The Washington times., 1925-05-25
With the
|AlibiArtists
La Cross Section of the
Daily Grind in Judge
Schuldt's Court.
Read EN- and Weep
nnnI1nAh
By DONALD McDOUGAL.
Dark Light.

We see trouble and expense
ahead for Washington motorists
if the director continues his at
tempt to enforce the new head
light law, We can't help think
ing that the best way to enforce
that law is to rewrite 1t.
1t contains two contradictory
provisions and disobedience OF
either carries a maximum penalty
of $500 or ten days and you can
obey one only by disobeying the
other.
Any 21-candle power light. con-
centrated so as to render clearly
discernible q substantial object
the size Of a small child at
distance of 200 feet will blind
any eye it touches at a distance
Of 900.
We're Circus JuggIerS.
You've got a beam of light at
least 500 feet long projecting
from your car and the regulation
says you mustn't allow that beam
to hit anyone. You can't carry
a three-foot umbrella without pok-
ing someone now and then. You've
got to be a good shot to comply
with that law. And you can't
even see the man you're not
shooting at. And look at the
2,O00.pound gun you're aiming
with! And running at % miles
an hour. What the heck!
You must have headlights that
will enable you to see at zoo
feet, but which will not dazzle
anyone. If you can invent a
lamp that will do that, you can
wallow in wealth for the rest OF
your life, and leave a few
thousand bags Of it for your
grandchildren to wallow inf. ?
We're College Professors.
At the Bureau Of Standards
we're told that able scientists in
Europe and America have been
working on that problem for six
or seven years-and they're
further from getting it now than
they were when they started.
They've run across all sorts Of
difficulties they didn't know
existed before.
"Oh" the regulations say,
that's all right. All you've got
to do is keep your beam level.
How are you going to keep II
level-hang a weight on 1t?
'Oh no" the code comes back
''just see that your beam doesn't
rise more than 42 inches above
the ground at rs feet" But
when the ground sinks more than
az inches below the beam, as 1t
does when you approach down
grade, what then?
We're PhiIadelphia Lawyers.
Put your DINNERS on" the
director says, although the law
doesn't, "aIso, when you're on an
upgrade, dim them. Only il it's
a dark street. you don't dim
them"
But why not dim them if your
beam isn't level and so doesn't
comply with the regulation? Is it
any safer to blind an oncoming
in light one?
In advising US to switch on
our lights when we are running
through dark streets, the director
is trying to put out the fire
light that just seems disagree
dDIS Ou OIAICCl(H SbA CSNS AOA
stance, will knock the tar out
of your eyes on Twelfth street
above Massachusetts, avenue. say.
The headlight law is self-con-
Trajectory, and all the trimming
and changing and issuing OF sup
Elementary orders, and all the
fines and Imprisonment that can
be secured, can't square it, any
more than a bookkeeper can
make his accounts balance il
there's a wrong entryi in them, no
matter how many nights he works
late, or how many adding ma
chimes he keeps clanking.
But 'Tain't Enough.
The sane thing to do, and the
thing that will pay in the long
run. is to re-write the headlight
law, and bring it down to earth.
A law that everyone can under
stand and obey, even If it falls
considerably short of theoretical
perfection, is better than a gilt
tering rainbow of a thing that no
one can take hold Of.
Put on your DINNERS when
going over the brow of a hill"
sounds easy, but few people
driving over a strange road at
night can tell when they're on
the brow Of a hill. And if they
put too much attention on the
topography of their route, they
may pass a street car or bump
a pedestrian. That regulation
puts too much of a load on the
average driver.
AS it stands now, the head