Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-08-26

another at F and 9th streets and got a
| third at the Brightwood junction. 1 may
have missed some after that, for II ever
found an all-absorbing horror, it is the
People out that way seem to be so glad to
have anything run-they are so impatient
| of delays consequent upon improving the
road in the vicinity of TakOma-that they
are perfectly hardened about the character
of the cars
"Oh. dear, are these things safer" I
gasped. as I started to board one of the
cars
Not a Bit" cheerfully answered a pref
ty young Takoma Park woman, who ought
not to be let lose her moral sense regard
ing the sacredness of human life simply
because sou1lesS street car trusts feel that
way. "They burn UP occasionally" she
went on to tell me, land they're always
jumping the track. The car came In on
jumped the track this morning and didn t
stop till 1t struck the curbstone across the
street"
Really and truly. I never saw anything
worse than these Brightwood cars. They re
worse than the old clothes we give to the
poor. l don't know of anything they're fit
for unless to end the war in the Philippines.
If the government would build a road like
the Brightwood road in the Philippines,
ship these cars out there, get gay Chevy
Chase motormen to run them and give the
Filipinos plenty Of transfers to travel on
them. what were not killed would be
shaken to pieces, we'd soon have no
iiioIe lIOuple III lUdl quarter
Thoroughly Shaken.
I never knew just how many ways hui
man being could be shaken up till I went
to Brightwood and back. but the trust is
very kind about this. They have the cars
arranged to make such noise that you
can't hear yourself think about how rough
ly you're being handled. This is the climax
of Washington suburban railroading. There
Is question in mind about the dam
ger of 1t. The cars and road are so clearly
as bad as they can be that all suspicion
of hidden weak points is swallowed up in
a dreadful assurance of altogether the
worst possible To be sure. improvements
are under way, but what my silly woman's
noddle cannot grasp is how corporations
holding valuable concessions from the pub
lie are permitted by the public to let their
plant reach a degree of diapidatiOn neces
stating all but crimnally inefficient serv
ice.
From Brightwood I went out over the
City and Suburban line to Brookland
AT the Junction of the City and Suburban
lines in lexington I met woman who is
the most horrible Illustration / have yet
seen of what an influence soulless street
railway corporations may have upon the
happiness and character of humanity.
We were sitting side by side the curb
stone waiting for cars. At this junction
lexington looks like great picnic ground,
so many people assemble waiting for cars,
and they wait so long they scatter around
on the curb on the grass, on sand piles
anywhere, anyhow that they find sup
port.
"Will the Brookland car come up here?"
/ asked the woman.
She snapped my head off had been
seeing too much of life in connection with
trolley cars to mind having my head snap
ped off, so | asked her more questions.
Again and again she snubbed me. Then
finally. with a sudden return CT human
feeling to her soul, she said: You mustn't
>S,,I Ito
I have to come into Washington every day,
and l declare, what with waiting for the
cars, getting. started and having the pow
er give out, growing desperate and walk
ing miles to my home, 1 am a complete
wreck"
She looked it-looked so tired, cross and
dreadfully disagreeable that 1 didn't dare
trust myself to go on the Hyattsville
when 1t came In. / wouldn't so much mind
losing my life near Brightwood or along
the Great Falls road, but nothing on earth
could drive me to run the risk of looking
the way Hyattsville cars had made that
woman look
Comfortable Ride.
1 went out to Brookiand and back, and
experienced what a modern equipment can
do toward making trolley car riding q very
great delight. The City and Suburban line
has progressed wonderfully with improve
ms nts that either just begun or in
contemplation by other suburban roads.
The roadbeds are so fine the cars so COM
modious and substantial that one travels
over this line comfortably and With the
same sense of security one travels a
railroad. L asked the superintendent If
these improvements had been made for
love of humanity, and since he told me
they were mere matter of business tend
ing to economy, which is to say money
making. | believe We shall eventually see
an equally good equipment on all suburban
roads Meanwhile however have
months at the speed with which the trust
gets steel rails, some ordered q year ago
are not yet manufactured We may have
years ahead, during which we shall have
to endure the suburban system now in
operation. But If we cannot instantly at
tain comfortable trolley travelling,
should at once be made secure in such
measure of safety of life and limb as
suits from responsible action on the part
of motormen in the matter of speed and
strict attention to duty. AS most of. the
suburban lines run beyond the District,
legal restraint Is difficult to apply. How
ever, | am assured by street railway Off
Gals that motormen under orders to
keep their hands on their brake and motor
bar. to SLOW up around curves, to refuse
to enter into conversation with any one,
and to refrain from reckless running.
" hen | answer to this, But they do not
obey these orders" the official, with an air
of helplessness that might be pretty in a
weak woman. but is grotesque in a trust
with which surely all things are possible
the official lifted his eyebrows, threw UP
his hands and said, What can We do? We
cannot be always in the woods to watch
the men, and how can we discipline them
Tor actions Of which We are ignorant?"
But since the corporations, by their own
admission, need to be and are not ON
nipresent, now that the rules governing
motormen are known, improvement of dis
cipline may result in everybody riding on
these suburban cars constituting himself an
inspector to notice and report what he sees
amiss. even as upon this occasion has been
done by PAULINE PRY
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