Evening Star Newspaper, January 10, 1937, Page 11

TRAFFIC ACCIDENT RATE UPTO GITIES Engineering Must Be Linked to Intelligent Law En- forcement. This is the seventh and last of & series of articles discussing meth- ods of combating the trafiic menace, BY BLAIR MOODY. DETROIT, Mich, January 9 (N.AN.A.) —Any city can pretty well write its own accident rate—if an in- telligent program of enforcement, dove- tailed with modern engineering, is supported by the driving force- of public opinion. That is the boiled-down summary of what can be done’ about today's leading tragedy, “death in the streets,” which has been snuffing out lives at the rate of 100 a day. It is the path that progressive, trail- blazing cities have proved leads some- where. It is the course available to any city that wishes to follow it. Practical business executives, as well | as professional experts in safety tech- nic, particularly urge the need for strong sustained civic support. to a | program of enforcement geared to re- | duce deaths. Perhaps best qualified among them to speak is Paul G. Hoffman, president of the Studebaker Corp. Hoffman is | chairman of the Automobile Manu- facturers’ Association’s Safety Com- mittee, which through its manager, Norman Damon, is pouring into estab- lished safety organizations thousands of dollars to revamp and expand safety programs handicapped for years by lack of funds. Hoffman Long in Campaign. Hoffman was the first executive in the automotive industry to start ham- mering home, years ago, when many of his colleagues believed that any one whe mentioned accidents was “antag- onis ic,” the message all now agree to— .hat sooner or later traffic slaugh- ter would have to be stopped—and the sooner the better for every one. Hoffman's advice, therefore, if it matches his vision, should be good. Here is what he has to say: “The first thing & city must do to reduce accidents is knock down de- featism—the idea that ‘nothing can be done.’ “It is safe to say any community ean pretty well write its own accident rate, low or high, just as it can write its own fire rate by having a high- grade fire department. “But it is no flash-in-the-pan job. It takes a long-term balanced pro- gram. A community without intel- ligent non-political enforcement can do little. But if the best enforcement program is to be permanently suc: cessful, it must have public support. “That means a persistent, well- rounded program of keeping constantly before the people what the elements of safety are and what they mean to the city: what they may mean to any family in the city where a life is saved. Safety Technique Differs. “Evanston, Providence, Milwaukee, Syracuse, Louisville, all have such programs, and all have reduced deaths. Details of their technique dif- fer somewhat, but the principles are the same. “In South Bend (where Hoffman ix chairman of a civic safety group formed last year) we had eight traf- fic deaths in the first five months of the year and two in the next five. “Traffic safety must be attained by organized amd sustained com- munity effort, not & lot of speeches about safety, or spasmodic traffic ‘ro- deos’ It has proved wise in Mil- waukee, South Bend and elsewhere to form a representative group of in- | fluential men to support or direct the movement. “Some cities, like New York, have education—of | ‘Brass Pounde the Burlington Railroad. Now rapher. Senator Ed Johnson (le from Colorado, and Representa Not so many years ago these two were “pounding brass” on gress, but still carry union cards in the Order of Railroad Teleg- cratic member of House from Illinois.—Harris-Ewing Photo. THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, JANUARY 10 rs’ in Congress they are both members of Con- ft), mew Democratic member tive Lewis M. Long, new Demo- Cabinet inued From First Page) English lines, and for the establish- ment of a fact-finding agency within the Budget Bureau, which would have power to make investigations and surveys of the Government's func- tioning, and present further recom- mendations for reorganization to the President. Both of these have been very strongly urged on him by his advisers on his Special Committee on Reorganization. The “career service” idea is espe- cially interesting. It would set up four or five “fareers” in the Govern- ment service—perhaps an administra- tive, an expert or scientific, an office workers and a manual workers. With- {in these, promotion would be by merit, on a ladder system, and each career might be topped by one or | more “permanent undersecretary- hips,” on the English model. The “administrative career” would supply “petmanent undersecretaries” to all the departments. | His central idea in reorganization, | as he has often said, is that the Gov- ernment