The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-01-08
STREET CAR MEN
FAVOR FRESH AIR
Virginia Railway and Power
Company to Nail Venti-
lators Open.
ENFORCE ANTI-SPITTlNG LAW
Chief Werner Promises Plain
Clothes Policemen 10 Aid
in Making Arrests.

Nentilators in trolley cars operated
by the Virginia Railway and power
Company are to be opened, left open
and nailed open. No longer will the
care conductor whose ideas Of ventila-
ton are crude be permitted 10 make a
sweat box of a hundred or more home
ward bound citizens. The matter is 10
be left neither to the discretion OF the
conductor nor 10 the wish of the oc-
casional crouch whose fear Of breath
OF fresh air reaches almost 10 a mania
The ventilators are to be opened ana
nailed down, with the full approval
and sanction of the Board of Health,
and those of the human kind who pre-
fer TO breathe real air into their lungs
will be enabled 10 patronize the cars
once more.
For some weeks pastt he company
rules have required the opening of
one ventilator at each end OF the car.
Recent letters to the newspapers have
called the attention of street railway
officials to the fact tina hese small
breathing spaces were often closed by
an obliging conductor 10 satisfy the
within Of some much wrapped-up citizen,
and that the obliging conductor as fire.
quently forgot TO open them agar
when the invalid passenger left the
car.
The railway men invited a confer
ence with Chief Health Officer e. G.
Levy. who was prepared to prove by
elaborate charts that there are ten
death-dealing diseases which originate
from breathing foul air 10 the one
possible and often imaginary chance
Of taking a cold from breathing fresh
air
Assistant General Manager C. @
Johnson personally conducted party
Of newspaper men over the lines yes
terdav to chow what was being done
to make the cars clean and sanitary.
and to better conditions Of thSir use
in rush hours. Finding that Chief
Health Officer Levy's position on ven
tilation is sustained by the best au-
thorities. Mr. Johnson has given orders
for blocking open two ventilators at
each end OF each car. Shelter IS pro-
Nided so that rain cannot beat IN.
Oblising conductors instead Of shut
ting their cars up like boxes. regard
less of the number of people inside.
Will hereafter recommend a closed am
bu!ance and A hospital for those pas
sengers who cannot stand a breath OF
real air. An extra twist is 70 be
given to the electric heaters under the
seats so that even 10 those taking long
rides the health plan Of ventilation
will prove 10 hardship.
The newspaper inspection party found
twentv-sfx men at work cleaning
cars. and was told that that was the
regular force employed every day in
the year: that ever car in use is swept
ont three times day-after the morn
ing rush hour, at noon. after the eve
ming rush hour-and is more thorough
| lv cleaned at the barns each night
After each 1000 miles of operation
that is to say. every few days-a car
is taken out of service into the shops,
( it's machinery inspected and its en-
| tire interior secured and dlsinfected
At the suggestion of Chief Health
! Officer Levy. Assistant General Mana
ger Johnson has asked the aid of
| Chief Of Police Werner in the enforce
! ment of the antispitting ordinance
, chief Werner has promised to detail
a number OF plain clothes men to ride
| in the cars at odd times, especially
during the rush hours. with A view Il
arresting spitters. and attorneys for
the Virginia Railway and Power Com
panv will appear in Police Court e
J prosecute each case Signs which ever
4 NvavfarinC man can read are being
printed. giving notice of the antispit-
ting crusade. so that no one who has
acquired this habit in past Years car
claim that he was not put on notice
that new conditions have arisen Of
fcials of the company assured ths
newspaper men that they would al
WAYS give attention TO reasonable
complaints from the travelling pub
lie. and welcomed public criticism.
The crowding Of the cars during
the rush hour IN the evening. II was
lcNplained was merely the problem OF
transportation in every large city
whore an army OF working people 81
all classes quit work al the same time
and apparently all expect 10 get or
the same car hOmeward bound. The
varying hours at which various enter
! urises open III makes the morning
rush much less acute. 4 number oil
textra cars are provided on Mar
street and other lines during the rusi
hour. but the number 81 these Is linn
tied not 50 much by the number 81
cars in the barns. a, by the uumbe'
az prone riv trained men tbs COMPANY