The St. Louis Republic., 1903-05-24

Many complaints are being made regard
ing the speed with which automobiles are
being propelled along the city streets.
| Not only are the livery stable men rais-
ing protest against the alleged violations
of the ordinance regulating the speed of
horseless vehicles, but those who drive for
pleasure are agitating the matter.
| 1t Is claimed that local chauffeurs take
advantage of the smooth roadways on the
West End boulevards to speed their ma
| chimes at rates of speed much higher than
the eight miles an hour allowed by law.
| Charles A. Forth, manager Of the Keyes-
Marshall Livery Company, said yesterday
that automobiles were rapidly becoming a
| menace to all who used the streets Of st.
Louis for driving purposes.
"Our drivers frequently report that acci-
| dents have been narrowly averted, and
| their teams restrained with difficulty from
running away, oy the changing bells and
putting of automobiles.
II have often seen machines driven past
! the office at rate Of speed that could not
have been sQualed by q galloping horse
1t Is very dangerous, not only for those
| who drive, but also for persons crossing the
| streets.
Rarely does chauffeur slow down when
| passing intersections Of streets. and may
say they never pay any attention when
passing restless or high-tempered team"
| Comparatively few complaints have been
| made to the police, as the automobiles all
look alike to the average observer. and II
is practically impossible to furnish means OF
Identification.
An ordinance. approved December II, 1901,
limits the speed of automobiles to eight
miles an hour on the city streets, and to
six miles an hour in the public parks.
The police have been instructed to en-
force these regulations, but except in the
mounted district the patrolmen have little
chance of apprehending those who violate
the law.
CHAUFFEUR's DEFENSE.
In defense Of the complaints that are
made regarding the speeding Of automo-
biles, chauffeurs say that the public, es-
pecially livery men and drivers of fast
horses, are apt to overestimate the rate of
speed.
An enthusiastic automobilist said yester-
day that few owners OF fast horses kept
strictly within the limit Of speed allowed by
law when driving for pleasure.
Ten and even twelve miles an hour is
no uncommon rate for boulevard driving,
oAAa ha'C ueeu olteu pdSSeu Dy q ITOtCer
when thought was pushing my machine
as fast as was consistent with safety.
Unfortunately for US, there are no sta
tistics showing the nature of accidents that
occur on the streets, whether caused by
automobiles or wagons.
Were these facts obtainable, would
wager that it would be found that the acci-
dents caused by horseless vehicles would
be far smaller than those resulting from
careless driving, even in proportion with
the number of vehicles Of each class
Another thing must be taken into con-
sideration, and that is the powerful brakes
with which automobiles are controlled.
When a man is speeding fast horse, he
must depend upon the latter to check the
momentum.
"There are few automobiles that cannot
be stopped within less than their own
length when going at a rate of ten or
twelve miles an hour. This, / should think,
would be strong argument in favor Of the
automobile"
1t is estimated that there are more than
800 horseless vehicles in st. Louis. but only
1853 licenses have been issued by the Ii
cense Commissioner this year.
The cost of an automobile license is SO,
irrespective of whether the vehicle is used
for commercial purposes or as a private
conveyance.