The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-11-24
MENTAL TEST FOR
PEOPLE Who RIDE
Numbers to Take Place Of Names
on All Street-Car Routes
i'll City.
MAIN STREET is NUMBER ONE
Not Good Form to Brand New
Steel Cars With High
Sounding Names.
MAIN STREET is NUMBER ONE

Numbers will take the place OF names
III designating the nineteen strcct-car
routes In Richmond. the new arrange
m"nt having started with the cper-
alton of steel cars on Main street,
which route Is 10 he known rs No /.
| BROAD and Main signs will come
down Just as rapidly as the new equip
ncnt is put into service, and il YOU
tell Johnnie 10 run along and catch
Il broad aud Main car. call him back
and tell him 10 catch No .. And go on
down the list. There VIII be a number
for Clay street. Forest HILL lakewood
and Broad. lakewood and Main. Laurel
Street. Ginter Park. Hui Street and
all tho others that reach from one
end OF town to another.
No attempt will be mad To sub
stitutc numerals for names on every
! limo at once, for Il would be a bit
too confusing TO pc, lie who have long
been accustomed to the old boards on
hundreds Of cars. The numbers viii
be given in small doses Line No. |
designated by a big H. carries the
additional informatlv Main Street"
\ in smaller type: line No. .. designated
I by a big -" carries the same addi-
tional Information, Broad and Main"
Having given YOU this key, the Vir-
! sinia hallway and Power Company nat
urally assumes that YOU will soon get
tho system into your head knowing
7
things quickly. the Richmond batting
average IS 1000
lin Line With Modern Thought"
y fcw years ago. when tho telephone
service got 50 big that two exchanges
I had 10 he operated, with name for
each, there was great confusion, but
/ II didn't last long. The people quickly
T got the Madison" and Monroe" habit.
ANA til" prefix Is much n part OF
the number as if 1t had been there
since the Hood. In tho same way trac-
tlon company officials believe there viii
be little or no confusion, and they
are going 10 help prevent It by Civ
ing few number spasms at time.
As the uplfter would remark. this
innovation is in .,nc with modern
thought.
"Hu,," remarked tho man who fol-
lows tho old habit how will strang-
"rs ever know how 10 get there"
BY way of answer, company officials
assert that tn" nqme- system now IN cf-
feet is a missioner, that clay Street
cars run through hundreds Of city
blocks not Oh Clay street: that Laurel
street cars spend mighty little time
curtScy!ug through Laurel: that HUH
street cars arc not always whirling
through Hull street, and so on and SO
forth. MIR. Stranger, standing at Tenth
and Main. will ask Mr.. Policeman the
easiest way To reach the jefferson Iio-
tel, ana AIR. Cop III bawl Number
one" Mr. Stranger will wait for the
big number ana that is all there is to
IL. So far as out-of-town people are
concerned, il is claimed that n number
VIII be more easy TO remember than q
name.
Good Social Form.
All OF tho nineteen routes will lose
their Identity in time, and they Will
bc numbered exactly Ike convicts.
thought 81 l,.l
that point where aesthetic athletics
VIII agree 10 put numbers ON the broad
hack Of Il football player. tCan you
imagine people SO denscly ignorant that
a number would be required between
til. wonderful shoulder blades Of Mis-
ter BrickleyD But that has nothing
10 do with this street car problem. By
starting IL by degrees in pleasa NJ
weather tho company maintains tina;
everybody will get tho number habit
in time, and after while il viii be SO
lovely that II would take an amend
inent TO tho Constitution 10 go back
10 tho old style.
Besides. il is no longer fashiona bic
10 send out street car with = name
( \ street car with II name is dc trop
,highbrow for Off -coloIJ, and that is
why the name must disappear Didn't
YOU know that when the fashion maya
zines have been trying to put YOU
I u
planted in your brain that il is not good
form in polite society TO brand a de-
liciouS little street ear with q name
you can readily understand that 1t
would never do 10 buy and bring hero
Il lot of all-stccl ears and operate them
without dirnifying them with Il mum
Der. Philadelphia says the number
scheme Is perfectly lovely; 1t has been
worked there. and the people are sim
ply carried away with il.
RcIrct md Rejoice.
But there IL just one rcgrct-Laurc!
street That name will not be Haunted
i'll the faces of the multitude; In the
drawing Laurel street may get 13
which is about it's number. There are
people In Richmond who have often de-
clarcd how they would hate to he
( knocked down by one OF those Laurel
street cars: 1t wouldn't be so bad IL
they should he crushed off the face of
the earth by No. -. Indeed. it would
pectcd. but think Of the comfort one
would have in dying, knowing that the
I people could not say: "Iiow in the world
did he ever happen to let Il Laurel
street car hit him. with the accent
on the Laurel. These are swift DAYS
| You can sag cone more easily than
YOU can say Main street" provided
YOU don't stutter
Arrested for Selling Liquor.
| Herbert Liggon was arrested last
1 nj frl lAt- fEI Doll