The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-20
AUTOS BRING STATE. $I62,375 IN 1910
Growth of Motor Gar Indus
 try in Connecticut

(Written for the Courant by Ar thur Fifoot, state supervisor of auto- mobiles.)
 The growth of the automobile in- dustry is fully demonstrated in the in- crease of work in the office of the various officials charged with the col- lection of fees for registration of au- tomobiles and the licensing of opera tors of motor vehicles in the different states of the Union
 In fully 70 per cent. of the stateS this duty is placed in the hands of the secretary of the state, while the bal ance is distributed amongst other offi- cials such as highway commissioners, motor vehicle commissioners, automo- bile boards, state auditor. county clerk, and, in the state of Alabama. in the rict.
 Tn 1903 the first law requiring the office of probate judge of each dis registration of motor vehicles was passed in Connecticut and during the two years from May, 1903, to July. 1905, 3,669 motor vehicles were regis tered. Nineteen hundred and five saw another law in force and in the two years from July, 1905, to August 1907, 5,38S registrations were issued. The years 1907 and 1909 brought forth changes in the regulations and the number of motor vehicles increas- ed to 4,500 in 107, 5,7O0 in 1908, 5000 in 1909 and 10,50O in 1910. There were also in 1910, II manufacturers, 325 dealers, and IS liverymen with approximately 1900 motor cycles reg istered. During this year also opera tors licenses for the running of motor vehicles and motor cycles were issued to about 1-600, persons.
 When the first registrations were issued the work was done by the reg r,1ny sy,x he nfo,s ,sxysc off so continued until the fall of 1909, when it was found necessary to sep- arate the motor vehicle branch of the office from the main office and room was assigned and a force of nine clerks needed to attend to the registration tors.
 All the applications are handled B least eight times, duplicate stubs are made, for cross index purposes; regis tration cards and stubs. are filed in three separate partments, namely, cation, so that immediate reference can be made. while the operators cards are filled alphabetically and nu-. merically. ' t -.
 The receipts from all sources. reg istrations, licenses, duplicate certih- cates,; etc., for 1908 were $44,209, for 1909 were $58,534, for 1910 were $162,375
 There are some owners who are somewhat inclined to find fault be- cause they do not receive their. cer-, tificate and markers as promptly as they expected, but almost invariably, upon investigation this office finds that the fault lies with. the owner, who thorough Ignorance of the law, has failed to send in his application properly filled out or has not sent the correct amount for his fee It is ab- so1utely necessary that the forms pro- vided by the office be used, and also that the remittance be received. be- fore certificate and markers are for warded. s4,-es "a
 The secretary. of states pffice is ready and willing at all times to ari-s swerF all questions, by telephone or let ter, and to give such information as delay both for the owner and the of flee All correspondence 1of which we receive a great quantity) is attend- ed to promptly and all questions an- swered fully and courteously. Some idea of the work may be given when it is known that as many as s9o pieces of mail matter relating to the auto mobile department alone have been re-. ceived at the office in one day, and when notices of expiration are sent out it. needs seven mail sacks to hold them. This, of course, represents great deal or iaDOr Tn the dodTcSSluS and mailing devartment.
 The law of 1909 fixed the date of experiation of all motor vehicle regis trations as December 31, and that Of licenses to operate the last day of February in each year. Notices or such expiration were sent to each owner and operator to the last ad- dress given, and, owing to neglect in not filling in street address in the cards, hundreds were returned to the office unclaimed and through the 1f- ability of the post office authorities to locate the parties to whom they were addressed. All the post offices throughout the state used their best efforts to locate the parties and in numerous cases forwarded our letters to other addresses, which courtesy IS fully appreciated by the secretary.
 At the present date there have been issued about 5000 registrations and less than 4,o0O operators licenses. AS the latter all expire on the last day of February it is evident that the ma jority of drivers of motor vehicles have so far neglected to send in their renewals as the total number received is not one-quarter of the whole mum Der. issued last year.