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. UNIFDRMLAWS
Regulation of Speed Limit Is
Especialy Advocated by the
Owners of Cars.
With the convening of the legislatures
in many states this fall, there is wide
spread interest among motorists as to
what new laws affecting the operation of
motor vehicles upon the public highways
will be enacted.
U is the opinion of motorists, as well
<s state and municipal officials, that ev
ery effort should be made to secure uni
lormity in automobile regulations, espe
cially as concerns the speed limit, so that
I tourists in passing from one state to an
other will not be met by the town fathers
on the village streets, holding up with a
red flag in order to derive a source of
revenue.
| As a general rule the rank and file of
automobilists, upon entering a small com
munity. drive cautiously, respecting the
rights of pedestrians and other users of
the road, carefully observing th local
traffic rules.
Touring Club in Van.
The Touring Club of America for several i
years has advocated uniformity in the ■
regulations governing the O|-ration of I
motor vehicles, and the success of its
efforts has been reflected in the enact
ment of many new state laws and muni- ,
cipal ordinances which the club has rec- j
om mended.
Lord Montagu, a British authority on
motoring affairs, while a guest of the
Touring club officials on his recent visit
to the United States, referred o the
c haotic conditions under which motoring
is carried on in this country, ami. in a
review of Ids observations, has the fol
lowing to say in a recent issue of The ■
Car:
“In the United States there is at least ;
one serious inconvenience to motorists
which should be removed before long. 1
Every state makes its own laws under
which motor cars may run, issues its
own orders as to speed limits, and has a
* different system of regulations.
“It is as if every county in England or •
every department in France differed in the
regulation and administration of motoring
matters. In every state there is a speed
limit, sometimes the same and sometimes
differing from its neighboring state.
Speed Limits Disregarded.
‘ Needless to add. everywhere in Amer- .
ica. as elsewhere all over the world, these
sueed limits are habitually disregarded be- ■
cause they can not be enforced. Tn New
York, for instance, eight miles an hour ;
•s the maximum speed limit in the pub
lic parks, though motor cars seldom pro
ceed at le«s than twelve. Other cities have
different limits.
"Everywhere one sees accounts of oc
<us’onal captures made by the police of
curs for exceeding the limit—"speeding."
:.s it is called—and the offenders are fined
•retty heavily, mure heavily than they
would be fined in most European coun
tries.
“In Washington there are individual
and special speed limits of twelve miles
an hour in the streets, eight miles an
hour at crossings, and four miles an hour
at corners. These well-intentioned regu
lations are, of course, not obeyed, and can
no* be universally enforced, but the pub
lic know in a general way they e:.i t and
human-like, they are comforted.’’
AUTO BUILDERS TO
PROTEST AGAINST
LOW TARIFF BILL
A group of leading companies in the
motor vehicle industry have protested to
the finance committee of the United States
senate against the reduction of duties on
imported automobiles, which the Under
wood tariff bill proposes, until after an
exhaustive investigation of the labor cost
in this country and Europe and other
matters bearing directly upon the justice
and propriety of tariff protection for a
groat American industry which has made
astonishing progress in the last few years.
In this remonstrance the point is well
taken that under the existing tariff the
automobile business has been marked by
free competition, intense rivalry and rapid
improvements in the machines put on the
market. It is staled, with entire accu
racy, that the manufacture of motor ve
hicles has gone ahead faster in the United
States than in any other country and it
is shown that the wages paid in America
are much higher than those which Euro
pean workingmen receive in the automo
bile works of that continent.
A great market has been created for
American labor and American machinery
which would not have existed, to any
such extent, if the motor vehicle industry
of the United States had not been afford
ed an opportunity to develop under the
protection of a fairly high duty on foreign
vehicles.
No American industry can make a bet
ter showing in strong, alert competition,
swift progress and marked benefits to
wage-earners than the automobile busi
ness. it is a remarkable demonstration
of the results of unlimited rivalry and
American enterprise in a rich field which
steadily widens with the wealth and prog
ress of the country.
DE PALMA WILL RACE
AGAIN. HE DECLARES,
AS HE QUITS HIS BED
Ralph DeFalma, winner of the Vander
bilt cup, was dismissed from Trinity hos
pital, Milwaukee, last week. The indomi
table courage*.of the great driver, his fine
physical condition and iron constitution
enabled him to escape an almost certain
death. On the day his physician pro
nounced him out of danger, visitors were
admitted to his ward, and in answer to
the question. “How do you feel?” he said:
“Fine! 1 ought to be out shoveling coal
or doing some real work.”
