The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-06-29

preJudRe the automobile case were not
wanting in the expressions of the Magis-
trates. Mr.. McAvoY, who says that he
lives 10 n neighborhood where automo-
biles endanger life, did not think it was
right that man should go out with the
intention of disobeying the law and the
means of getting off in his pocket Ac-
cording to this idea, the average man
who owns an automobile would have to
leave his purse at home, and it is an
aggravation of guilt in a person who
gets on the wrong side of a statute to
contemplate getting out on bail while his
case is pending.
Magistrate WAFFLE broadened the sit
uation by picturipg the consequences
OF opening the way to easy bail. He
thought it would open the door to strange
doings. IF automobilists, why not
anybody?' Even member OF tho Monk
Eastman gang might got easy bail. This
is a seduction to absurdity which doesn't
work quite as Mr.. WAHLE expected
1t to. The absurdity is in the idea that
member of the Monk Eastman gang could
get easy bail, and not in the assumption
that he would be entitled to II, II he could
procure it, in any proceeding in which the
statutes permit easy bail to be given.
theoretically all accused persons are on
the same plane in the eye of the law; and
if the offenses charged against them are
of the lesser variety, they are all alike
entitled to easy bail by law and by GUS
tom. The extent to which the Magis-
trates seem to have lost sight Of this
proposition is most clearly shown in the
concluding remark of Mr.. BREEN:
The very difficulty of getting baled
out should have a deterrent effect on
would-be Offenders
In other words, he thinks it a good
thing that the arrested automobile
driver should, if possible, have dose
of prison cell to begin with, lest his trial
might not result in conviction. This
point of view is not unlike that of
tho English schoolmaster OF the good
old DAYS, who made it a rule to birch
every boy in the school at least once
week, because he was quite sure that
every boy deserved birching every
Nebk, "i'lucl llc SttllRlll VI iipt
While our Magistrates thus harden
their hearts aud their faces against the
speeders, it is worth while noting that
the State Of New Jersey has raised the
speed limit to twenty miles an hour, and
there is so far no increase in the number
of accidents occurring there. Indeed,
Automobiles regard the record of acct
dents as showing that there is no trace
able relation between speed and mishap,
In many if not ina jority Of cases Of acct
dent, they point out, the machine was
admittedly moving within the legal speed
limit while in cases where high speed was
an element it was generally coupled
with some more serious factor. such as
tipsiness on the part of the driver or
neglect of the rules of the road, a fail
ing in which automobilists "a a class
are no worse than any other drivers Of
vehicles.
On the whole, the paucity rather than
the frequency of automobile accidents
is the remarkable fact. There are now
about 10000 machines licensed in New
York State. and it may be assumed that
on the average each one is on the road
many more hours day than any horse
propelled vehicle. Yet a newspaper
reader cannot fail to observe that days,
and even a week at time, will pass with
out any chronicle of accident in which
they figure, and this in spite Of the fact
that trivial au omobile happenings areput
on record, such as would not receive the
slightest notice If trolley cars or vehicles
drawn by horses we're concerned
When an automobile accident occurs
it is apt to be picturesque, and it has a
stimulating effect on the Imagination Of
the public which leads to erroneous gen.
civilizations. These in turn stir up the
zeal of certain officials, who see an easy
way to popular approval in drastic
severity toward the obnoxious engine
and it's owners and operators, 1t is ex-
tremely probable that in three or four
years, when people get fully accustomed
to the devil wagon, they will wonder what
they ever saw portentous in it. Speed
laws will be repealed or forgotten, Magis-
trates will cease to commnate from police
court benches and chaufreurs will not
be sent to the Tombs for their poten-
tial crimes, but will career the streets
as free and untrammeled as the cabmen
or the brewery wagon drivers, only get
ting hauled up when they actually ac-
complsh some mischief, and then getting
fair judgment on the specific facts in
the case.
In the meantime, it might alleviate the
troubles of the chauffeur's existence if
the utterances Of his possible judges
left him under the delusion that he would
have chance of an impartial hearing
when his turn came to appear before
them