Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-04-30

~HAT time-honored, preliminary
| institution Of the annual Gid
den tour-the "pathfnding"
trip-started last Monday from
this city. Following out the
extensive plans Of President Robert +.
Hooper for increased countrywide &C
tivity on the part Of the A. A. A. tour
ing Information board, Chairman How
ard Longstreth and his crew left the
capital early Monday morning. bound
| for Ottawa, Canada. q distance OF 1910
miles. This route will be followed pre-
cisely by the contestants In the associa-
tons eighth national reliability tour,
June 1926, which this year will be known
as the "Glidden reciprocity tour.
While the possession Of the famous Gid
den trophy will be sought. there will be
trophies dedicated to President Taft and
| Gov. Gen. Grey.
| After Chairman Longstreth has COM
pleted the tour itinerary he will return to
| New York by q scenic route, and thus an
International tour will be made available
to members in such compact form as to
insure popularity. Motorists demand def
mite tours, conveniently arranged, and
Chairman Longstreth has a vast amount
Of this work in prospect and Will gradu-
| ally work out a systematic plan to cover
|
| try. Comprehensive maps will supple
| ment this scheme and, of course, the &C
curate local books of the many A. A. A.
clubs will fit into the general plan most
efficiently, for these clubs are In POSI-
ton to know their own sections better
| than motorists from q distance. Chair
| man s. NJ. Butler of the contest board
| accompanied the party, which included
| E. L. Ferguson, who has complied the
details of many miles of American road.
| including a coast-to-coast expedition.
The pathfinding Of the Glidden route
will cover period Of about two weeks
. trifle more If bad weather IS encoun-
tered, as some of the roads to be trav-
ersed will be more At for INCORPORATING
than automobiling at this time of the
year. good supply Of tire chains and
underwriting apparatus was ca ensS
cts have long since dried. these roads
will be in much better condition.
| Interest manifested by manufacturers
| indicates that the entries this year Will
| far outnumber those of any previous sea-
son.
The route of the tour is as yet tenta-
tive and subject to change, according to
| conditions found by the scouts. 1t may
be discovered that certain detours can be
made to better advantage that some OF
| the jumps are too long or too short, or
that in some place planned for an over
night stop the accommodations are In
sufficient. Not until after Chairman
Longstreth has completed his survey
will the route be finally determined. En-
tries are already coming In and re-
quests for blanks are received In almost
every mail.
| In the past few seasons the annual
tours have been either in the middle west.
south or southwest and no particular ef-
| fort has been made to include many large
cities en- route. This season. however.
numerous big cities will be visited: Start
ing at Washington. the caravan Will move
through Baltimore. Philadelphia. New
York, Boston and several large Canadian
cities. Owing to this contestants will not
be obliged to undergo such hardships as
| in former years when 1t was d1mcult 70
secure hotel accommodations and made
sleeping in barns and camping out IN
! tents necessary. In short. the contest
de luxe.
! The contents Of a letter recently re-
| ceived by a Washington automobile own
er from a resident of the Shenandoah val,
| ley gives an inkling as to what does ana
what does not arouse the enmity OF the
residents Of that farming and horse
raising section Of Virginia.
The letter says in part:
mo resident Of this valley cares to In
terfere with or destroy the pleasures Of
| automobiling over our pike and roads nor
drive away the business that necessarily
| comes among us from the automoolies
that travel through these counties. An
auto owner Is welcome to go anywhere
| he wants to and we shall extend to him
| the hospitality of our homes when neces-
| sary. But this Is only upon condition
that he respect the rights Of the road and
thte property Of others. / mean live
stock and pedestrians along the road. II
| a man comes through here at reason
able rate Of speed and does not act as II
| he were the owner of the whole state or
| Virginia he is more than welcome; other
| wise he Is not, and we encourage our
constables and deputy sheriffs to arrest
| them.
lone case late last summer reflects the
attitude Of the valley people to visiting
autoists. A man from Harrisburg. Pa,
| suddenly burst into the valley one day,
and came down over the Winchester turn
pike like a whirlwind. The first thing he
encountered was an aged negro with a
wheelbarrow. The old man was laid up
| for several weeks with a wrenched back
and no barrow as a result. The automo-
| bilist failed to stop to find out II the old
went through a tollgate without slacken-
| ing his speed and into q flock Of the
tollgate keepers chickens. He killed and
MANNED seven. Several miles farther On
| he approached one Of the we'll known
citizens of this county breaking young
| hunter. There was not the slightest at
tempt on the part OF the chauffeur to
| slacken his speed. The horse became
frantic with fear. He wheeled. flung him
self across the road into q barbed wire
fence as the machine passed and crippled
himself His owner sold him-a blooded
animal-a little over g. month ago for $75.
| About seven miles down the road, when
they stopped him by driving a buggy
across the road and he was fined $15.
the owner Of the machine wanted to know
| where justice was among those rubes.
| 'Can you blame some of our people for
| sprinkling broken glass over the roads?
don't say they do 1t. but do you blame
them?
I'm direct contrast, the same day an
other machine came down from one or
| the Maryland towns. 1t Travelled about
fifteen or eighteen miles an hour. stop
ped or slowed down every time 1t met a
horse, gave warning every time 1t ran up
behind q pedestrian and respected the
rights OF feelings OF our people generally.
The result was they Travelled from VIM
| chester to Staunton without even word
OF warning to be careful. We want such
automobile drivers. The more We have
Of them the better.
THE instance that I relate with re-
spect to the Harrisburg party was ex-
ceptional. not because of the reckless
manner Of driving, but because OF the
accidents that resulted. ! am conServ-
vative when I say that such cases OF
speeding and disregard for everything ex-
cept the machine the parties were riding
in averaged not less than ten every month
from the LIST of May until the LIST Of
November last
Announcement Is made that several
Washington car owners expect to take
| a.