should be regrouped along “functional” lines. He is a great | admirer of the New York State re- | organization, carried out under Alfred | E. Smith with the advice of Robert Moses, and something of the same sort is his objective for the Federal Government. | “Functional” Idea Outgrowth. | The scheme for the two new depart- ments is the outgrowth of the “func- tional” idea. In each of them would | be concentrated duties and powers of | & related nature which are now scat- i tered through many departments and agencies of the Government. For 1 example, the Works Progress Ad- | ministration, which provides immedi- ate relief for unemployment; the | Social Security Board, which provides { long-term insurance against jobless- ness; the C. C. C, which cares for | agencies and bureaus of a similar character would all find their way Jobless youth, and one or two o!her‘ presidential influence. Here again, the idea is opposed by the conservative reorganfzers. But it is undoubted that he desires to’get many of these inde- pendent bureaus and commissions covered into the central governmental structure. 1t is because of this that he is likely | to request authority to carry out his | functional regrouping within the broad | framework already laid down. Reor- ! ganization is a dificult business when | since every department and agency which is threatened with extinction promptly descends on Congress in force, and harries the Representatives and Senators who are its friends through patronage until an opposition has been whipped up. Undoubtedly | reorganization would be easier if the | President did most of it himself. | While the President busies himself | with his message, Senator Byrd, Demo- crat, of Virginia, is working hard over | his own reorganization scheme. An elaborate and far more detailed pro- | gram is being prepared by Senator | | Byrd, and it is understood he will soon present the first segment of his plan— a scheme for reorganizing and con- | solidating the lending agencies of the | Government, (Coprright, 1037, by New York Herald- | ‘Tribune.) Indictments (Continued From First Page.) tion. One was described in the in-| | dictment as a member of the Kansas | City police force. Thirty Defendants Named. ‘Thirty of the defendants were named in four indictments accus- ing them of conspiring to violate the civil rights act by miscounting votes for President and Congressman. The other six, whose names were not’ an- nounced, were accused in an indict- ment that'was kept secret. Essentially, the defendants were | charged with making false returns of the votes cast, with reporting Re- | publican votes for Democratic candi- lingham said the accused persons would be brought to court Monday. At least two of the indictments ac- cused the defendants of erasing the cross mark denoting Republican cholce and placing the “X” on the Demo- cratic side. Changed Totals Charged. In one instance it was charged the Roosevelt-Garner ticket was given 501 votes against 31 for Landon and Knox, when the “correct and truthful” count was Roosevelt and Garner, 39); Lan- don and Knox, 141. In that same precinct, the indictment charged, Rep- resentative C. Jasper Bell, who directed the congressional investigation of the Townsend pension plan last Summer, was given 501 votes, against 31 for Paul Byrum, the Republican nominee, when it should have been 390 for Bell and 142 for Byrum. Two years ago a grand jury headed by Russell Greiner, once president of Rotary International, spent seven ‘weeks investigating conditions in Kan- sas City but returned no indictments. ‘That jury reported: . “We find that Kansas City is in- fested with gambling, racketeering and other forms of lawlessness, and so dominated by intimidation and threats of reprisals by the underworld that citizens are afraid to tell the truth to the grand jury.” Five Slain in 1934. Five men were killed in a city elec- tion in 1934. John Lasia, & Pender- gast lleutenant, was shot down sev- eral weeks later. Since his illness, Pendergast has turned active direction of the organi- zation over to his nephew, James M. Pendergast—but “the boss,” 2 his co- horts call him, has recovered suffi- ciently to come to his unobtrusive downtown headquarters almost daily. The grand jury is to resume its work Tuesday morning, alded by agents of the Justice Department’s Bureau of Investigation. All of the precincts named in the indictments are in the twelfth ward, Those indicted are: Leo B. Roach, policeman. Democratic judges: Callie Clark, Lorne Wells, Margaret T. Kelley, Ce- celia Ditsch, Edson M. Walker, Loretta McEntee, John T. Little and Alice M. Froeschl. Republicans Also Indicted. Republican judges: Frank H. Ad- ams, Beulah Walton, Chloe G. Al- bright, Elijah Burke, James