Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1907-05-31
NOVEL PLAN SUGGESTED m CONNECTICUT
II Incorporated In Bin Now In Committee
County Constable Graft WIN 30 Abolished
Lieut.. Governor Eysrstt Lake Tells How to
Stop Reckless Driving.

CllS auto speeding matter, ana II
would be necessary only to increase
1t, which could be done at small ex-
pense comparatively; so that the
Committee on Roads, Bridges and
Rivers, which has the auto matter
in hand, is seriously considering this
with view to putting 1t into the gen.
eral auto bill, at the same time that
the speed limit is removed and the
care for the other users of the high
way which is exhibited by driver of
an auto, or the lack of it, is made the
test for proper driving.
1t is proposed to have perhaps one
man to county, of which the State
has but eight, and have him patrol all
over the county, so that one would
never know when one might meet
him. He might appear around any
corner, as is the case with the park
police in Massachusetts system of
State parkways. He would get to be
an expert in his line and his evidence
would go far in a court.
This matter of regulating the driv-
ing of automobiles without making
the pivotal point of that regulation
their actual speed, as it is under the
present law, is very vital one in the
changes now taking place in Con-
necticut's auto laws. Lieut.. Gov.
Everett Lake, the old Harvard foot
ball player, himself noted as a driver
of autos who wants to go some and
is never afraid to let 'er out another
| link, says:
Give every other user of the high
way, from hen to a hearse or
puppy to an ice wagon, absolute right
of way over the automobile, and then
if the machine so much as scratches
any of 'em give the driver the limit
That's the only way to check the
and heavy and have no reason to be
afraid of much of anything else on
the road, though of course the autoist
isn't running into a stonecart when
he can help it.
"But we oughtn't to leave any
technical loopholes in the law for
them to escape through. A man who
drives a machine with reasonable
care will not get into trouble whether
he is going three miles an hour or
thirty, and the road hog will whether
he is going forty miles an hour or
practically standing still. What we
want to do is to put a check on the
dispositions of the latter
Down in Fairfield County, not far
from the New York border, is the
little town of Darien, which openly
boasts that it's constables collect
enough from speeding autoists to
pay all the running expenses of the
town. The strip of territory along
the Long Island Sound shore in which
it lies is filled with the country homes
of rich New Workers, and Darien is
on the main road between New York
and Boston. Sheriff Hawley, of Fair
field County, stood alongside Lieut.
Gov. Lake when he said what is
quoted above and he heartily echoed
his words.
Those are my sentiments exactly"
he said. "Just so long as you have
laws somewhat involved and filled
with technicalities which leave one
portion somewhat contradictory of
another, you will have trouble. Make
straight, plain law which holds the
auto driver responsible for any care
lessness or recklessness or any dam
age or injury whatever to another
user of the highway, and you've got
him.. It's a simple proposition and
one that he can't get away from"
Attorney Hallen, of the Bridgeport
Auto Club, states that on one Satur-
lay afternoon last summer the Darien
constables held up the unlucky num-
Der of thirteen machines for over
speeding by means of their trap, and
collected fines aggregating something
like 1915 through roadside tribunals,
for which the justices were in readi-
ness. He advances the novel PROPOSE
ton that the control of automobiles
will ere long become a Federal and
interstate problem to be solved at
Washington and that regulation will
come from the national capital. The
States must first place restrictions
about the use of autos as they have
had to do about the steam railroads,
but in the not far distant future the
Federal Government will have to take
up this means of travel and regulate
1t.
Henry Souther, of Hartford, State
Chemist of Connecticut, gave legis-
lative committee a very interesting
talk on the matter of speed as related
to careful driving the other day. Mr..
Souther has driven an auto for years
and is an expert and enthusiastic mo-
torist. He believes that previous
legislation in Connecticut has not
given the motorist fair DEAL The
grocer's boy is allowed to whirl
around corners on two wheels to the
danger of every one about and all
other traffic, and the sleeping milk
man to allow his horses to wander
home of their own sweet will with
out being held up, but If an automo-
bilist toots his horn for the safety
of the man in front he is scowled at
as public nuisance.
He insists on the distinction be-
tween careful drivers and road hogs
being always preserved, and calls at
tention to the case of friend who
lives in Harrington, Hartford SUI
burb. and drives heavy car, which
goes boiling along the country roads,
but holds the respect and good will
of every soul in the town because of
his careful and decent conduct to-
ward all other users of the highway.
isn't it a fact" asked the chair
man of the committee of Mr.. Souther,
that it Is the footing of the horn
which arouses all the resentment a
farmer is capable of, and that II the
autoist will simply open his muf1er
and thus warn the driver OF the team
he is approaching everything will go
quietly and well?"
II believe it is" was his reply.
He insisted that the drivers of all
Uahio1oc IF onu 1o~o~fn4;<,, 1,.whk -