The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-10-25
WOMEN KICK ON HIGH GAR STEPS Led by Mrs. John I. Sterling, They Argue Well Before
 the Utilities Com
 mission HoBBLE SKIRTS COME UP
Position of Thigh Bones and Liza. ments When One Boards a
 Trolley Car.

. |
 Trolley Car.
 Hartford, Oct. 25-The much dis cussed question of high steps on tn
 trolley cars. was threshed out yester day before the Public Utilities Com
 mission at a special hearing at tn capitol A large number of fashion ably dressed women from variou parts of the State attended. the larg est delegation coming from Bridge port The Connecticut Company wa l represented by it's general manager J K. Punderford of New Haven. Tn commission will ask the company t. suggest a remedy.
 Mrs. John T. Sterling of Bridgepor led the anti-high step forces and thu zest with which she pleaded he 1 cause opened the eyes of the commis | sioners
 I Mrs. Sterling declared that higl steps were a menace to public trave | and she filed with the commission { number of private letters She sai( that she represented numbers of peti tioners. Mrs. Sterling said that sh' realized that there were obstacles il | the way of double steps. Foldins
 
 Some cars in the west had semi-circu lar steps at the platform. l Shore Line Cars O. K. I Chairman Higgins asked Mrs. Ster. | ling what she would advise, and the answer was a recommendation of . double step, if that were feasible | Otherwise it was desirable to have 2 different type of car.
 | Mrs. Sterling said that the new cars were more incOnvenient than the old Each new 1nstallment was worse than the prior installment. The Unionville | line was using a more desirable type | A line from Bethel to Danbury used | a very convenient kind of step. In | Madison car was used with only one 1 entrance, amidships and with a fold | ing step. Mrs. Sterling had observed a double running board in use on summer cars. The common house step is about six inches and sometimes the trolley step is seventeen inches. The ordinary trolley step is twice the ordinary house Step
 Mrs. Sterling informed the commits sion that an official of the Connecti- cut Company had told her that troll ley car cost $6,0o0 and she had learned that car of a different type suitable for women cost about the same money
 Mrs. Sterling's Quick Response.
 To Commissioner Hale, Mrs. Ster- ling said that a distance of twelve inches was too great. Chairman Hig- gins at this juncture read petition which called for a rig making the step not exceeding fifteen inches, and on this Mrs. Sterling countered by saying that it was drawn up by a man. E rso f,o,,,,,,, ss,o,ar IJ,,a .,+,,, x.,;+no.s said that the company was losing pat ronage from numbers of women who were ihconvenienced. At another time she said that women were being bruised where they should not be-
 To General Manager tPunderford Mrs Sterling stated that both of the distances through which women rais- ed their feet in embarking on one- step car were equally trying to wo- men. MT. Punderford said that when car is just out of the factory the distance from the top of the rail to the platform was 19 1-2 inches. Also MT. Punderford said that some roads had been giving up the use of open cars because of the increase in acci- dents on putting open cars in com mission.
 HobbIc Skirts Come Up.
 pr. Ansel G. Cook, of Hartford, went on the witness stand. He said that as a physician he believed that high steps were injurious. Dr. Cook went into an explanation as to the position of thigh bones and fragments in the, action of boarding trolley cars and the action on the knees. Many people found trolley steps inconven- tent and almost impossible. Lame people, elderly people and fat people with short legs find trolley cars a very serious inconvenience. Women with children and packages suffer a great deal.'' Dr. Cook said.
 The doctor said that hobble skirts and high heel shoes weres assailed in an editorial in the Courant, but that these were optional. while trolley steps were a necessity.
 Question of Weight.
 Mrs. wilhelmina seliger. of Hart ford. put emphasis on the inconven- fence of pulling up weight by using the handles on the platform.
 Mrs. John H. Woodruff of Bridge port, past regent of Mary Silliman chapter. Daughters of the American Revolution. heartily indorsed.
 Horace H. Jackson of Bridgeport, told the commission about introducing the high trolley step matter. in the common council of that city. He also told about calling in December on President Mellen, who said that if his Bridgeport callers did not secure what they desired in the line of trolley inn provements it would be their own fault. The company would spend a quarter of a million, if necessary. Representatives of the Bridgeport Board of Trade talked with President Mellen. Some of the cars in Bridge port were difficult for even men to board
 MT. Punderford said that trolley step measurements were made from the rail, because pavements differ considerably, and depressions were li- able to be found at the base of a rail.
 MT. Punderford gave measurements to show that new double truck cars were at about the same distance above the rail as the old single truck. cars
 MT. Jackson had no remedy to give for the trouble
 Mrs. Sterling said that she had not gone to the barns of the Connecticut company to take measurements, on account of a feeling that the com- pany would object
 Some Women Back Off.
 Mrs. Charles H. Armstrong of Bridgeport testified that she lived at a transfer corner and that she fre- quently saw women backing off a car and often saw conductors assist ing women from cars.
 MT. Punderford explained that certain single truck cars had a dis tance of twenty and one-half inches from rail to step and of sixteen inches from step to floor.
 Mrs. Armstrong cited a Bridgeport physician as declaring that many mOp1au Woro f,ovo