith. “A man out of a job needs it where he lives and road and_street work bring the job to him. Highway work alone from midnight to 7 o'clock | vada motorists used a total of only | readily absorbs men from all classes of in the morning is another im-. provement. 1 Foolish Ridicule. ! It is queer how some automo- tive dealers and trade papers still | take a fling at compulsory insur-| ance. Such regulations are need«‘ ed, and although a change in| detail may be needed in some in-| stances, the law itself is well| worthwhile. It means protection, and at the same time unconscious- ly brings about safer driving. If you cannot obtain insurance be-| cause of a bad record of driving,| and cannot drive without insu ance, the natural practice of try-| ing to be a safe driver is sure to follow. | A recent issue of the Automotive | Daily News editorializes as fol-| lows: | “Yes, we know it's a mean thing to do, but, when Massachusetts started its experiment with com- pulsory insurance some years ago, | Automotive Daily News opposed | the move to the best of its ability. We said then that, whatever need | there might be for protection ef * person and property from damage by motor vehicle owners financial- | ly irresponsible, compulsory insur- ance was not the solution. Some | 64,743,000 gallons of gasoline. It is stated that the annual consumption of gasoline is four 10-year period, 1921-31, although the number of motor vehicles has increased only two and a half times. Expenditures Profitable. Expenditures on highways are profitable now because of the needs of the unemployed and the low cost of accomplishing needed road and street improvements, ac- cording to W. R. Smith, president of the American Road Builders’ Association. “Road building readily absorbs men engaged in all industries that are temporarily inactive. No spe- cial training is required for cam- | mon labor on the roads and streets and, therefore, highway building is an ideal public work for the re- lief of unemployment. A man who is given a job does not lose his self-respect like one who is forced to accept charity. “The recent statement of a rep- resentative of the American So- ciety of Antomotive Engineers that within a Gecada road speeds of 100 miles an hour are to be expected gives an idea of the additional Massachusetts newspapers took burdens that are continually l‘a)g— e umbrage at our stand an\ invited | iIDg placed on the highways. us to ‘mind our own business,’ re- minding us that this was an af- fair concerning only the Bay State, not ‘foreigners.’ “Well, the noble experiment has had a very fair trial. The Massa- chusetts authorities have brought all the power they could bear in the attempt to make it successful. And now the general public, auto- mobile clubs, civic bodies and the insurance companies have united in such a vociferous protest that Gov. Ely is taking up the matter officially. Whatever the outcome, the Massachusetts experiment has served a useful purpose. It has warned other States not to try and solve the very real problem by the compulsory insurance method. “It will do no.harm to recall in this connection that, after Massa- chusetts had announced that it would experiment with this com- pulsory insurance law, no fewer than 27 other State Legislatures MOTOR DON'TS DON'T GET TANGLED ON THE LEFT TURN CHANGE ! TFHE NEW SYSSEM OF LEFT-TURNSAT CONTROLLED INTERSECTIONS GOES INTO EFFECT TUESDAY AT 7.AM. READ THE REGULATIONS CAREF ULLY SOYOU WILL BE FAMILIAR WITH THE NEW METHOD OF TURNING. may expect under such speed con- | ditions express highways with marginal roads for slow traffic, | much elimination of both highway iand railroad grade-crossings and the relocation and widening of | many highways to fit them to | handle high-speed traffic. The | formula for highways, safe drivers iplus safe vehicles plus safe roads | equals safety, states the three ele- ments that must be considered.” \NO GAS BOOTLEGGING | EXISTENT IN MARYLAND i et ven |None Worthy the Name, Says J. 0°C. McCusker, Baltimore Official. Special Dispatch to The Star. BALTIMORE, September 12.—There is no gas bootlegging worthy of the name in Maryland, according to Joseph O'C. McCusker, chief deputy state controoller, who said Maryland collects the gasoline tax on all the fluid that is used in the State. | . If there is any, it doesn't exceed 15,000 to 10,000 gallons annually, I‘hlch‘ | he describes as “infinitesimal” compared | to_the several hundred millions of gal- lons used annually. | _“It is more difficult,” said Mr. Mc- Cusker, “to bootleg gasoline in a State | where ncne is produced than it is to | bootleg it where it is produced. None | 1s produced in Maryland. | “The only dealer in gasoline who | would have any chance to avoid paying the tax would be some one on the bor- der of the State who got gasoline