El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-08-19
A Lock To Save The Automobile;
Case Where 1t Might Have Failed
Militiamen Swamp Photographers With Their Film
Work-Men of Past Generations Wore Horns
Uncle Sam and Gasoline Prices.
By C. A. MARTIN

VERY time an automobile is left
. n standing for any duration on the
H. street downtown somebody comes
along and ties red tag to the steer
ing wheel admonishing the owner TO
get patent lock TO prevent II being
stolen and giving a list Of those who
have recently suffered the theft Of
cars. Ny car draws a tag as regularly
as any Of the others. though it has
big brass Yale lock on the gear shift
ing lever every time the tagger leaves
his card l suggest a pair of glasses
for the tagger; they would save both
of US trouble The mans idea IS all
right, however. for many car theft
would not occur If all owners would
lock their machines. Some owners
have resorted to locking small wire
cables, leather covered, about their
front wheels. but many Of the new
cars have special locking devices that
are calculated to thW art the thief My
lock once proved effective, but as later
events proved, it need. not have done
So I left IL standing in front of the
Elks club and the thief, after trying
hard to break the lock, gave up and
left. but he had damaged the lock so
badly that my key would not work and
Charlie Brann and 1 had an hours
session with a hack-saw before we
could get away Here is where the
joke comes in: Not a policeman ap-
proache US or our vicinity while we
were working on the machine and we
could easily have escaped with II,
after all this rough work" and noise,
If it had belonged to someone else
Militiamen are so busy shooting" E.
paso views with their cameras that the
photographers of The city are several
days behind on development and print
ing work. Never before in its history
- Dor nd
vicinity been sent out of this city
This in itself is going TO be big
advertisement for FL Paso, as the pic
lures are being scattered to every cor
ner OF the United States. Every COM
pany in FL PaSo has from dozen to
% cameras and every time a man takes
a lot of good views, he is importuned
bv his comrades to let them have the
films from which to make prints to
send back home. Photographers SELL
ing FL Paso postal cards are also doing
a big business with the guardsmen and
regulars now stationed here.
We often comment on the fact that
the United States gets the best OF
things in the way of prices. For a
time, automobilists complained that oil
companies were selling TO the United
states at a figure much below that
paid by the ordinary citizen This
complaint is no longer tenable, for
Uncle sam is now paying % cents a
gallon for gas for his army trucks
operating in and near FL Paso while
the common, ordinary citizen gets his
engine fuel for two cents less It is
because the government makes con-
tracts that its prices are not always
the same as those paid by citizens.
The government happened to get a
contract many months ago at a cheap
price; that was why it was recently
buying below the price paid by the
average citizen. When the govern
ment's contract expired. gasoline was
selling at % cents and il looked as II
il might 90 higher. The government
officials did not make a contract this
time with any particular concern, but
offered the dealers % cents if they
would agree 10 furnish it for a given
period at that rate; in other words
guarantee the government against an
advance; nothing was said about a
drop. The dealers accepted and gaso-
line shortly dropped to % cents, then
to q, but the government had agreed
10 pay % cents for a given period ana
II is paying the price like man and
raising no cry about Mr.. Private Con-
sumer getting il two cents cheaper
Since the recent declaration OF Gen