E. Maxey and Lena T. Green. Assistant District Attorney S8am C. WAREHOUSE AND TORE-WIDE upholstered in Spring seat _ 1937—PART ONE. Blair sald Maurine Nelson, a Repub- lican judge, also was indicted. Democratic clerks: Joe R. Wells, jr.; Olga Kegin, Anna V. O'Laughlin and Forest C. Holman. Republican clerks: Pearl Sperry, Marie Denger, Tessie Mears and Ruth Hogendorn. Democratic precinct captains: John A. Luteran, Prank Ditsch, George Nee- per, John H. Drummond, Joseph Hob- dy and Gilbert Stevens. PROGRAM DISCUSSED FOR NAVAL RESERVE | Co-ordination of Plans Change in Set-Up Is Arranged. The job of handling co-ordination of the Maas bill, the Navy Department compromise, and the Naval Reserve program on a change in the Reserve set-up was yesterday referred to the National Committee on Legislation by vote of the delegates at the annual United States Naval Reserve confer- | énce now going on at the Washington Hotel. for ‘The demands of the Reserve involve | a direct budgetary approach, a sep- | arate bureau headed by & rear ad- | on courts and boards in so far as they | touch the Naval Reserve, and expan- sion of the Fleet Naval Reserve and the volunteer general class. Neither the legislative nor the departmental proposals embody all these objectives and it was feit that the committee could iron out the difficulties more easily than the convention as a whole. Resolutions were passed to maintain ‘ an adequate -appropriation to provide the men with the usual 14 days’ active ] duty and 48 annual drills with pay and | to work to offset the subversive work | of un-American groups. Unable to complete its work, the | convention, which was to have ad- A. M. 0. R. C. PREDICTIONS FOR 1937 in 19377 d K « A-11 journed last night with a banquet, will cohtinue in session today to elect af= miral, an additional Secretary of the | ficers and set a time for the next Navy for the Reserve, representation | sion. ¥ The British post office reports 1936 PIANOS for RENT $3 monthly and up. Rental paid applies to purchase price if you decide to buy later. Call NALL 4730. KITTS 1330 G St. No Money Down! UP TO 2 YEARS TO PAY! $14.95 Lounge Chair, $8.43 tapestry. Regular $84.50 Three-piece Modern Bedroom Suite. Comprises large dresser or vanity, chest and bed Finished in walnut on hardwood. Exactly as illustrated Regular $124.50 Three-piece Modern Bedroom Suite in matched walnut veneers. choice of dresser or vanity. $25.95 Kitchen Cabinet. Finished in enamel S | 5'30 celain top. Includes chest, bed and Sharply reduced____ s s Regular $99.75 Two-piece Modern Living Room Suite. Exactly as shown above. A smartly styled creation of unusual comfort and beauty. Includes sofa and chair. made excellent records through put- | into the welfare department. Guaranteed spring construction ting one strong man, with authority, | in charge of traffic in the police de- | partment.” The first step in the program, Hoff- man said, is to “move in on the po- | lice department,” but the police can’t do a complete job unless they have | community support. “All’of the organizations interested in safety—the parent-teacher as- sociations, women’s club, Chambers of Commerce and other business clubs, | the American Legion—should help to drive this message home. Some of | them already are interested. All of them should be. Opinion Must Be Rallied. “With their support, a city can sur- vive the inevitable reaction that occurs sometime . during every real safety campaign. Effective enforcement starts to show results, but it makes careless drivers, who get in accidents and are prosecuted, mad. Their anger reacts politically.. and pressure is applied to have enforcement relaxed. That is where the force of public opinion must be rallied to the side of safety. “There are a number of devices that serve to stimulate interest in safety on the streets. One of these is friendly competition such as the inter- factory contests that have been so ef- : and fective in some communities, inter-precinct police contests, such as have been used in New York and De- troit. When the boss writes an em- ploye who has been' convicted of a *moving’ traffic violation (not parking) and expresses ‘regret’ that the em- ploye has soiled the company’s safety record, the employe will think twice before he speeds or runs through a red light again. When the superin- tendent tells an inspector to ‘go after’ accidents in his precinct—patrolmen move into action—or else. Intelligent Enforcement Needed. “The main point is thaf a com- munity can have, in safety as in poli- tics, just the sort of record that it wants—if it wants it badly enough to stay awake and be determined to get it. “A city should-have intelligent en- forcement. It should have a trained traffic engineer. There are