The Washington herald., 1916-01-21
MOTOR GOSSIP
By Isl" GROGAN.

sam" Luttrel and Louis Stevenson
motored to the Baltimore automobile
show yesterday in a Packard twin six
others who visited the exhibit in the
Monumental City were Irving Henderson
Percy Rowe, Burton Leary and Brooke
Nyce.
The term automobile seems to be fall
ing into disuse. A study Of the automo-
bile advertisements in the trade journals
shows that the word car" is used in
most cases in referring to the gasoline
driven vehicle. Motorists themselves re-
fer to their automobiles as motor cars,
motors, and some few affectionately
term them "busses" or boats. I" Motor
car" seems to be about as expresaveSas
the word Automobile" and when one
simply refers to the machine AS their
car they have about reached the meat
of the term and at the same time have
one that Is expressive.
Extreme precautions are being taken
to guard the gold Studebaker chassis
that was first exhibited at the New York
show, and is now making the swing
around the show circuit This chassis,
which contains $50 ounces of pure gold,
is heavily insured. In addition to this, it
is always shipped in a special express
car and is guarded both by a special
representative of the express company
and private detective.
Leroy Livingston. distributor for Hood
tires, is going into the automobile ac-
cessory business. He plans to devote a
part of his new showroom to this branch
of the automobile business.
Too bad that the Public Utilities Com
mission has not some Jurisdiction over
motorcar traffic as well as that of the
street cars, which they are now investi-
eating with the hope of relieving some of
the congestion.
Washington's motorcar regulations have
long been the fruit of conversation among
the motor car-owning public of the city.
Twelve miles an hour is the present
speed limit within the fire limits and
twenty beyond this point. Twelve miles
an hour was the rate determined on as
the legal speed at some date in the dis
tant past when automobiles were only
horseless carriages and were not as
easily controlled or had not reached the
perfection OF today. Pedestrians did not
know what they were, and, IL they saw
one, would be so overcome with curiosity
that in some instances they would per-
haps forget to get out of the way. To-
our everyday life The pedestrians know
that they run on every street in the city
and that when he attempts to cross the
street it is his duty to be on his guard.
The motor car public of this city, as
well as every other, are people of stand
ing in the community. They have re-
spect for the laws and are anxious L,
obey every regulation that is in the least
way reasonable, and many other statutes
that them because
they understand that the law Is made for
the good of the greatest number. Pick
out any number that you may wish anO
ask them what they think of the tweiyo-
mile-an-hour regulation. One and all vii!
say that 1t Is too slow for the entire
city. In the congested business district
well and good, for 1t is seldom that q
man with any regard to his own safety,
not to mind the welfare. of others, could
drive even that fast
However, when the outlying districts
are traversed there seems to be no need
of maintaining this rate of speed; in fact,
it is doubtful IL the average man does
not drive his car at least fifteen miles
an hour and some of them even faster.
Motor cars are so constructed today that
1t is possible to stop them in a very short
distance. In all endurance contests, one
of the rules is that after completing the
rum lne cfi Wbdl Is hhO"h dS
the brake test must stop his car within
distance of fifty feet, first with the
foot brake and then with the hand brake.
or suffer a point per foot for every foot
that he exceeds the fifty feet. If one
will take the trouble to look up the record
Of penalties imposed on motor cars that
have participated in events of this kino
during the past few years, they will
find that in but few instances have there
been any penalties on the brake test. ano
this Is after the machines have done
several hundred miles of the hardest
kind of work.
1t is most annoying, to say the least,
to be arrested for driving faster than
twelve miles an hour on street where
there is no traffic or but very little,
especially when you do not realize that
you are violating the law. Twelve miles
an hour in the easy riding cars of to-
day seems very slow and, in fact, on
some machines 1t is hard to throttle a
car down to this rate and have 1t fire
III