from outside the State. That would be diffi- cult to do because his competitors-would be anxious to see that he paid what they had “;o x;,ny. - “We have had ccmplaints fro, i to time that there I‘asp.m e | tions have | ging. “The motor vehicle commissioner co- industry temporarily inactive,” he said. “The public can buy highways at a bargain now—the saving in cost prob- | | times as much as it was in the| 2bly will more than offset the interest charges on road bonds. Relief of un- employment might well be concen- trated on road and street construction 'SCHOOL OPENINGS NECESSITATE | . EXTRA CARE IN AUTO DRIVING 'A.A A Calls Upon M | J otorists to Exercise 1 All Forms of Safety in Protecting With approximately 25,000,000 chil- | dren in all sections of the country pre- paring to return to the school room, | the American Automobile Association today broadcast a warning to motorists l Little Ones. In its appeal to car owners to aid the cause of safety by careful driving, | the A. A. A. said in part “In the vast army of children re- turning to school will be little ones | that the return of these youngsters to|of 4, 5 and 6 years of age, who for the | the streets will create new traffic | first time are leaving the protection | PROGRESS OF AUTO RARELY OBSERVED Average Owner Takes Work- ings of Industry for Granted. | specia1 Dispaten to Tre star. DETROIT, September 12. — What wheeled progress means not only in hazards and urged careful driving on|and safety of their homes to enter an | the operation but also in the manu- | the part of every car owner. involving school is largel: | the exercise of added care will go entirely new world. There will be | The national motoring body pointed | problems enough without that of the | | reckless driver. | “All motorists are obligated to have | | within the province of the motorist and lrparl in the great humanitarian work | r | of preventing _accidents, and they | facture of the modern automobile is a phase of industry that the average car owner rarely gets a chance to ob- serve or know. For years volume production methods have becn taken for granted, and in reducing the number of deaths and | shouid realize the enormous difference | stories of certain plants turning out fatalities, | Nation Challenged. | “While there has been a steady im- provement in the traffic fatality record their care and consideration would | mean in keeping these children safe from physical harm as well as from a fear that may mar the rest of their | lves. Such a spirit on the part of car | among children.” said the statement, | owners will do more than anything else “the problem still challenges the Nation. | to m: In eight years, while adult fatalities were more than doubling, those of chil- dren increased by less than 25 per cent. | In 1922 children accounted for more than 29 per cent of all traffic casualties, but in 1930 accounted for less than 20 per _cent. butable to safety education in the children on their way to and from | school. With the reopening of schools some 200,000 schoolboy patrolmen will ake for safety. i Schoolboy Patrols. | “The reduction of accidents that is traceable to the establishment of schoolboy patrols in hundreds of schools | throughout the country is evidence that | _“This improvement is largely attri- | the courteous helpfulness of motor clr; schools and to the successful operation | youngsters, whose white belts and arm | of schoolboy patrols in safeguarding | bands identify them as safety crusaders. that has been well tested and found | b® At thelr posts in every section of | efficient,” he concluded. Greensfelder's Address. Idle money will remain 25 long as men are kept idle, and a state, county or city without good roads is behind the times, said A. P. Greensfelder in a recent address, “Are we going to stand still or help our commurities to climb out of the depression?” he asked. *“Construction is the halance wheel of American in- | dustry and follows closely the trend of industrial conditions. The laborer in building highways demands _gloves, shirts, shoes, bacon, bread and other necessities. “A 10-year construction plan for roads and streets should be developed. As a Tesult of good roads and streets there is increased demand for better schools, churches, markets, dairies, bakeries and other local . Small communities need them as much as large cities. A farmer in a section of good roads can live in a small town, visit his farm daily, and at the same time enjoy all the advan- tages of the town—with a motor car he does not have to move to town. This arrangement of living holds farm families together. Produces Wealth. “Building roads produces wealth. The results of money spent for good roads in time of emergency such as unem- ployment relief remain long after the depression has passed. Tourist traffic