Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-29
In the Motor World
by a. ADAMS HOWARD.

far more beating than the cotton
fabric, which Is in general use In
the manufacture of tires. Whether
silk can be adopted to the rubber
used in tire to combine its strength
with the rubber, as the cotton
does, Is another question, and one
which Don and his corps OF aides
are trying to work out. Motor Of
ficials of the American Automobile
Association are waiting eagerly for
further details of the Kaye Don
machine.
Val Haresnape, secretary of the
contest board Of the A. A. A.,
which has charge of the arrange
mentS in all tests conducted at
Daytona, as well as on many of
the principal motor speedways of
the country, reports that there are
rumorS Of others, at least two ma
chimes, being made in this country
in preparation for assaults on Sir
Henry's record in the February
trials. One machine is being built
in Florida and another is being
built in the Middle West, accord
ing to HareSnape. The plans OF
the American racer builders are
nebulous, Haresnape says.
Motorists Pay Huge Tax.
Estimating the total 1929 motor
vehicle registration in the United
States at $4,000, 900, motorists of
the country will pay into the
treasures Of the States a total OF
$450, 000, 900 in the form of gasoline
taxes, practically all of which will
60 to the construction and main
tenance Of motor highways, &C
cording to a survey Of the Ameri-
can Petroleum Institute.
Gasoline taxes, recognized now
as the best means of motor road
financing, have risen from so cents
over motor vehicles in 1921 to $13
per vehicle in 1928, according to
the institute. The institute eSti-
mates that the figure may reach
SIT this year. The taxes are col
lected in every State in the Union
and range up as high as 6 cents a
gallon.
Evidence of Diversion.
But the institute voices alarm
over what it believes is evidence
of the diversion of some of the
money collected for roads to other
purposes.
The institute states: "a survey
of editorial comment in every
State in the Union indicates that
reasonable gasoline tax with
revenue honestly and efficiently
expended for highway conStruc-
ton and maintenance only stands
in high public favor. But both
news and editorial columns indi-
Gates that high tax rates, diversion
of revenue to numerous and unre-
lated ends, construction of un-
suitable. temporary and political
highways, and the opening OF
gasoline revenue to waste and in
efficiency, if not graft, have
created demand for a strict &C
counting.
Not Getting the Roads.
editors in States where the
gasoline tax rate is cents and
that group includes the majority
Of ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS that
the motoring public is not getting
the roads for which it is paying,
Moreover, they chronicle the
growing antagonism Of organiza-
lions of motorists, industries and
taxpayers against legislators who
insist upon advocating gasoline
tax rate increases over wide pro-
tests and beyond the needs Of the
State"
The gasoline tax is one of the
easiest collected of all taxes, it
simply comes in with the purchase
price of the gasoline, the pump
tells the collector how much gaso-
line has been sold by the filling
station, and the money is turned
over to the State by the filling sta
ton.