Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-01-03
CITY AND DISTRICT.
STREET Cag ABUSE>


To the Editor Of THE FvESTSG STAR:
desire, through your columns to call the at
tention of the people of this city to the way in
which brutes and humans are treated BY orr
street car companies. Station yourself any
afternoon. at four O'clock, on the corner OF 18th
and the avenue. and watch. for an hour. the
struggles of the poor beasts-stopping starting.
strainins, only to stop and start again. with
load which would he heavy if divided in two
and given TO four horses. Every seat. the GEN.
ter aisle, and the platform and steps densely
packed with struggling, suffering mass ofpoor
in-humanty- The same thing on the street
line. where there is but one wretched horse to
do the whole work except at what they call
hils-there are up-gra1es and dOwn-Grades
along the entire route-as bad to that one over
taxed animal with car and thirty or forty peOple
aS the Capitol hill to three horses.
Taken only from the brute's standpoint this is
dlsgrace and a shame TO Us. 1t is a thing
which. as city and a people. We should not toll
crate among US. We should think and act for
ourselves. and not wait for MI Bergh to tell Us
that 1t is cruelty which he can, and will, put
stop to, II We can not or will not. So much
for the hOrses-pOOr creatures they haunt me
at this merry Xmas tide How they must want
to die and be made into glue. Then they could
only stick to one thing at a time, and not fifty
or sixty.
Now take seriously the other side-the in
know. Mr.. Editor. of any other country where
transportation is attended with so many dis
comforts and horrors with us In London
or Paris, where all the seats are taken in an
omnibus or street car no person may get in
though he express perfect willingness, to sit in
your lap or stand on your toes all the way to
his destination. Whv should it not be so with
us !, Why not enact and enforce q law which
would be at once protection to man aud beast
The companies would not lose by it in the end
More people would ride II they could be secured
against collisions, broken toes dislOcated knee
Joints, and shower baths of tobacco Juice One
would not mind so much if the gentlemen who
Indulge IN fury of expectOration" could only
see their way clear. so to speak: but as ii is
there is no hope, no escape. The Americans
who ride in the cars are the ones who make the
laws-so they say. There has been talk enough
of protection" Heaven knows Why not let
US protect our selves here in the District since
we have nothing else 10 protect. From sani-
tary point of view alone the thing s wrong
How do we know that the man standing so near
Us that his breath is pulled in our faces may
not have one of a dozen diseases more easily
communicated by that means than any other;
that the woman clinging to a strap over our
heads, and brushing the whole length of her
garments against US, may not have been dis
charged an hour ago from the smallpox hospi-
Tai. We are the great unwashed who ride in the
cars, and we ought to have all the air possible
whereas, under the present system we get none
at all. repeat, the management of our street
cars Is a disgrace to us. aud we ought to take
steps to have it altered. Protests from the peo-
pie In this country have always done good
they were heard years ago, when it was a ques-
ton OF a tax on tea; again, when the slave
question came up; and Mr. Cleveland knows
that the people have been heard from this year
Let them speak on the street car question and
they will be heard again. XYZ