flows where barriers are least—to sec- tion of good roads. Many hill regions can raise more money from tourists than from timber. “If anyone doubts the demand for good roads, let him try to close one even temporarily or try to move it a mile away. He will stir up a hornet’s nest. “Idleness consumes. Employment pro- duces. A stabilized fair wage and a short working day will minimize unem- ployment. “Americans are committed to pay as they travel violate. The gasoline tax and registra- tion fees for motor vehicles must be used only to construct and maintain the ways on which the gasoline engines run. “In the present unemployment emer- gency, community leaders must demon- strate their ability to find a way out for the public.” PO ADVICE FOR MOTORISTS Pointers Given to Prevent Acci- dents by Safety League. Regulate your speed at all times to suit the density of traffic, the rate of speed of other vehicles and the condi- tion or width of the street or road, the Silvertown Safety League advises mo- torists. Have your vehicle under full control always and be ready and able to stop within the distance which you can:see is clear. Follow other vehicles only as closely as is reasonable and prudent and will permit you to stop safely if an emer- gency or other unusual condition is met on the road. Obey speed regulations. They are de- signed to insure your safety and ability to stop in an oo SeiatteE Avoid unusual spee passing cars or in heavy vehicle or pedestrian trafic. Sound your horn and reduce speed to 15 miles an hour when passing a school zone or other place where children are operates with us in looking for such things.” Ninety-two per cent of the visitors to the National Forests in 1930 traveled by automobile, according to the D. C. division of the A. A. A. playing near the street or road. Toot-Toot. Irate pedum;n-—fley. why don’t you low your horn P Tmotorish—Who do you think 1 am—Little Boy Blue, : | the country, and in addition, A. A. A.|the boy patrolman holds up his hand | motor clubs will sponsor the distribu- | that it is not an order but a plea for | | tion of close to 2,000,000 safety lessons | assistance. and posters during the school year ahead.” BY FREDERICK C. RUSSELL. A motorist moves in mysterious ways her blunders to perform. the back seat driver.for years, a wom- an who now takes the wheel of the family car almost exclusively that she have a back seat assistant whenever there is any one riding with her. She maintains that in the final analysis it is an advantage to any driver to have some one who sees the road from a different angle and who will point out any special dangers. Is it fashionable to have accidents? of their troubles awheel, I found myself asking this question. One driver who would rather be shot than caught trumping her partner's ace almost bragged about her stupidity in traffic. Another who is known for her skiii on the greens made a comic skit of her recent skid into a telegraph pole. Evi- dently some mental skidding. Being married to a wealthy automo- bile enthusiast apparently has its draw- backs. I have just heard of a woman whe life awheel had been just one car after another—but all of the same make. When her husband passed away there were flve cars with the same name plate in the garage. Her first move was to trade in a $6,000 custom job for a machine of lesser value. The That pay must be kept in- (thrill of driving something different. By refusing to deviate from her cus- tom of applying the brakes gently, the woman motorist has at last come into her own. Before four-wheel brakes she was not getting proper results because she not press the pedal hard enough. Then she promptly got into all sorts of trouble with some of the four-wheel jobs because 'light pedal pressure caused squealing and chatter- ing. Now the new braking systems are sensitive and free from both noise and “half-pedal” chattering. Light pressure brings best results. All of which seems to prove the theory that if you stay with an idea long enough it is bound to bring re- sults. By making a special pigment of mother-of-pear], carefully scaled from the inner linings of oyster shells, it is possible to finish a car in what is known as a “perlescent” shade. Light is reflected and refracted by the ground shell so as to produce a very unusual and striking effect. The mixture is sprayed on the car body along with the lacquer. ‘The week’s safety hint suggests press- ing the horn button more firmly and for a longer period when giving an emergency warning. The tendency is merely to touch the button, a mistake that often causes the horn to fail. Her continual complaining of un- usually low gasoline mileage had the service station people badly puzzled. Several mechanics made careful check- ups and found that the car was good for 13 miles to the gallon or