myriads of examples proving that scientific Btudy of physical trafic hazards pays. In Los Angeles, for example, the flow of traffic on one high-accident street was quickened 50 per cent, and the accidents reduced 50 per cent, by a simple, common sense program of engineering and pedestrian control. “But in any city, a safety record 18 likely. to be as strong as the man —or men—who direct it. And a big part of the job of this direcitng force is to keep the public alive to the fact that lives are precious; that they are worth saving—and only an intelligent, strict and consistent safety program will save them.” (Copyright, 1937, by the North American Newspaper Alliance, (nc.) Collects Tickets. A-doctor at Munich, Germany, who has been collecting transportation tickets for years and now has 40,000 specimens from 100 countries, claims he has the best collection in Europe. B | tion. As for the Department of Public Works, it would have a double func- Its first duty would be to do all construction work for the Federal Government. It would have the further duty of preparing an in-| tegrated long-term public works and dates—thus “injuring and oppressing” voters and violating their civil rights. United States Marshal Henry L. Dil- | THE FORMAN & BILLER SALE $17.95 Bachelor Chest in rich walnut finish. Drastically sl 0'79 reduced _ . chai TREE EXPERT CO. 19 Years' Satisfactory Serviee CIOI‘ 56 ARLINGTON improvements plan for the whole country. In his functional regrouping, the President does not wish ‘to stop there, either. There are, at present, 137 independent agencies of the Govern- ment, from the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commission to the Interstate Commerce Commission. Of these, 57 were born in the last years of the New Deal, | The President wishes to bring many | of them into the cabinet departments, 80 they will head up more or less directly to the Chief Executive. It| is not known whether he would go 8o far as to put such semi-judicial, historically independent agencies as the Interstate Commerce Commission | into departments where their policies | would become directly subject " to.! oDD BEDROOM PIE $10.95 Chest of Drawers, nicely finished X $14.75 Hardwood Dresser with swinging mirror.$11.97 [$6.95 Metal Robe in brown finish________.__$4.28 $12.75 Solid Maple Vanity $6.95 Boudoir Chair with chintz covering____$3.67 |$8.95 Cast Iron Wood Heater__ $7.95 Laundry Heater ADVERTISENENTS HRANI:H - [:[ REBEIVEII HERE Higgers’ Pharmacy—5017 Conn. Ave. Is An Authorized Star Branch Office 1‘ your problem is to find that “‘somebody’’— and the proven BEST way to do that is through a Classified Advertisement in The Star. You cannot reach the attention of so many peo- ple directly in any other way. - F you've got a want somebody else can supply Star Classified Advertisoments DO Bring Results | Authorized Star Branch Offices are maintained in practically every neighborhood in town and nearby $22.95 Circulating Coal Heater_______ {$32.95 Coal Range with warming closet___$24.95 $18.95 Oil Circulating Heater___ : ODD LIVING ROOM PIECES $14.95 Kneehole Desk, modern design. Fin- ished in walnut_ $27.95 Secretary in rich mahogany finish. Spacious book and desk compartments___ $2.69 Book Trough End Table finish on hardwoods $5.95 Coffee Table in walnut finish. Dun- can Phyfe base and solid glass top. $49.50 Love Seat in choice of rust, brown or green friezette upholstery__________ $3.95 Cabinet Smoker in walnut finish____ $2.39 suburbs for the convenience of patrons of the Stor Classified Section. These authorized Branch Offices will accept copy—forwarding it promptly - to the Main Office—without fee for the service; only regular rates are charged. You can identify autkgized star Branch Offices by the above sign. 7 $6.88 $13.95 Innerspring Mat- tress that pro- § 8 64 vides unlimit- ed comfort___ r and buttonback chair. Very special Regular $79.50 Three-piece Living Room Suite in attractively tailored tapestry. Comprises sofa, arm- Serpentine fronts. Regular $69.50 Three-piece Solid Maple Bedroom Suite in a soft, mellow, honey color finish. Consists of a chest of drawers, panel bed and choice of dres- ser or vanity. Exactly as shown Regular $89.50 Four-piece Walnut Finish Bedroom Suite. Comprises dresser, vanity, chest of drawers and $17.95 Dropleof Table. Duncan Phyfe design. ro.ns; 81288 hogany finish____ - $9.65 $18.80 $3.67 $38.95 $6.95 Occasional Chair. Walnut finish 54_58 frame. Neat- ly tailored - - - poster bed. Sturdily constructed and richly finished. 8-Pc. Modern Studio Outfit Comprises a modern studio that opens to a full size double or twin beds. 2 studio/end tables, coffee table, occasional chair, bridge lamp and shade and two studio lamps with shodes 10 MAtCh - oo e e