The Washington herald., 1921-05-31
Tracks Through Pastures
Mark Beginning of
One Line.
PUBLIC STILL PAYS
FOR SPARSE TIMES
Crowded Cars Now Cover
Territory on 2-Min-
ute Schedule.

IcorkobIH plan tor O merger P
the companies operating street
car lines in Washington, and O.
rcturn TO ffVe-eent fares. The
thirfy-frst editorial of q SeTtes
ON this subject 1UiH be found on
the editorial page of todGys iSSHe.
whether the author Of the rolley
ear comedies seen in motion pic
lures received his inspiration oS
coming in contact with the old City
and Suburban railway, which ran
or, to be more literal. ambled' from
lexington to the District line or
whether a like project inflicted upon
the people in some other part oil
the country was responsible for this
famous caricature, may never De
known. The fact remains that
washington did have funny
railway. although its history rams
to reveal the slightest trace OF
hurnor except to those engineering
Its subsequent evoIutions who are
certainly entitled to a good laugh
at the expense of the public.
Land-seliing Scheme.
The local comedy traction, or the
City and Suburban" as 1t was call
ed, was conceived by group OF
Washington business men about
1898, but the purpose of the road
Is not clearly defined in history
It may have been, and without
doubt was. part of land-sellinS
scheme The fact that at the Dis
trict line, now called Mount Rain
Ter, was a thriving city of IL
houses and IS inhabitants, and that
Woodbridge, North Langdon anu
Sherwood were farms. pastures and
landscapes and that Rhode Island
avenue was merely a proposal, pre-
,ludes any possibility that the road
was built to fill a demand
Maurice Stallings. the skipper"
Of the FIRST car to operate over this
tine. turned his fares in, if any, at
lexington. and caught rabbits in a
set of traps at the District line;
all of which would indicate that the
City and Suburban was mostly sub
urban and largely stationary.
Tale of Old Timer.
One of the oldest inhabitants re-
members, without difficulty, his first
ride as a guest of the skipper. The
VOYAGE" as he describes it, was
made in easy stages, stopping fire.
luently to allow the skipper" to
90 alOft and remove the ice from
he wire with a stick kept for this
purpose and which also served to
drive the stray cattle and horses
from the right-of-way. These
pauses, said the oldest inhabitant.'
were a boon to the passenger as
they allowed him to recover, par
TALLY, from the dizziness caused oy
he drunken motion of the car.
Finally a determined piece OF ice
refusing to be dislodged by the
combined efforts of the skipper and
passenger spoiled the trip as the
narrator explained he was obliged
10 get home and had to walk, leav-
ing the "skiper" to tight II out
kone.
In the merger of lines which
>reatsd the Washington Traction
and Electric this unpromising and
poyerty-stricken victim of circum-
.,ances. received it's first nourish-
pent, later to be merged again with
another generous application OF wa
ter and called the Washington Rail
way and Electric. which name II
bears today.
Old Days Gone.
rons however, are the farms and
,astures. and no longer do the gen.
a. cous browse along the once
rrasn tracks. Mount Rainier, its
- terminus, together with closely
,diacent subdivisions now boasts of
. population of nearly 1000 peo-
,le HyaftsviIe. lying but a stones
.hrow beyond the District line, with
, popuIation Of 1858 people, all OF
uhom depend upon the electrician
,sryice. are Obliged to pay an extra
scent fare upon leaving the Dis
trict line. woodbridge is thickly
oopulated and the rest OF the run
= so densely settled that few avail
able building sites remain.
Cars now run on a two-mlnute
schedule. and from in the morn
ing until s it is next to Impossible
FOR those wishing to board car
,t Mount Rainier 20 secure stand
ing room on cars leaving points
surther out. In fact, one. Is tor-
eunate IL able to get room at the
point of departure.
All Cars Packed.
About every fourth car is termed
m express and stops only at hre
,tops and principal points and not
n all for passengers after being
Full" The phrase crowded to the
doors" Is used much too generally
n truly describe the conditions. All
ears are packed to their capacity
almost at the time of their depart-
ure, which virtually means a nom
stop run. as at least half the stops
are eliminated. together with the
nuch-emphasiZed cost of stopping
and starting.
This generation, of course, is all
100 familiar with these conditions
and IL fails to understand why un-
ier the circumstances it is necessary
% pay an Scent fare-and there
Is the Joke. They are still pay
ng for the old original trolley"
and until there is a dehydration
II stick and a safe and sane mer- |
ger of the Washington Railway and |
Electric company and the Capital
fraction company there will be no |
-elief from the high fare. and peo-
pie will continue to take transfers |
when they car get them rather than !
% the particular destination they !