more. The owner said she could not get more than 7 miles per lon, Friend h d stood it as long as he could and finally decided the dealer into Mis confidence. Listening in while several women told | | | Milady’s Motoring | forget_che complaints. Even though she has been labelled | | insists | NETYOUs way of handling the car. drivers has been extended to thes ‘There is every reason to believe that still greater co-operation will be given during this school year. “Car owners have learned that when Who could resist such a | plea when behind it is the calm, confi- dent trust of a child?” the gas” he announced. “You just It's due to the way she presses all the way down on the accelerator when half throttls would do just as well. It's just her Nerves waste gas.” Any woman who will take time to become more familiar with the function of the springs will profit through added comfort and safety. The cushioning or shock absorbing action of the spring 15 due not only to the flexing of the metal leaves themselves but also to the fric- tion between those leaves. If there is too much lubricant the spring will col- lapse so as to cause the frame to bump Wken this happens a terrific force is stored up in the leaves, causing | 2 sharp rebound. The spring controls, commonly misnamed shock absorbers, w1l be overtaxed. On the other hand, not sufficient there will too much friction between the leaves. This eventually damages the spring leaves themselves. The _best rule is to feed lubricant to | the springs when they seem to be in danger of reaching too high a friction value. It is, of course, best to have the springs covered so that dirt and water will not upset one’s calculations. A spring squeak invariably is a sign that friction is too high, although this friction may be generated merely at the spring ends. Too much lubricant, re- sulting in too much flexing of the front springs, may cause steering trouble— including the dangerous shimmy. - A town car done in a hideous red with wild upholstery dotted with straw- berries became a white elephant around a certain salesroom. One of the sales- men finally thought of a wealthy woman Who wears outlandishly colored clothes. He showed her the car and stood trembling. “Why,” she declared, “that’s the most beautiful shade of green I've ever seen seen. It's just what I want.” o Ain’t Nature Grand ? From the Detroit Motor News. They were seeing America first in the family automobile. Thanks to the wonderful variety of billboards in trav- eling from Detroit to. Ann Arbor, they were able to see Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, the Eiffel Tower, the Mediterranean, the Golden Gate, three camels.and a de luxe steamship crossing the marshes, Pike's Peak, and the head- liners in a three-ring circus. Hunger- ing for a bit of natural scenery, little sister locked to the sky. “Oh! See the pretty clouds,she cried. “Them'’s not clouds,” Bobby scoffed. “That’s a sky writer an’ m‘Zn clouds would spell dad’s favorite shirts if it wasn't so windy.” the axle. lubrication is | Roads in National Parks. Eight thousand miles of automobile road will be constructed in the national forests during the present fiscal year. Some of these highways will traverse country fully as beautiful as any found in the national parks and will cause many more to enjoy the recreational facilities of the national forests, | tomobile from 6,000 to 10.000 cars a day under pressure are taken as a matter of course. Traffic Speeded Up. ‘The fact is that as modern traffic has been speeced up by the develop- ment of faster cars, the methods of manufacturing the cars likewise have acquired heightened speed and also {accuracy. With these factors have come flexi- bility in factory operations and the modern plan of keeping inventory to the minimum with less cash tied up in raw materials. This allows quicker tarting and also stopping of the fac- tory wheels than has ever been known in the past. Consequently. there are fewer delays and less loss from unproductive labor, but to accomplish it the entire scheme of work has been speeded up. This has been done in two ways. One is the use of conveyor systems; the other is by trucking inside the factory walls. The conveyors working on the power belt plan carry heavy parts, like en- gine blocks, from one department to another or from one building to an- other. In some plants the conveyors are miles in length. Power Trucks Used. For other parts, like partly finished body shells or sheet steel used for fen- ders, power trucks are used to wheel loads from point to point over large areas of factory floor. What the au- workers can do with these ‘machines is amazing to see. Back and forth they slide silently and smoothly, Usually they are equipped with either hooks, forks or platforms designed for the particular job that “pick