The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-02-25
MOTOR DIGEST
Auto Activities Throughout
 the World

There are no rewer than 100 grades of various oils sold in the United States.
 Motor vehicles in the United States used 5S,o00,000 miniature electric lamps last year.
 Sixty per cent of the motor vehicles In the United States arc used entirely for business.
 Switzerland has So,564 motor ve- hicles, or approximately 145 fewer than the state of wyoming.
 According to records, only about 30 out of every 100 auto mobile owners know their own license numbers.
 The United States. with 12,2Sl,445 motor vehicles, has larger registra- tion than the combined total of 27 foreign countries.
 Traffic police in Washington, D. C.,
 are to be drilled to standardize their
 gestures so that they will be intel ligible to motorists.
 At the present rate tf exchange 5o,0o0 marks to the dollar, the finest passenger automobile in Germany can be purchased for between S1e0 and s200.
 More than S3,20o American automo- piles entered Quebec last year carry in gtourists through the picturesque old French capital. This is twice the number of cars that entered the province in 1921.
 The highway commission of Mary i land has 20 paid motorcycle deputies, who patrol the state and have the | power to make speed traps and cause arrests, thereby eliminating the grating" constable and rural squire. The appellate division of the su- preme court in Brooklyn, N. r., has
 handed down decision which holds
 that insurance companies must pay | for wear and tear on motor cars | while the automobiles are in the hands of thieves.
 1 For the guidance of strange
 motorists, signs are painted directly ! on the pavement in New Bedford, Mass. The directing letters are white | on asphalt, and are made with four l inch lines, 15 inches in length, and spaced three feet apart. A novel motorcycle has been in-
 vented in Italy, consisting of large wheel five feet high. The driver and motor rest on the bottom of the inner rim of the large whel. It is | operated by electricity, and can 1 make 40 miles an hour. For operating motor vehicle | while intoxicated in New York, the l penalty Is fine up to $500, in- | prisonment up to one year, or both. 1 car owner employing an intemper- l ate driver may be fined s5 for each day of such employment.
 The condition of highways in Mas
 sachusetts and bordering states is | broadcast by radio every Saturday | evening at 6:3o o'clock by the Au-
 tomobile Legal association. This service gives motorists up-to-the- l minute information on the condition | of trunk line highways.
 The trick of running an automo- 1 bile around 100 miles per gallon of
 gasoline is usually made on straight | away roads, and before a strong | wind. The car is carefully driven 1 at 20 or 25 miles an hour. then with | the gears In neutral and the engine | stopped the car is permitted to | coast until 1t Is travelling at slow | rate of speed.
 Among the newest features of the ! 1923 equipment of passenger auto
 mobiles is the adoption of the cleo 1 tric clock, device that is operated I by the current of the storage bat tery. These clocks take so little current as to hardly register on the | ammeter. They are also accurate, and are not affected by vibration or weather conditions.
 The gasoline tax is now a law in | l6 states-Arizona, Arkansas, Color ado, Connecticut, Georgia, Kentucky,
 Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania. South Carolina, South
 Dakota and Washington. In all cases the rate is one cent gallon except | in Oregon, Maryland and South Car | olina, where the rate is two cents. | --s.---
 A method has ben discovered by