The sun., 1895-05-18
TROLLEYS FAST AND SLOW.
BRooKLrN WANTS THE ONE WBEN
she GEIS THE OTHER.
she Objected 60 Speed, nnd It was stopped,
she Now Objects to LsGgipG. but She

she Now Objects TO Lsggisg, but She
Has 10 Tet = Kicks Every Side.
The citizens OF Brooklyn arc once more up in
arms against tho trolley. This time II IL not
because the cars go too fast, but because they
20 too slow. and a petition is preparing request
ing tho companies to order their motormen TO
make q little more speed. II is believed that
everybody would be satisfied IL the cars would
only go at the limit OF speed permitted by law,
eight miles an hour. They do not do this. how
ever. and people are mean enough to say that
the companies are running their cars at the
painfully slow rate OF three and four miles an
hour simply out of spite. That the public are
at present being put to great inconvenience on
account Of the slowness of the cars, and that
even the old horse cars would he n welcome
relief from the present state of affairs there can
be no doubt.
The slow going OF the cars is only one OF the
many complaints the people have to make
against the trolley. They have had much to
put up with since the Aldermen gave permits
sion to the corporations to weave u wire cobweb
over its streets When the question of trolley
lines to replace the horse cars first came up
Brooklynites hailed the suggestion with glee
They wanted all tho rapid transit they could
yet, and the few kicker, who de> elopcd were
speedily squelchcd by the enthusiastic ones.
A After three months had passed and the streets
had been torn up and traffic. even the horse car
traffic. came almost to u standstil on the streets
where the trolley was TO be put in. the people
began to wonder whether they were getting
such good thing artcr all. 1t got SO that man.
starting from his home for the bridge in the
morning, never knew Just how long IL was going
" take him to get there.
But. although the people grumbled, they still
wanted the trolley. and the work wen; on until
all the new tracks had been laid, the poles put
up, and the wires strung.
Now" said the enthusiastic ones. I'VE will
have aiid transit"
But they didn't for some time, whereat they
were very much surprised. The trolley people
had become so wrapped up in the work Of build
ing the rond that they Lad forgotten all about
the construction of power houses-or. at least,
that is what people said and they certainly had
some ground for saying it, because 1t wasn't until
some time after the wires were strung In the
streets that the power houses were built. In
the interim Tie horse car bells jingled merrily
along the principal thoroughfnr,s. and the orig
AROUND aa tell psos EpbbrIse iq ge
ever would be II trolley system in the city. any
trolley and one fine day there was n whirrinv in
Fulton street ana II nice, newly painted car came
trolley hai come, and there was great JOY.
Each day saw one or two more cars put on. and
there were twenty horse running
10 each trolley car the horse cars would along
almost empty. while men. women, and children
would jam the trolley cars and actually fight to
get on them. And yet the electric cars didn't
make any better speed than the horse cars.
Gradually trolley cars were put on the other
lines. and in patches OF hundred the railroad
people sold their ng.sutfering horses to other
companies to suffer more; The enthusiastic ones
had to wait for 1t, but now we've got it and it's
That's the history of the trolley system in
N IA inn Rfaf Href al
dent. AS the motOrmen became more expert
enced they lso became more reckless and
Rrooklynites began to understand that there
were discomforts connected with even so bril-
liant an Improvement as their trolley road. 1t
lever around suddenly when starting the car.
and then to watch the people inside grasp wild
" in the air In ali endenvor to get hold Of some
AS Tor the women and children among the pas
sengers they would be thrown around like dice
IN box, and It was always a welcome .elief for
them when the car reached their destination
GRADUALLY the many little discomtorts which
trolley cars force on one became known. and
sked It SO much after all.
As tho days went BY things seemed to get
out of people the trolley began to crush it out
and ali Brooklyn threw up its hands and called
men to keep within the speed OF eight miles an
hour. but little attention was paid to tho law.
mattered 1t If an occasional citizen got hurt so
long as people were able to get rapidly to and
AToIn tnt f3rluKe ana ferries
1t certainly was lots OF fun travelling on |
course one was possessed of plenty of nerve. 1t |
pened to be on woul Id race for crossing 80 as to
get over 1t before the car of the other company
could get there. And il your car managed 10
get past the other by n hairs breadth you |
couldn't help but feel that the motOrman had
made you feel sorry for the poor fellow. M II was
all very fine but most people didn't Ike it, and
among The most vehement kickers were those
IA Ai n lie tt,.,t
IN lhe nrst place by anN by people began to
give thc trolley the most awful names. They
pictures of trolley cars going at lightning speed
With grinning death as the motorman. and
ground out doggcrel TO accompany accident
stories In the newspapers.
=, Finally. there was mass meeting. and hun
dred thou,nnd signatures were affixed to II petit
ton. WHICH eventually, found its way to the
Aldermen got together and passed resolutions
Then the trolley "magnates." 50 called. were
indicted. and the Aldermen ordered the compa-
nieS not to exceed speed of eight miles an hour
under ntnnlty OF more resolutions and the
for for months. But even now they are not SUIT sat,
lshcd. The cars are too slow. they say. They
don't want them TO crawl along. but would like
an eight -mile-an-hour speed as II regular thing.
Certainly the companies are obeying the law
as regards speed. The Fulton street cars trail
walker can beat one by four or five minutcs in n
"TRIP from the ferry TO the City Hall, III the
sHIt way on tne rOhiS cOntrOlleu by the At |
lantic avenue company, but here thev have u |
system Of running all their bridge cars together
so that they all pass n given point within a fsw
minutes of one another. To miss one IN to miss
them all, which means d wait of some ten or
fifteen minutes
Running cars at the present slow rate is per-
haps economical. The motormen don't like it
that ~. The majority OF them don't. be-
cnuse the majority are "trippers." and "trip
prr;' are pnld hy The number OF trips they
make each day. The motormen on the De Kalb
avenue line have presented TO Mayor Scheren
u petition requesting that he advise the Alder
men TO permit the cars TO 90 little faster. but
the probabilities are that the Aldermen will do
nothing of the kind.
And so Erookiynites kick and kick. They
KICK against the slow cars AS they did against
the fast ones: they kick against the rule which
permits motormen to stop only at corners and
at designated points in blocks over 300 feet
long; they kick at the company. and. In fact
are Kicking now against the entire trolley
system.