The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1907-10-09
GLASGOW STREET CARS.
Points OF Contrast and Comparison
with American Cars


Municipal ownership of street rail-
roads, which all good Americans have
been taught to think an altogether
wrong and unworkable plan, seems In
Glasgow to be complete success. The
conditions, however, are so very diff
ferent from those existing in New
York that comparison Is almost out of
the question. In Glasgow politics do
not enter into the matter at all. Graft
has not to be taken account of, and,
in fact, all the arrangements that
make the street car system in Glasgow
so admirable, would be impossible to
apply in American cities. The cars
are all double-deckers, some with cov-
cred tops and others without-these
last providing an almost ideal mode Of
seeing the city. The fares (no trans.
fers) paid in so different way from
ours, are about cent mile; so that
you tell the green uniformed conductor
your destination and he charges you
accordingly. For long distances this
is more expensive than our way, but
as Glasgow is crowded into compar-
atively small district it makes a great
saving in going about in the business
quarter of the town. One thing that
strikes New Yorker as superfluous Is
the giving of a small ticket to show
that the passenger has paid his fare.
It, of course, deprives one of the excit-
Ing disputes as to whether or not you
have paid your fare, and it also stops
those free rides that on the New York,
cars are so numerous, but it lltters the
floor Of the car with discarded tickets,
which Is perhaps not so great draw
back after all, as they are the only dirt
the Glasgow cars have, and one or two
flaws are always needed, if only to
keep general interest up. The adver-
tisements are, oddly enough, all on the
outside of the car, and as the cars are
never crowded and the conductors are
spiritless creatures who never shout
or push, an atmosphere of restfulness
is really felt in these foreign cars.
At the crowded hours the cars fol-
low so closely on one another that it Is
one continuous train, and If in few
of the cars (the ones that have strong
est spring and that the makers felt
were equal to an extra cram) some
half dozen extra passengers are al
lowed to stand, every one exclaims
and says: "This is terrible jam, isn't
it?" The cars go at very good
speed, are not upholstered in dusty
carpet, but have not uncomfortable
hardwood seats, and though the alight-
ing passengers are not allowed to get
off before the others crowd on, per-
haps this hardly matters either, as the
need to step lively" is never felt, and
every one bumps into every one else
in an extremely cheerful way. What
to all masculine minds is highly i'm
portant is that the car lines pay very
well indeed, while feminine passengers
are cheered by the knowledge that
neither their clothes nor their dispo-
sitions will be completely ruined by a
half hours ride on a tram.
American women have never been
called unprogressive-they have been
called other things, but so far this one
word has not been applied to them
now let them look to their laurels. The
women of Scotland are ahead of them
in one respect. They board the cars
when they are moving, and moving at
goodly speed, too. The cars, which
stop at red posts and nowhere else,
will consent to slow down to half
speed if people signal, and then wom-
en- with bundles hop on and women
with babies in their arms swing them
selves off, and the poor American girl
who has never reached this stage of
recklessness, is left blinking amaxedly
at the fast disappearing car.-New
York Evening Sun.