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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 1929)
Automotive and Building News of Interest Locally Talk of the Road and News of the Day for Mo torists and Outdoors folk Automotive Information SECTION STATESTESTIME NEW SAFETY LAW Twelve States Working Un der "Safety-Responsibility Legislation By THOS. P. HENRY, President A. A. A. There is no royal road to safe ty. No single panacea has been advanced and probably never will. But the fact that the close of the year 1929 finds the country con fronted with a gigantic toll of automobile fatalities and Injuries, as well as a considerable sum la uncompensated damages, challen ges an examination of the effi cacy of such definite steps as have been taken for the ameliora tion of conditions. It is generally known that the Safety-Responsibility Laws now in effect In 12 states were heralded as promising the maximum of benefits along sane and practical lines. It is inevitable that their operation will be watched with the keenest interest from Maine to California and from the Yukon to the Rio Grande It is well that this should be 4l' In the meantime' however, some criticism has been leveled at the Safety - Responsibility principle. This criticism falls into two cate gories. First, it represents the viewpoint of special interests whose business they feel might be adversely affected; who have con sistent opposed all forms of "re sponsibility" and who, so far as is known, have never brought for ward a constructive alternative. Second, it comes from source whose object' it is either to mis represent the legislation and Its aim. or who have not taken the trouble to distinguish between what it provides and what it does not. . The all-important thins now is that the American people should learn something about what is go ing on in the states where the Safety-Responsibility law or pro visions thereof have been enacted. since manifestly it is this practical lest rather than what proponents r exponents of the legislation krre to say that will decide the future. Kr m rrmry of Model Legislation Before proceeding to ascertain what the states experimenting with the legislation have to say. let us summarize it briefly. To do this I will take the so-called A. A. A. Safety-Responsibility taw. not because of any proprietary inter est I claim in it, but because it is the most comprehensive state ment ot the principle. Now, what exactly does it provide for? It embodies (our cardinal princoples, as follows: First, a universal drivers' H cense law: and in this day and aee it is difficult to betlleve that thfs demand will meet with any sound apposition. Second, a mandatory suspension of the driving privileges of all persons convicted of serious, vio lations of the motor vehicle laws, until proof of future financial re sponsibility has been established. This is in addition to penalties under the State Motor Vehicle Code. . Third, It provides for the sus pension of the driving privileges of all persons against whom a fl nal judgment establishing the driver's negligence has been le gaily rendered and who have fail ed to meet the judgment, this suspension to remain in effect un til the Judgment has been satis fied and a guarantee of future re sponsibility established. Fourth, It provides for the in- ZOh&n WmGbl ZJbmoA f HAT'S WHEN A FIN, CL0B,7 v A. ir. ir. it v Model A Tudor Model A Sport Coupe 192S Coupe 1925 Tudor Rnckstell 1926 Roadster New paint c 1928 Chevrolet Coupe """-"-" I - - .1 . - 1 1 - ! I rr : ja . - - ) T- f- U -V HI Uacla Sam W8m.-.Uj ackaM for maifiiliu itstborUnl for u(. iu.. .lL' .t.U . Wo.t.T iu BB1 Comply MUtmaa auutrng Barbara Krat, of Universal Pkturoa, ia seUctiac a4 wrappia aatomotiva Chnstaaaa ifU for her frieacU. Somethiag fer the car U sore to pleas ae will be a raniaoer of tha doaor's thonghtralaess as accessories are eajoyad threaghoat taa yaar. sertion in the driver's, license law of every state a proviso which will prevent the issuance of a permit to any person whose right to drive is at that .time suspend ed in any "other state, thus in ef fect providing for the inter-ex change of suspension rulings as between the states and rendering the disability nationally recipro cal. One of the commonest argu ments advanced against the legis lation is that it does not make the financial responsibility oper ative at all until a man or a wom an has an accident. A glance at Provision two. above stated, will slrow that this is not the case. In tact, a person never need have had an accident to come under the penalties ot the legislation. Offenses Which May Be Punished Now. what offenses against highway safety bring these provi sions Into operation. Briefly sum marized, they are: reckless driv ing; driving while under the in fluence of intoxicating liquor or narcotic drags; leaving the scene of an antomobrle accident In which personal injury occurs with out making identity known; such other violations as constitute cause for suspension or revoca tion of licenses in the state; a conviction of an offense in any other state which, it committed in this state, would be a viola tion of any of the aforesaid pro visions of the Motor Vehicle laws ot this state. It has been charged that the legislation might be used by the police as a weapon to compel mo torists indiscriminately to' assume financial responsibility by the threat of suspension of license because of petty offenses against the Motor Vehicle Code. This charge entirely overlooks the fact that only perpetrators of major violations as cited above are af fected. It is true that one state in enacting the law went further than the provisions of the Model Safety-Responsibility law In the citation of violations. But there is every reason to believe that in this particular state the law will be modified. The law in whole or in part is (Continued on Page 16) IS TWnflnrvm $515.00 $525.00 $235.00 $175.00 $185.00 $415.00 Auto Accessories Solve Gift Problem n. . 