Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-08
VIRGINIA MOTOR
AND DRY UNITS HIT
Patronage Charged, End of
y Fee System Asked Before
State Chamber.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
! ROANOKE, Va, February 8. - Maj
Leroy Hodges managing director Of the
/ Virginia State Chamber of Commerce
in report before the fifth annual meet.
1 ing of the chamber here yesterday
afternoon, repeated charges that the
State prohibition force and that of the
/: commissioner of motor vehicles are in
eficient and "thinly disguised patronage
/ devices" and urged the establishment
{ Of general trained staff.
I Hodges report included quotation
1 from the report of the New York
I Bureau of Municipal Research concern
/ ing the work of the State motor vehicle
commissioner and the statement that
among the employees of the office are
/ inspectors and policemen equipped
with motor cycles and motor cars, scat
tered throughout the State"
Hodges report quoted, These police
officers enforce the laws pertaining to
! use of the highways and from time to
time are temporarily employed in the
performance of such other duties in the
department as the commissioner may
designate. While they are probably USE
full as messengers and general assist
.ants during the Winter months, when
the administrative burden of registra-
ton is most heavy, it is difficult to see
how. under present methods, they may
be fashioned into satisfactory police
men.
Patronage Is Hinted.
an a force which received no in
struction or training in the performance
SOf police duties, the method of selection
4 becomes a matter of exceptional i'm
yportance 1t is admitted, however, that
personal qualifications received relative
dy slight weight. prime consideration
being given to the Endorsement accord
ed by individual members Of the Gen.
eral Assembly.
1.-THE State highway system is rapidly
Extending its intricate network. The
opening of the Shenandoah Park and
lists in increasing numbers. 1t is inev-
stable that both minor and major in
fractions of the law will increase. En-
forcement of the criminal code will
scome to be of greater Importance. To
confer general police, authority upon a
body so rudimentary would be unwiSe.
I. 1T is recommended, therefore, that
the force OF motor vehicle police and
inspectors now maintained be discon-
tinued and that responsibility for pa
trolling the highways of the State be
transferred to State police force vest
ed with general criminal jurisdiction"
Hodges report included also quota
tons from the New York Bureau of
Municipal Research report concerning
ethe force of State inspectors commits
stoned to exercise the police functions
in arresting violators of the prohibition
law the members Of which report to
Richmond only by mail.
I The bureau stated that local police
Officers of the cities and the counties
perform over so per cent of the work.
Reliance for their continuing activ-
3ty," the bureau said, "is largely placed
upon the incentive which the fee sys-
tie may hold out to them"
/ The bureau report is quoted further
as saying: 1T is obvious, too, that the
fee system alone is insufficient to stir
official activity among those special in
sole source of compensation. 1t is diff
cult to see how the situation can be
Femedied by palliative measures.
I. Urge General Police Force.
i "In view of the foregoing facts, it is
Eeco- rnended that the police function
pertaining to prohibition enforcement
be transferred to a State police force
exercising general police powers
Mai. Hodges quoted the reports of
the New York bureau In support of the
new program of civics which is one OF
the 10 new detectives of the Virginia
State Chamber of Commerce Endorsed
by the membership here yesterday.
4 Maj. Hodges also declared that Vir-
ginia's illiteracy, which is greater than
that of 40 other States in the Union
threatens to retard the progress of the
State in almost every phase of devel-
opment.
8 "Virginians in the counties as well as
m the cities and towns must become
dndustrially minded and industrially
trained and prepared for the service ir
the new day of the Old Dominion" Maj
Hodges said. :.