up” the load as if it were lifted by muscles of steel. At the touch of a lever by the opera- tor, a weighty mass of metal is moved on its way to the place where it is needed and at a speed faster than a man can walk. The power used for this work usually Is electricity, but often it is a small gasoline engine if there happens to be ventilation enough to carry off exhaust fumes. It is the belief of production | men that there are few, if any, inter- plant hauling jobs for which a power unit cannot be devised that will handle a load of increased size with a corre- sponding reduction in cost. In one large piant ide cost of un- loading sheets of steel from freight cars was reduced from 14 to 2 cents Per ton, with a cash saving of $80,000 n one year. In another plant 40 tons of sheet steel has been moved from a freight car in 25 minutes by two men. Using a specially built electric truck in still another factory, bodies are moved with rapidity into a storage space. Instead of being laid on the floor horizontally as might be expected, they are placed am end. In this way 1,900 bodies are packed into an area in which there was room for only 750 by the old method. Recent Analysis. In a recent analysis of factory econ- omy methods made before the Society of Automotive Engineers, the following principle was laild down: “Business conditions today have First, plants Qmaghc two great lessons. an systems must oper- their lundllns ate economically, if possible, on a low production as well as a high produc- tion rate. “Second, to keep pace with competi- tion, the management of any plant must be in a position to change its design or, perhaps, its processes to meet new demands of customers or take ad- vantage of new processes and methods. “Flexibility is a paramount advan- tage if it can be maintained at low cost, and flexibility in handling meth- ods is secured through mobile equip- ment.” (Copyright, 1031, by the North American Newspaper Alliance, Inc.) — Ohio Urges Licensing Law. Through the Ohio State Automobile Association petitions were circulated re- quiring the State to institute a driver's license law as well as the A. A. A. safety responsibility law. The State'’s attorney general has oved the le- gality of the two petitions presented, Ommendations ¥l e pecsed uy "ohe [ y the State Legislatu: Assembly Plants. AUTOMOBILE DRIVER HELD KEY TO HIGHWAY SAFETY PROBLEM Selection of Good Operators Important, as Shown in Decreasing Number of Commercial Car Accidents. By A. J. BROSSEAU Chairman. Motor Truck Committee of the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce. ‘The driver is the key to the highwa: safety problem. Check up your oper- ators and you can check accidents. This is aptly demonstrated by the fact that commercial vehicles—motor I%ucks, taxicabs, and busses—were in- | volved in fewer fatal accidents last year | than in 1927, despite increased regis- ‘This fact is even more elatively greater ! vehicle opera- tion is taken into account. Records of Safety Council. ‘The records of the National Safety | Council, showing the - “entage of® change in vehicles invoived in fatal accidents in 1930 compared 1927, show a decrease for trucks of 14 | per cent, 25 per cent for taxicabs, and A MOTORING 19 per cent for busses, compared with a 37 per cent increase for private pas< senger cars. Apart from any sense of civic re- Y | sponsibility, the financial interest of the commercial truck and bus owner— particularly tne arye operator—dic- tates the selection of drivers who will keep their vehicles out of accidents with resultant costly repairs and €~megc suits. To the driver an acci~ | dent often means his job. While truck and bus fleets are es- stablishing excellent accident records, there still remains ample room for improvement in the driving of many Individually owned and operated trucks. The driver of the small delivery {truck is often a menace to street | safety, not infrequently because the with | owner’ gives him a delivery achedule impossible of fulfillment without | speeding and disregard of traffic regu- lations. Sometimes such owners have insurance and are inclined to let the insurance company do the worrying in case of accident. Ecective Means. LAMEN A very effective means of dealing | with operators who drive recklessly and | carelessly is the enactment and enforce- | ment of a_uniform drivers’ license law. Or, the Way of De Tourist. BY L. BRUCE HORD. Verily, these be days of bounding life for de tourist. He riseth early and hastily consumeth two cups of alleged coffee and some stale eggs and greasy bacon at “Ye Roadside Haven,” and throweth four suit cases, a bag of golf clubs, a bundle of bathing suits, half a dozen assorted sweaters and coats and the family Pekingese into the back of the car with Katy and Johnnie, and 'Gene and Mary; hurrieth