The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-11-04
LOST IN sEATTLE-S STREETS.
Newcomer Puts Cp Righteous
Howl Abont sign boards.

HOWL ADOut sign bouFus.
Seattle, Wash. Nov. ;
To .ha Editorials stranger IN
Seattle. that IS 70 say. me az The many
r. wconaers Of the year 1924. let ne thank
you for an editorial in your paper some
DAYS ago suggesting that The names q
streets ae conspiCuousiy posted On the
corners and let me thank me sIiperinsend-
ent Of The pcstofTice for the kick he IS
making TO the board * public works. no.
only that the names OK streets be posted,
bu. mat he houses be numbered 50 that
the numbers may Re seen. In the month
that I have beer getting around the town
l have been los. dozen times AMI have
asked a hundred times or more for direc-
tons Sorleti07es have received the In
formation ] sought and sometimes I have
had men say 20 me: 'Oh. d-n such 4 Jay
town; I don't know any more about L
than you do
One evening when was locking for a
number on Minor avenue. man fl an
express wagon drove up 20 the Sidewalk
and asked me where a certain number IN
the eight hundreds was. AMI didn't know
any more than he did. What he said
about the city authorities and the people
who wouldn't number their houses wasn't
fit fer publication al al. His wagon had
groceries and other satables II T. and
seriously hope the people for whom the
breakfasts Another man l asked for
other number offered 20 tell ne IL 1 would
tell him where tho number was he
was locking for. think he was a Yam
keo with money 10 invest One night,
late WREN 7 was trying 10 locate a resi-
dence street ! almost got myself shot
as footpad by stopping a man in the
Dark 10 make my inquiries. l never
would have stopped him under such ctr
" my
and ! either had to do that or 80 back
10 a street car line and ask the first car
conductor who came along.
And I am only one OF hundreds OF new
Corners who ara IN Seattle most OF them
here 70 see what kind Of a town /; IS
and what sort Of q community Il may be
in which TO invest money and TO live. l
have talked TO many OF them and In
variahly they say that outside Of the bust
ness quarter Of the city they might just
well Try 10 ind their way around in a
corntield, and one man had the nerve TO
say that Seattle ought TO go over to Ia
coma and find out how 10 do things
right.
merely throw these remarks Gu, as
hints to show the authorities and people
Of Seattle that If they want 10 make a
good impression upon visitors they must
have a few OF the ordinary conven!ences
Of getting around and seeing what the
town has TO present as inducements.
Visitors can't hire guides. and don't
want to Il they could. and Il is hardly
fair to ask them To DO 50. A big depart
ment store might as well ask It's customers
to hire the cash boys to show them where
the various Departments were. IT, be plain
with the people Of Seattle. they have fai-
len into the common rut Of people In small
country towns, who know there streets by
sight and can 60 20 John Smiths house
or TO Aunt Sally's pie shop with their eyes
shut. ana think that everybody else on
earth ought to know as much as they
do. But Seattle has gone beyond tina:
stage. or ia supposed &c have done 50, and
a different order II things must be estab-
lshed. Every street should have Cts name
at every corner. and every house should
have Its number where Il can be seen in
the daytime and as far into The night as
the lights are burning. Possibly. when the
people who are so Indifferent b. gin to
fan 10 receive their mail because carriers
can't ind their houses they xil take a
hand with the newcomers IN securing re-
lief
Another mater on tho same line can be
done by the street car authorities, and that
IS the issuance u orders TO conductors
10 call out the names of the streets az they
approach them The conductors II one
line already 10 that. or are learning how
TO Go Il, and II is a positive comfort 70
settle back in ones seat. as nearly as one
can settle in Seattle street car. and
calmly wait fer his street to be called,
instead Of hanging nervously on the edge
in uncertainty and doubt. fearful that the
conductor may forget 20 pat him OF. and
VII carry him block or two further
along. where, when he does get off, he
must begin "a wander eirnlessly and ask
questions about where his street Is why
don't all conductors call the names OF
streets?
Oh. there IS no doubt that Seattle VIII
be the metropolis of the Northwest. but
II Ia far cry yet from MIA; she is 70
what she ough. 70 be.
A WAEDERER