The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-11-23
Able and Instructive Address Delivered by Secretary of State H. Rogers Before the National Good Roads Con
 veniOn at Richmond, Va.

1 minutes"
 This law provided that metal plate or marker for each motor we. h1cle should be furnished by the secretary of the State, upon the pay ment of the actual cost of such mark CT. not exceeding one dollar, besides | tration. These were practically all oi
 the changes which were made.
 No Road Tax in Six Years. So that, for the first six years ol legislation, there were no provisions requiring tax of the owner to be I used for the construction and repair or highways, although these were beginning to show marked impair
 ment as a result of use by the motor ist. Neither had there been any pro- vision in the law granting the power to the secretary of suspending or | revoking licenses or registrations in order to protect the public against reckless or careless drivers.
 The legislature of 1907 agaln | changed the law in relation to the speed limit, as follows:
 'If the rate of speed of a motor vehicle operated on the public high ways of this state exceeds twenty-five one-eighth of @ mile, such rate of speed shall be prina facia evidence | that the person operating such motor vehicle is operating the same at a | rate of speed greater than is reason able and proper and in violation ot the provisions of this section
 This meant that the driver was not limited to any particular speed, but ii he exceeded twenty-five miles an hour the burden rested upon him to
 prove that, notwithstanding snch speed, it was not unreasonable, con sidering the width, use and traffic of the highway. This was fair law.
 both for the public and the operator. Early Revenue.
 The fees required under the pro- visions of the law of 1907 were as follows: Three dollars for each cer- tificate of registration of motor ve- hicles, other than motor cycles, 1haV- ing a rating of less than twenty horse power, five dollars for each motor vehicle having a rating of twenty horse power and less than thirty horse power, and ten dollars for each motor vehicle having rating of thir- ty (3O) horse power or more, and If such vehicle has two ratings of horse power the fee to be based on the higher rating; fifty cents for each certificate of registration of a motor cycle, and fifty cents for the license dollars for each license to operate.
 The revenue collected under this law was as follows:
 In 1908 from 5,700
 registrations, $1O, O,32S.OO In 1909 from 5000
 registrations, $5S,
 This included five registrations of manufacturers and 127 of dealers.
 The law of 1907 also contained the first provisions giving the Secretary nf a fhn Y,n ana revoke licenses and registrations. but the weakness of the lazy lay in the fact that when such suspensions or revOcatiOnS were made they could be made only upon due hearing, and on such a hearing the secretary had no power to summon witnesses or take dispositions, nor was the testimony required to be under oath, so that he was obliged to decide cases upon statements not given under oath From a decision upon such hearing the licenses could take an appeal to the superior court, should the finding of the secretary be adverse to him; so that little, if any, effort could be made toward the elimination of the reckless operator, in order to pro tect the public and the safe operator. The only safe suspension that could be made was that made after a sec ond or third conviction for some 'nf- fenst against the provisions of the motor vehicle law. This evidence was provided for in the law by requiring courts to file abstracts of cases tried before them with the secretary but, as a matter of fact, the records fail to show that there appeared any rec ord of a single case where the party had been twiced convicted.
 Becomes More Practical.
 This law was more practical in it's provisions for the securing of licenses ~s~,4~, ceededSt, in that it provided that the license oNregistration could be issued by card, which was made out upon the receipt of an application card, which was filed alphabetically as an original and a duplicate filed in numerical order to correspond with the number of the license or registra- tion, so that the owner or licensee could be ascertained by reference either to number or name. The only difference between the license and registration being that the applicant cate, while an applicant for a license received a card. These methods have been retained throughout the changes made in the law and are now in use.
 The three ideals of a perfect law were more nearly realized, however. in the next alteration in the law which was made in 1909. Iris law gave the secretary larger power with regard to revocation of registration and the elimination of the reckless driver; it gave him power in the hearings before him to summon wit nesses and take dispositions, take the testimony under oath and in some cases to dispose of causes without hearing Under this law an active campaign was commenced toward eliminating fraudulent regie-1-- +'nn and reckless or careless operators. To that end a newspaper burear, was subscribed to, and every conviction of serious nature was investigated. Complaints against operators were acted upon as soon as received. It was not long before it was discovered that this had a salutary effect upon operators, and that aggrieved per- sons made their complaints to the secretary instead of making them to the prosecuting authorities, where the employer of a reckless operator would pay damages and settle the case and the operator continue to be a menNce to safe Operations and the public. The operator became the best observer of his fellow operators, and while he did not desire to make criminal of him by complaining of his heedlessness, he could have summoned him before the secretary and at least given a severe reprimand which had lasting effect when he was informed that any A--- IL v.~ J