Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-24
CABS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.
Dearest in New York, Cheapest in
Moscow-Cab Etiquette in Russia.
From the London Chronicle.

From the lonuoh Cnronlcle
The relations OF the cabman to his fare
differ curiously in various countries With
TN the last year or two it has been my for
tune to drive In many cabs in many cities,
from America on the one side to Russia on
the other New York and Moscow may
represent the opposite poles of national
methods.
In New York the cabman has almost cut
his own throat. No one but millionaire.
an Englishman or a fool takes a cab in New
York. The driver spends his day prowlins
in Search of one of these three, meanwhile
lodging the cars, which have almost
hedged him off the roadway. He very sell
dom finds fare. but when he does find one
I imagine he goes west and buys farm
with the proceeds.
In st. Louis however, / found the hotel
keepers had made set against the extor-
tomato charges of cabmen, and the hotel
clerk WILL on payment. hand you the ticket
that will satisfy-or at least reduce to 81
lenee-the driver. There it cost me only
two shfliings to have myself conveyed a
quarter of mile to the railway depot. In
America however, the cab question hardly
counts a problem at all, for the cab habit
has not eaten into the nation. Americans
like to journey in droves, while the English
man retains the preference for his own pair
of wheels 1t may be an unreasonable pref
erence. but 1t will be the salvation of the
London cab driver If he will but play up
to it
The cheapest cabs l have known in any
big city are to be found in Moscow: though
from the picturesque little port of Reval. on
the Baltic. I brought away the impression
that / might have bought the droschky,
horses and cabman Clothes and alb for the
price of a single New York ride. Probably
no inhabitant of Reval has ever paid so
much as five pence at time Tor his CAB
But in Moscow. as elsewhere in Russia, you
must bargain.
/ In taking Russianrcab the etiquette diff
fers, according to your knowledge or ignor-
ance of the distance to be. covered and the
obstacles to be surmounted. Have you
knowledge? Then you walk to the cab
rank. shout your destination and your
price--what house agents here call firm
offer"-to the drowsy man on the box The
| comedy opens The process of bargaining
| begins. Starting up. the drowsy man calls
| upon the saints to witness that the sugges-
! ton is preposterous, that his wife and fam
| lily would be corpses, haunting him through
| eternity If such proposals were entertained.
| that you, as he plainly sees. are a person of
vast wealth and generous instincts, and
as you pass on-a filthy pauper.
You pass on, shouting destination and
price, while hands are waved to heaven and
boards are torn in lament of your obduracy.
When you have passed the man in the front
place you hear the ciatter behind There Is
the droschisy by your side and a smiling,
bearded. padder, strange-hatted barbarian
saying in the Russian l cannot spell In Eng
lish-"Please.' But If you are a stranger
in a strange land you must still bargain.
The etiquette is reversed. You approach the
first droschky man on the rank and name
your destination How muehy you ask,
having learned SO much Russia. He names
hopefully, the outside figure. which you
know is the inside figure SOU red
Then it is your turn to appeal to the
saints, impugn the ancestry of the cabman,
condemn him to everlasting torment. 1t is
as well to learn few comminatory phrases
In every language. Walk straight on,
shouting still your destination-and the
same thing will happen. The front man
will cIatter up with the final offer of ac-
ceptanee. It IS probably some farthings be-
yond what the Muscovite would pay, but
1t is less than half of the original sugges-
ton For the moment-and the whole tran
saetion is but a matter of moments--I have
enjoyed the comedy of the thing the pre-
tence-the biuff-the chance of triumph.
But when it IS arranged and done with