New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-15
THE ROB-T4H C1R.

The recent horrible killing of q woman by
so-callcd bob-tai car in this city has naturally
arrayed public opinion against a kind of vehicle
which has always been felt TO be an imposition
on its patrons The bob-tail car. in which the
ordinary and habtual sharp practice Of trans
pOrtation companies is carried TO the length of
making the public Themselves do part of the work
for the performance of which they pac, and in
which the interests of the corporation are OBJ
trusivey put above those of the people, is certainly
the most fragrant illustration extant. not only
of the selfshness and impudencc of corporations,
but of the undue patience and tolerance of abuses
Of the public. In this form Of transportation
the general submissiveness to impositions is
perhaps carried a little further than in others;
but the bob-tail car with all its dangers and
dscomforts, is after all in line with the other
frauds of transportation which are borne so meekly
that the perpetrators Of them cannot but be en-
couraged to take another step in squeezing and
cheating such gOOd-humored and spritess victims.
When, on n hot day, the elevated cars have been
packed to the very verge of human endurance,
the Ncw-Yorle does not resent the loud voice
of the brakeman, ordering him, with brutal
curtncss, to Move up there! Move up there in
the middle of the carr
Every day the scene is repeated The fact that
each passenger in crowded car is swinded-
those who have seats being subjected to annoying
pressure and those who have not seats being
deprived of the accommodation for which they
have paid-never seems to strike any one They
do not appear to know that they have any rights,
or if they know it, they have not the relnotest
idea of asserting them. The obvious fact that the
sole aim of the corporations is to make money,
and that in doing this the comfort, convenience
and even safety Of the public, go to the wall
ill. IN ha Oarfln
outrageous but rather rs a matter of course
II presently the principles upon which bob-tah
cars are ran should be adopted by the other
face cars and by the elevated roads, perhaps
there would be some partial, spasmodic expression
Of indignation but that probably would be the
end of the protest, and the complacent and accom-
modatn2 public would adapt themselves to the
new situation. and hold their pockets open
obligingy, that they might be picked the more
easily. Truly we are an easy-going community,
and if in the pursuit of the almighty dollar
the companies that carry us about in the most
comfortlcss and clumsy manner conceivable now
and then kill few men, women and children,
we are not likely to make much fuss over these
accidents, and far too absorbed in our
own affairs to punish this criminal reclllessness
or course, there is nothing in this. We
have all heard the same things said thousand
shrug our shoulders admit that the situation is
bad one, abuse tyrants and pllnderers
little just to let off the steam and let everything
60 on as before. just now we are quite angry
about the bOb-tail cars but even in denOunclng
those barbarOus concerns ignore the fact that
they only constitute particularly bad specimen
of a whole swarm Of abuses which submit to
daily and hourly There is nothing surcr under
the than that those who refuse to stand up
for their rights will lose them. The best con-
situations and laws in the world will not protect
a people destitute of public spirit Submission to
abuses is encouragement to them, and that tmphes
their steady increase. That they do grow every
body can for themselves but what everybody
fails to realize is that they must be expected to
keep on growing so long as they are patiently
endured. We say at this moment that the bob
tail car must go but it will not go if only talk
is employed, nor will any of the common every
day mpOsitons which add much in the long
run to the cost and the discomfort of city life