his ever-pa- tient and long-suffering life partner | into the front seat, with three Thermos | bottles, a gallon picaic jug, yesterday's unread papers, a tour book and seven | road maps, and roareth across sundry miles of super-heated countryside. He | climeth the hills in high! Yea, might- ily, he stormeth up the mountain side at a number of miles per hour, and en- | countereth a ‘“detour” sign upon his path. He traveleth 7 miles over a dirt road with heavy grades which uquh‘ev,h“ the second gear. And, Lo! his radiator | boileth over and he hath engine trouble galore. He payeth a wayside descend- | ant of Capt. Kidd and the 40 thieves | six bucks for an unneeded change of oil, engine adjustment and a radiator flush- | ing. He filleth up with three gl]lol}h of mountain water from a gushing hill- side spring. His troubles are o'er. | Through the Valley. He scorcheth through the valley to make up for lost time. He consumeth many bottles of warm “iced” soda, and purchaseth numberless candy bars to quiet his offspring withal. but giveth no thought to their present comfort or future health. He speedeth between miles of gayly colored signboards that proclaimeth” the qualities of every product of man, and obscureth those of nature. Selah! He smelleth the luscious hot dog from afar in the heat of the noontide. He buyeth a dozen with six more bottles of “iced” drinks, but alas! and also alack! findeth the dogs cold and the “iced” drinks warm. Desperately he hurleth a half empty bottle of imitation suds against a tree where it strikes a gaudy sign reading quote Delicious and Refreshing end quote, and yearneth a mighty yearn for one cold bottle of homebrew from right against the freez- ing unit of his automatic ice box 1,000 miles away. He pauseth beneath a spreading tree, and findeth its shade all | on the other side of a high wire fence, and fully occupied by a herd of p.gs,| goats and other livestock, that stirreth | up a dust cloud while they stampeth and kicketh at flies. He perileth his | life but rescueth the Pekingese from utter annihilation neath the wheels of a passing truck, and returneth proudly. He expecteth a song of praise and a decoration for gallantry. Alas, doth he get 1t? He doth not. He findeth his| ever-loving spouse administering first aid to his eldest born, who receivedst a | crushed finger when he tweaketh the | tail of a sleeping mule through a fence, | who kicketh quickly, and batteth not an eye. Selah! Through the Afternoon. speedeth through the long after- noon. Vainly he tryeth to reach Punk- town on the bay, but when within eight He | When to lose a driving license means | the loss of a job the driver is not going |to take undue chances. A standard | operators’ and chauffeurs’ license law with mandatory examination of new drivers is Part TII of the Uniform Ve- hicle Cede recommended for state adop- tion by the National Conference on Street and Highway Safety and is ale ready in effect in 18 States and the District of Columbia. It has been found that from 25 per cent to 30 per cent reduction in fatalities can be cred- ited to effective drivers’ license laws. Fleet operators during the past few years have been devoting an increasing amount of attention to driver training. Some of the larger bus, truck and taxicab companies maintain driver | training departments with rigid quali- fication requirements for employment |of new men. Many companies seek to promoie good will toward their products by issuing definite orders to their driv- ers to keep over to the right of the {Z'd‘ and to exhibit proper road cour- sy, The National Automobile Chamber - of Commerce is co-operating with more than 400 organizations in a continuing truck driver training campaign. Re- cent returns from the owners of 35,000 trucks indicated that 97 per cent of these owners were definitely working to improve their standards of driver performance. While the driver of the large truck or bus may sometimes appear to be taking advantage of the size of his ve- hicle to take more than his share of the road, don't forget that the owner of that vehicle valucs a favorable pub- lic opinion as well as freedom from ar- Tests of his drivers and subsequent de- lay to his vehicles. Continued disre~ gard by his drivers of the rights of oth- ers on the road <ooner or later means - trouble. For a case in point we have only to recall the incident where the | “other” driver was the Governor of the State and the subsequent enforcement of drastic regulations severely penalized a larze bus ccmpany for the actions of cne driver Along with the drivers’ license law the Uniform Vehicle Codes of the Na- tional Conference on Street and High- way Safety include a “Uniform Act Regulating’ Traffic on Highways® and a Model Municipal Trafic Ordinance. These codes all promote safer opera- | tion