The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1869-11-14
STREET CARS.
How They May be Managed to Make Them
Quick and Comfortable.

VuicK ana SOultOrtHDIts
from advance sheets of Onward for December.i
once more return to th subject again hoping
that our humDle voice may be heard.
And again reiterate our assertion that there Is
plan Tor traversng the streets OF O crowded city
yet born ia the brain OF man or to be born superior
even equal to this-the railroad car harnessed to
horses
Although set forth In the columns Of widely cir
culated newspaper, many may not have read the
simple scheme we suggested For these we shall
here repeat an eDitome OF It, entering little into
details and answering some objections since started
or incidentally arising.
What we proposed was and Is that the street car
running along us line shall not be subject 10 the
caprlcous VIII of every one walking upon the foot
who sees III TO bring IL TO stop by hallng its
conductor or simply holding up his band.
The assumption OF right to do this Is in truth but
burlesque of the republicah-democratc 1dea and
when closely scrutinized proves to be based on the
very opposite principle. For It Is the one man on
the sidewalk, with no particular stress upon him,
tell ng forty others inside the car-all as good as he
and all sharply set with desire TO go ahead-telng
them they must stop. And Tor what purposeY sim.
ply to save himself the necessity OF going to the
next corner ana there getting in; no dlsagreeable
necessity for is Just as easy 10 sauner thirty PAGES
while the car Is coming up as TO pass the time stand
ing by the side OF the cinder barrel, and quite as
pleasant, one wodld fancy.
The notion that by doing this individual rights are
invaded can only be entertained by those unaccu5-
toned to the exercise OF ordinary ratiocinationlg
norant in TACT, OF all the elementary principles OF
republicanlsm and the mutual obligations Of neunl
Ell ti,rm 1t is not the doctrine OF an enlightened
democracy, but the blind, dosmatic instinct OF a
Perhaps even this mob may understand their mis-.
take by an analogy we shall now give and which
exactly parallels the grievances they complain OF
through the present management OF street-car
traffic. solely due TO themselves 1t is just as II
every farmer living along the line OF the New Haven
Railroad or every merchant who owns villa upon
the Dither bank OF the Hudson was to have the
steam train stop at his own wicket gate, and, with
out his walking score yards deliver him INTO the
arms OF his welcoming wife and the embrace OF his
''olve branches.n No doubt 1t would be all very
pleasant for him; but how OF the 200 other gentlemen
who have shared the saloon carl along with him
each having wife farther on and perhaps also
cluster OF young olives, equally DESTROYS OF caspng
and clinging on TO the parent tree2
Dropping the poetical and 1guratiye, let US come
to the plain prose OF this question. We do not say
descend; there Is nothing lowering IN thing OF
sucn importance. The poetry or life Is but O
part OF its reality; and II IS not poetry, as we
ourself experience It, to be kept one hour and
the NEW YORK HERALD Office ana the banks or
Harlem river, beyond Yorkville. ON the contrary,
Il is the purest prose-commonplace aud lugubri-
ous-dui as one OF Anthony Troopes novels or
tfanscendental essay from the pen of Ralph Waldo
Emerson. Even two hours Grafton from the lips
OF the rrepressble Tram, lecture upon protection
by the philosopher OF the Tribune newspaper, or an
outpouring OF travels from Bayard Taylor, steam
tourist who should forcibly remind one OF the slow
progress made-any Of these, under other circum-
stances serious infection, would be relief to the
worn ana weary traveller who wends his way home
ward to Harlem In a Third avenue This we can
answer for as part of our own experience
After the first day of its endurance we felt inclined
to anathematiZe Mr.. SQUIRE who as president OF the
company IL supposed to hold In his hands the rens
OF every horse and the brake OF every car upon the
nue. OU u UnOT0 CAREFUL STUDY vi SuDJtCt diueu
by some inquiry, we discovered that neither the
Third Avenue Railroad Company nor It's respected
president has aught 10 do with the eyll-that Is,
with the cause OF IT, On the contrary, we find them
both willing and eager to do anything that can be
done for its removal while we also find that IL is the
alning public itself that Is responsible for the
very thing il Is complaining OF.
Citizens Association OF Yorkville locaty-as
we see by reports IN the newspapers-calls out
for q speedier and more comfortable mode OF car.
rage TO their suburban homes. They don't like
changing by the strapsN OF street car, and they
believe themselves compelled to do this by the
directors and officials OF the Third Avenue Raroad.
IL does not seem 10 have occurred to these CON-
planners that neither the Third Avenue Railroad
Company nor any other Is bound by any contract or
understanding, either legal or moral to carry them
home TO their houses at any particular rate OF speed
and set them, as they appear to claim It, on their
own door steps, without giving them the slightest
discomfort or smallest Inconvenience; doing all this
for the patry remuneration OF six or seven cents
less than cent to the mlle Horse flesh and horse
food-much less the carbonaceous diet which the
iron steed, III ever introduced, viii call for-ean
never give these grumblers the accommodation they
are now insensately demanding A weeks resi-
dence In London, Paris or any other great European
city would inoculate them with different ideas; ana
II 1t did not altogether cure them of their present
discomfort would show them the injustice OF their
demands.
In London they could not ride half mile along
the streets without disburslng the sum OF nino
CENTS since three pence sterling Is tie lowest omn-
amount, and a five-mlle ride on che underground
railway SO much Wanted Tor Its convenience
would take eighteen cents Gut OF their pockets
besides requiring them to wsik quite quarter OF
mile TO reach one OF its nearest stations.
Again do We repeat, AMI With an emphasis ioarln8