The San Francisco call., 1906-12-16
Berlin Cars Are Modern

The, street cars of Berlin are the
most modern type found in any Euro
pean city.-In fact Germany Is a pro-
gressive country and the ears found
there are generally neat and clean. Co
logne. Hamburg. Dresden. Frankfort
on-Main. Munich and even Nurem-
burg-all- have modern street car facil-
tiles, and the fare for ride on the<
cars is ten pfennig-sw0 and a half
cents. 1t seems cheap enough, but
then the, distance is never great The
Berlin underground is similar to that
of Paris, but it is run with an eye to
better service. The cars run rapidly
and there is more consideration shown.
The-street cars of Berlin have a COM
mon station center in the heart OF the
city. Hamburg has a belt system
which consists of different numbered
belt lines. so when you stand in the
streets of the greatest shipping town
in Germany all you have to do is to
consult your guidebook. pick out the
number and get on a car. 1t does not
matter whether you speak the Ian
= guage or not All you have to do is to
stay on the ear. enjoy the panorama
spread before you and get off when
You reach the place where you got on.
The cab system in use in German
towns and being adopted in many
European cities-that OF paying for the
distance traveled--is regulated by a
''tamameter." The "tamameter' re-
sembles a clock and IS attached to the
front of the cab just under the drivers
seat so that the passenger can see it,
This "tamameter" registers the number
of miles traversed, and you can see
the hands move ten pfennig at time
II is always correct, and so there Is
never any necessity for a dispute re-
garding the price. In Scandinavia the
same system of street cars is in use.
rI . 70 errr af.<x e
is. ten ore. or between two and half
and three cents per ride. The system
of belts is also in use there and Is
known the ring linie." Nothing but
good can be said OF the street car
system OF Stockholm. for that is one OF
the cleanest and best regulated towns
in the world. Russia is left out en-
tirely on the question of municipal
transportation. for only the great towns
of Russia have any street cars at all
and they are drawn by horses There
are many towns of Russia having a
population of some fifty or sixty thou
sand which possess no street cars OF
any description.
Rome boasts of its electric cars and
Naples also has good local transporta-
ton, that is, good for Italy. In Flor
ence they depend on cabs and omnf-
buses. The cab fare everywhere in
Italy is cheap. but the omnibuses of
florence are joke There is one bus
line in Florence, the buses of which
accommodate only twelve persons.
These buses employ o driver and con-
ductOr, and when you figure that the
bus makes two trips an hour, carrying
att the most twenty-four people at
cents each. and that the driver ana
conductor are paid, not to mention that
the skinny horse IS supposed to eat
occasionally. you can enjoy calculating
how long IT will take the proprietors
: to make themselves millionaires
But in the picturesque town OF Tam
giers, where the great Sultan OF Mo-
rocco regulates the fares. only ths
most primitive kind Of transportation
is TO be hsd-the sad and obedient dom
key. When you go for q walk In the
dirty streets OF Tang;ers If it should
rain. the only way to reach your hotel
squickly-is on donkey-back- In Tan
siers the diminutive donkey answers
the purpose Of street car. cab or om-
nfbus- When you are seated on the
hurricane deck of one of these beasts.
a negro leading him and an umbrella
held desperately over your head, IL is
then that you realize that any old
street car line is good thing.