of vehicles through the uniform | requirements for motor vehicle equip-- | ment and operation. Under the provi- sion of these codes commercial vehicles | traveling in fleets would be required to 50 space themselves as to permit other users of the road to pass them with comparative ease and safety. Nor does all the responsibility for fety on the roads rest with the oper- ators of vehicles, as evidenced by acci- dent figures recording many injuries to pedestrians between as well as at intersections. “Baiting” vehicle driv- ers by careless or deliberate disregard of the difficulties of handling large Yehicles are no more excusable than bad manners. On main roads all too infrequently the pedestrian does not walk facing traffic and subjects him- self as well as vehicles to unnecessary hazards. Little Delay Experienced. Practically all commercial vehicle traffic is today rolling on pneumatic sa miles thereof ‘at sunset he encoun- | tires with increased speed. Except for tereth a detour sign which rquteth him|long vehicles and combinations of over 37 miles of old and qko.ndm.ed vehicles little delay is experienced by road and compelleth him to spend the | following cars. Drivers are being in- night at a swamp farm with “rooms for | structed to _afford opportunity to tourists.” He occupieth, perforce, a| following traffic to get by. For in- folding cot in a cubby hole of a room | stance, peace time practice of the under the eaves, with but one window | U. §. Army motor transport corps is to (unscreened), and all night hungry, but | space motor convoys sufficiently far festive mosquitoes feedeth upon his|apart to permit other trafic a chance prostrate form. His fitful slumber is|to filter into the column where ap- broken, while it is yet night, by the | proaching traffic is heavy. braying of certain farm beasts of bur-| By far the greater part of the main den, the kind that loweth in their stalls | highways are now wide enough to per- and the cock that croweth shrilly, while | mit passenger cars to pass any com- the morning star fadeth. He batheth | mercial vehicle on the road in safety. in a quart sized tin pan and shaveth| There are, however, still too many his tortured face with a blade that|roads where poor construction, bad dulleth perceptibly with every stroke, | curves, unnecessary grades or high the while he curseth his forgetfulness | crowns cause commercial vehicle oper- that causedst him to leave out his extra | ators to take more than their share of blades and preventeth his purchasing | the road to the discomfort and incon- more. He collecteth his brood and driveth into Punktown as the new day dawneth and learneth there that the new road is open and the “detour” signs should have been removed last week. He sweareth vain and bitter oaths until his life companion threat- enath to leave him for the sake of their poor, to the kicketh out three windows in the car. Through the Weeks. Yea! Verily, he repeateth the per- formance daily for two endless weeks and covereth 2,371 miles, and spendeth the other 50 weeks in boresome recitals of how the old bus made 387.4 miles one day and would have done 425 but for two blow-outs and a bent axle which delayed him a couple of hours when he hit an unlighted barricade at a detour sign, and how, after all, 4,869 miles isn't so bad for a two-week's trip. Selah! Truly, one other should be added to Solomon’s “ways” that be past finding, and that is—the way of de tourist when he hath re-toured. Py Retains lubricating qualities at high temperatures. Tnsures correct and depend- able lubrication in all seasons and at all speeds. Try Autocrat and learn the vast superiority it has over the regular run of motor oils. yourself, n BAYERSON OIL WORKS COLUMBIA 5228 Try Autocrat the mext time you need oil, and judge s adventages for defenseless lambs who listerath | lurid language gleefully and | venience of other users. tices, together with ineffective lighting |of large vehicles at night. poorly maintained and overloaded equipment are soundly condemned by all com- mercial vehicle operators. manufac- turers and those engaged in the busi- ness of highway transportation, who recognize the definite value of public goodwill. To those few passenger ear drivers |in a hurry to get somewhere with nothing to do when they arrive, the commerclal vehicle operators ask only | that they realize no one ever took & truck out for a pleasure ride. Such prac- Authorized Service Harrison Radiators CREEL BROTHERS 1811 14th St. N.W, Decatur 42%3 An oil filte7 filled with DIRT cannot protect your ENGINE Clean oil safeguards the life of bearings and other moving parts in your engine. But it must be clean. And the way to keep it clean is to renew ! your oil filter cartridge _every 10,000 miles. Change your oil filter cartridge every 10,000 miles