The Washington times., 1924-12-08
With The
IAlibi Artists
| IA Cross Section Of the.
Daily Grind in Judge
Schuldt's Court
Read EN- and Weep.
BY DONALD MacDOUGAL
DIR. BLANTON's DIAGNOSES.


theys instruct their drivers to
exercise more care and obey the
regulations,
In passing, let us remark that
IN the Alibi Columns opinion,
Congressman Blanton's attitude
on the question OF District taxa
ton is repugnant to the prin-
ciples Of Americanism for which
the Alibi Man has dt,, bIed. and
died In two wars. The Congress-
man believes, 1t is alleged, that
we, the people Of the District
should pay a larger share per
capita for the development and
running expenses Of the National
Capital than people in other
parts of the nation pay for that
purpose; and that we should have
nothing to say about the collec.
ton or the expenditure of the
Wherewithal, in violation Of the
following:
but all duties. imposts.
and excuses shall be uniform
throughout the United States"
U. S. Constitution, Article !,
Section 8; II.
Taxation without representa-.
ton il tyranny" patrick Henry.
Thou shalt not steal" exodus,
%, and 15l.
Must Hand It TO Him.
Because Of his opposition to
these, our cherished ideals, we. have
no use for Congressman Blanton,
but we want to hand II to him
on his proposition Of bringing in
the taxi managers and tell them
where they get off at, which
shows how impartial and free
of prejudice the Alibi Column is.
And we want to hand it to the
Congressman for putting his finger
on perhaps the weakest point in
our entire traffic code-the persist
ence with which 1t strives to re-
lieve the car owner Of RESPONSE
bility for traffic violations, and the
equal persistence with which 1t
saddles the blame, deserved or not,
upon the driver.
In the matter Of dead tags. and
of defective brakes, for instance.
there can be little doubt that the
owner is. in justice, responsible Cor
the majority of infractions. In
very few cases will wrong tags be
affixed to car without the owners
knowledge and consent or culpable
negligence; nor will any driver, of
his own desire, operate a car with
defective brakes.
Driver Alone Held to Blame.
A five-ton truck with bad brakes.
running IL miles an hour through
a crowded thoroughfare, Is a fear
some thing. Yet In all violations
OF these important rules the driver
Is held culpable. and generally
penalized. while in not more than
three or four cases in the last two
years has the nondPiving owner
been called to account,
Congressman Blanton's sugges.
ton of summoning the managers
Of the taxi companies indicates the
need for holding the owners of
vehicles to some degree of respon'
sibility, from which the traffic regur
lations either stupidity or adroitly,
exonerate them.
Consider. If you will, the regu.
lation with respect to dead tags
Each machine shall be ,identi'
fled by two metal Identification
tags, to, be furnished bM the Su.
perintendent of Licenses OF the
District of Columbia. one OF
which shall be conspicuously dis.
played on the front Of the vehicle
and the other conspicuously dis.
played on the rear Of the We
hicle Section 4 (al.
About Brakes.
And the regulation about brakes
Every motor vehicle while in
use in the District of Columbia
shall be equipped with good and
adequate brakes, in good working
order, and sufficient to control
the vehicle at all times. Section
5 ID.
Each machine shall be identi.
fled by tags, and every machine
shall be equipped with good
brakes, the regulations say. Who
Is to equip the machines with
brakes and tags? The regpla'
tons don't even give you a hint
No one Is held responsible by the
code for these very important
duties. And these two regula-
tons are Of a piece with the rest
OF the code where general ten
dency to exonerate the owners Is
noticeable.
When the law itself fails to
imrnunize the proprietor the prac-
tice Of the law generally makes
UP the deficiency. The speed
law, for instance, specifies that,
1.-THE driver or operator OF a We
hicle and the owner or proprietor
riding thereon" shall be liable IN
cases of excessive speed. But in
: two years attendance at traffic
court the writer does not RECALL
one instance where Nthe owner
has been held, although many
cases show him to be unquestion-
ably at fault,
COngratulates BlantOn.
Congressman Blanton has shown
thorough understanding and
has voiced an indignant cor.
demnation of two evil features Of
our traffic sltuatlonv-the selling
Of jndulgences and the rite OF
yicarious atonement, 1t is simply
'incompresensible that a man Of
such penetration should hold to
the tax views that rhe Texan Con
gresham does. What does he
suppose Patrick Henry thinks OF
him?
Nevertheless, the Alibi Column
congratuIates Congressman Blan-
ton upon his dexterity In locating
these particularly evil symptoms
of Washingt0n's traffic disease;
we hope the Congressman Will
summon not only managers of
the taxi companies but of coal
companies and hauling companies
and, in fact, all owners or man.
ayers of concerns 4 having large
fleets Of vehicles: and We hope
the new traffic code will not only
demand that machines shall he
supplied with good and adequate