Evening star., 1924-12-14
BY ERNEST GREENWOOD.

crease in the use of the automobile and
to find a solution of the problem which
will not only check the steady march OF
Fatalities and serious injuries, but
which will also check it without
hampering vehicular triffic.
1t Is generally recognized that the
automobile has become quite as i'm
portant q unit in the national trans
portation system as the railroads or
the street railways. and ways and
means which will increase street and
highway facilities will be an impor
tant factor III any equation designed to
solve the problems created by 15,o00,-
900 motor vehicles now in use and
the 25,000,000 motor vehicles which
will be in use in 10 years from now.
For eight months 192 men and
women, selected by the .;ecrotary as
representative of various groups of
citizens and interests throughout the
United States, have been hard at
work on the committees making an
intensive study of the various
phases of the subject. reaching con-
clusions, and making -ecomE.enda-
tions, while a staff OF experts selected
for the purpose has been weaving the
findings into a picture, not only of
rhe situation as 1t is today and as IL
Will be a few years from now, but of
the situation if these findings are
nut into permaLcE. effect as u Ia
tional program.
These committees are known as the
committees on statistics, traffic con-
troll, engineering and construction,
city planning and zon.-lg, Insurance,
education, the motor vehicle and pub
lie rela tions. Together with innumer-
able suhconmittees they have been
meeting periodically for months and
Their final reports. which have been
issued for discussion and review in
= g.
ou together, present the last word
on the subject as OF December 10, in the
YEAR OF our Lord 1924.
1t would seem to be almost impos-
sIbie to gather together a more rep
resentative group for the purpose of
dealing with a great national issue
1han the PERSONS included III The per-
sonnel Of these committees. On them
VIII be found American business and
American labor, the railroads. the
street railways. engineers, construc-
i',n experts, insurance, educators,
@ty planners. highway officials and
motor vehicle administrators, gov
ernment Officials from the Depart
meut OF Commerce. the Bureau of
luhlic Roads. the bureau of stand
ards, the Interstate commerce Com
mission and the Bureau uf the Cen
@as, women'$ organizations, motor
ists' organizations representing the
motorists. and safety organizations
representing the public, the automo-
bile industry and its customers. the
business man, the worker, and the
intelligentsia: ali working on 81 COM
mon problem-the ,linina ti6r of
waste in human lives.
:: = 4
THE picture presented by these com
rnittees at work is an interesting
one. Here you viii find that labor
leader, Jim Noonan, working in per-
feet harmony with Elliot GoodW in,
resident vice president of the United
States of Chamber OF Commerce. DR..
NJ .. Lorenz of the Interstate Com
merce Commission, J. II. parmelae.
director Of the Bureau of hallway
=. Economics. +. II Ashton. president
Of The American Railway Association,
and aohn Mackall. chairman OF the
state Highway Commission of Mary
land, haNs an issue on which they
find they cannot start single argu-
ment. Bill 'Metzger, so often spoken
OF as the" Bill Metzger Of the old
Everitt- -Metzger- Flanders group, and
who has made SO much money out !
Of the automobile game that he now
spends all Of his time on civic work
and hunting and fishing. sits on the
committee on insurance with +. High
land Burns, president of the Maryland
casualty Company, and when MetZger
is not agreeing with Burns, Burns
is agreeing with Metzger
If ] had prophesied such a situa-
tfon eight months ago, my friends on
the board of directors of the National
Automobile Chamber of Commerce
would have had me sent to St. Eliza
beth's for observation.
A. W. Whitney OF the national
bureau Of casualty and surety under
writer's. who places safety work and
safety education on plane of ideal
ism almost unattainable by those of
Hs of more common mold. can sing q
duet with George Graham OF the
chandler Motor Car Company. who
says that if d motorist is bumped
INTO Kingdom Come at Il railway
grade crossing, it is his own fault,
III which there is not one single sour
note.
Editors like Champ Hitchcock, pres
ilent Of the Insurance Field; Frank
Wight, editor Of the Engineering
NeWs-Record, and Carl Stock Of Bus
transportation. working on these
committees, have at last found some
1hins which justifies the issuance and
publication of the frankest kind of
propa ganda. Ordinarily this would
he constdrced Us tie ranl1est kind Of
heresy.
College professors, such as G. J.
fflden of Yale. S. S. Huebner of PENN
H(!Nania, &. II. Judd OF Chicago and
f. l.. Bishop of Pittsburgh, have
found that chiefs of police depart
1nents, like Gen. Gather OF Baltimore,
Joseph VI. Quigley of Rochester. Will
liam t. Rutledge of Detroit and Nor
gan A. Collins of Chicago, are giving
the same amount of thought to the
psychology of the motorist and Pc
heStrlan and the economic factors in
rhe traffic problem as any university
research worker
operators of great taXicab COM
Eanies, including John J. Boobar Of
Washington, William W. G oud Of
baltimore, +. s. Higgins Of Philadel-
plfa and 5. r. Heller of Norfolk. dis
cover to their surprise through j. P.
I;arnes, president of the Louisville
street Railways and member of the
executive committee Of the American
street Railway Association. that the
problems Of the taxicab and street |
car lines are common and that by
mutual effort their solution is made
much easier
Ernest Smith, general manager of
the American Automobile Association.
~ astonished to learn 1t is not true
That everybody holds the 1aotorist
entirely to blame for the accident
rate. In fact, ii is admitted, and
proved by statistics, that almost as
many accidents are caused by the
carelessness of pedestrians as are
caused by careless or reckless driy-
ing. On the other hand. H. NJ. Crane.
president of the Society of Auto
motive Engineers, finds that the pub
lie is quite willing to admit, once it
is shown by the various analyses of
The causes of accident. that the num-
Der due to faulty design or equip
nd iS