davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13
BY Commissioner Dr. John A. Harriss

question of pedestrian travel one of great moment
III the traffic regulations of the city of New York that
1t has to do with the coordination of vehcuar foot
traffic in the congested centres To increasing
difficulties will require to my mind method that not only
has to do with rigid police observation but must include
campaign Of publicity and education of the safety character
that by the way have been exceedingly kind matters
pertaining to the traffic of the city, but also make available
the courteses of the railway and the bus lines
throughout the Greater City.
Such campaign of publicity would be of great benefit
and would assist the Police Department bringing about
solution of this difficulty.
The important points could be grouped follows:
!. please at only.
The cooperation Of ehcuar traffic with that of pedestrian
Elimination of rrabity of the pedestrian for vehcular
traffic.
a. The pedestrian must remember that very heavily laden
commercial vehicle is unable to force it's brakes down
sufficiently to stop every ten fifteen for the con-
venience Of the pedestrian crossing between This
applies to horsedrawn vehicles, thus calling forth the
humanitarian side of the pedestrian matters pertaining
directly thereto.
trust that those who opposed the elevated road
way Tor automobiles and pedestrians along Sixth Avenue
from fortIeth to Fftynnth Street. will have given this
ample consideration and will withdraw objections and
cooperate with this coming fall in way that will
strate that such roadway will help in great degree to
solve the problem Of north and south traffic Madison Fifth
and Sixth avenues Broadway 1t will materially
eliminate the theatre congestion in that both sides of the
roadway could be used going south from until p and
both sides going north from 8 until midnight.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13

tape and cluttered with the impedi.
menta of official and routine bust
ness. But he did not. He sent out
call for help, and when chambers Of
commerce, labor unions, welfare or
CARNATIONS, Women's clubs, re-
sponded he set them to work. That
was all. But it was enough to make
the big machine begin to run
smoothly the first week it started.
In the first five weeks of the cam
paign 81 1928 men out of 77,7SS were
provided with Jobs. The first five
weeks were not the best five weeks,
but they were good weeks, and at the
end of them Colonel Woods himself
admitted that eve have got away in
a good start"
The War Department has not only
its local staff of volunteer assistants
in every community in the country
but it has also the cooperation of
five other government departments
Secretary Lane of the Department
of the Interior has placed his entire
machinery, including $4,000 felC
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13
rom Here to Deiu.uare

The foregoing statistics have been
prepared by police authorities, and
are to be incorporated in a report
soon to be forthcoming by DE-. John
Alton Harriss, Special Deputy Po-
Ice Commissioner for Traffic, that
the people of New York may gather
IN idea of the difficulties that are
met diurnally in handling metro
politan traffic
Imagine an unbroken line of
motor vehicles extending from the
Pennsylvania Station. at Seventh
Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street,
across New Jersey to PHILADELPHIA
and thence almost to Wilmington
Del. In that line would be ap-
proximately the number of motor
cars-or la miles of them-that
pass through Columbus Circle every
twenty-fo hours.
1t is the torrential growth of New
ork's great streams of traffic that
has led to crisis in the affairs Of
our streets. 1t has given US 52i
deaths in automobile smashups 0,
accidents in 1917, as against five ir
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13
By Sarah Addington

