The morning call., 1892-11-13
RUN ALL NIGHT.
The Street=Cars in Other
Big Cities.
WHY NOT IN SAN FRANCISCO !?
A New Yorker Makes Some Telling
Points Against Our Street Rail-
way Companies.

I once heard Talmage say: "Whst a
stupendous thought-a whole city asleep!
Inever realized ii until ! came to San Fran
cisco.
Just imagine, whole city wrapt In
silence! The tremendous changing OF the
cable-car gongs has ceased. For four NOR
tai hours no sound breaks the awful still
ness. save the incoherent song OF the MID
night reveler, which is trou ht to sudden
close through the instrumentality of tbe
hiehwayman's slungshot-permanently,
baps: temporarily, let us hope.
Inspector Byrnes of New York once said
tha, a streeG-car line continuously operated
does more to discourage ths pursuits oil
criminals in the streets through which II
runs than almost any other crlme-suppress-
ing agent.
Two of us sat on corner curb in the City
of Panama for whole hour, about MD
night, waiting for a carriage to convey US
TO our hotel. Not that we dreaded walking
the distance, but we were rather confused
and could not speak WORD OF Spahiissn:
Finally a cRbmen appeared, ana Oy . uIytt
of great effort and repetition Oh tIio nVte'
name we managed TO make him understand
The cunning fellow demanded - In au-
vance. We handed him The money ana ne
drove US around short block 10 tue en-
trance Of our hotel. we then vowed anu
declared that Panama had fewer transpor-
tatiou facilities for afteT-midnight travellers
than any city on the civilized globe. We
are now willing to retire Panama q favor
of San Francisco for that severe distinction.
The same good fellow and were cauGnt
similarly here the other night through
devious wanderiDgs We reached certain
suhurbau point about ! A. NJ. We knew II
we could catch any car at al, we could
through the unparalleled system OF trans
fers obtaining here-be transported 10 any
part OF the city whatsoever.
Fancy our surprise an use mild term
when informed that no cars ran after
] :S6 4. NJ.
''And that isn't all; and the rest is worse
yet" as the poet says.
No cab was to be bad, nothing was left
bat to walk.
An accommodating person gave Us our
eOurse and we started The memory or it
is nightmare. up hill and down dale"
across an almost endless series OF hills and
valleys And yet the actual distance (as the
crow flies would not exceed two miles.
I'd undertake cheerfully TO walk from the
Battery 10 Harlem in New York, a dis
tance Of ten miles, rather than repeat that
awful dose Of ups and downs.
dare say the system of mo after-mid-
night cars" has its advantages. The din of
the cabe-eRrs that makes Market and
KeaTny streets pGndem0nium closes then.
The piOus San Franciscan draws the cover
let over himself and breathes a prayer
of gratitude for the few hours respite so
pbilanthrOpically granted aim by q public
spirited monopoly.
The gay man who has fingered too long
over the wine while yet it was red breathes
a prayer, I'm afraid, Of a very different
nature as he wends his weary way home
over those awful hills.
OF course he can get a cab downtown, but
not in the outlying districts.
The society men are not so much to be
considered as the men the nature of whose
calling keeps them al their places of bush
ness until after 80 A. NJ.
They are the ones on whose toilworn
shoulders the hardship Of this system falls.
a vast majority OF them cannot afford TO
pay 81 30 cab fare, and must needs walk
many of them to distant suburban homes
In Chicago some Of the street-car lines
run ears SIX minutes apart all night for the
sole purpose Of accommodating this class
of workers.
The large factories run three eight-hour
shifts, and am told that the vast business
done there at night is due to the all-night
stTeet-osr system.
Might not such industry be developed in
San Francisco by the adoption of a similar
system by the cable-car companies here?
The Chicago companies run late cars by
horsepower over the cable tracks.
Admitting that IL would be toe expensive
10 run the cable all night, might not tile San
Francisco companies use horses, too? |
dare say that by putting TWO teams of sharp
shod horses to every car many Of those ap-
parently iDsurmountabe grades could be
overcome. though, OF course, not all.
In New York there is not an hour OUT of
the twenty-f0ur when man by waiting on
a corner for fifteen minutes cannot be
trans ported for 3 or 10 cents to within a
block Of his home, anywhere from the
Battery TO Harlem.
Many very much smaller cities put San
Francisco to shame in this respect
Even GalvestOn's car lines are operated
al intervals during the whole night.
In New Orleans. St. Louis and Boston
companies also run sll-night cars. | under
stand that four of the great lines of this
city are operated by one engine, and there
fore the running Of one cable would neces-
sltate the running Of them all. The CON-
panles' representatives say there is not
enough trathe to pay the expense Of running
the cables. and they are compelled through
motives Of economy to shut down between
the hours OF ! sc aud A. NJ Very good
from their standpoint, but where do the cit
liens OF San Francisco come in E?
Have they granted these enormously val
naOIe franchises to grasping monopoly for
peelniary consideration alone?
IL so they don't deserve to be considered
Or mas The monOpollstic octopus grasped
the clty government by the throat and lit
efaily Iorced an unconditional surrender OF
such franchises? 1t would seem so. To
New Yorker, into whose ears has be en-
olnned by the Western papers the cry of
Iammany domination and misrule, this
looks little odd.
Allow me as New Yorker to say that
despite such alleged misrule New York.
In the matter OF rapid aud safe passenger
transportation, and in almost all other par
tieulsrs that are due TO the intelligence and
Integrity OF men and not the accident of
climate, stands head and shoulders above
any other city in America, IL not In the
world HEyRy IpvTvc nonor