Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-10
In the Motor World
BY q. ADAMS HOWARD.

most likely to be occupied by pc.
deStrianS, the traffic lanes between
the zone and the curb are flllec
with moving vehicles, and the out
side line of cars usually takes the
route of the car tracks through
the safety zone.
The raised type of safety zone
or street car loading platform, Il
the answer to this problem, Mr.
Startling said, for by their con-
struction they bar the entry Of the
automobile.
With the date for the filing OF
income tax returns nearing, the
American Motorists Association
points out that the automobile has
been accepted as indispensable to
modern business, and the Bureau
of Internal Revenue has ruled that
expenditures for upkeep and oper-
alton of an automobile, including
the chauffer'S pay, when the, car
and driver are used for strictly
business purposes, are deductible
under the income tax provisions.
The association further calls the
attention of the motorists to the
fact that the law is strict in the
limitations of this ruling, narrow
ing the transportation costs to
those of actual business. The cost
of transportation of taxpayer, to
and from his home and place of
business cannot be business ex-
penSe and is ruled as personal and
non deductible.
X X X
American and continental Eu-
ropean automobile manufacturers
are gaining ground in their as
saults against the walls raised for
the British automobile industry.
With the home market declining
/, and the overseas trade of the Brit
iSh manufacturers contracting,
they have been forced in the past
year to admit that the imported
cars, despite the high tariff, have
seen an increased demand.
Sir George Beharrel, president
of the British Society of Motor
Manufacturers and Traders, says
of the British automobile output:
1T was not to be expected that the
rapid rate of increase seen in the
postwar years would be main
tanned indefinitely, but the recess
sion in 1928 is undoubtedly attrib-
utable in part to special causes,
some of which may be of a tenn
pory nature" The imposition of
8 cents a gallon gasoline tax is one
factor, he points out.
Nevertheless, according to the
figures compiled by the motor. as
ISOLATION head, the peak of AUTO
mobile production in England
came in 1927, when the output was
209, 900 cars. This figure COM
pared with the output total of
180, 900 in 1926. In 1928 production
dropped to 100000 Imports in
these three years rose from q. 8o2
in 1925 to 32,669 in 1927 and 34,179
in 1928.
The motor truck is the central
figure in a merry little game being
played by the farmers, it is point
ed out by Wells A. Sherman of the
Bureau of Agricultural Economics.
Department of Agriculture. He
sees the entire district east of Chi
cage increasing the reduction of
fruits and vegetables as the result
OF the use of the motor truck.
The improvement of highways
and the motor truck are making It
possible for these eastern farmers
to grow products they could not
possibly have realized anything
from in the days Of the horse
drawn vehicle. Before the days of
refrigerator, cars, Mr.. Sherman
points out, practically all Of the
fresh fruits and vegetables sold in
the cities were grown on nearby
farms. Then along came the COM
mercial manufacture Of ice, and
the States of the South, along the
Gulf Of Mexico and the Rio
Grande started shipping in Off
season fruits and vegetables and
getting the business. They even
went SO far as to compete with the
nearby producers IN their own
marketing seasons.
But the truck has come along
and enabled the nearby farmer
to meet this competition. It has
brought the itinerant trucker who
operates his business in units of a
small motor truckload, which can
be moved in any direction rapidly
These men act as distributors for
farmers producing diverse prod
ucts. In other sections they act as
distributors from the railroad
centers.