New-York tribune., 1920-02-17
Trains Stalled
As Blizzard
Sweeps State
Continued from page /

are down and many parts of Rochester
are in darkness.
Syracuse also is showed in,. and
schools at Oswego and Fulton have
smut down until the roads are cleared.
Trains scheduled to leave Syracuse yes
te, day were cancelled by the dozen.
Auburn is completely cut off from
the outside world, save by wire.
Neither train nor trolley left the town
yesterday and there is no promise that
traffic can return to normal in less
than forty-eight hours. So tightly
packed is the snow that plows have
little or no effect upon it.
Rome is also showed under and as
far south as Middletown railroads were
blocked by the drifts. No trains left
yesterday afternoon
Thirty passengers on a Central New
England train which was stalled all
night before last at Norfolk, arrived
there Yesterday Three locomotives
brought the cars through. The gale
and slcet caused the derailment Of four
locomotives on the Central New Eng
land yesterday
Polar conditions in New York yes
terday unexpectedly served to aid the
city in it's efforts to clear the streets
for the transportation of the necessi-
ties of life.
Rapidly freezing snow and ice accom-
plished more than all the human agcn-
cies that have been brought to bear upon
the situation by providing a hard outer
surface over which motor trucks and
horse drawn vehicles could move with
something approaching normal speed.
Although city officials still made des-
peratc efforts to entice workers to join
the snow fighters, business men whose
activities depended upon making de.
liveries agreed that they thanked
atmospheric conditions rather than the
efforts of Street Commissioner Arnold
B. MacStay for the partial success OF
their efforts yesterday.
But the Improvement, it was ad
mittcd, was only temporary. Another
thaw will turn the now hard pavement:
into slush and water and make then
lmpassable to teams. Such a thaw j.
necessary, however, before seriou:
work in clearing the streets can b.
accomplished.
The total number Of men employ {
in the work of clearing the city
streets Yesterday, according % Official
OF the Department of Streets, wa
something more than $4,000. which i
the smallest number of workers use
for the task since the blizzard .
February d.
They were distributed as follows:
Regular employees ....... $50
Extra employees .............. 8,74
Contractors men ............. 10
Total Observation-Disclosures. 12 81
Should to-day prove milder it is cA
pected that considerably larger fore
viii be available for this work.
Block parties, at which every on
brings his own pick and shovel to par
ticipate in q jolly street cleaning move
ment, were urged yesterday by clu
women who met in the Women's Cit,
Club 22 Park Avenue, to consider tn
condition of the streets.
Another idea resolved on to spec
up the tagging snow shoveler was t
ask Commissioner MacStay if he coul
use several hundred inspectors wit
appropriate badges to patrol the street
Wherever clearing operations were ur
der way. These inspectors, it was sue
gested, would mark the work of tn
dllgent ones and encourage them wit
cheerful words of appreciation. Tn
dreamers who leaned idly on thci
tools would be reprimanded. And tn
combined result of these efforts wa
calculated to make the snow fly.
1t was also suggested that wome,
drive snow trucks to free the driver
for street cleaning, but this plan wa
discarded. The reason for disapprova
was said 10 be that women could no
drive trucks in this weather, that tn