The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-04
NEW AUTO LAW WILL
 MAKE B|G REVENUE
Frank Stollenwerck Draws Up
 the Bill
IT SEEKS UNIFORMITY
Provides fors Registration Fee Which Would Amount to SIO0,O00 q Year, According to Estimates.
 Fines for RecIxIessness

Montgomery, January 3.--tSpecial. )-ln the neighborhood of s10O,ooO in round num- bers, will be added to the revenues of Alabama, if the automobile bill which Representative Frank Stollenwercl1 of this city has drawn up is passed in both houses Of the legislature and signed by the governor The financial good of the bill cannot be directly estimated without an enumeration of the automobiles in this state. The estimated S100,000 is obtained by averaging a registration fee of SIP for 5000 automobiles, generally considered conservative reckoning.
 Representative Stollenwerck's measure is designed to obtain for automobiles of this stete a recognition in every state of the union, In direct contradistinction to the present arrangement. It is designed to make the Alabama Automobile associ- ation a stalwart branch of the American Automobile association, the organization which ranks supreme in the auto world.
 Text of Measure
 According to the text of the measure, which is merely tentative at the present tune, the bill seeks to effect uniformity Of the automobile laws in the United States, the common plane operating to the good of all owners and of all state. The bill is built upon the registration system, and has been approved by Secre- tary of State Cyrus B. Brown. The meas ure Is directly patterned after the New York law.
 Dealers in automobiles throughout the state will be required to pay a registra- tion fee of S10 per year for the purpose of operating their automobiles for sales purposes. A nickel plate, bearing the letter D-dealer-will be placed on each automobile stored by the dealer, though each of the machines will be given a reg istration num-er.
 Pay According to Horsepower
 Owners of automobiles will have to pay for their luxury on a graduated scale, based on the horse power of their ve- hicle. Automobiles with a horse power less than 20 will be registered at cost of N.50; automobiles with horse power ranging from 20 to 30, SIP 50 each; auto mobiles with horse power between 30 and 40, S17.50: automobiles with horse power exceeding 40, S22.50 each. Payment of this registration fee will free the owner from all municipal taxation and license.
 No municipality or county will be al- lowed to exact any toll whatever from operation of the car. The result will be that operation of the state law will not only bring about a uniformity of automo- bile laws throughout the state, but a CO., incident good in that registration of the automobile in the office of the secretary of state will assure further freedom from municipal troubles in the way of taxes
 The bill sets forth that the secretary of state will be charged with the duty of seeing to it that each automobile is per fectly registered, and that registration books shall be kept thoroughly up-to- date. To this end the measure author izes that on the day that the bill goes into effect, October l. 1911, two assistants to the secretary of state can be put in of flee, the aggregate salary of the "auto- mobile bookkeepers'' not to exceed sS5o0
 Limit Reckless Driving
 Reckless driving limitations are the only speed limits which are specified In the measure. Holding that no degree of certainty can attach to convictions which are based on a speed limit of or 10 miles, Representative Stollenwerck has set forth in the measure that reckless driving alone can be responsible for ac- cidents. If in the eyes of the officers of the law the chauffeur should so speed his car on congested thoroughfares as to endanger the life of passersby he can be hailed into a magistrates court. On first conviction a fine not less than $lO0 nor more than $200 will be imposed The conviction will be promptly reported to the secretary of state On second con- viction the secretary of state Is author ized to cancel the registration