n 7 WAS easy enough to get a job |
with Uncle Sam any day be-
Il tween April 6, 1917, and No
vember II, 1918. Indeed, the /
old man rather monopolized the labor
market, with his Help Wanted"
signs on every post and his long,
skinny finger pointing Franceward.
The able bodied man who escaped
him had to be cannier than a thou
sand detectives, swifter in locomo-
ton than the railroad administra-
tons best bets and more wide
awake than the sleepless eye of
vigilance itself.
But now that Uncle Sans war
jobs are about over what has he, as
an employer. done? Well, he has
done and is doing what no private
employer has ever dreamed of doing,
for he has not only paid bonus of
extra pay to his discharged en-
ployes, but he is in dead earnest
about getting new jobs for them,
and spares himself no effort, no time,
no patience, to put his soldiers back
into civilian life with at least as
good job as they left when they
went to war. In fact, his ideal is
just little higher-he wants to put
them into better jobs, for, being
business man, he knows very we'll
the value of time, and, being a con-
scientious old uncle, he feels that he
owes them something for that time
spent in his service
The War Departments earnest
effort to correlate all the agencies in
the country interested in the return
ing soldier and his employment is a
mammoth task. Because it was one
of the country's biggest single tasks
it was intrusted to one of the ma
TONS biggest men, Colonel Arthur
Woods, known to New York as "the
DCot 1 OAiSC OOIIlllllSSlOIlcI W0 ever
had" but now assistant to the Sec
rotary Of War. Unemployment of
soldiers, sailors, marines, is his job,
and when one considers that our
service men numbered almost $780,
600 on November l, 1918, and that
these men are being demobilized at
the rate of 10000 daily it appears
as quite a job, even for a man like
Woods.
Colonel Woods has attacked the
Job in a characteristic democratic
fashion. Washington is the centre
and he is the boss, but his co-work-
ers include organizations, groups of
men and women Of all types all over
the country. Whoever can and will
be of service in bringing a soldier
less job and jobless soldier together
is looked upon as an ally Colonel
Woods might have organized the
movement paternalistically, with al
roads leading to Washington, each
one Of them measured Off with rec
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13

sion Of the police traffic squad to its
present quota Of 806 men; it has de-
veloped more or less bitterness be-
tween the pedestrian and the auto
mobile owner; it has created three
traffic courts that dole out punish
ment to offending drivers, and it has
given us, lastly, the jaywalker--
that human and insouciant bird of
precarious passage.
Jaywalker, the noun, is the hus-
band of jaywalking, the verb and
wife. A jaywalker is any one who
crosses streets in the middle of the
block or at other places not desig-
mated for foot traffic, or one who ig-
nores the whistle or indicator of the
traffic policeman and brings up
against the bumper of an expensive
limousine or the radiator of truck.
A jaywalker goes kitty corner"
across a crowded street, or attempts
to dodge between rapidly moving
vehicles. Jaywalkng has made adj
ditional wards necessitous in our
more central hospitals, and it has
been responsible for vast amount
of bruises, torn clothes-and pride.
The jaywalker is by instinct opposed
to the motor-driven vehicle, but, I'M
fortunately for the jaywalker, the
Supreme Court of the United States
has decided that the automobile,
quite as much as he, is entitled to
live and breathe in its rightful
sphere beneath the sun.
In his pursuit of metropolitan re-
search the student who fares forth
to study the jaywalker in his native
haunts will seek out some such busy
intersection as Fifth Avenue and
Forty-second Street. There he will
behold SO many pedestrians and
automobiles that are presumably in
such an unimaginable hurry to get
somewhere that the wonder grows
accidents are so few. A gap Of nine
feet between two moving automo-
biles is ordinarily believed by an
average of three pedestrians to be
sufficient to leap through safely.
That it generally is may be due in
no small part to the activity of the
expanding internal and contracting
external brake bands of the second
machine
The traffic officer-between whis-
tles-if in a conversational mood,
will advance three reasons why
motor car accidents have so greatly
increased. Briefly, they are
l. The incompetency of the drivers
of vehicles.
2. The pedestrians utter lack of
regard for his own safety.
5. The fact that parents and
guardians do not watch their chill
dren.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13

