Carson daily appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1873-1877, 1875-05-26
STREET RAILROAD MORALS.

tfrOHicte, tpat Is greatly TO De ADMIRED
for its tone and manner of construction.
OF course this is not Pixley's work-his
performances are of the shocking. in
human, pain-eiving kind; for he is a
mocker and moral resurrectionist, and
would be a vivisector if he had more
skill and more feeling for art and more
knowledge of science. The clever writer
who indi.es these excellent articles is Mr..
John T. Bowman, long self-sustained as
one of the most brilliant litterateurs of
San Francisco. He is now the writing
editor and chief literary man Of the
Chronicle, and it is he who wrote the fol-
lowing incisive and carefully constructed
sketch. We quote from the Chronicle of
May oath:
Riding on street-car the other day,
we thought we observed conductor in
the act Of knocking down. 10 cents
worth of tickets, and we kindly sugges-
ted to him that we had seen the opera
ton. Instead of Indignantly denying the
fact or blushing in acknowledgment of
his guilt, he boldly defended the pro-
ceedings. On returning from his col
lecting tour inside he joined US upon the
smoking platform and made the follow
ing speech in justification of his pecula-
ton: "Of course we knock down some
thing every day and divide with the
driver. We are compelled to work six
teen hours; We are not allowed to sit
down, no seat being provided for US: our
pay is small-only two and q half dol
lars for sixteen hours constant intel
ligent work; We must be on the alert for
passengers: We must be court eous and
polite to the drunken, the boorish and
the insolent; the driver must not be run
against by vehicles and is not even
PERMITTED 70 run over children; carts
and other vehicles delay US; passengers,
impatient to reach railroad or ferry, urge
US to speed: we are watched by spies,
who ride with MS and who count our
passengers as they lounge upon the
sidewalk; nippers are provided TO defeat
our populations and patent boxes inven-
ted to collect our fares; if we are not
prompt in the morning the penalty is
the loss of our car for week. We
must bolt our meals hastily and sleep
with one eye open; We must dress well
and know how to keep accounts. We
have no Sunday on which to say our
prayers; no morning hour to read our
newspapers; no evening to spend with
families. and can never take our children
to picnics. Ny children are in bed
when / leave in the morning, have re-
tired to sleep when get home at night.
and / never see them at noon, as l
l., H. I 10
theater, church or concert; nor have
time to stay in line to cast my vote upon
election day. My only converse, then,
with my wife is in answer to her curtain
lectures, when / am too sleepy to scold
hack and too tired to defend myself
with effect. You can't blame a woman
for being herself tired and cross after a !
days struggle 70 make two and half dol |
lars pay for rent, food. clothing, school |
books and doctors bills for five in |
the family. Besides, don't everybody !
knock down: The directors of this road |
have their little perquisites that never
reach the stockholders; the Superenten-
dent makes his 'commish' on hay, grain,
and repairs. The man
who builds the cars and furnishes the |
horses has to come to a 'divy with |
somebody; when the franchise was
granted to the road the lobby had to be
paid, and the members of the Legisla-
ture had to be seen Members OF the
Board of Supervisors get their fins in
before the road is built; the street
are .on it, The police
must ride free the city and county as
SCISSOR lets up on the valuation of the
road and stock for coin, and the grand
jury fail to indict because they are paid
The banks are as greedy as wolves all
the rich stockholders are feeding on
each other. cornering' shares and
{ freezing each other out there is 10
keeping streets in repair according to
contract and terms of franchise. The |
fact is, there is only one honest thing
about this whole street railroad bust
ness from beginning to end the horses
are honest. and they are imposed upon
they are poorly fed, badly attended and
worked. You would not
blame these poor brutes If they could nip
an extra feed of oats or mouthful of hay
after a long day of toll. would you
Then, what's the use of trying to look
virtuous and indignant when you catch
n fellow nipping ten cents : This is your
place to get out" We get out and We
Hid NOT send the number of that car TO