Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-21
STREET CAR NUISANCE
Standing Between the Seats
a Trying 0ffense.
PRACTICE IN NEW YORK
HAS ALMOST BROKEN RIDING
FOR PLEASURE.
Effort of Alderman Bridges to Make
the Companies Run More
Cars Hereafter.
PRACTICE IN NEW YORK
of The Evening Star.


NEW YORK. June %. 1902.
! L once saw a nonresident of Washington
soundly thrashed by an angry Washington
ian for persisting in standing in front of
| the latter in the space between seats on an
open Chevy Chase trolley car. The Wash
| ington man was out for an airing, and
\ when the nonresident boarded the car on
| which all of the seats were taken and
| thrust his bulky form between the Wash
4 lngtonian and the fragrant woodland
breeze. the latter politely told him that that
| sort OF thing didn't go in the District of
Columbia or the environs thereof no matter
| how settled custom it might be elsewhere
| The intruder came back with an insulting
| reply, and declined to bulge from in front
OF the Washington man, who thereupon
| proceeded to polish the boor off in mighty
workmanlike and convincing sort of way
The Washington man was thoroughly
| right from every decent point of view.
put II ne lived in this town and were equal
| ~ disposed to fight for his rights over here,
| ne would find himself engaged in impromp-
| III pugfiism all of the time. Among the
several dozens of perennial nuisances of
i tsew 13rk tnat one Is not by any means the
! ieast which permits the crowding and pack
| ing OF the spaces between the seats on the
open cars. 1t is so much settled custom
over here that persons actuated by a sense
|
| Ing against 1T. One never gets into an onan
car seat in New York without possessing a
| FEELING of absolute certainty that sooner
| or later some hide-bound boor-some odor-
| iierous hobo. with the price of ride. as
ike as not-will sprawl aboard and mako
| the remainder of the journey gloomy and
| nauseating by projecting his uncouth pres
ence vertically, in the contracted space in
front of one.
A Diverting Pleasure DESTROYED.
| That is the reason why the open-car ride
| which is a real delight in summer weather
| IN most American cities where notions of
| ordinary decency prevail, is out of the
question in New York as a means of deriv
ing pleasure on hot evenings The folks
| over here take the open cars only because
they want to get somewhere They would
| as soon think of taking open-car rides for
| the run and recreation and healthfulness of
the thlng as they would of going to Couex-
island Tor rest and quiet and spiritual ex-
| altatlon. If there can be any more acute
| misery than to ride in an open car with
some leather-cuticled vagabond standing
| directly in front of one and calmly and inn
pa Ia uahy srampling on both of ones feet
| at the same time. then the writer hereof
Ism FAMILIAR with il. OF course the thing
| could be instantly remedied by the surface
car companies If they wanted to remedy If.
~ nu, .ne remedy would involve their putting
| on more cars. This, however would mean
the payment Of a few more dollars per
| week to motormen and conductors-conse-
que0iy the car companies can't see this
proposition from any point of view
There is pretty fair chance now how
| ever, that they going to be made to
see It, Among the queer and often-derided
Gcnaraclers OF the city government of
| greater New York the famous Alderman
Bridges stands near the top of the list. His
funny verbal breaks, as reported in the
newspapers. keep the town in a continual
| state Of laughter. In every respect he is
| SO characteristic
| that his resemblance to the comic cartoon-
| ISIS conception of the alderman is nothing
snort OF grotesque. He wears the loud
checked clothing, the silk hat over his lef,
| ear, the enormously barred shirt the mas
| sive watch chain and the cigar In the left-
| hand corner of his countenance at the
Iorty-nve,degree angle. just as the car
toon1sts love to depict the conventional
| alderman. and he says things like Il don't
know nothin' about such thing nohow''
| In a way that is all the more humorous
because he is invariably so deadly in earn
| est when he addresses his colleagues
Bridges to the Rescue.
But. for all that Alderman Bridges is
mighty useful man. and he has himself put
through several reforms for which the pop
ulace of New York really ought to be
grateful to him. He is the man who had
the ordinance put through forbidding the
street railway companies from inconti-
nently ordering passengers to climb ont
into the rain and snow and sleet and take
the car ahead" Just now this useful and
typical alderman is fighting through a law
forbidding the street railway companies to
permit persons to stand between the seats
on the open cars. and. In spite of the per-
fectly candid activity of the agents of the
street railway lines around the aldermanic
chamber, there seems to be every likeli-
hood that Bridges will succeed In putting
the measure into effect. If he does Bridges
Will be about in shape to ask for anything
a n INV with ~, h.
people of Greater New York. BY next
year, then. perhaps, the people of this
town who can't afford to take summer va
cations will be introduced to a hot weather
pleasure that VIII be a novelty to them.
They will be able to ride on the open cars
for the out-and-out pleasure Of the same
without the possibility of being tortured
and sat upon and ground to pumice by the
ruffans who now make practice OF stand
Ing In the spaces between the seats.
1t seems peculiar, in fact, that the street
railway companies. especially those rum
ming trolley systems In the country round
about New York. have never contemplated
this matter from a mere business point of
view. If from no other. for there are liter
ally tens Of thousands of persons who
would utilize the fine trolley lines around
New York for pleasure rides il the COM
panies were to guarantee them comfort
able seats, with no standing permitted. 1t
is possible to go from New York to Boston
on the whizzing trolley cars now. but those
who avail themselves of the pleasure of
this lettering trip have to make up parties
and charter special cars in order to make
sure of seats that are not rendered stools
of penitence by the presence of men who
stand between the benches.
Spoiled by Good Government.
One is sometimes tempted to reflect that,
after all, 1t is a distinct disadvantage to
have lived In Washington, the best gov
erned of all American cities. il not. indeed.
the best governed city in the world. for
the reason that one is ever afterward in
clined to be more or less fnical in con-
templating the slovenly government Of other
cities In Washington, for example, there
Is an admirable law. well enforced by the
police, which prohibits the indiscriminate
firing Of fireworks except on the Fourth OF
July or on days Of special ceremony. Now.
there may be some such law over here
in New York. but II there is it hasn't been
enforced for many years. For fully two
weeks past upper New York. in the resi-
dence district particularly. has been a Bed
lam on account of the young ones prelim-
mary celebration of Independence day with
irecrackers. toy pistols, torpedoes and the
like The Juvenile fireworks are temptingly
put on sale fully q month before the Fourth