OLUMBJS CIRCLE is the
busiest street Corner" in
the universe. In ten hours,
ur between $3.50 4. m. and
$50 p. m, an average of 1920
vehicles pass through it. The second
busiest corner in the world rs the in
tersection of Piccadiliy and st.
James's Street, London. There 49,
T35 motor-driven and horse-drawn
vehicles whrl by every twelve hours.
In two hours less 10,475 more car
riages and motors go through
Columbus Circle than down Picca-
dilly.
In the remaining fourteen hours
of normal metropolitan day, which
includes the s o'clock and II
o'clock theatre rushes and the early
morning commercial car traffic, it
is estimated that 10000 additional
vehicles make the broad swing
about Columbus Circle. This con-
stitutes twenty-four hour total of
approximately 10000 vehicles, or
one-ffth of the number of pleasure
cars owned in the State of New
York.
Broadway and Forty second Street
is second in New York City in the
volume of vehicular traffic, with 49,
$50 conveyances passing that point
between the hours of $50 q. m. and
6:30 p. m. Fifth Avenue and Forty
second Street is third, with 1880,
and Central Park West and Seventy
second Street fourth. with 1910.
The total at each of these intersec-
tons would be raised from one-half
to two-thirds during the additional
fourteen hours of the normal metro
politan day, for New York traffic
never sleeps. 1t is current that
roars or murmurs ceaselessly
through the man-built CANYONS of
Manhattan and bursts into a thou
sand and one channels in the upper
caches of the city.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13
Finding Jobs for Fighting Men

demand and the soldier supply to-
gethcr is by far the easier route.
But the second way Of providing SOL
dicrs with jobs is a harder one. 1t
means overcoming the fear Of manu-
facturers, builders, municipal author
tiles, Of all employing people, of
demonstrating to them that the ap-
parent shortage Of work will soon
disappear and that big business can
not afford to wait for lower prices.
1t is a great diplomatic task, but
more than that, it is great insur-
ance plan for the future, and the
rather near future, of American
business and finance.
The burden Of the War Depart
ment's message to business men runs
something like this: Hire the good
men now, as an act of insurance
against the future labor shortage.
Better let small part of your pay
roll be idle a short time than endan-
ger the full efficiency Of the whole
organization later. Keep your or
ganization up to maximum strength,
thus create in your workers a sense
Of loyalty and devotion to your
plant, and see if it doesn't pay you
when the other man is bowling for
help later on"
An especially important phase of
this work of creating work for SOL
diers is embodied in what Colonel
Woods has called "spruce up" cam
paign. The admonition "Spruce up"
is directed at public and private own
ers Of property who during the war
let all improvements lapse. The
War Department enjoins owners.
municipalities, real estate dealers,
to repair their factories, their pub
lie utilities, their buildings, thus
bringing the value of their own prop
erty up to the highest notch, but also
providing the jobless soldier with a
job, at least temporary one, which
will satisfy him and keep him alive
until that not far-off day when there
will be more openings than men.
A particularly strong effort is
being made toward the encourage
ment of public works. Some $780,
100000 Of proposed contracts have
been reported or in sixty-three local
tiles, and in one week $6,00O,OO0
worth of new work was contracted
for, due to the efforts of Colonel
Woods's "spruce up" campaigners.
A brief resume of the work so far
may be given, though the work pro-
ceeds so rapidly that complete up-to-
date figures cannot ever be fur
nished. In twenty-eight cities CON
ditions are reported to be salts
factory; in sixteen, improving; in
six, fair; in eight, unsatisfactory
More than $40 cities have been re-
ported on, 100 by field representa-
tives and 210 by departments of
commerce.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13

Nine in ten accidents, the traffic
officer firmly believes, may be attrib-
uted to one of these three causes.
All of them may be eliminated by
education and legislation.
1t is the opinion Of traffic expert
at Police Headquarters that the time
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13