Tie Pal in a refuses to tali at length on
the cause of the accident near tin* finish
of the last lap of the leaflets in the Grand
Prix race.
lie is inclined to blame Caleb Braggs
mechanician for not watching the rear
an<| signaling to his mate. DePalma fl ! *
played not th* least of unklnfll\ feeling
I toward Bragg the winnrt simple blaming
the mechanician. who ilifl not observe the
t tiles. Im claims
“This accident will not keep me out <»i
the racing game, De I‘alma said.
Nearing End of Their Labors Committee in Charge Work Fast and Hard
IN TWO WEEKS ATLANTA'S BIG AUTO SHOW OPENS
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li. S. Abboil. Aiaiuiger of tin* i-ord Company. I
By PERCY H WHiTINV
’ I A HERE'S a lot of work to giving an
automobile s'.iow —not as much
as to digging a Panama canal,
of course, but plenty.
| And, knowing this, the Atlanta Au
-11 . mobile and Accessory association put
: some workers on the show committee.
I After going over the whole field for
nun who would really accomplish
something they hit cn the following:
Wjlie West.
L. S. Crane.
C. L. Elyea,
R. X. Reed,
R. S. Abbott.
John E. Smith,
<’. H. Johnson.
In selecting these men the associa
tion acted on the belief that “if you
want anything done give it to a busy
man to do.” For the busy men are
those who accomplish so much thej' al
ways have time to accomplish more.
The public will get a pretty good
idea of what has been accomplished
when thefdoois of 'lie show are thrown
open, with appropriate ceremony, on
November 16 —thrown open on a mil- i
'ion dollars worth of automobiles, $lO,- ,
000 worth of decorations and Illumina- I
tion and the greatest automobile shov.i j
of Southern history
Right now a huge force of plumbers I
and laborers is connecting up the Audi- j
toriurn with enormous gas mains, to!
carry the illuminant that will turn I
night into day throughout the week of I
the show. Another big force of decora- |
tors lias taken hold of the building and I
is working in such nooks and corners I
as are not used by the poultry show to I
got as much out of the way as possible i
before the final dash begins.
The exhibitors are gathering in their
1913 models. Some of the show cars
have already arrived. Others are being
turned out of the factories at high
pressure. Not a prominent make of
car. but will be presented at the At
lanta show if it is represented in At
lanta. There are exceptions, but they
are so few that they are almost negli
gible.
The Fifth regiment band, greatest of
regimental musical organizations in all
Dixie, has been secured for the week of
the show. And this great feature has
been strengthened further by the spe
cial engagement of Deo McConville, the
eleven-year-old co.net soloist from Bal
timore.
The excursion rates to Atlanta have
been announced. They are good for alt
tin- Southeastern territory except Ala
bama. They will be placed on sale No
vember IS and 19 and must be used be
fore noon of November 20. Their limit
is November 23.
So much for the show.
.Much of the credit for the making of
all arrangements belongs to Messrs,
West, Crane and Abbott, on whom a
major portion of the work has fallen.
West Knows the South.
Wylie West, chairman of the com
mittee. lays claim to the title of the
best known automobile man in the
South and ean prove it. Ho has a
hand-shaking acquaintance with ever;. -
body eonnei ted, remotely o otherwise,
with the automobile business south of
th< Ju“t i ii 'eloated Ma on at, Dixon
line and located on dry land between
till \t anti' and llie Pacific That'S
going some, bu; Mr. West las gone
some. too.
.Mr. West was born In Mobile, was
educated the e and then went Into tin |
banana business, nm letaE, of course.
The Atlanta Georgian
Automodili Departmint
but as “messenger'' for the banana I
trust.
One of Mr. West’s jobs in those days I
was to grab a carload of bananas, hitch
it on a freight train and to sell them by
the bunch at every stop. It took fast
talking, at which Mr. West is adept, but
he managed to beat the game a bit He
accomplished this by slipping the engi
neer a bunch of bananas at the end of
the trip. With this habit established,
the "banana messenger" managed rhe
train. If, after a short stop, the con
ductor should signal "go ahead" before
Mr. West had completed his transac
tion the engineer would grab out a lit
tle hammer, dash down and begin
pecking away at a cylinder or a driving 1
rod until the banana man slipped the,
signa! that business was over. Then
the engine repairing would cease, the
train would move on again and all
would be well.
Fruit and Conversation.
Blarney and bananas did it.
This same quality of blarney, which
is technically known as "a good line of
talk,” combined with brains has put Mr.
West right at the top in the tire busi
ness. He got into this business some
six years ago.