1 TJte OREGON STATESMAN, Salem. Oregon, Sunday Morning, December 22, 1929 - PAGE FIFTEEN - - tr. -i-i- J . A We take great Corner of High and Chemeketa Streets as distributors for Salem and vicinity, including Marion, Polk, penton and Lincoln counties. We wish to thank our patrons for their support of our Salem branch in the past. We are confident that Packard owners will receive equally good service from our new representatives. Our present personnel at the South Commercial street branch will be on hand at the -State Motors, Inc., after January first to greet and serve all Packard customers, the same as formerly. Pack mm BIG STER MERGER LOOKS TO ORIENT (AP Feature Service Writer) SAN FRANCISCO (AP) TJnlt ed States Steel acquisition of the Columbia Steel corporation is re garded by west coast manufac turers as offering the prospects of expansion In steel production In the far west to a degree which may make possible invasion of or iental markets. Although the Columbia com pany grew from a small iron foun dry to a manufacturing concern of the $50,000,000 class In two decades, neither It nor smaller coast steel companies have been able to compete to any great ex tent In the far east with Euro pean plants, due to the difference between American and Eufopean wage scales. With the advantage of the big steel conany's mass production methods and of its financial posi tion, coast steel men believe the west coast Industry will be able to gain a foothold for at least certain grades of steel in the far east. .. However, the primary future of western steel manufacturing, both of the. independents and of the 1ig c6fS0fit16nJhow extended; oi lhB f tit itiow $rbm coastHe i6i$ f is believed 'to lie in the rapidly growing domestic market The era of skyscraper building Pa tmw&mcesmemi pleasure in announcing the Service Oregon Distributors. in a dosen or more coast cities. and .the corresponding increase in the number and size of ships constructed in coast yards has created an ever increasing market for building steel, much of which has come by water from the east. In the past virtually all of the heavy casting has been done on the Atlantic seaboard, as far west ern plants have not been equipped for it United States Steel, it ia pointed out will be in a position to do this fabricating at a saving of the transcontinental freight or water rates. Columbia Steel corporation Is the only large steel concern in the west which does its own manufacturing-from the mine to the fin ished product. . Its origin was not due, however, to any acute demand for steel but to the desire of C. A. Hooper, an old time lumberman of California to find a market for lignite coal which had been rendered almost valueless by the advent ot cheap fuel oIL Hooper succeeded in interest ing the late W. E. Creed in the establishment ot a small Iron foundry In 1909 to create a mar ket for the coal. The name of the foundry town was changed from Black Diamond to Pittsburgh, and Creed and his associates began the upbuilding of one of the west's largest, industrial concerns. Wartime prosperity supplied the funds which through a suc cession of mergers and purchases enabled the foundry to attain its development. kmrd & Sales Cheek and Ashby Plan to Operate Service Station Monroe Cheek and William Ashby have taken over the service station at the corner of Court and North Capitol which they will op erate under the V-D organization. They will handle Shell gasoline and McClaren tires. Service feat ures such as greasing, washing, etc., will be continued. Mr. Cheek has conducted the lubrication division ot the plant there for four years ever since the station was erected. Bill Ashby was for five years an employe of Smith and Watkins. mm i BIG IMPROVEMENT . GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) Acceptance of plans by the Joseph ine county commissioners of a new 140,000 bridge which soon will span the Rogue river here brings back to the minds ot scores of pioneers the early days when wag ons were floated across the tur bulent stream. The new steel and cement bridge is a long cry from the first narrow, creaky span that first carried miners to and from, what is now Grants Pass. appointment Inc lira red E CHICAGO (AP) Widely known on the Chicago board ot trade as "No. 2 Red." James 'A. Cavaney is a romantic figure of the pit. He is called "No. 2 Red" be cause his red hair is so near a perfect red as to approach No. 2 red winter wheat, a grade accep table on all regulation contracts here. Years ago, Cavaney, as a mes senger boy in the wheat pit, hand ed to Arthur Cutten the first or der Cutten executed as a trader. Cutten ultimately became one of the outstanding grain and stock brokers in the world. The inci dent of their first meeting led, to a lasting friendship between Cat ten and Cavaney. On at least one occasion of late, in the ordinary course of busi ness. Cavaney has drawn a check for upwards of 1,000,000. He is a partner in a grain and com mission house in Chicago, and is credited with having originated the Chicago curb exchange. FORMER riUSSIDKNT DIES MOSTELIMAR, France Pec. 20 (AP) Emile Loubet, form er president of France, died at 9:35 p.m., today. He was 9L years old. of Linn, STICKS I -: j ? -.V ., 4 - -. .. i : Corner Center iin 11995 aChemek