New-York tribune., 1901-08-25
open TO SUGGESTIONS"

1t is admitted by the president of the Metro
politan Street Railway Company that accidents
on the Broadway line have increased in num-
ber since the electric system was installed
but he does not see how he can do anything TO
diminish them. One thing which he thinks it is
impossible TO do is to equip the cars with fend-
ers. his reason being that truck drivers, who
have wholesome fear of a solid platform feel
respect for a fiabby fender, but rather like to
drive over and crush it. If. therefore tenders
were generally used 1.-The result would be a
never ending blockade below Canal-st'
Mr.. Vreeland is a man of unusual intelligence
and capacity, and he has had long experience in
the management of the Metropolitan company.
which reasonably puts high value on his ser
vices. But ii is not always necessary to accept
Mr. Vreeland's conclusions, or assertions TO
details of the business which he superintends
with diligence and skill. He is rather in the
habit of announcing propositions which he can
not prove, and which in fact common knowl-
edge and observation reject At the time when
his company was pretty regularly killing people
on dead mans curve" at Union Square. Mr.
Vreeland seriously declared that 1t was entirely
impracticable 10 reduce the speed at that point
without blockading the line and compelling the
company TO take off one-third of It's cars. The
Board Of Health interviewed. the speed was re-
duced, and Mr.. Vreeland's expert calculation
went all TO pieces for not car was withdrawn.
A few months ago Mr.. Ereeland again went on
record with the statement that any conductor
who should attempt 10 eject a passenger who
wanted TO stand between the seats Of open
car would be "mauled half to death" In view
Of the general fact that the people Of NewYOrk
are amazingly patient and peaceful, and Of the
particular circumstance that nobody ever lays
q finger on a conductor when, to suit the COM
pany's convenience, he turns all the passengers
out of a car into a drenching rain, Mr.. Vree-
lands assertion on the subject OF "mauling" was
the height Of absurdity. So now when he says
that a never ending blockade below Canal-st.
would result from the use Of tenders on the
Broadway cars the public is justified in declln-
ing to take his word for It,
Mr. vreeland at the end Of his talk about the
operation OF the Broadway line obligingly said
that he was open to suggestions. Inasmuch as
he had just observed that one trouble was the
habit of getting on and off the cars before they
had stopped, we would respectfully call his at
tention once more to the habit of not stopping
the cars when passengers want to get on and
off We do not wish TO be unfair They stop
for women almost invariably, for cripples as a
rule and for obviously aged and infirm persons
more than half the time. For men who show
no evidence Of bodily infrmity they often do no
more than slow down, and when they come to
q standstill It is generally much beyond the
crossing. This means that the conductor, or
the motorman, expects the passenger to get
aboard or alight while the is still In motion,
and the deliberate passenger who wants to get
on is fortunate IL he is not left behind as pun
ishment for his slowness, while the cautious
passenger who wants to get OFF is fortunate If
he is not carried to the next crossing and ver-
bally abused for causing delay.
Now, to what is this habit of the company's
employees due? Are they required TO keep a
schedule which does not permit them TO treat
passengers properly? Or do their methods indi-
cate sheer indifference to the rights of the pub