The Washington times., 1920-08-28

bookkeeping methods Installed. attor.
nsys. employed. rspsirmsn ssrsss
men. even service stations. AID
aseats In other cities to zee 10 the
problem Of disposins Of care How
highly the thieves and fsness were
organized is shown In the fact that
recently forty-one stolen motor cars
were Located In one bunch In coruanA.
Mich. within nfty miles % Detroit
One of the hardest nuts the Auto-
wohils Club efnoiais found 10 crack
was the dslhy IN court procedure in
eases already begun against men VINO
had stolen cars. some OF thts cases
were two and three wears old They
had been adjourned ums Attsr Time
la aua ease fourteen times, solely Tor
az. puTpose Of tiTipg out the COM
plainfnx witness OF TO NIL him with
disgust so no would drop the case, or
else looking To the day when neces-
sary witnesses for the prosecution
would have left the city.
The club employed an attorney by
the wear, w. ID. Brown, who has his
ofios in the club headquarters AZ the
Hotel Tullsr and Is on duty all the
tine. One OF the nrst things he did,
with access TO the records OF the
prosecuting attorneys ofnee, WAS TO
clean up all the old ana pending
cases. with the result that today the
doeket is clear except for such cases
as have come into being within the
last few weeks
Another task which the club helped
to take care of was In the campaign
for court reform. Until recently De-
and bound over to recorders court.
The motor car thief was taken into
police court, where he WAS srraisnsd
and bound over to records court.
There he was released on bail, with
the result that this frequently marked
the end Of the case because now be-
gan his system of delay by adjourn
ments and postponements. In In
stances where the thief really came
TO trial and was convicted. or PLEADED
guilty. tho culprit generally got on
with a light sentence or q parole,
ro combat this situation . bill was
drawn for court reform. which was
nassed by tho state Legislature And
approved by the people by Q ratio or
ave to one At . regular election Thc
Automobile Club was one OF the chlef
factors in getting this bill before tho
Issislature and seeing that II had the
s,,oICrt of the electorate at the pri's'
Today. instead Of only two Judges
there are seven judges. and the new
ones take the view that when per
son steals another persons motor
car there 10 no reason why hs shoulo
not be made to suffer Just the same
sort Of penalty as would os lniposea
for any other kind of theft. Car
stealinE has been lifted out of the
list Of outdoor sports. or at least IL
no longer comes under the head OF
field day hereabouts.
APPEARANCE Of the large adver-
tisements in the newspapers. pub
lished without comment by giving
record Of the court actions under the
old system, in the matter or stolen
cars. was not relished by the two
Judges referred to, Quite on the con-
trary they summoned the club oni-
cials into court to show cause why
they should not be punished for con-
tempt. The officials stood pat. ana
the reports continued to appear In
the papers. paid for by the club.
Edward N. Hines. president OF the
Detroit Automobile Club. and It's
manager, w. S. Gilbreath, have oeeh
the guirding men In the attempt 10
bring about the reforms. iney oi-
rected q campaign to reach the DO
Iioemen of Detroit, recognizing that
while John w. Cop quite frequentiy
means we'll he means well feeoly. as
a great man once remarked. When
a policeman apprehends a motor car
thief he IL preferred the assistance nee
Of tho Automobile Clubs attorney IN
nyeparinR his case in police court
This is only a feature OF the whole
plan of the club to cooperate with
the police department. the prose
cutoPs office. the sherifs onice, the
state constabulary and the courts for
eliminating the thief. or sending MIN
TO prison for . severe sentence in
case ne IL convicted.
w. d. Brown. tho clubs attorney
has his own ideas as to how TO COM
bat the thief Of motor cars
"I am fully convinced" he says
sthat the first place to start is WIN
the manufacturer. The present sys-
tenn of numbering the different part
or units Of an automobile Is not sunl-
cient. Scarcely a day passes without
our police department recovering
stolen cars upon which tho seriai num-