The Arvada enterprise., 1914-04-23
Interesting Letter
From Busy N. Y.
New York, April 10, 1914.
Editor Of The Enterprise:

crowds on the streets. Greater
New York has within its boundar-
les more than five million people.
Each morning the ferries and rail
lines bring hundreds of thousands
of commuters into the city from
Jersey, from up along the Hudson,
and from cities along the shore of
Long Island Sound.
The handling of the vast volume
of this human tide, in it's ebb and
flow, is one of the most serious
problems that police and other
city officials have to face. The
common meeting point of these
millions of people, the very heart
and nerve center of this great
metropolis of America, is where
Broadway and Sixth avenue inter
sect, and at which point both are
crossed at right angles by 34th
street. This latter is one of the
most heavily travelled cross town
streets. Broadway runs south
east and northwest. Sixth avenue
runs due north and south. These
two great thoroughfares cross each
other at about the angle that
a switch rail leads from a sideing
to a main line; or that the fingers
take when crossed. The wedge
shaped space between the two,
north Of Bath street, is called Her
aid Square, in honor Of the New
York Herald, the beautiful build
ing that is the home of the Herald
being located there. A similar
shaped tract, south of 34th, is
named Greeley Square, in honor
of Horace Greeley, whose monu-
ment and statue is there, That
long open space is the heart of
New York. On one corner stands
the great Hotel McAlpin. One
block east is the world known
Waldorf-Astoria one block south
is the beautiful hotel Martinique.
Next to that is the splendid Hotel
Imperial. On the west side of
Broadway south of 34th street,
side by side, are the great depart
ment stores of Gimbel Brothers
and Saks G. Co. On the same side
Of Broadway, but north of 34th
street is the daddy of all New
York department. stores-R. II.
Macy & Co. During the year
1913 that store did a retail cash
business of twenty one millions
of dollars. This would make an
average of seventy thousand dol
lars, in cash, for each one of three
hundred business days, leaving
out Sundays, American and Jew
ish holidays. Think Of that for
one store, and every dollar cash
trade, as the firm carries absolute
ly no credit accounts. The great
bulk of that buying was done by
the middle and rather poorer
class Of shoppers, as Macy's is
distinctly "a store for the people.
Within radius of four blocks
from this point there are thirty
theatres and opera houses. On
the streets running east and west
through the districts are numer-
able restaurants and Lobster Pal
aces-Itahan, Hungarian, Ger
man, French, Russian and Chin
csc. 1t is safe to say that the
different eating places in that
Babel of the World" " offers the
bill of fare common to the people
of each of the nations Of all the
world. But coming back to
crowds. On Broadway there is
a double tracked trolley line, on
Sixth avenue the same, and like
wise on Bath street. This net
work of tracks has common
crossing at this point. One who
has never witnessed the sight dur
ing the busy hours, can have no
idea of what it is like, Here are
the figures. Nine trolley cars a
minute, fifteen auto cars or horse
drawn vehicles pass, and sixty foot
travellers dash along, all in the
same sixty seconds. Not for one
minute hut for hours nj a time
that mighty stream flows on. The
confusion is more apparent than
real. The efficiency Of the traffic
squad Of the New York police
force is the key to the marvel.
Without the services Of these
highly trained experts in handling
street traffic there would be n
hopeless snarl, jam or tangle in
three minutes. A sharp whistle,
the upliftinp of a policeman :