Evening star., 1916-05-28
AUTO|STS SWINGING
AROUND THE CIRCLE
California Family Reaches
Washington After Long
Journey in Machine.
WORST ROAD is MET
IN CAPITALS VICINITY
Stretch to Fredericksburg Bad.
Senator Batz Describes
His Trip.

There arrived in the National Capt.
tai a few days ago a party of tourists
who are making swing around the
circle" in the motor world. concluding
as il will at Los Angeles, Cal, the
latter part of the summer the Trip
which will take in practically the en-
tire United States, is being enjoyed oy
Mr.. and Mrs. Valentine Batz OF Los
Angeles, Cal. and their nlne-year-oio
daughter Irma Q. Batz. Mr.. Batz was
state senator in Minnesota from 1888
to 1907. While here he is visiting many
of his old friends in Congress ana see
ing the sights in the vicinity OF the
National Capital. The tourists e4-
pect to resume their journey some time
next week.
Early in the year Senator Batz pur-
chased a fve-passenger Mitchell SIX
of Sixteen" from the branch In Dallas
Tex, and then proceeded to map OUT
his tour The starting point was Fort
Worth. He let the Dallas air out OF the
tires and pumped them up with Fort
Worth air, as ii was his amoitlon 10
go as far as possible on FORT worm
air" The speedometer was set at zero
on April "a last, and up to the time
Of arrival in this city 2,5I5 miles mao
been registered. The same air was IN
the tires when Washington was
reached.
Worst Stretch of Road.
The worst stretch of road was en-
countered within thirty miles of the
National Capital-from Fredericks-
burg, Va. to Washington. Senator
Batz was negotiating this very success
fully when he found a woman driver
with a big. heavy car firmly imbedded
in the road. with half dozen negroes
from nearby settlements trying to
move the car.
Senator Batz assumed active charge
and after digging the roadway free.
passed line from his Mitchell and got
the big machine out of the big mud
hole. In so doing, the tread of one of
his rear tires suffered. Rather than
run any risk of a blowout Senator
Batz had the tire vulcanized here and
will resume his journey with three
tires inflated with Forth Worth air and
one with air from the National Capital.
Senator Batz was so surprised that
any road within hundreds of miles OF
the nations capital should be in such
a condition that he has made the road
a subject of serious discussion with
several senators and representatives in
an effort to benefit other motorists.
He even advocated, when told that it
was a state affair, that the federal gov
eminent pass a special appropriation
to aid Virginia in putting this main
artery from the south into Washington
into first-class condition.
Route From Fort Worth.
The route from Fort Worth followed
by the Batz party was as follows:
Waco. Houston. Beaumont, Orange.
Tex: Lake Charles Morgan City. Dom
aIdsonville. New Orleans. La; twenty
five miles across Lake Pontchartrain
by ferry: Meridian, Miss; Montgomery.
Ala: Charlotte, n. c.: Petersburg,
Richmond and Fredericksburg, Va,
and thence to Washington.
From Washington Senator Batz and
his family will tour as follows: Balti-
more, Philadelphia. New York city.
Portland. Me; Buffalo. n. Y, skirting
Lake Erie, either through Ontario or
to the south through American terri
tory, and thence to Wisconsin, in
which state he will probably visit the
Mitchell-Lewis Motor Company's plant
at Racine.
From Wisconsin the party will go
to Minnesota, where they will visit
their old home. Their route from then
on will take them through North and
South Dakota. Colorado. New Mexico
and over the Santa Fe trail to Los An
geles. Cal. their present home.
Trip Enjoyable One.
MY trip has been a most enjoyable
cepafor