Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-23
in THEIR DEFENSE
Washington Conductors Not the
Worst in the World.
COME PRETTY NEAR BEING THE BEST
AtLeast That's the Opinion Of One
Widely Travelled Man.
OURTEOUS AS y R L E

whats all this talk I'm hearing and
reading lately about the alleged inclvflty
and discourteousness of Washington street
car conductors?" inquired a cosmopolitan
who has spent the past three years in
Washington of a Star man the other even
ing. .'whoever originated the to-do, permit
me- an out der and in no sense an oid-tfme
washingtonian 70 take a hack, as 1t were,
at the contention that the capitals street
car conductors are a bad lot. 1 have lived
| in most of the leading cities of the United
States and | don't hesitate to express my
conviction that the street car conductors of
Washington are, as a rule, the most civil,
| obiging and generally capable gang of men
| in the conductoring business. / ride good
deal on all of the street car lines OF TINS
| city and I'm more than ordinarily OBJ
| servant of public manners, too, yet L nave
seen few or none Of these hurrying up tao
| tics on the part of the conductors that ap-
! pear to be the glst of the protests That are
| being registered just now 1t has often oc-
| Cured to me. on the contrary, that the
| Washington street car conductors are too
| patient In this respect; that they wait. their
| hand on the bell strap, heap too long for
adieuing women and pokey men-1ot OLD
| men, but lusty young chaps too lazy TO
quicken their pace to catch street car
| that they lose time from their schedule IN
signalers who are still quarter of block
| or so away. / have very rarely heard a
street car conductor here make use OF any
| rude expressions in hurrying diIly-dallying
| passengers off or the cars On the con-
| trary the expressions they employ on such
| occasions seem to me to be -sinsularly po-
| lite under the circumstances.
Please step lively or We're behind
time-kindly move lively is what I've
heard them say when the cars have been
neediessly delayed by leisureiy passengers
and they even make these quite inOfensive
suggestions in sort of Apologize tone
and not with raucous fierceness Compare
the expressions of the Washington street
| car conductors under these circumstances
with the vicious ugliness of speech of, say
| New York and Chicago conductors wher
they re in a hurry and you'll see how much
better off We are here in this respect.
In New York or Chicago.
FGwan now--git move on youse,' is a
common expression over in New York for
conductors of street cars to employ for the
purpose of hurrying aged and infrm men
and women on or off their cars. Dyer
tink I'm goin t keep dis bus here all day
FIR youse? is another Cit some action in
dem runners o yours, the Chicago stree
car conductor often says to a passenger
who hemmed in by the standing crowd, l:
unable to- get off the with Sufcien
facility to please the conductor. 'WOts d.
, matter wit dem stifts UP forward dere?
ne says when the standing passengers man
fest a Discrimination to jam themSelve:
closer together than layers of gun cotton
'Wot choo tink dis car iS-a hotel lobby?
. There has been, too, a stable KICK, l
seems, over the fact that some OF the car
do not stop when SlgnaIed. This may nap
pen once in very great while in Washing
{ ton, but | haven't been the victim of /
more than once or twice. all told, and
| ride on the street cars at all hours Of tn
: ! day and night. 1t may be that once in
e | while something goes wrong at one of tn
. ! car sheds which causes delay Of ten o
: fifteen minutes in sending out car, an
| then the m0torman has instructions to e
e right ahead soon as he picks UP siz
T able load, for the purpose of starting tn
game a-rolling again On the 18th stree
: line, for example. 1 notice that once in
!. | while along toward 3 o. clock in the even
= | ing, a TANNED car bound down town, wi
: keep right ahead in spite of the signal
IL ing of people who emerge from the SiQ
:, ! streets. ! made inquiry about this, an
$ found that there was good reason for il
4 The two-car train had been filled up to 1t
utmost capacity away up at the head q
18th street, before it started out on tn
down trip at all, by Columbia Heights an
Mt. Pleasant people bound for the theater>
= and. being packed, the conductors had OF
e ders to go right ahead and take on no NOR
passengers. I've always found that anothe
car. with plenty of seats, followed immed
$ | ateiy after the rar going ahead full tilt an
N taking up no passengers.
=. In Marked Contrast.
3 Now, do you know that in New Yor
and Chicago to name just two cities whei
, the practice prevails, the notormen an
IS the conductors actually take Wanton dt
[. light in declining to stop for passenger
even when they are not behind in the
schedule and the cars are not more tina
10 half filled? This may seem incredible, bt
q it is absolutely true. I have seen 1t happe
IT, time and again on no less line of cal
| than that which runs on Broadway. Ne
s York | have beckoned tstanding, of cours
ut on the proper side of the street, TO II
at motorman Of a Broadway car-not one
me a sardonc grin and say, as he whirlt
by 'Youse only thinks youse wants / rid
| an youse l., got anodder t'fnk a-comiu.' TT
"a conductor, standing on the rear pla
form, would see me also, and ne would tai
up the motormans grin and shoot this OF
at me, or something like 1t, as he speed
as by: Run, Willie, an ketch on wit yer tee
re an I'll let youse ride. see? L am not e
. aggerating this a particle. 1t Is the san
- 1av in Chicago. A Halsted street or
s. Wabash avenue car comes whirling doV
is upon you, practically empty, and, becau
n YOU re not a whole party, but only sing
"a nickel fare, the motorman doesn't slack
- up, and the conductor howls at you ire
lis the rear end, Take de mex; were on
ry pickin' EN- up in punches, an dere's
an bunch de mex block ahead.
ny Courtesy to Passengers.
pit How frequently. here in Washington,
in we see passengers aIghting from cars wi
ay exasperating sIowness, talking with frien