It a NEED Of satisfying, arxumens..
tive logic.
at is obvious that the tim. h..
come when it is dangerous to tenn.
porize with our traffic condition.
said Commissioner Harriss. INA
matter how much care the drives
and pedestrian use, how forceful III.
legislation or how successful an edu.
cational campaign, the fact remains
that there are so many automobile.
in New York and the traffic down
the leading thoroughfares is so trp
mendous and unwieldy that some,
thing has to be done about it.
1.-THE overhead driveway which y.
plan to run from Bryant to Contra,
Park will help solve the traffic con.
ditlons of Fifth and Seventh ave-
nues much as the Grand Centra,
Station viaduct has alleviated con.
ditions along Park Avenue. II il
far cheaper than cutting a new
street between Fifth and Sixth ave-
nues from Thirty fourth Street n
Central Park. as has been suggest
ed, and it will improve real estate
values along Sixth Avenue. for |,
Will create an arcade after the
fashion Of Paris and London tina.
can be made infinitely attractive and
will make of the upper floors of
Sixth Avenue buildings virtually a
new street. with consequent new
commercial possibilities.
At present the Commissioner 10
dissatisfied with the traffic signs.
and, at his own expense, ss indeed
everything he ESSAYS is. he is ex.
perimenting with some new ones.
The present signs. he thinks, are
ambiguous in command. involved in
The matter of English and obscure
to the drivcrsby
Why not more simplicity? Zone
way traffic" is more meaningful
than "One-way street" is il not
The Commissioner thinks so, and the
new signs will carry the legend.
One Way Traffic" with an arrow
and the stereotyped police Depart
ment Regulation" only, thus elimi-
mating the "north-bound traffic" and
"south-bound traffic" and such.
which, coupled with "One Way
Street" and an attcnuated rather
than a bold arrow, left the driver
often in doubt and with the feeling
that to be on the safe side he should
panoply himself for municipal travel
with a fourth grade geography or
Guide to Greater New York
The Commissioner IS quite as
much disciple of frankness as he
is of simplicity, and he never has be-
lleved that all the Ills Of human
kind may be attributed to the auto
mobile Quite to the contrary, he
respectfully requests that the pedes-
trian learn to keep his eyes open
and cooperate with the automobile
driver. The student Of metropolitan
research might, indccl. glimpse q
tiny breach between t4c Commits
sioner, who believes that an automo-
bile and its driver are a combination
to be treated considerably, and our
traffic court judges, who let off with.
out fine about four in fifteen thou
sand" as some court hanger-or
ventued.-but that, Of course.
would be politics and not jaywalk
ing.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13
re Jaywalking Fly in the City's Traffic Web

nothing less than a law compelling
parents and guardians to keep them
from playing in the streets will
make them entirely safe, and he ad-
vocates legislation to that effect.
Pick five chauffeurs from among
fifty and if each of them does not
aver that the fear which turks deep
est in his heart is that some child
will Unexpectedly run athwart his
machine, defying his utmost skill to
avert accident. and probably death
or manning, the student Of metropol-
itan research may feel that he has
discovered an exception to the uni
versal rule.
Il have driven fourteen years in
New York and have never had a
serious accident" said gray-haired
automobile driver on Madison Ave
nue. near the Hotel Biltmore. He
touched wood as he spoke "Tho
~.osest calls / have had invariably
have been with children, and they
have given me uneasy nights.
Lower New York and Harlem are
he worst. In both places there are
more children than the average. and
ley are less carefully watched.
have had my troubles with trucks,
horse-drawn wagons, new traffic
rules and bonehead drivers. but
these are nothing compared to the
small boy or girl who suddenly dart :
after ball or a toy. In the last
year three times | have run my car
on the sidewalk to avoid accident"
Having conducted his preliminary
research the student on the trail of
the jaywalkor will find that his
peregrinations will inevitably lead
to the offices of DR.. John Alton Har-
riss.
The offices Of DR.. Harriss are on
the seventeenth floor of the Postal
Telegraph Building, at 81 Fifth
Avenue. They occupy an entire
floor, which until recently has been
given over to the British Recruiting
Commission, along with various of
DR.. Harriss's business interests.
If the student of metropolitan re
search is writer he will quickly
discover that DR.. Harriss is good
copy This might be inferred
from the manner in which he be
came a Special Deputy Police Com
missioner for Traffic. DR.. Harriss
was arrested for some minor auto
motive offence, he missed board OF
directors meeting through being
forced to go to traffic court, com.
planned about it to the Mayor. who
turned him over to Commissioner
Enright, and the Police Commits.
sioner, impressed by Dr.. Harriss
explanation Of how the matter might
have been adjusted with less seriou,
cost to the defendant-a typical case
-straightway made DR. Harriss {
Deputy Police Commissioner.
AS a result Commissioner Harriss
having kicked himself into a Job, i
now making the most of it in {
genial, friendly way that is rapidly
establishing him as a prime favorit,
among the traffic officers and brothcr
Deputy Police Commissioners viii
whom he confers daily.
No bank or corporation presi
dent has more exquisite offices thar
Commissioner Harriss's. The man il
quest of the jaywalker may imagin,
that once these Offices, with thei
mahogany and stipple and rich up
holstering, we're paragons of par
ticularity. But that was before tn
Commissioner "kicked' himself int
! the Police Department.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13
4 Double Deck 4renue

