The San Francisco call., 1907-01-24
WORKME n ANGERED
BY. REPEATED
DELAYS
Threaten to Wreck Over
crowded Electric Car on
the Kentucky-Street Line
FREQUENT TTEUPS
AND BREAKDOWNS


Worknen who are employed at the
F-ufon Iron Works made an angry DEM
anstratfoB against the poor service Of
The Tinted Railroads yesterday morn
ing NJ g O'Clock. The company failed
10 provide sufficient cars 80 carry the
men 20 their work and when an over
loaded coach tried 10 leave for the run
On Kentucky street the men surrounded
tt end threatened 10 wreck g. Stones
sVere thrown snd several paDes Of glass
an the car broken. The NvOrkmen Of
she Risdon and Unf0n Iron Works have
complained bitterly Of poor service and
have lost much money on account of
helay in reporting on duty because of
,Brs breaking down.
While Thornwell Mutually. assistant
20 the absentee president Of the United
Railroads. is absent on a pink tea ex-
cursiOn on a limited train, destination
the City Of Mexico. San Francisco Is
offered promise Of the most perfect
service in the world by the lonely
general manager Of the road. who is
left with several miles of ripped up
streets on his hands and a queer as
sortment OF ancient trolley cars the
Tenders OF which are never on straight.
Accidents were not so numerous yes
terday on the lines of the ltite-string g
system. but knots We're tied in the
service, so tight in many cases as 10
require the assistance OF the police
department 70 untangie them. II was
another day ~ take tie next car"
As a result of The Calls campaign
against poor service ou the United
Railroad lines. there was fairly ac-
tive detail Of inspectors at hand at the
various transfer points and an ap-
r-r
ditions. The switchback plan Of the
management was still in vogue, how
ever. and an inspection of the Mission
street service in particular showed
that this branch was one of the great
est offenders.
The San Matco cars and part Of the
Twenty -ninth-street assignment were
switched back at First or Second
street and passengers had to be trans
ferred 10 cars bound for the ferries
The explanation was that this was
necessary because the congested con-
dition Of the lower part OF Mission
street made it impossible for the full
quota Of eastbOund GERS to reach the
ferry without relieving the trunk line
from the west side Of Fremont street
The Mission line cars were in trouble
all day and tho average time for a
trip from Sixth and Mission TO Mar
ket and Mission was twenty minutes.
probably the slowest time yet made
on this branch OF the United Railroads
service.
BREAT<DOWNS BEGIN
Brea kdowns began to make trouble
early In the day. The first ,Of any i'm
portance was on Ellis street at 1870
O'Clock In the morning. when a care
less and probably newly imported
motorman tried to make the curve at
Leavenworth at too high speed. The
car was derailed and the fender
smashed. a repair crew had TO be sent
10 the scene before the road could be
cleared and the regular owl cars sent
through.
Bnea kdowns occurred at Eighth and
Mission. Sixth and Mission, Sixteenth
and Bryant, Market and Main and Steu-
art and Market streets. The last men
toned accident was due to broken
keybolt in Castro-street car $50 at 6-25
o'clock in the evening, when the traffic
on the Msrket-street trunk lines was
exceedingly heavy. The service was
tied up completely for more than an
hour
The twin evils. a do-nothinE city ad-
ministration and the half finished work
OF the United Railroads. caused a long
series Of rieups in lower Mission street.
The carmen were not 10 blame for this
although i'm some Of the minor worries
of the day they occasionally contribut-
ed their share 10 the public discomfort
Most Of the offenders on the cars were
new men, who did not act with that
degree OF care that trained carmen are
wont TO use. Mission street was hub
deep in mud, and both sides Of the
street were Uttered with building ma
terial. Teams were constantly being
caught IN the administration street
traps and horses attached TO heavily
laden wagons could not get over the
railroads tracks. The carmen had Il
that service was TO be discontinued on
improved but this report was denied
by the company.
The Information was offered yester-
day that there seemed 10 have been a
general upsetting Of the plans Of the
company ever since Mullally came
into power. Whether this was a mere
coincidence or not no one in authority
seemed able to explain. Mutually is
said not TO be a practical railroad man,
although he is well thought Of as a
clever business man and a diplomat.
He is far more diplomatic than scien-
tihc and the general impression is that
he is more OF a theorist than q prac-
titioner.
ORDERS TO ENGINEERS
Under orders from the head Office OF
the road, just after the disaster of last
April, engineers were told to begin
work on AL OF the various United
Railroads branches and reconstruct
the lines as soon as possible. The
older men in the service believed that
this sweeping order was issued because
Il was known that the corporation had
been given franchise worth millions
by the city government and that the
validity OF this action might be cues
toned after the excitement Of the fire
disaster died out. The city was torn
up from North Beach TO South San
Francisco and from the sea beach to
the water front. Labor became scarce.
some classes OF IL were unsatisfactory
and nearly every line Of the company
was suddenly left in q half finished
condition.
The story is that Manager Chapman
wanted to complete one line at a time
put II in apple pie order and go on to
the next one. This is the rule OF street
railroad rehabilitation that is followed
in ell large cities. But the artistic Null
lally thought Il best to have q har.
monious digging up OF all streets on
which the United Railroads ran cars
instead Of vulgar turning over OF