Evening star., 1926-04-11

)WeNeI, Playing neSnSlDle part
ught after.
Boardman, former District commits
sioner. George A. NJ. Kelcher. 1918
Vernon street northwest, is the pos
SCISSOR of No. 333.
The figures IS" and sc" appear in
equally sought-for groupings. Holders
of tags with these figures joined in
various ways include several promi-
nent residents Justice Willis Van
Devanter, of the United States Su
preme Court. is the holder of No. SO.
No. $50 already has been noted. No.
5,555 was issued this year to William
c. Shelton, S517 Rittenhouse street.
The tag bearing five 5s--No. 5,555-
belongs to Joseph B. Waters, jr.. 1850
Eighteenth street. No. 66 has been
given to Thomas B. Sweeney, 1920
New Hampshire avenue. The tag
with five 6s-No. &c. .666-is on the car
of Ringgold Hart, assistant corpora
tion counsel of the District.
Another tag which is certain to at
tract attention is one carrying num-
erals in sequence. Among these are
No. 1873, issued to William l.. Beale,
former assistant assessor for the Dis
trict: No. 1924. belonging to l. Kent
Hunter, 400 Fourth street. and No.
12,345. issued 10 James j. Sullivan,
3422 street, for several years.
Sevens and Elevens.
Just as ., 3 or numerals combined
would attract a devotee of poker who
observed the car carrying such a tag
driving or parked along q street, so
are other combinations suggestive of
that indoor and outdoor pastime
known as craps" Seven and / being
the numbers to conjure with in this
game, their presence on a license tag
might well arouse the cupidity of any
wielder of the small worries. No. II,
the records show, is the tag number of
Charles w. Darr, attorney. Three Is
are on the license tag of Belgian
embassy car. and I'll is the ideutifica-
ton number of a car belonging to J.
Raphael Oreaumuno, minister from
Costa Rica.
The car of c. F. Robinson, $50 War
rem street northeast, bears the mama
straight from Heaven" number.
Where others merely dream of it, Mr..
Robinson actually owns 4-11-44, the
policy number
Tags of Officials.
1t is interesting to note the selec-
tions of officials, who have d wide
censes has chosen a number which
has five figures and yet is sufficiently
distinctive. Mr.. Coombs' tag is No.
77,70O. Col. 1. G. Moller, assistant
traffic director. has gone in for indi
viduality by selecting No. 999. but
the director himself has disregarded
the striking numerical combinations.
Mr.. Eldridge's car bears the tag No.
1873, which is said to correspond with
the year of his birth. Inspector +.
w. Browne, head of the traffic bureau,
uses No. S5.
For some time before the issuance
of license tags for the next year the
Office of the superintendent of licenses
is deluged with requests for particu
lar numerals. The difficulty of full
filing even a small portion of these
requests easily may be ina agined, and
the situation is met by filing the re-
quests and, when the actual alloting
of numbers begins, to give them out
according to priority Of application.
The policy Is to distribute the num-
berS as nearly as possible on the
first come, first served" basis, since
they are not the property of particu-
lar individuals, and because a person
has a certain number one year he
cannot expect to obtain in the next
year unless he has made his reserva-
tion early.
Numbers for Diplomats.
Strictly official plates are issued
with great care to prevent them from
falling into the hands of bogus own
ers. Since there is provision now for
marking the cars of members of Con
gress with the word Congressional"
special precautions are taken to have
these plates only on members cars.
This is accomplished by issuing the
numeral plates in the regular man
ner and then distributing the extra,
official tags through the sergeant at
arms of the Senate and House. Simi
larly, the designation diplomatic
Is dispensed SO as to insure it's pos
session by bona-fide members of the
diplomatic corps. Distribution is car
ried out through the State Depart
ment and this year Nos. col to 500
have been set aside for diplomats.
Striking and significant numbers
might be multiplied indefinitely.
Those given, however, include the
outstanding groupings of figures on
District license plates and should be
of some assistance in Identifying the
car owner the next time you see that
low number or trick combination
parked at the curb or driving down
the Speedway some Sunday after
noon.