Morning journal and courier., 1880-04-05
Street ctTrgvaIIn New york

Figures alone are capable of giving an ade- qaate idea of the vast population which makes New York city it's local habitation or it's busi- ness centre. It is estimated that more than 100, 900, 900 of people cross the ferries plying from it's shores every year; that more than 300, 900 enter and leave it every day. This multitude, added to the mass of resident pop uIation, circulate daily by means of steam and street cars and the omnibus lines, of which latter only three survive. Mornings and even ings see q continuous rush up and down town of those who hasten to their business or to their homes, while in the middle of the day the passengers are more largely made up of idle men and women, who have no more serious affairs than to see and be seen, or to shop, the latter being serious matter to the female mind. So many people wish to go in one direction at the same time, that contin- uous line of cars from one end of the city to the other would bo inadequate to the task of carrying all were each person to be given a seat. Standing up is a necessity where car which affords seats for twenty-four carries sixty. The question is, who must stand Must man always give up seat to woman, irrespective of age or previous condition? Is the vigorous young girl who shops all the af- ternoon, and chooses to go home at the time of the evening crush to dine and dance all night, to oust the tired man whose body and brain are alike weary in the strife of money getting to support her in luxury?
 It IS 100 O1LSu tA9 CdS0 tuhL Alio ClOtASs oAN pretty face secure the owner seat, while the shabby but tired workwoman is left to cling to tho strap. witty friend says the man who sits down in 8 S car is falling into bad habits but all men arg not so gallant as he. The one who habitually surrenders his seat to a woman acts from principle, not for seIf-indulgence or thanks. There are physl cal reasons why women should not stand the constant jerking of the car, as the brake Is used. is to them source of real danger to health, leading to chronic disorders. lnes- much as the only legal right now left to men in this state is the franchise and one wife, 1t
 may be safely presumed that the right of
 women to seats in all public conveyances will
 soon be established by statute Let us hope
 1t may limit them to one seat, from two to
 four being the average they claim. There is
 great difference of course in the social posi- tion and personal cleanliness of passengers
 on certain lines no delicate person would care
 to venture; the east side is notable for the
 unsavory variety of citizens who frequent It.
 They remind one of the Ghetto Of Rome, or
 the purlieus of many German towns. A neecs-
 sity which throws one in contact with this
 motley crowd is to be deplored, and calls for
 disinfectants after contact A curious obser-
 yer would find much to emuse, instruct and
 warn were he to take a trip on one of the cen
 tral lines say between and o'clock in the
 morning. As the ebbing tide in our river
 carries in its eddies and leaves along it's mar
 gin all SOrtB or wall ,a1u auO CdSIhW6y,
 such as the s'sea makes wreck of,'' fit spoil for
 tRouee Riderhood' or the coroner uncon-
 sidered and worthless trifes, rubbish and
 oorks, so the night cars carry the odds and ends
 of the human tide that has passed at it's flood.
 It is always a strange, sometimes a sad sight,
 this night side of the metropolis, of which
 there is yet another phase. In the upper
 part of the city, say along Broadway from
 Fourteenth to Twenty-fourth street, and
 Sixth avenue from Twenty-third to Twenty
 fourth, there is practically no night. In
 front of the hotels and ''all-night
 houses," in this region, stand lines of coupes
 and hacks. From within resounds the laughter
 of those whose laughter is as the laughter of
 fools; not unfrequently. sounds of sudden
 strife, followed by rush for the street of
 those who fly to escape the swift policeman,
 or of bacchanals staggering forth on the way
 home or elsewhere. It is for these that the
 coupes and hacks wait. The tired horses,
 staggering and fain to lie down, are beaten
 into wakefulness-a brutality that MT. Bergh
 has overlooked Like most of the reformers
 of abuses, good moral people all, MT. Bergh
 and his assistants sleep by night, and the
 hack drivers Ego as they please" Let no
 stranger to New York and it's ways venture to
 take one of these might hawks" especially
 if there be two men on the box, or before
 examining the lamps to see if the numbers up-
 on them be not put on lampblack for easy
 erasure.
 Queer things are carried in the cars; mar