Now there are traffic signs here
and there about the office and cngi-
neering designs Of overhead road
ways which have been worked out in
the hope. Of alleviating the traffic
ailments of Manhattan. The over
head structure which he has planned
to run abreast the Sixth Avenue
81" from Bryant Park or Fortieth
Street to Central Park is particu-
larly interesting, and it has behind
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13

vast increase in signs showing the
pedestrian the safe way and the safe
time to cross any street.
AS for children, he believes that
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13

tive and sustained The common
sense rules that foot travellers must
not violate shall be hammered home
again and again. There shall be
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13

and physical fitness, or lack of it, to
operate q car.
The work among pedestrians
must be educational 1t must be ac-
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13

has arrived when every driver of
r1otor-propelled vehicle should be
compelled to undergo an examina-
ton which shall establish his mental
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13
A Punch Card System

It is the opinion Of the Commits
sioncr that automobile drivers and
owners are hauled into police court
for too many minor offences, thus
creating a great waste Of time and
an unnecessary flourish of magls~
tcrial machinery. lie would provide
q punch card for these minor Of
fences, emitting the driver to three
chances" after which his case
would be reported - the Secretary
Of State as one untitled to drive Q
machine.
Meantime some 10000 machines
pass through Columbus Circle each
twenty-four hours, lodging the fes-
tive jaywalker as they go-and the
Commissioner agrees that it is net
only time, but that New York is 60
ing to do something about it.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13

Columbus Circle
Gray's
Westminster Bridge Pa
London Bridge 1887 1880
olacxars bridge 1850 1880
ox1oro 81 '" on oxford Circle l75i2
uravs lnn' 1lgh hoDon 1888 1912
0shopsga'e 1866 1850
Nauxhal Bridge 1891 and3 1880
Waterloo Bridge 1871 Fbuh and 1903
hep Ave.
lower Bridge 1928 Ave and2 1855
henngon Road Queens Gate l204+ 122e
and 10th
Puney Bridge Hot Madison 1850
High ST. Camden Town. 1o5l5 Eth Ave 1855
Total
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13
By Louis Lee Arms

~OLUMBUS CIRCLE is the
busiest street Corner" in
~ the universe. In ten hours,
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13

He toIoWang ,odn
Uith number uhch included
be public by Special Deputy Police
Commissioner Traffic John figures
compiled IN New York hoasfron
6 80 D. mchle those in London hours
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13

No bank or corporation presi-
dent has more exquisite Offices than
Commissioner Harriss's The man in
quest of the jaywalker may imagine
that once these Offices, with their
mahogany and stipple and rich up
holstering, were paragons of par
ticularity. But that was before the
Commissioner "kicked' himself into
the Police Department.
New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-07-13

r 7 WAS easy enough to get a job
with Uncle Sam any day be-
l. tween April 6, 1917, and No