The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1921-01-27
MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION

MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION
All of the provinces in Canada and
all the states in the United States
except Minnesota, have annual regis
tration Of motor vehicles. The 1920
motor vehicle registration of North
Dakota expired at midnight on De-
cember 81 so those who are operating
cars at present should see that their
cars are properly tagged as provided
by law. Early attention to registration
will avoid congestion later at a time
when one car ill afford to be without
license tags. No cars should be oper-
ated without tags, in fact the law for
bids it, because it is necessary that a
car be at all times easy of Identified
ton. Public sentiment should make it
impossible to operate an auto without
tags even though peace officers who
are supposed to enforce the law are
derelict in their duty. Dodging a Ii
cense is neither fair nor square to the
fellow who gets his.
All North Dakota auto dealers are
required by law to take out the first
license on new cars. This license is re-
corded in the dealers lame and ow-
nership of such license must be trans
ferred to the person purchasing the
a within ten days after such -pur-
chase.
In order that there shall be no con-
fusion as to the year of the tag, those
Of one year present a contrast to
those of the preceding year. The 1920
tags had a Brewster green background
with rea colored numerals and let
tiers while the 1921 tage have a dark
blue background with white letters
and numerals. The contract for North
Dakota's 1921 tags calls for one de-
livery not later than December 81,
another not later than January Is, and
the last not later than March Is. The
contracting company has thus far full
filled it's contract and undoubtedly
will 10 continue to do. Conditions were
different as concerns the 1920 tage.
The company which had the 1920 con-
tract had much difficulty with it's
employees, it could not obtain the
needed steel, and its shipments were
held up by railway strikes.
The motor vehicle department at
Bismarck sends the tags by parcel
post to the applicants, using a mail
ing permit No. S. The department has
had considerable trouble in getting
tags to the applicants, due to the fact
that some people do not give their cor
rect address and then again others
fail to call for the tags and postage
has to be sent for the return of the
tags to Bismarck. It is necessary to
c~onspicuously display both of the tags
sent out, one in the front of the We
hicle and one on the rear. A great
many people probably are not aware
that the law provides that these tags
be kept clean and plainly visible.
Some Of these tags crave a bath &C.
casionally. Auto owners should re-
member that it is the car that is tag
ged and not the owner. It is a viola
ton of the law to place these tags
on any other car and if the car is
sold, the tags must go with the car.
The making of the fee schedule is
interesting and involves considerable
work. AS a basis, three production
items in the case of passenger cars
and an additional one in the case of
trucks, must be obtained. Usually in
November requests are made of the
various automobile manufacturing
concerns to furnish the Motor Vehicle
Department with their next years
production as to model, type of body,
factory serial number, weight of a
assembled, factory retail price as of
January I, seating capacity of passen-
ger cars, capacity of trucks, number
Of cylinders, and size of bore. Many
OF the companies respond readily but
others have to be written to again
and again and ~telegraphed to before
giving the required data. It is not pos
sfb'e to get the next years production
date with any degree of satisfaction
until about January I. AS the regis
tration is annual it is necessary to
se1 1ne daCa every year. Any change
in price will be reflected in the price
OF the same or closely allied models
OF previous years.
The first or basic fee for passenger
cars is obtained by computing 10 cents
per horse power, 20 cents per hundred
weight, and one-half percent of the
retail price r. o. B. factory. The basic
fee for trucks includes the items Just
mentioned for passenger cars and an
additional n for capacity. The second
fee is ninety percent Of the basic fee,
the third fee is seventy-five percent of
the basic fee, and the fourth and sue
ceeding fees are sixty percent Of the
basic fee. The determining factor as
to what the fee will be is the number
of times the car has been licensed and
not the year Of manufacture. Ordinar-
lily a 1919 car will take the third fee
in 1921 and consequently the year of
---.E->L.-~ - - -. = H. $3.50