Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1920-11-26


be curtailed but l find these latter re-
marks come from those whose fingers
have been pinched | have never re-
vOked or suspended licenses except in
what | believe to he the interest Of the
public and for the safety Of hose who
ride and those who don't-I have rot
done it to punish anybody but to
serve as a warning to others, in order
that the licenses may mean something
and be representative of privilege
guaranteed by the state of Vermont,
One implied condition of a license is
that so long as a man is a holder of 1t,
ne must operate motor vehicle as he
ought: that is the principle upon
which | grant it. do not act hastily;
if there is any doubt about a matter
either 90 and investigate myself,
send an inspector to act for me or take
nv information from the states attor-
ney.
The Difficulties of Licensing
As to who shall be licensed want to
assure you that that is most puz-
cling problem. 1t is hard to demon
strate an applicants fitness, because OF
the haste in which we have to do our
work. Up to the 3lst of December
this wear we shall have licensed 10000
people and you can see that, if we
stopped to examine each inndiVidul
personally, it would not be possible
for us to issue that number of licenses.
Whenever we find a man unfit to
drive, we cancel his license. You have
no idea of the pressure that is brought
TO bear upon the secretary Of state 10
license this one and that one. | have
issued licenses sometimes against my
own Judgment but because | had Moth
ing definite to 90 upon, | did not like
to refuse You can't tell whethef a
man will be fit or unfit to drive but once
in a while things will come under my
own personal observation. AS for in
stance. a man came into the genera
office to ask for a license. The clerks
looked him over and made up Their
mind that he was both deaf and blind,
SO they told him that he must apply
to Mr.. Black l thought he could not
see nor hear much and | tried to test
mis- evesight by large advertising
calendar hanging on the wall told
him 10 stand in certain place and
tell me what it said on the calendar.
He Immediately moved up close to 1t,
read il over and remarked Il halnt
anv Insurance in that company Oh
course ! could not give him a license
and he went away feeling very badly
In another case of deafness, | asked
an applicant if his eyesight and hear
ing were good and he answered i
haven't any time to 60 trout fishing
We laughed at him little and he saw
the Joke l don't say that a man stone
deaf is absolutely disqualified to OPP
crate a motor if he is all right in other
respects If he can't hear car APP
preaching he should have a mirror so
attached to the front Of his own car
that he can see what is coming up be
hind him
What about the crippled mani |
have nv doubts about one-armed
man driving but we have quite few
OF them doing it. Ii may be all right
il he is careful but. if he is careless,
he ought not to be licensed. There IS
One-legged man with an artificial
limb who has been driving for II years
and conducting a garage. hac case
OF a man getting his license through
the mail and, as he had only recently
lost an arm, he ought not to have
applied. OF course, | took his license
away as soon as l found out about it.
Next year we shall have some 3d.
900 cars in this state, so apply for your
registration early. One registration
comes about the first of January and
another. still worse, in the springtime'
We need 10 days notice. Some think
thew have a right to drive before
they receive plates and registration,
and the licenses are in their hands. l
have not been very strict about that,
although | object to their using last
years plates and driving without Ii
censes. One thing you ought to have
in mind IS to have your driving papers
right from the start to finish, then you
will not be embarrassed through being
held up by officers and questioned. II
You have things right, you can drive
in peace and not be medd'"' with.
Cannot Drive a Car Himself
If you think l am an expert driver,
want to tell you that | don't drive a
car myself and don't even know how.
I can't afford a car for one thing, and
if I had one, l might run into some
body and get in wrong with my own
office
Some idea of the growth Of the au
tomobile business in this state can be
gathered from the fact that in 1909
we registered 1868 cars, from which
we derived a revenue Of S26,657 In
1912 the number was 1920 and the
revenue $S0.79S. In 1915 the cars had
increased to 11.499 and the revenue
to $21S,479 In 1917 we had 20,657
autos, from which we received $685.
$40. In 1918 there were 22,655 cars
and a revenue of $39S,S55. In 1920 the
number was l.349 and the revenue
1851 ,547 This coming year there will
be a corresponding increase, unless
everybody goes busted, and the in
come from the automobile department
will reach $4,000. which will give
tidy sum for road-work if we do not
spend too much Of it in the Office. The