Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-12
Hard to See How More People Could
Be Cared For.
SURFACE AND L CARS ARE PACKED
How Rich Men Manage to Avoid
Paying Their Taxes.
SORE ARMS ARE IN STYLE
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

1
century Greater New York will have a
population of at least 100000 of human
| beings-a number which nightly tickles the
| imagination of the present generation of
New Workers. The statisticians haven't
Ventured to express any opinions as to how
| ana where New York Is going to stow all
| OF these folks; they content themselves with
| naming the probable approximate popula-
| ton OF the community in the year 1000. and
| comfortably leave 1t to the citizens and
clt1zenesses Of that era to find shelter for
themselves as best they know how.
There are some scientists of repute who
| express the belief that the aerial naviea-
| ton puzzle will be solved during the next
| 1oo years. If the navigation of the air Is
not an accomplished fact by the time New
| York numbers 100000 of people within
| her limits 1t is difficult to imagine how the
New York toilers Of the twenty-first century
| are going to be transported to and from
their work. With present population of
less than 5,OO0,O0O New Yorl1s facilities for
getting its working folks Of all classes from
| their homes to their Offices stores or fac
tories and back again are unquestionably
| more inadequate. more primitive more
barbarous, it might almost be sad-in pro-
| portion to the population than those of any
| other great American city.
New YOrk's Crowded Cars.
| more or less petulant complaints of Wash
ingtonfans, who boarding or attempting to
| board the Washington surface cars at 4
O'Clock, the hour when the government de-
| partments are Letting out" find the cars
| crowded from front to rear platform. If
| even the Washington man or woman who,
| embarkfng on a 14th street car say, at the
treasury building, is compelled to maintain
| strap-clutching perpendicular attitude
| until the car reaches Mt. Pleasant, were
to submit to the unutterable misery
| of few rides in either the surface
or elevated cars of New York during the
| morning and evening rush hours, it is rea-
sonable to suppose that he or she would
bark back to the comparatively trifiing dis
comforts of travelling in the Washington
cars during the brief rush period with
feeling of distinct regret.
me New Yorker who gets his wages in
the far downtown district and who is
obliged to live In Harlem If he elects to live
cumstances over which he has no control,
and the unpuncturable initiation of Manhat-
| tan rents, has got his work cut out for him
| twice day in his effort to get to his place
of labor at the specified hour and to return
to the bosom of his family in time to escape
the dark looks Of his wife.
During Rush Hours.
The morning rush hour on the New York
elevated trains begins at half-past O. From
that time on until 10 o'clock no citizen who
lives below 125th street, in Harlem, ever
looks for anything else but a stand-up ride
to his point of debarkation. Nor does any
| working woman-by which term is meant
women Of all employments, those who work
with their heads as we'll as those who toll
with their handS-who gets on an elevated
train three stations below its starting point
during the morning rush hour expect any
thing else than swaying. jolting, josting.
| acrobatic whirl of it until, with heartfelt
sigh of relief she steps off at her station.
For the period has long belonged to the
yesteryears when the New York man rem
dered his seat to a standing woman in a
public vehicle. The man who gives up his
seat to a weary-looking aged woman
in New York elevated or surface car now
adays is openly sneered at by the other
male passengers. who murmur to each
other about effect and gallery plays
and grand stand stunts
So used are the people Of New York to
standing up in the cars on their way to
amusing to perceive how their countenances
are irradiated when, by some chance. they
happen to gain seats. A great crowd CT
men and women are packed in the aisles CT
the cars like those overworked sardines and
they glare with wolf1sh eyes at the seated
passengers. At the first indication that one
of the seated passengers Is about to aban-
don his seat for the purpose of getting on
all the strap-clutching passengers may be
observed to gather themselves together for
spring. their general attitude on such
lineup OF crowd Of sprinters crouch'ng
for the crack Of the starters pistol When.
at length, the passenger does vacate his
seat the simultaneous leap for the same on
the part Of ten or fifteen persons Is not
unlike the plunge Of a gang Of foot bali
players for the fellow who has the ball.
Only one OF them, Of course can be VIC
torious. The victor. II it be man-and the
victor generally is man, owing to the
superior muscular development of the male
biped-gazes around into the chagrined
faces Of the others with gloating coun-
tenance, and. having enjoyed his triumph
to his satisfaction, unfolds newspaper.
crosses his legs that the soles of his
shoes shall be in the closest possible 1uxta-
position to the skirts OF the standing wo-
men and the trousers Of the standing men,
and absorbs the news of the day with every
evidence Of enjoyment and with frequent
grins when the turns in the road cause the
tossed trees until he reaches his station.
when the wolf-eyed ISLANDERS repeat their
little performance and go after his seat in
a bunch.
A Strain ON the Nerves.
This is no fanciful picture 1t is the sort
Of thing that is going on constantly both
on the surface and elevated cars of New
York from the hours Of half-past until
about 10 in the morning. and from about
half-past until in the evening. The
folks who are compelled to ride during the
rush hours watch for about-to-be-vacated
seats with one eye and read their news
papers-the shop girls their novels-with
the other.
Now, the New Yorker who is employed
at some place of business adjacent to the
Cortland or Rector street stations Of the
9th avenue L, say, and who, after busy
day on his feet, is compelled to endure, not
only the fatigue Of standing. but the aff1ic-
ton of being pushed and hauled and
dragged around and stamped upon in the
narrow aisle Of an L car until the train
pulls up at his station In Harlem. has got
to have a whole lot OF that Arnoldesque
composition known as sweetness and light |
in his makeup to go home. after such an
experience and bestow his customary salu- |
tations upon his wife and children. with an |
affectation Of good nature, when he meets |
them in the hall. OF course. 1t Is Infinitely |
worse for the women who have their liv- |
ings to make down town. but the superior |
endurance of the female sex, not to say |
their obtuseness. which is now generally |
admitted by scientists, seems to enable |
them to bear up under these semi-daily |
Affections Of transit with fewer evidences |
of collapse. and certainly with better ma |
ture, than are exhibited by the men.
Nothing Better in Sight.
The worst of 1t all Is that there seems to |
be no present-and. from the Indications.
very little future-remedy for this barbar- |