The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-01-21
CABS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES.
Dearest In New York, Cheapest In Mos
cow-Etiquette in Russia.

From the London Chronicle.
The relations of the cabmen to his fare
differ curiously in various countries. With
in the last year or two it has been my
fortune to drive in many cabs in many
cities, from America on the one side to
Russia on the other, New York and Mos
COW may represent the opposite poles of
national methods.
In New York the cabman has almost
cut his own throat No one but million
aire. an Engllshman or a fool takes a
cab in New York. The driver spends his
day prowling in search of one of these
three, meanwhile lodging cars which
have almost hedged him off the roadway.
He very seldom finds a fare but when
he does find one l imagine he goes west
and buys a farm with the proceeds.
In st. Louis, however l 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 re-
, duee to silence-the driver. There it cost
me only two shillings to have myself
conveyed a quarter of a mile to the rail-
way depot. In America, however, the
cab question hardly counts as a prob
lem 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 unreason-
| able preference, but it will be the saliva
ton of the London cab driver if he will
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, l brought away
the impression that l might have bought
the droschsky, horses and cabman
| CLOTHES and alb, for the price of single
| New York ride. Probably no nhabitant
of Reval has ever paid SO much as 5
pence at a time for his cab. But in Mos
COW, as elsewhere in Russia, you must
| bargain.
| In taking a Russian cab the etiquette
| differs, according to your knowledge or
! ignorance 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 on the saints to witness that
| the suggestion is preposterous, that his
| wife and family would be eorpses, haunt
| Ing him through eternity If such sugges-
! lions 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 clat-
| ter behind There is the dorschky by your
| side and a smiling, bearded, padder,
| strange-hatted barbarian saying in the
Russian-I cannot spell in English
'PleaseP' 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 much?' you ask,
| having learned so much Russian. He
| names, hopefully the outside figure, which
you know is the inside figure squared
Then it is your turn to appeal to the
| saints, impugn the ancestry of the cab
man, condemn him to everlasting tor
ment. 1t is as well to learn a few COM
minatory phrases in every language.
Walk straight on, shouting still your
destination-and the same thing will hap
| pen. The front man will clatter up with
the final offer of acceptance. lis probably
some farthings beyond what the Mus
covlte would pay, but it is less than half
of the original suggestion. For the mo-
ment-and the whole transaction is but
a matter of moments-I have enjoyed the
| comedy of the thing-the pretence-the
| bluff-the chance of triumph. But when 1t
| is arranged and done with comes the
| question: "Have cheated you or have
| you cheated me?"
| With all the fun of the bargain ! do not
like to face that question. If it appears
| that the driver has cheated me, am fu-
| rious If 1t Is clear that l have cheated
| the driver, I feel Inundated, for | have
no wish IL sneak pennies from the legiti-
mate wage of a man who has served me
well That is why. from my own point OF
view as user CT cabs, | am happiest
! in Germany.
Paris has come near to the fixed tariff
and the acceptance of 1t. In Berlin you
will get your cabs, graded as to comfort
and swiftness and price, but all with tax
ametres The latest German city of my
experience is Munich, where the cab prob
| lem seemed reduced to it's simplest express
| sion There was no bargaining. Step into
/ the cab and say whittier you are bound.
| The driver starts. and SO does the little
machine before your eyes. 1t ticks out the
| pfennigs as you go, and as you watch the
| Indicator you feel the blood running. AT
| the end, however there is no possibility
| of dispute. The taxametre shows the driv-
| ers claim, and If the driver goes beyond
| that he Is hanged, drawn and quartered
and immured in a fortress and deprived OF
J his civil rights and fined.
|