Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-23
THEY RUN At DIFFERENT SPEEDS
One Can Even Take French Les
sons on the Travelling Strips.
SOME FUNNY CIDENrS
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

They waited hours in those old times for
| their turn at the towers lift; but there is
no waiting for the trottoir roulant, or the
platform mobile, the moving sidewalk.
| as 1t indfferently is termed. Imagine ex-
| actly what 1t is-a sidewalk built twenty
| feet above the ground. protected on each
side by ratings. with steps to climb up to
| 1t at short intervals. From below it looks
like an elevated railroad. And this elevat-
| ed sidewalk continually is moving in an
| endless circuit round its course. which
J takes up the center of the grounds. There
| are no stops, starts. AS fast the
| crowds pile in it receives them. 1t has not
yet found its limit-the packed standing
room around its entire surface.
We sat at one of the elevated cafes or
| bars of this new-century Paris boulevard,
| talking of these things. "a calculation of
| the utmost theoretical capacity of that
| moving track would astonish most people"
remarked one Of the party, whose mind
| runs to figures.
| Calculate it, we said
''The length of the sidewalk is 1910
| meters u meter equaling 33 feep. and its
| total moving width is % meters, which
| makes a total surface of 3.i:6 square
| meters AS adults to the square meter
is considered a liberal non-crowding aver
| age. 37.I44 persons might move round with
| the trottoir at the same time. How long
does 1t take to go round?'
1.-The trip is accomplished in % minutes,
| 1 read from the guide book.
Will Carry Millions.
"And the platforms working day is IL
hours. 900 minutes, which means 36
| trips Multiply the number Of possible pas
sengers for each trip (37.74D by SO trips.
| and you get total daily theoretically pos
sible movement of 1855. 7S4 visitors around
| the circuit of the moving sidewalk eX-
1ts-h
Were that to be kept up during the 300
| days of the exhibition the gigantic total OF
| 81 .756. 800 persons obviously might make
the whole trip-something that not half its
patrons do. They get on at one station
| and they get off at another. What is the
sidewalks non-moving space?"
THE stationary strip along the right
hand edge. for getting on and off? 1t is
IL meter wide.
therefore it contains 3.707 square me-
tiers. Allowing only three persons to the
square meter In Its case. It's capacity at any
one time may be put down as 11.121 adults.
which, multiplied by the thrty-six trips
daily. gives another total of 4Oo.356 people
who might be there, ready to step on as the
| short-trippers stepped off. or so'ol ."o pas
sengers for the 200 days" said the trium-
phant calculator. what do you say to
that? Remember that the moving sidewalk
is an exhibit we'll as a concession. tell
you 1t is a new thing in the rapid transit
| line. ana expect to see it permanent in the
| city life of Europe and America before
| long"
A SOcialistic Dream.
Free transportation is bound to come soon."
remarked our socialistic French friend as
| he thoughtfully laid down the price of his
individual drink why, even this monopo-
| lstic moving sidewalk has the germs of it.
We pay 10 cents to come up here. The COM
pany would like to take one trip and
get Off but they have no way Of controlling
We Stav here amid the lea1y
branches of the tree tops all the morning
rolling from cafe to bar and bar to cafe
| meeting friends and ogling the pretty
girls. 1t will be the same with the Metro
politan underground. which will be running
| from one end of Paris to the other in a few
| weeks. People will abuse the privilege a
few times till the novelty wears Off Then
| they will only use it as they need 1t. So 1t
would be were all transportation to be free.
Its actual cost being paid for by the state"
Fun on the Moving Strips.
The socialists argument did not seem so
conclusive, as We observed the same faces
| pass US again and again on the moving
sidewalk The company has put notice
up: 1.-The payment of one fare of so CEN
times entities visitors to one trip only round
| the sidewalk" 1t is a dead letter. Old la
dies even bring their folding camp stools
and sit calmly taking IN the panorama. In
deed. there is no better way to get quick
view of the fair. Here We pass the Rue des
Nations. Walking with the platform one
seems to stride past the national pavilions
in seven-leagued boots. The effect Is
curious. Then If you walk against 1t you
stand still with respect to the outside
world. AS everybody must have read by
| this time. the moving sidewalk moves with
two different speeds. The right-hand strip
| goes at the rate of stroll. The left-hand
strip goes at the rate of something more
than a brisk walk. If you have walked
! ahead of your party you have only to step
Inv, no oil trim a nd 10
and overtake you. Or you may step on the
stationary strip. when they will seem to
come rolling twice as fast. Some people
like to ride standing still. The nervous man
| who likes to walk little now and then has
| only to step on to the slow strip to stroll
| on beside his standing friends. Few people
| can resist the temptation thus to play with
| the sidewalk. The little children jump from
combination to combination. squealing &C.
statically. The girls-grear big girls-are
almost as bad. Hopping from strip to strip,
did clutches at utter strangers, skipping
back and forth with engaging abandon,
these lively ones realize much of the tour
lists preconceived ideal of the Parisienne,
frolicsome and coquettish.
Initiating the Real Thing.
We saw a fine case of this natural mis-
| take come rolling down from the Esplanade
des Invalides. They were two American
girls. in spite of their disguise, a dab of
might be thought too gladstone at home
The men were obviously buffers of the
better sort. and their small knowledge of
the language did not warn them that the
"Parisiennes" were also Gripping It, EFT
vouS amiez notre beau Paris ?''-we caught
the question and the answer-"Et vous
an1iez les Parisians ?''-"Tres beaucoup-'
And We could see the fraudulent little
Parisiennes turn their heads TO smile at
| the deception. Why is it every American
girl in Paris wishes to pose for little
while a Parisienne? Our men never do
1t. When they give false nationalities they
choose by preference the English or the
Scandinavian. One of my young friends
from Pittsburg-not unknown in the coal
business-has the mania of making ac-
quaintances and dates hand. This after
noon on the moving sidewalk he was posing
as a Swedish count. and worthly He
says 1t is to practice his French conversa-
ton. He finds the moving sidewalk a con-
venience, ard he tells a story that goes to
show that he Is not alone in this. 1t Is
the tale of how an elderly but respectable
New Yorker-a Union Club man with a