New-York tribune., 1918-09-16
Scarcely a loot Is
Heard on Third
"Gasless' Sunday
New York Again Observes
Governments Request in
Patriotic Spirit
Governor Takes a Bus
Fifth Avenue Empty and
Pedestrians Have Another
Inning

On the third gasless Sunday New
York yesterday stayed 90 and frac-
tion per cent dormant. Asked by the
government to give up the motoring
habit, the city of unrest in three weeks
has found nothing better to do over
Sunday than to sit still until Monday.
An extended tour of Manhattan yes
terday disclosed the fact that the city's
few hundred thousand automobilists
have found no substitute for automo-
billing. Yesterdays activities of car
owners proved chiefly q record Of the
things they didn't do.
Traction lines were operated as
usual, but officials of the various com
panies said that traffic was not abnor-
NAL. Pleasure riding in the subway
remains to be taken up as a Sunday
pastime. Theatres and churches re-
ported no increases in audiences or
congregations. Neither the box office
nor the contribution box has prottcd
by the governments successful effort
to save gasolcne.
The art Of Sabbath walking became
extinct years ago along with the frock
coat, the high hat and the pearl gray
trousers. Citizens moved about the
sidewalks in their usual Sunday num-
bers. but they were mixers and not
strollers. The difference between own
ers and non-owners Of automobiles was
apparent.
"Those that stick out their chests
and bust across the street, grinning,
without looking any direction-they
don't care how much longer the anti
gas rule lasts" observed a policeman
on post at Forty-second Street, who
aroused himself a moment to gaze up
the empty reaches of Fifth Avenue.
"Thc only use those people have for
gasolene is maybe now and then when
they get spot on their clothes.
"Those that have cars and can't use
them-you can tell them when they
come past by their not seeming to
know Just where they're going. They
generally flop on the nearest bench and
treat themselves to the only pleasure
that's left for them-smelllng the
buses go by"
Buses and baby carriages com
prised almost the entire vehicular traf-
fc on the avenue. By the manner in
which the go-carts were handled
Harlem policeman said he was able to
distinguish the status of parents. "1f
you see one of them look underneath
when she knocks and stick out his hand
when he turns a corner" he said, you
know he's got the habit"
The few automobile drivers identified
on the streets failed to give a clew as
to how the long Sunday hours were
spent by the thousands who remained
indoors. A janitor Of an upper West
Side apartment was Of the opinion that
if the gasless days continue the peace
of many families will be wrecked by a
return to the old days of a domestic
Sabbath
"Lots of people only see each other
on Sundays, and they get along fine
while they're riding around together
in car" he explained. But when
they haven't anything to do all day
but sit around and look at one another,
it amt so easy. Families of automo-
bilists hardly know the head of the
house without his goggles, and he
seems almost like stranger sitting
there Sunday afternoons"
Governor Whitman and Mrs. Whit
man rode down Fifth Avenue on top of
a bus to the University Place Church,
at Tenth Street. in the morning. They
returned to the st. Regis Hotel on a
similar conveyance, and seemed to en-
JOY it,
Fort Lee has always swarmed with
motor cars on Sunday. Most of these
were bound for Palisades Park, across
the Hudson, and for Camp Merritt. On
the Sunday before the first gasless Sun
day / ,230 cars were recorded as having
used the ferry. On the first of the gas
less Sundays this number was reduced to
213 automobiles. The next Sunday (the
second Of the gasless ones) only 124
motorists used the ferry. Yeste erday
the number was reduced to 3d. These
figures are based on the cash register
record of the gatekeeper Of the ferry
The record, of course, does not distin-
guish between pleasure and commercial
cars. The garage at the ferry, which
normally sells from 60 to 100 gallons of
gasolene on Sunday, was closed yester-
day.
At the greensboro Bridge, the favor
lite exit to Long Island for Manhattan
motorists only forty-four automobiles
passed over or back between a. m. and
p. m, according to the traffic police
4at hor