The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-05-27

mono Of the lines In the city think Of using either as
comes II y very questionable indeed whether the
people could DO without some fresh, clean straw in
oS but Z
an Immense amount Of Nth that would otherwise
No ~ 10 a directions about the inside OF the car
ing IN baskets or otherwise, except on the front
platform s forbidden BY section us OF sanitary
coue as u is at present constituted. Now this, like
or too little.
soILED OR DIRTY CLOTHES
~ cIuS.co on the cars at all, O worse place could
LUZ nu. PosslDiy pc selected to put them than the
n =, sssn The presumption is that the carry
they may contain the germs or some contagious
disease; them as natural consequences if there be
the on Of IN the clothes their being
draught made by the motion Of the car will carry IL
IN current through the entire conveyance, faint
Ing every passenger In It,. While, II the Companies
were prohibited from carrying bundles on the cars
altogether there could not possibly be any appre.
henson to the public health. Or II the Commits.
sfOners were for q moment touched by shade OF
sympathy for the poor women who on Saturday
night have to convey large baskets Of provisions
set aside special conveyances in which
bundles or baskets would always be taken
1t Is absurd to permit parcels of any kind on the
ordinary passenger cars, but 1t is more than foolish
for body Of Health Commissioners to gravely Or
seroas bundles Of clothing snail be eI placed right IN
the very eye OF the wind for the advantage Of the
peoples health. To sit in a board room and make
these DEGREES Ia one thing, but to go out into the
streets and see their operation upon the masses is
entirely another, and one the members OF the
Board Of ~. Health seem to have lost sight OF;
tirely to ventilation. But so determined Is 1t
that ventilation shall be secured that it almost
be used for that purpose Not only must the
cars be provided with windows In the roof but they
must have
vENrILAToRs WITH REVOLVING TOPS.
This revolving top business looks very much like
the cloven foot of the ordinance The beauties OF the
article have, doubt, been fully explained to the
Board, and 1t ls no doubt, an admirable Invention
and very likely would prove an immense advantage
to any community into which II was adopted but it
certainly cannot be worth the manufacture OF
health ordinance to introduce 1t. The revolving
top In rapid motion may be
VERY LOVELY THING
to contemplate from the sidewalk, and it would no
doubt be great consolation to the poor suffering
passengers In the car to think how delightful the
outside appearance OF the conveyance in which
they were undergoing so many hardships was; but
taking into consideration the many necessaries to
be sacrificed to these elegant wndmills 1t Is very
presumabe II the opinions of the people TAKEN
they would rather not have them quite so beautiful.
1t would be bad taste, no doubt; but then, If one
toned to ride the distance from the City Hall to
Harlem twice day, it is very probable the revolv-
ing top would have lost half Its beauty BY the time
he had reached the end Of his journey on an un-
cushioned seat, with half ton of dirty linen staring
him In the face from the front platform. MI. Fields,
the president of the Third Avenue Railroad, was
called upon yesterday by a HERALD reporter and
his opinion asked upon the cushion question. The
gentleman had not seen anything Of the ordinance
up to that time; but when the subject was ex-
planned he said the order now was super
nuous one, as the company took all the
cushioned cars off during the summer
months, but in winter he could not see how the
people would do without them. There were
sixty cars in the workshop Mr.. Fields said, under
going the change from cushions to plain boards.
The uphOlsterer OF the line, who has been in the
employ of the company for the past five years, told
the president one day last week that during his
other OBNOXIOUS
never discovered In the cushions OF the cars, al
though the Old ones were frequently being taken
out and replaced by new ones. The upholstered
backs, Mr.. Fields said were already done away with
and would never be restored The president also
washed after every trip. If this rule as rigdy
carried out by the employees OF the road the pres
ident supposcs cars Nos. 1s3 and lo1 would not have
been in the excessively filthy condition they were
yesterday. The president acknowledges that
MANY OF THE CARS
were In o bad condition, but that was scarcely
necessary, as any person blessed with the ordinary
eyesight could discover at glance. To be sure,
Mr. Fields said the old cars were being replaced by
the public obliged to suffer all the inconvcni-
ences of the dlngy, dirty old ones. The superln-
action OF the Board Of Health was foolish in the ex-
treme He said that line always used cushions and
could not do without them. At one time, he said,
a noise was made about the injecting influence OF
the cushions and the company tried the wooden
seats but the people soon got to know the numbers
of the cars that had the wooden seats, aud then
avoided them. The result was the company was
obliged to abandon the wooden movement and re-
sumo the cushions. The section relating to the
dirty linen tile superintendent considered as fatal
error for the reason that, II such bundles be al
lowed on the cars at all, 1t should most certainly
not be on the front platform This gentleman said
they may force the companies to take the cushions
bnt just as sure as they do the people will compel
them to put them back again Mr.. Butler the presi.
dent Of the Sixth avenue road, thought there was
no absolute need Of the cushion. He thought a
piece Of good carpet on the seat gave all the elas-
ITCHY that was necessary The Sixth avenue has a
line now the company calls the ladies' line, and all
the cars used on 1t are carpet seats Mr.. Butler
thinks they are more comfortable and more easily
kept clean than the cushions. The bundles he said
ought to have been kept OF the cars altogether and
not allowed on the front or back platform. On the
Fourth avenue line all the cars have cushions and
upholstered backs, yet they are never dirty even
Objectionable. The cars are carefully washed and
cleaned, and even the most fastdiOus could fnd
nothing to object to in Them BY this example IT
will be plainly seen that If the Commissioners O,
Health had carefully considered the subject Of street
cars before they passed the ordinance relating to
them, no such abortive instrument would ever have
ed frOm hal