Evening star., 1922-03-03
STOP AUTO THEFTS
BY CURB|NG SALES
Plan Now In Process Of
Formation by Interstate
Commission.
BIZ the Associatsd Pnaa,

By the Associated Press.
CHICAGO, March 8.-Destroy the
market for stolen automobiles and
thereby stop the thefts. is the plan
now in process of formation by the
interstate motor theft commission
here.
Laws. locks and protective devices
have proven themselves inadequate.
says w. r. Van CORTLAND. commits
sioner. The professional motor car
| thief is unabashed. Motor vehicles
Of an approximate value Of 100000,
the commissioner says. are stolen
every day in the United States. despite
all measures taken to check the
thievery. Large numbers of persons
thrive as "A result of the traffic.
Plan Of Thieves.
The plan is this:
A car is stolen in Chicago. If the
| things happens. either a duplicate of
some other number Is made or fake
| number. one that the manufacturer
never placed on car. When the car
Is sold AND re-reSistered in any state
some number must be given: A dupif-
cate number will Immediately be
| caught and the two or more cars
| carrying that number will be thor
| oughly investigated A fake number
will show up just as quickly and be
! looked into. II the number is not
| changed there will be a report of the
| as that Of a stolen car and when the
same number is registered again from
! the same state or any other 1t will
Immediately be caught.
The lack of any national clearance
! system in the past has been one of
| the larDaaf contributing facforS N
making this lawlessness easy and
! profitable, Mr.. Van Courtland states.
With the commissions national clear
| ance system in operation. a car stolen
the car sold and registered in Cali
fornia would Immediately be caught,
| he asserts.
| "FinEerprint" System.
! The plan is virtually a Ginger
print" system as applied to automo-
! biles. A master record of every car
registered in the forty-eight states,
as well as the new cars that come
into existence. is to be kept at the
merical arrangement Of the records
makes checking of any vehicle SIM
pie and automatic. Smith eight,
for example. engine No. 1924, Is reg
F, istered with the state. The commits
| sion receives this number and goes
to post it. but finds another Smith
eight" already registered In that state
or some other, and they do not corre-
| spond in detail. 1t Is Immediately
apparent that one is incorrect. No
! man changes these numbers except
| for fraud. 1t is simple process of
elimination for the 1aw-enforcement
bodies having jurisdiction over these
| cars to determine where the trouble
lies, and then, with the aid Of the
| commission. the original identity of
| the stolen car and to whom it belongs
is determined.
! Through this national clearance
| test" the. commission believes that 1t
| will be virtually impossible to dis
pose permanently of stolen ma
chine. Closely identified with the
commission are sheriffs. police de-
partment heads. chamber of COM
merce secretaries. manufacturers
business and professional men
Names that appear on the national
advisory boards include Joseph A
Faurot, deputy police commissioner
New York; Dan Beard, national Boy
Scout commissioner; J. A. Hall, edu-
| cational director, Associated Adver-
tising Clubs of the World. and Gutzen
Borglum, sculptor and president OF
! the International Sporting Club.