The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-11-13
GOTHAM GETTING
 USED ID SUBWAY Some Curious Traits of Char
 acter Developed MANY PASSENGERS SLEEP Subway Cara Promote somnolence. Negroes Are Absent and Rough Element Little in Evidence.
 People Complain.
MANY PASSENGERS SLEEP
BY JOHN MARTHoL.

New York, November 12,-Conditions on the subway are becoming normal and each day sees a decrease in the number of complaints as to the service and the delays become less frequent as train crews and dispatehers become familiar with the schedules.
 It seems little strange that New York CTS who have complaeently submitted to the inconvenience and discomforts that have existed for years on the over crowded surface and elevated lines should expect that the operation of trains on new enterprise, operated under new and different conditions from any other in existence should from its very first move with perfect system and without compli- cations. Men who have been heretofore satisfied to reach their homes in Harlem in an hour after leaving their offices downtown, have been loudest in their complaints. when they have been obliged to wait ten minutes for a train which
 landed them at 10th street in thirty min utes. To the unprejudiced eye the open ing of the subway has been most aus
 peious, and while there have been de-
 lays, as a method of transportation the subway is far ahead in every respect of
 any method of transportation now avail
 able for New Workers. For the first
 week the road was crowded and damned at all hours by curiosity seekers, and ev-
 eryone living in Harlem pdtronized it as a matter of experiment. This does not mean that the surface lines or the ele- l yated roads have been abandoned; they are still dolng business and quite enough for the comfort of such persons as are obliged to use them It may have made a difference in the receipts of the com 1 pany but the difference is one that the company could stand and certainly be endured by the public.
 Considering the unfamiiarty of the l public with the new system there have l been very few accidents and but one fa- | tality Of course there will be acci- dents; they are to be expected under all 1 circumstances. The advertising signs Tn the stations are coming in for their share of criticism, and it was hoped that l by some means their unwelcomed pres ence could be avoided, but t seems that | they were authorized in the contract with l the city and their presence must be en- | dufed, certainly until the matter can be l adjusted, and it must be said that the class of advertising In the subway is not as offensive as that which greets the eye on the levated platforms. There are very few people in New York who have not given the subway a trial at one time or another; and 1t is safe to say that if has more friends now than it did previous to the opening. Already new and spe- ellie diseases peculiar to the subway are l being talked of and newfangled names are being given to the imaginary troubles all of which goes to show that New l York is making the most of her latest and most useful amusement
 One of the most peculiar things to be ob- served among the passengers on the sub way especially on the express trains, is the tendency to fall asleep and each car usually has two or three somnolent pas sengers who think they are in a Pull man instead of a plain day coach. So Tar crowds on the subway have been usu- ally well benaved, and the tough element generally conspicuous by it's presence in a small minority and a remarkable fea- ture seems 10 be that the negroes have practically let the subway system alone. This was unexpected, as 1t is characteristic of the negro. especially in New York; that he endeavors as much as possible to place himself where he will be as ooffensive and as conspicuous as the law allows.