Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 July 1920 — THEY WERE STRANGERS AND WE TOOK ’EM IN [ARTICLE]

THEY WERE STRANGERS AND WE TOOK ’EM IN

And “Fed” Them With a Fine and Coats of $9.35 Each. A fleet of 11 Ford cars were held up here Friday and the drivers haled before Squire Irwin, where they were fined $1 and costs each, $9.35 per, or a grand total of $102.85, for failure to carry proper license plates on the cars. They had on printed "In Transit” cards, rather than the official “Dealer” license plates required by law. The fines and costs were paid on pleas of guilty and the fleet departed. Of the amount each paid the state school fund gets sl, the prosecuting attorney $5 and the officers —except a small docket fee which goes to the county—get the rest. Friday night a fleet of nine NasU cars, in transit to Kentucky, were taken in on the same charge and given a like dose Saturday morning, making an even SIOO for the proas' cutor in the two round-ups. While there is no question about

the driving of cars without the proper license plates being an infraction of the law, there has been much criticism of the action in getting after the drivers of new cars in transit frojn factory to dealer, thousands of which have passed through Rensselaer during the past few months, and -winking at the fellows at home who have been running their cars all season without license plates or only one plate where two are required, etc. It smacks too much, these critics say, of the old saloon days, when if a man from another town or from the country came in and got a glass too much he was arrested and put <n jail, and then fined and costed to the extent of all the money he had on his person, while the town bum who had a” vote in local elections, could lay about in the gutter, dead drunk, and the officers never saw him at all. The Democrat does not presume to say what the law is in other states, bet in Indiana a dealer or manufacturer pays an annual license fee of $25 and is assigned a general distinctive number, say “M-185 Ind. 1920,” and is issued one set of license plates. He may obtain as many duplicate plates as he desires at $1 each from the secretary ©f state, and “No plate or sign shall be used other than those furnished by the secertary of state. Nothing in this section shall be construed to apply to a motor vehicle operated by manufacturer or dealer for private use or for hire.” The law also requires that number plates “shall be conspicuously displayed upon tfie front and back of the motor vehicle to which they are assigned, whenever the same shall be drivenpr used upon the public roads, turnpikes, parks, parkways, drives or other public highways of the state; and shall be firmly attached to the said motor vehicle and the rear number plate shall not be less than twenty (20) Inches above the surface of the ground, and both shall at all times be kept clean and free from grease and dirt.” “Upon the sale of motor vehicle or motor bicycle by the manufacturer or dealer, which has been registered by. the manufacturer or dealer under this act, the vendee shall be allowed to operate the samfe upon the public highways for a period of. 15 days after taking possession thereof or until he* shall have received him certificate of registration and number plates from the secre-1 tary of state, providing that during such period the motor vehicle shall i attached thereto, in accordance with the provisions hereof, two number plates bearing the registration number of the dealer under which it might previously have been operated; and provided, further, that application for registration shall be made by mall or otherwise before such vehicle shall be so used.” The new cars passing through here have been quite a source of revenue to the restaurants, hotels and garages, and indirectly to the local public in general. While the display of the “In Transit” cards is a technical violation of the law, it is said that Rensselaer and Newton county are the only places where arrests have been made for such violation, and if the officers desire to be technical as regards the automobile law they could establish a case against about nine out of every ten tourists who pass through here, as well as about 90 per cent of our own people, not Including those who have run cars all season without license plates or havp operated trailers without the required plates, or have purchased new cars and used the old license plates thereon, or have transferred plates from trucks to touring ears and vice versa, etc , etc. It Is probable that Rensselaer will see very few more fleets of cars in transit for some time to come, as the dealers will avoid both Jasper and Newton counties Irf the future, which may or may not be a good thing, as one views it.