The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-09-02
HARDLY A CHUG IN
VIOLATION OF RULE
Continued from First Page.

Continued from First Page.
taxicab concerns. The chauffeur's occu-
patton withered TO nothing and no ga
rage or stand was without the unusual
spectacle (for Sunday afternoon) of
groups of-these temperamentally gloomy
individuals standing idly nbout-f1sh out
OF water. The attitude of the taxicab
companies themselves was discoura GIN
to citizens without shame for. invariably
II seemed, they demanded to know the
necessity OF a call when their phones
rang. Unless the applicant could give n
substantial reason. based on necessity.
for requiring a car his request was re-
fused with some curtness.
Less Than 8 Per Cent. Used.
1t is impossible to guess accurately at
the number of private cars In idleness
yesterday. but persons OF competent OBJ
servation. such as the taxicab people.
traffic policemen. hotel starters. road
house managers ana garage and gaso-
lene supply station employees, estimated
that less than per cent. Of the usual
number OF cars was In use. On the
whole the estimate seemed to be con-
sentative. SO far as THE Suns investiga-
ton could go. Policemen In Central
Park could scarcely believe their eyes. the
Change was so marked.
Along the east drive in the early after
noon. up to 3 o'clock. a sparrow cop had
counted only nine private cars and some
OF these contained officers OF the army.
presumably on necessary errands. Or
dnarily that policeman could not have
kept count of the cars in the endless
stream.
fax Ca yAI u,
Riverside drive. one of the great motor
arteries OF Manhattan, for an hour late
in the afternoon and counted only twelve
cars going or coming where ordinarily
there would have been thousands on such
day. Fifth avenue was similarly de-
serted. and one might walk for ten min
utes in Broadway or in any one OF the
great avenues without seeing a passenger
car.
or course the doctors were about their
usual affairs. for people were coming
into the world or were Lowing It or were
in need OF medicines just as IL DR.. Gar
field and the gasolene scarcity had never
existed. and soldiers and sailors. for
whatever reason, were seen occasionally
in hired vehicles: and black motor
hearses rolled at the head of some as
tonishingly swift moving funeral process
sions: and occasionally n repair outfit
for one of the public service companies
or hospital ambulance or a motor fire
truck honked its warning; but these
merely emphasized the deserted appear
ance o. the city.
Field Day for Pedestrians.
Few things could have touched the
Imagination more effectively. for people
walked the streets in persistent aston
ishment at not having to leap for life or
dodge blushingly from the peril of an
onrushing speeder. 1t gave the city
something of the aspect of a country
town In the old days
A certain patient heroism was per-
ceptible in keepers OF roadhouses and Of
those ornate rural refectories so favored
by Sunday motorists. They stood at
their open doors shaking their heads
over parking spaces as blank as a sea
beach. Where hundreds had driven to
them in style on former Sundays and
had FASTENED to pay their unique prices
scarcely enough patrons were seen yes
terday TO keep bus boy in countenance
II was a sad. sad day for the roadhouse
proprietors. the saddest they had ever
known in their harvest seasons.
Up at the Gedney Farms Hotel, near
White Plains. the head clerk noted just
three automobiles parked at 4 o'clock in
the afternoon. and he couldn't recall any
Sunday previously that hadn't brought
100 to $50 cars by that hour There were
two in fropt of the Red Lion in Nassau
county. where fifty times that number
were accustomed to stand Out at the
Nassau Hotel. on the Boardwalk at Long
Beach. the telephone girl counted seven
machines. just about 4 per cent. Of the
customary parking.
t,t- 80 81.
stood in front OF the Claremont restau-
rant, near Grants Tomb in Riverside
Drive. There were no cars at the Gram
atan Hotel in BronXville at an hour
when the place used to boil with them OF
a Sunday. At Long Nue. near Yonkers.
there were two cars in sight at r. NJ.
So it went all around the city. a sign
of public observance of the simple re-
quest made by Uncle Sam.
Ta xicnb Business Not 20 Fer Cent.
Reference has been made TO the fall
ing OF in taxicab patronage and TO the
attitude of the taxicab concerns. The
Black and Waite Company. ono of the
most generously patronized. estimated
that not 20 per cent. of its usual sun
day business was being done. Calls were
not only fewer, but were carefully scru-
tinized. and this was the policy adopted
by all OF the concerns questioned. The
big hotels, the Waldorf, McAlpin and
BlltmoTe, for example. reported that few
OF their patrons were asking for taxiCab
service. Guests of these hotels either
postponed errands. walked or used the
surface. subway or elevated. sSightsee-
ing was abandoned for the day, the
Square Sightseeing Corporation
reporting that not one car was sent out
10. -, o.t,.
Grating the buSes. continued service but
cut down the number Of buses and
heightened the schedule The Wescott
Company took care of all who had TO
transfer baggage, but the business was
not up to customary figures. The inde-
pendent Taxi Owners Association noted
a great falling of in trade. So il went
along the line.
At the ferries and bridges the change
wae remarkable. On the Williamsburg
Bridge, where there is usually a heavy
traffic OF motor cars bound to and from
Long Island not one car was seen be-
tween and A NJ, ordinarily
crowded hour when the average runs TO
len or twelve cars a minute, and the
same was true at the Manhattan
greensboro and Brooklyn bridges Along
the Bowery, where traffic is busy Sun
days. one watched long time before
seeing a single car.
Jecrs Turn Picknickers Back.
Sunday passenger automobile traye,
by way OF south Ferry to Staten Island
dropped to 3 per cent of the normal
Al this ferry yesterday morning two big
automobile vans loaded with men and
Kegs OF beer were numerically jeered by
n&wsboys and others. The men bound
foN Staten Island for an outing. couldn't
stand the roasting "Slackers" burned