At first Mr. West t aveled out of Mo
bile. So successful was he and so well
( did he know the Southern Held that he
was called hj a big tire company to
| take over its Southern branch. Tliis hi
I did in September of three years ago
"I got a lot of cheap credit out of the
branch,” s-ays Mr. West. "It came easy, i
i There wasn't any competition. We had i
I the field all to ourselves. I was willing
to mix around and to travel around.
j And 1 couldn't help but sell stuff."
So great was the success of the Mo
bile tire man ttyit he was soon called
i IO St. Louis to take charge of the Fire- '
I stone branch in that eit. Here the sue- i
<-ess continued, but Mr. West was a
Southerner and was not satisfied with '
Missouri. He wanted to go back to the ]
South, and he knew the possibilities |
there. So he talked "the South”
steadily to the Firestone company, and
asked them to send him down as man
ager of a Southern branch.
Enthusiasm Did It.
It happened at that time that Presi
dent Firestone, of the Firestone Tire
and Rubber Company, couldn't see the
South very clearly. He liked the cli
mate—but not the business prospects.
"Wylie,” he said one day, "do you
mean to say that you would leave this
big St. Louis branch and open one in
the South?”
"Sure," said Mr. West. "I can leave
on ten minutes notice.”
The next day he got orders to go.
His enthusiastic belief in the section
convinced the Firestone Tire and Rub
ber Company. .And they have lived to
see the Atlanta branch outstrip that at
San Francisco, at St. Louis, at almost
every one of the innumerable points
where Firestone brandies are located,
"I determined the day I had a talk
with Mr. Firestone that If lie sent me]
back to tlm South I was never going to
leave a stom- unturned." -yj s Mr. West,
“when it stood in the way of getting
recognition for this section. And that's
why 1 work so hard with the show."
The Atlanta branch was opened on
May S, 1911. In thf short time that has
elapsed since then it has become one
of the few really big tire branches in
Dixie.
When M ■ West first came to Atlanta
theri were three brim lies nere Now
there an fifteen dis et factory branches
and seven agiqteies. That glvs a bit of
tin idea flow the business has grown.
Mr. Abbott a Real Veteran.
I Another of tin livi wire m' inbei s |
of th- snow coimniltee is Robert Sluart
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V®: Mr -
Wylie West. Mfiniigi'f Firestone lire Company, anti show I
I committee chairman.
Abbott, manager of the local Ford
branch.
Mr. Abbott lays claim, and with good
i reason, to being the oldest automobile
I man, in point of service, in the South.
: He was born in New Orleans, but came
|to Atlanta when he was a small boy
and spent most of his early life here.
I After finishing school, he went to the
I Southwestern Presbyterian college at
Clarksville, Tenn., where he studied for
the ministry—incidentally working his
way through college.
Fourteen years ago Mr. Abbott went
into the automobile business. He then
worked for his father and his uncles
in the Abbott Automobile Company, of
New Orleans. They handled the old
original Locomobile steam cars on a
brokerage basis and became the first
agents for the Oldsmobile and the first
for the Packard in the South.
The automobile business was a queer
institution in those days. New Orleans
owners had the choice of New Orleans
quaintly paved roads and Louisiana
"buckshot" mud and either alternative
was horribly bad. in spite of that the
.Abbott company prospered and it still
ettims hi New Orleans and does an
enormous business.
From "Roustabout" to Manager.
Something like eight yens ago, Mr.
Abbott went ti> Chicago. He deliberate
ly picked out tile Ford as the car lie
wanted to sell, and took the first Ford
job offered him. at a salary of abso
lutely nothing. At tiie start he was
"roustabout” at the Chicago branch. In
six and ■( half ye irs he had risen to
the position of assistant manager. On
April I. 1911, lie was sent to Atlanta to
take i barge of tin local branch of the
Fold ‘ ompuny. It is Mr Abbott's
claim that l ist year ht“ luaiu ii sold 25
', pet eent of the cars sold In Georgia
■ mil i ' in ' in of those sold in Florida.
| And in tile meantime he has found titnc
to take a 10l of interest In the At-
lanta Automobile and Accessory asso
ciation, and to do a lot of work for the
coining show.
Another of the extremely active men
in the local show committee is L. S.
Crane.
The Aftermath of a Skill.
Mr. Crane Is a man born and edu
cated in the North. It took an automo
bile accident to send hitn to Dixie.
It happened one night that Mr. Crane
wa« beating along a bit of sharply
crowned road leading into Hartford. It
was cold and beginning to grow dark.
The car was going 50 or 55 miles an
hour when, without warning, it dove
head-on into the rear of a stiff hail
storm that had been crossing the road
for a half hour or so and piling the
slippery hail on the road a half-inch
deep.
