The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1924-11-25
with The
|Aibi Artists
IA Cross Section Of the
Daily Grind in Judge
Schuldt's Court.
Read 'Em and Weep.
By DONALD McDOUGAL.

nonor, IN q Maxwell coupe with
dealers tags on It. Saturday saw
him again with the same car, but
1t had ordinary tags on it. They
we're about six months old. so /
stopped him. He claimed to own
the car. but the permit. the tags
and the registration card, were all
made out to. different names, and
there had to- be something wrong
about that, so ! took him over to
No. i.
Boob: II just came to Washington
last Wednesday, your honor. and
bought machine from a used car
company the same day. didn't
have time to bother with a lot Of
red tape, so / had the tags and
registration card thrown in along
with the car. I'm a salesman and
had to get to work right away"
You bought the tags and regis
tration card?"
Yes, sir"
You didn't buy the Washington
Monument too, did you? Some
times people make deposit on
the purchase price and are too care
less to ask for a receipt. Did you
get to matching pennies with a
couple Of State governors, or
change a 500 bill that someone
found on the sidewalk"
mo one In my family ever did
anything like that, your honor. /
guess fell pretty hard on that tag
trick, and the only excuse can
offer is that where / come from we
keep the old tags when a car il
sold, and nay a registration fee to
have the license transferred to the
new owner. ! thought it was the
same here"
Its a good plan, when you go
into a new place, to get a copy Of
the traffic regulations and look
through them. Where are you
from?'
New York city, your honor"
New York people don't care very
much about owning the Monument,
as a rule. They're generally more
interested in the Treasury. I'm
sorry to cause you any more delay,
but you'll have to come back here
tomorrow. We're going to have
the man you got the tags and regis
tration card from, and the one who
sold you the car and failed to turn
the tags In to the license office, as
required by law.
"The regulation about turning in
the old license plates after transfer
OF ownership of car is one Of the
most important in the traffic code
due to the activity of bootleggers,
who operate frequently, II not ex-
clusively, but at any rate quite ap-
proprfately, under dead tags.
The spectacular flights Of these
gentlemen through the streets with
spitting reviewers and sputtering
smoke screens have resulted In the
INJURY OF civilians; and police, and.
in, one case, AT least, In death. A
man was killed at New Jersey ave
nue. and s street week or 80 ago,
run down by bootiegger car With
dead tags. ~
Where do these graveyard agents
get their dead tags the tags that
hide their identity from the police?
They get them from people who sell
their cars and fail to turn the old
tags in to the superintendent of Ii
censes
las ACd0-bdB pAOEOB1tIDu Is q
pretty serious business here in
Washington, and we have no ,ade-
quate law to deal with it. The
the driver responsible for the cor
rectness or the tags and he, Of
course, has no control over them.
"A driver who lands q new Job
with a coal company or a taxi
large number Of cars, can't go
into the office and look up the
records to see il the tags on the
car assigned to him are correct
yet, by Implication, the, law re-
quires him to do that, and he
must take the car out or lose
his job. If the tags happen to
be wrong, he will sooner or later
find himself in court facing ex.
.actly the same penalty that is
prescribed for q driver who care.
,essly collides with a family party
and knocks them into the hos.
pital. That is the law in force
In Washington"
Boob (aside): There ought to be
a good many customers for the
Monument, right here among the
natives"
when the driver owns the car
himself, effective action can be
taken against him, and he can
be made to forfeit $40 or SIS col.
lateral, but in other cases the best
that can be done is to impose a
nominal penalty on the driver.
Similarly with respect to turning
in the tags after transfer of own.
erShiD-nO balanced accollnt. is kant
Of tags issued, and bootleggers
gather the stray ones in, and the
police are hampered in their work.
The result is Wild West perform.
ances in the streets of Wash.
ington, with occasional loss of
life or limb.
THE average car owner prefers
to run the remote risk Of FORGETTING
a few dollars collateral rather than
to go to the trouble Of complying
with the law. In Washington, traf.
fic law vio)ators are not compelled
to stand trial for their attractions"
Boob (aside)-"Ill bring the gang
down here. This place ought to
skin pretty"
The Court-"Get warrant for,
the former owner of the car. and,
for the manager Of the sales com.
pany, Mr.. Officer. The court in.
tends to get at the bottom OF this
business, and to punish anyone
convicted Of using dead tags, or of
failing to. turn in the old ones
when sale is made"
The Cop-"Very well, your honor.
(Aside). Here's where the sales
manager forfeits $15."