Morning journal and courier., 1881-08-15
The Partisan Cab.
Travellers i'm a State of Disgust, aIRd q
 System That Breaks Down.

Travellers i'm State Of Disgust, aIRd q System That Breaks Down.
 Paris Correspondence of the I Iondon Telegraph.I For some weeks past the papers have been full of well-founded complaints against the Paris cab system, rather against the abuses to which of late that system has given rise. Parisians have, indeed much reason to be dissatisfied with the manner in which the ser vice of public conveyances is now carried on. Leaving aside the frequent omnibus accidents arising from broken axle-trees that for months have spread consternation among the class of travellers who patronize those un- wieldy vehicles, we find in the cab system alone quite enough matter to justify the col umns of complaining letters and admonitory articles which the 'gondolas" of Paris-be they the neat little broughams comforta- ble victorias-are offered to hirers leave little to be desired in practice, however, we find that not only does the system utterly break down, but that we should in reality be far better off without any at all. Every traveller knows that under existing arrangements, he is entitled to charter, to hold two persons,
 cab for any distance inside the walls of Paris for sum of 15d., with 8 pOur60tre to the
 driver varying in amount according to the
 length of the course. This sytem, with mi nor regulations concerning an extra number
 of persons and the charges for luggage, is ad-
 mirably simple, and used at one time to work
 irreproachably Oflate years, however, the Pa-
 ris stJehu' has turned the flaws in the system to his own account, and lamentable confusion has arisen. The despotic ''cabby' from public servant has become pub lie nuisance. Instead of being ready to take up his passenger and transport him to his destination in the quickest possible time,
 with the hope of good potea'bot1e, he quietly pulls up in the middle of the road to make his terms, and if 'sthe fare'' wishes to go to an outlying point, such as the Place du 1rone or the Orleans station, the man Hicks up his
 wretched steed and leaves the would-be hirer to his fate Frequently cabman when the demand for conveyances is active takes no notice whatever of hail. and deliberately drives on until he meets customer more ev1- dently to his taste.
 This is especially the case on days when suburban race meetings are going on near
 Paris. Then it is simply impossible to ob-
 tain a conveyance for any other destination
 than the races, and it is no exaggeration to say that traveller wishing to proceed from
 any point on the Boulevards to the Northern
 Station would simply have to abandon the
 idea unless prepared to pay heavy bribe for
 the accommodation. This state of things
 naturally gives rise to the question, Where
 are the police?'' And indeed herein is the
 gist of the whole matter. The police are, or
 appear to be, wholly unable to assist the
 public. A ''sergent de ville'' is attached to
 every ''stand, " but the knowing drivers avoid
 the regular stations on race days, public
 fetes and Sundays, and an appeal to po-
 liceman not in attendance at stand merely
 leads to shrug of the shoulders on the part
 of that official and "Que voulez vous, Mon-
 sieur ?'' which only serves to increase the
 delight of the rapidly disappearing ''cabby."
 It will thus be seen that the whole difficulty
 lies in a nutshell. On special occasions 1t is
 only possible to hire public vehicle by the
 hour for conveyance to the scene of attrac- tion, whatever it may be, and on other days it is matter of the greatest difficulty to hire a cab for long distance at the regulation fare These obstacles to public convenience could be removed by the police receiving or ders to assist passengers whenever g too in- dependent driver refuses to take them up. It may be that such instructions already ex- ist, but in that case they have become dead letter and ought to be renewed. There have not been wanting suggestions that the exist ing system is faulty and should be replaced by tariff according to distance to be regis tered by mechanical indicator. Whether this substitution be necessary is, of course, a question for the proprietors to decide; but certain it is that the present arrangement suited all parties in years gone by, and pre- sumably furnished profit to those who con- tracted to supply the capital with public ve- hcles.
 There are, of course, rights and wrongs in this, as in all other questions, and the ''cab- bies'' complain that they cannot afford to carry out the system to the letter on account of the wretched horses with which the com panies supply them. This, again, is not the business of the public The hirers of cabs, however, have a right to expect that the au- thorities, when they grant virtual monopo- ly to few companies and individual proprie tors, should enforce such regulations as will not leave the public entirely at the mercy of body of abusive and extortionate men. Of the modern Parisian ''cabby" the less said the better. His language and general behavior certainly contrast very unfavorably with those of his much-abused London confrere. Taking him all around, with his overbearing ways and miserably horsed vehicle, 1t may safely be said that we are now far behind London in regard to cab accommodation-a state of things which no one would have be- leived possible 10 years ago. have only touched here upon one principal abuse-the difficulty of obtaining reasonable conveyance. Of such evils as the bad driving, the conse- quent frequent s'smashes," and the inveter-. ate crawling of cabs hired by the hour it is unnecessary to speak, one cannot expect to have perfect cab system anywhere out side of Utopia. For the present we have a right to demand the revision of a state of af- fairs which amply iustifes the cartoon pub lished in the Cha710a7i, showing well-dress- ed lady on her knees, imploring an inexora- ble cabman to drive her to the s'Gare d Or leans.''