The second the car hit the hail, there
was a tremendous skid, the machine
side-swiped a telegraph pole, jumped a
fence, cavorted about a field, and turn
ed Over. There were four people in the
car when the accident happened. And
not a soul was hurt. The car, however,
was slightly shaken.
This is Mr. Crane's account of it:
"I telephoned to Hartford for the
Pope-Hartford wrecking crew. And
then, while 1 was waiting for them. I
had an hour on my hands. I spent
this hour looking over my machine,
critically, it was the first time I had
done It. And I learned more of auto
mobiles in that hour of study of that
overturned Pope-Hartford titan 1 had
ever learned in tpy whole life before.
“That hour out on the road, in that I
hailstorm, convinced me that there I
wasn't in automobile in the world but'
Just one. Tlte next morning I went out
to the office and asked them if they had
any open territory They said they had,
in Atlanta So I beat It down hen "
Mr. crane comes from a fantilj of
means and Influence. HD father was
• mmei ted with the old Wagnei Sleep
ing Car Company, which was inter ab
sorbed by the Pullman. Mr. Crane
moved from city to clti with his ta
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——-zzzzz: —
L. S. Crtine, F’ope-llardford agent.
ther, living in Chicago. Kansas City.
St. Louis, and finally New York.
After his schooling was ended. lo
went into tiie rubber manufacturing
business, and for several years worked
for the Rubber trust at various plants,
i He continued In this business until lie
came to Atlanta to take over tiie local
Pope-Ha rtf ord agency.
Mr. Crane is one of tiie best of auto
mobile drivers. To many ids methods
seetn unusually foolhardy, but his ex
perience makes it possible to take
chances that would be fatal with a
less expert driver. For instance. Mr.
Crane plans to go from Atlanta to
Greenville a couple of weeks lienee,
take part in tbe hill climb: ami return
to Atlanta, all in the same day.
In Mr. Crane's earlier days he was a
famous swimmer, and in dash races and
water polo he was one of tile stars of
the New York Athletic club team. He
has won a couple of races since he has
been in Atlanta, and is probably with
out equal in this section fol a dusk
race.
I (Note. —Ollier n>eml» r of tiie show
i committee will be written up from time
to time.)
REMEDIES FOR MOTOR ILLS
Should persistent tire trouble develop
j on ~ne wheel, as not infrequently hap
i pens, the motorist should first make
i search whet het it is merely a coinci
j denee, or due to some invariable cause,
hi the latter case, th< immediate cause
of delay will he either punctures or
bursts—heldom both. A rather obscure
cause of tire bursts, which It is well to
recall in tills connection, is disalign
ment of the affected wheel, causing
the tire to slip unduly A wheel that
is out of truth may also cause undue
wear, while a bent rim, by failing to
grasp the bead of tiie cover uniformly,
may strain the sides of the latter suf
ficiently to cause it to blow out repeat
edly.
If a nut resists all efforts to unscrew
it, take an ordinary shingle spanner
which fits the nut, heat the spanner
slightly in tin- fire or by a blow lamp,
and let It rest on the nut for a few
minutes. The heat transmitted from
the spanner to the nut will expand the
latter and It can then be easily un
screwed. Do not heat the nut with a
blow lamp, as this expands the bolt as
well as the nut, whereas it is the nut
which needs loosening.
The varnish on a new car is apt to
become speckled after its first baptism
of rain. These spots are not wholly
eradlcable, but It is possible to render
thern less noticeable by applying a mix
ture of raw linseed oil and malt vine
gar, supplemented by a considerable
amount of that homely but efficacious
compound known as "eblow grease."
A simple but often forgotten precau
tion in the matter of tilling the gaso
line tank is to wipe tile mouth of the
gasoline ean so as to remove all (lust
'and dirt. Otherwise, in tiie absence of
i a strainer the gasoline will carry the
accumulated trouble into th. tank and
later you will have trouble with clog
ged pipes or carbureter
Moto' lamps that hav is ( -u exposed
to the weather and have gatlxreil a
coating of verdigris which resists ordi- I
nary attempts to t emove It, may b"
t leaned in a simple inannet Take equal
portions of good metal polish and wood
al< diol, ipplj with a brush and allow
«SffS
MOTORSDIFFER.
Smith Tells Why Specifica
tions of Same Figures Are
Not Alike.
"Specifications are misleading in auto
mobile advertising, ' says L. F. Smith,
manager of the Oakland Motor Company.
