Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-09
SPEED AND SCHEDULES.
A Chevy Chase Motorman's Reply to
Pauline Pry.

H.
Miss Pauline Pry has spent one very val
liable day riding on the suburban trolley
car lines about and through the District of
Columbia, and few hours later is writing
of her daring adventures with as much zeal
as would be becoming in a famous explorer
of the dark continent What she saw that
caused her eyes to bulge with fear or how
she worked her nerves into such an aching
mood l cannot tell.
The Capital Traction Company, in the
possession of franchise of such immeas-
urable value. granted by the people in con-
sideration of the service to be rendered in
return, cannot afford to run special
schedule for the accommodation Of the few
by sterical people 1t may chance to carry
1t must give the people rapid transit or go
out of the railway business in a very short
time, for this is a progressive age, and a
man can ill afford to lose one minute.
Miss Pry boards a steam car in Balti-
mere and forty-five minutes later Is IN
Washington, rate of one mile per minute.
and she does not complain The next even
ing she boards a trolley car at Rock Creek
bridge and thirty minutes later lands at
Chevy Chase lake. black in the face from
holding he breath, her eyes bulging, and
her righteous soul terribly shocked. all on
account of the speed of fifteen miles per
hour. What reforms she would inaugurate
1 cannot imagine We are better treated
and better paid than any other street car
employees in the United States. Our Off
GERS are gentlemen; they are not in the
grinding business.
Starting to the lake, we leave Rock Creek
bridge, running two curves, which are
close to the bridge They are ironed. with
very heavy modern guard rails on new
oak ties. land are strong enough to carry
any mogul engine" After these we have
no other curves except those at Chevy
Chase circle, which are built in the same
way.
At the top of the hill the motorman
throws off the current. That is true. The
cars run just as fast down grade without
the current as with it. When the current
Is left on while running down grade, we
not only injure the motors. but waste
great deal of valuable power. We do not
put the brake on until we get good start
down the grade, unless we wish to stop
the car. and If the hill is not too long and
steep, we do not use it at ALL. Suppose we
do jump the track, the motors and truck
or the car are SO much heavier than the
body of the car that it would not upset.
Then Miss Pry says that we maytstrike a
trolley pole. If we did it would not hurt
anything except the pole, which would
break like match stem. l cannot see
where the motorman does any great crime
by letting his %; ub' run The car while he is
reading the paper. He knows whether or
not this cub is capable of running the car
safely While the cub is learning the
rotorman watches him, very closely, but
as soon as he is capable he is given q
chance to run the car, so that he will not
be nervous when he is given a ear to run
by himself. Perhaps Miss Pry does not
know that the conductors are many of
them fine motormen, some having worked
on the front of the car for two or three
years, yet she is shocked and her nervous
system all upset when she sees one of
them running the car while the motorman
eats his lunch. Then she compares us to
the railroad engine men. They learn their
trade while firing the engine. which is
about the dirtiest, hardest and most slav-
1sh work that any white man ever did.
They work as firemen until they are given
an engine, often ten or twelve years, and
many of them have to shovel from ten to
twenty tons of coal in one day, for which
they get from twenty-five to thirty cents
an hour. while l get twenty. They take
twenty-five chances Of dying with their
boots on for every one I take. They eat
on their engines just as frequently as we
do on the trolley cars; they are not any
Better educated, nor are they any more
careful. They sit on their engines and
roast in the summer Whie'I keep cool and
clean, and in winter they suffer as much
with the cold as do the motormen.
How the public plays the dogs part in
the training of motormen cannot see The
cub is taken on the front of the car He
simply stands there, as any other passen-
ger would do while the motorman instructs
him and shows him the many parts of the
car. After two or three days he IS given
chance to use the controller and brake
when leaving the end of the route or the
power house, or until a passenger is taken
on, then he takes a back seat and waits
for another chance to practice Thus he
continues until he is capable of handling
the car with ease and safety
Gay, young, reckless inexperienced
cubs What a pity it is that she did not
see us with our hats off! There are not half
a dozen on the Chevy Chase division who
nave hair enough between them and heav-
en- to hide lobster. .MOTORMAN