Evening star., 1920-03-26
LICENSE TAG FIGHT
0NEFOR PRINCIPLE,
|.-:::SAYS Mr.. ULLMAN
Secretary DenounceS Metz
- croft Bill Passed in
-
|. Maryland.

rHaSSa ge through the Maryland iee-
ieIature of Senator Metzerotts bill
authorizing a single license tag 10
supplant the quartet of plates now
necessary for District of Columbia
Maryland highway intercommunica-
tion does not offer an opportunity Tor
local motorists TO enthuse, In the
opinion of Secretary William tllman
of the National Capital Division OF
the American Automobile Association
1t is the belief OF Mr.. Uliman that
the Netzerott legislation was design
ed for no purpose other than TO divert
attention and concentration from the
measures now before Congress Wh'ch
seek to establish federal motoring
reciprocity. whereby the state of
Maryland would he compelled TO rec
ognize District automobile license
tags These bills have been intro
duced in both houses of Congress by
Senator Key Pittman of Nevada and
Representative Burton E. Sweet of
Iowa, respectively. .
Fight for "a Principle.
According to Secretary Ullman, the
battle OF local motorists for federal
motOring reciprocity Is fight for a
principle rather than for the mouev
which Maryland collects. annually
from the District in license fees. To
accept the Metzerott legislation would
b=. he says. TO forsake that prinri-
Pile
Among the big local organizations
on record in favor of federal motor
ing reciprocity and against recogni-
tion of the Maryland proposal are the
American Automobile Association, the
Washington Board of Trade and the
Washington Automotive Dealers As
Soclation.
MaryIand's Big Tribute.
The annual tribute which the state
OF Maryland has long collected from
District motorists. and which is in
creasinS enormously each year. will
end with the passage of the Pittman-
Sweet bills declared Mr.. Ullman to-
day. When il does end, the state of
Maryland will mourn the passing of
fees that amounted to about $1,000
in 1915, about S300,0 in 1918. about
100000 in 1920 and would be approx
mateiy $1,0O0.0o0 in 1922, and SO on
upward as the years roll by and the
number of District automobiles in
creaSes.
Maryland persists in refusing
reciprocity with the District of Co
lumbia upon the flimsy pretext that
local motorists use her roads excess
sively and should be made to pay
for wear and tear. On this theory
merchants should charge customers
lOI NdIhlHS On lnc HQOTS leading TO
their counters.
The further excuse is offered that
the annual tribute from the District
is essential If Maryland is to main
tain her fine roads system. which is
no better than many other state
highway systems. which all the peo-
pie are invited to use as a business
proposition.
Cry Since 1916.
sage of the federal aid road act in
1916. and still is the cry after the
passage of that measure giving to
The state of Maryland in the years
1s11-1921. inclusive. S2,400.000 of fed
era money for highways purposes
Furthermore. that section of Mary
land which is most travelled by Dis
trict motorists is the Washingten-
Great c-Rockvilie- WASH
iAgton circle. This represents the
Saturday afternoon or Sunday motor
car excursion of the majority of To-
cal motorists To travel this route in
montgomery county the owner of a
small car must pay the state of Mary
land S14.i0, while the owner of a So
called large car must pay approxi-
mately $50 annually. These fees
must be paid despite the fact that the
highway around this circle was made
travelable in the first place by the
federal government and has been
maintained by Uncle Sam as govern
ment experimental roadway. without
a cent of cost to Maryland, since-19I4
On What Articles Are Based.
''The articles of confederation, upon
which the Constitution of the United
States was presumably based, says:
THE free inhabitants of each of
these states shall be entitled 10 ali
the privileges and immunities of free
citizens in the several states. and the
people of each state shall have. free
ingress and egress to and from every
other state. and shall enjoy therein
all the privileges of trade and COM
merce.'
I'm the above we have an early
American provision without which
there could have been no United
States in the first place. While Dis
trict' is not specifically mentioned, no
one can deny the intent
''Of course, the Metzerott measure
means nothing in the way of change
of license plates until the District
government agrees to the Maryland
pfsn. This the District officials prob
ably will not do. for the reason that
fiEhting for federal motoring reci-
pfocity is battling for principle
rather than for the money which
Maryland takes annually from the
District. And to fall in with the
MetZerott, legislation would be to
"o""NNi VI 4il'i"hiSe tc ~ ~
reason for the passage Of the ma
tfonal motoring bills
Association for Reciprocity.
TOR several years now the Amer
lean Automobile Association has been
contending for federal motoring reci-
procity-always basing it's contention
upon the principle invoived-and we
have reason To believe that 1920 will
see the attainment of our goal. We
could not consistently recognize the
MetZerott legislation or any other
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