Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-03

| been ma tier OF green anu feu hSht9
and the waving arms of policeman.
Once it was mostly matter of black
ewes and flying fists. In those days
II was not a case of the man on the
right having the right f-way SO
much as the man with the best right
arm having it.
These interesting facts regarding
traffic control III the days of the horse
are revealed by n backward look into
the period when William McAdoo.
now chief city magistrate of New
York. was called upon to take charge
of the traffic OF the metropolis IN
1908. At that time Mr.. McAdoo was
named police commissioners by Mayor
Mcclellan with this advice:
above All, YOU must do something
to relieve the terrible Nehicular trai-
f1c conditions in Manhattan.
Whistle Is Ignored.
Just how the new police commis-
sioner complied with this order is re-
vealed in a recent issue of the New
York Herald Tribune in which it is
pointed out that when Mr.. McAdoo
became police commissioner he found
that Deputy Police Commissioner
Alexander r. Piper, who was ap-
pointed by Mayor Seth Low in 1902,
had gone to London to observe traf-
fic methods there aud had returned
with a conviction that the problem
could be settled by Broadway squad
| here.
The members of Pipers Broadway
squad were all required TO be SIN 1eet
tall and able to stop any night Al
that time all the vchicular traffic
was horse-drawn. and it was the Gus
1 % oil q
as to right of way to settle the mat
ter with their fists. There We're no
red and green lights at crossings, but
there were plenty of black eyes.
The first police whistle blown in a
pr~meditated attempt to regulate traf-
fic was at Duane street about % years
ago, but traffic paid very little atten-
ton to it.
For some time after that. If a mem
Der of the Broadway squad arrested
driver for disregarding his traffic or
ders. the magistrate invariably dis
| charged the prisoner and reprimanded
the policeman.
Drivers Were Angry.
When Mr.. McAdoo became police
commissioner he reorganiZed the
Broadway squad. renamed it the traf-
traffic lines in New York in 1904 at
the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge.
THE spectators were incredulous."
said Mr.. McAdoo. land the drivers
were angry or sullen. At that time
the drivers were thoroughly unregu-
lated and undisciplined. They were
accustomed to long blockades, to the
free use of force in getting out of
jams. and as a body they had never
been governed by any one.
1T was a difficult job to establish
traffic regulations in New York, but
Inspector Stephen O'Brien was the
man who finally was found equal to
it. He sent mounted men out to clear
the trolley car tracks. Before that
trucks used to drive on the car tracks
as a matter Of preference, and it made
no difference how a motorman jumped
on the gong-they would not turn out
A surface car on Broadway, in those
days, took the better part of a day to
get from Twenty-third street TO the
Battery-the same trip that now takes
II minutes on the subway.
Il remember after the car track
regulation started group of motor
men sent in a letter of thanks. because
they no longer We're compelled to de-
yelop varicose veins in their legs from
jumping on the gong all day."
'Invasions of Liberty"
After the Brooklyn Bridge, Police
Commissioner McAdoo next estab-
lished traffic lines at Madison Square
and then at Herald Square. Times
Square and Columbus Circle.
Hotels and carriage trade objected
TO the detours." said Mr.. McAdoo,
land newspapers criticized the regu-
lations as invasions of liberty"
At last, a citizen of Brooklyn named
Peace, in test case, challenged the
right of the police to tell him where
and how to drive, and the case went
TO the Court of Appeals, where It was
decided that the police commissioner
of New York City had no power to
regulate traffic. As police commits.
sioner, William McAdoo promptly OBJ
tanned legislation from Albany en-
towering the police commissioner of
New York ito make rules and regula.
lions for the conduct of vehicular
traffic in public streets, etc" and de.
inning violation of such rules as q mis-
demeanor
ABOUT two years later, in 1907. the
llfst traffic regulations were printed
Courts in the meanwhile had begun to
nt'41'Ao IiiS ounce III enforcing IA6m.
There was no service of summons
for traffic violations - the policeman
Jumped onto the wagon and rode to
court with the driver. Then, as ever
since, the most frequent offense was
failure 10 keep to the right of the
road in order TO leave the center clear
When traffic regulation was estab-
lished in New York 25 years ago We.
hicular traffic was entirely horse
drawn. The automobile age was in its
infancy. There We're hardly 900 auto.
mobiles, where now there are more
than 100000.
Regarded as CuriOsities.
The transition from the two-fisted
horse-draWn age of traffic % years
ago was reviewed by Philip D. