The record-union., 1897-09-24
IMPORTANT TO WAGON USERS
THE WIDE TIRE LAW TANGLE
STRAIGHTENED OUT.
What 1t Means-ERects of the
Omission Of a Word-A Table
of Axle Diameters.

There has been a great deal of con-
fusion concerning the wide tire law.
Thrice has the Record Union" pub
hshed the law by request Of its sub
scribers, but up to yesterday 1t remain
ed a muddle in the minds of most peo-
pie 1t is to the credit of Harry Light
ner, Assistant Manager for Waterhouse
& Lester Of this city, that he has
solved the riddle.
1t appears that the entire trouble IS
In the grammar of the bill. Whoever
wrote it omitted important words,
which omissions changed adjectives
into nouns, and substantives into ad-
jectives. The probability is that the
legislative committee having the mat
ter in charge went to some builder or
wagons or dealer in wagon parts and
procured from him the statement OF
the several kinds Of axles. That 1ndi-
vidual used the briefest terms in fur
nishing the information, terms entirely
ineligible to the dealer in such sup
plies, but which are meaningless when
converted into law.
The error, therefore, in this law is
either typographical or it was blum
dering omission on the part Of author
ity, which should not destroy the ef-
fectivenesS of the Act. That is to say,
where ''234 steel or thimble-skein ak
les are mentioned it should read,
''234 steel or iron thimble skein axles. "
But in the next instance. rs tubular
steel or iron axleS reads correctly,
showing that the word iron" was in
advertently omitted in the first in
stance. So again, where it says '112
steel or iron axles," it reads properly,
but in the next instance where it reads
''212 tubular or iron," it should clearly
read tubular steel or iron
Such reading would make the Act
Intelligent throughout. That is to say,
the words ''steeT' and iron" should al
ways be trated as qualifying 'thimble
skeins'' or tubular" and not as sub
stantives Independent Of 'thimble
skeins'' This treatment Of the bill
would make it perfectly clear.
Now, to answer the question of an
intelligent farmer, propounded through
our columns the other day, in which he
says that the law providing 234 steel or
thimble skein axles, requires 3-inch
tires and 21a steel or iron axles require
6-inch tires This is an inconsistency
sIlQ dn dDSuI uIQ1ly lIldl puAIlCS L al III
err But if Farmer viii insert
the word iron" after the word ''or'' in
the first case, this matter will become
perfectly clear to him.
The entire difficulty appears to lie in
advertently in the omission of the word
iron" in some places and the word
''steel" in other cases, so as TO make
the compound word "thimble skein" a
substantive throughout and the words
steel or iron" adjectives, except where
they purposefully stand alone.
In the second instance referred to by
Farmer" where the 6-inch tire is re-
quired it evidently refers, as it says.
TO steel or iron Concord axles, and not
to tubular or thimble sksin, though
they are classed in the same sentence
with q different diameter, namely, 81.
In another place in the law Farmer"
will see that it reads 211s-inch tubular or
iron axles. Evidently the word steel
should appear between the word tub
ular" and or" so that in some cases
the word "steeP' is omitted, in other
cases it is iron" This treatment of
the law, which is evidently correct, will
make it perfectly clear, and certainly
the next Legislature will correct these
verbal inconsistencies, since the law
does not go into effect until 1900.
We present herewith a table prepared
by Mr.. Lightner on the basis of the in
tention of the Legislature, but which
the lawmaker has so sadly bungled. On
the formulate of this table it will be
perfectly safe to go on and construct
wagons, because the next Legislature
will assuredly supply the omissions re-
ferred to and make the definitions per-
fectly clear.