“It is just about as fair to compare two
cars having the same motor dimensions,
i wheel lease and other identical details,
as it is to compare two men wearing the
same size hats you can not judge their
efficiency by similarity of Looks or sire
Two motors ean be alike in bore and
stroke and still differ materially in the
power and efficiency. The question nat- i
urally arises, 'What makes the differ- J
cnee'." And the answer is 'The method :
of manufacturing and the materials used.' '
As an example, the quality of the motor a
depends on the way the pistons are
ground, the style of bearings used, the
type of gears, the carburetion and the
method of lubrication. What is true of '
the motor is true of every other com- a
ponent part. The Oakland does not rely :
on its specifications.
“Some motor cars 'eat' up power be- I
fore it reaches the place where ft is fi
ne ded through rear wheels. Rated horse-i ,|
power and actual horsepower or pulling fS
I power are two separate things. A motor ,3
might develop and deliver 3
I "3 to the driving wheels because of poor |
.-'instruction and plan <.f design employed
land the resulting excessive friction.
“In Oakland construction we deliver, we
| believe, the maximum horsepower to the
. rear wheels because w e have eliminated
: i rlction and die use of extra universal
i joints by the adoption of the unit power s?'
j plant. When you transmit power from i
I one unit to another you waste a little of ■
,it through every reduction. In the Oak
land, tiie motor, clutch and transmission !
' shaft hearings are perfectly aligned on ore
| shaft and the same principle of coneerva- i
, tion of energy is carried out until it I
reaches the rear wheels, and. therefore, j
the power waste is ven slight, if there z
is any at all."
STEARNS KNIGHT CAR
WINS PRIZE IN HARD
ENDURANCECONTEST
The Stearns Knight car again came into
tiie limelight a short time ago in the
endurance contest given by the Pine Tree
Motor Contest association, of Portland, i
Maine. -
This contest, run under the rules and
with the sanction of the contest board ;
of the American Automobile association,
was an especially hard one. as is shown
by the fact that during the entire 441
miles of the trip an average of 26.38
miles per hour was obtained. To those
experient ed in automobile driving, a grand
average of 26 miles per hour for three
days consecutive running is something to a
be held in great respect, especially- in view J
of the fact that this car carried ladies J
during the entire trip, and the contest ®
was turned into a pleasure trip as much ’
as anything else.
in commenting upon the performance |
of this car W. E. Hackett, the Stearns ?
dealer who drove the car, says:
“The face is. we came home with a
dean, score, for w hich 1 received the sil
ver c«p In division 6-A. Our competi- j
tors were cars listed from $3,000 to s 4, |
000 " d
to dry. When dry rub with a clean
cloth and tiie verdigris will mb off.
leaving a clean, smooth surface. The ■,
lamp may tliefi be polished in the usual J
way.
Sometimes alien out on the
til-’- 111 ilk I"-, ■m i- deflated,
our, imoing tn.' tube no leak v'hatevM|
will be perceptible on examination.
Hie road is i dusty one, tiie small lea i '
intiy be detected successfully by holding '
portions of the partially-inflated tube J
near I lie ground until that portion is S
reached which disturbs the dust, due 1
to the escape of air. Another way Ls
to hold the tube up to the face, an es
cape of air being located by Its gently
blowing against the cheek.
Sometimes, among other unheard of
things, a wire breaks inside of Its Insu
lation and gives no exterior sign of the
break. This may cause all sorts of |
trouble, and very often the biatne is laid
at the door of the Ignition department. |
Spark plugs are changed and
pulled down, so that it is a good thing
before taking everything else to pieces
to make sure that there are no interior
breaks in tiie insulation cable. i
Timely Auto Notes
\\ hat rust is tu fine tools, mud is to a
smooth polish.* The mud itself dues not ■
harm thn car, hut it is the removal of the
mud that causes the trouble. Unless mud j
is remuvefl immediately the finish will'fl
come off with it. f
An automobile road from Montreal to fl
Vancouver is the project which nas now |
been mooted. The idea comes from the ,f
West, and has grown out of the project
for the building, from Ualgary into the ■ 3
Windermere district, of the most wondet-W
ful automobile highway in the world.
allotments «f space for the Automo- a
idle show which will be held at Mgdison
Square Garden and Grand Central PalaceO
under the auspice!* of the Au)
hoard of trade in the week
Ihiiihi ’ 11 have been made. The
Tiers "f the kutomobile board of
will l»e housed at the ’."arden and rhe a|
other inanufa* Hirers will be represented isl
at the Palace There will be 87 different fl
make* »f pleasure < ars shown. inchaiin« fl
4'> ai Do Garden and 41 at the l'ala<e fl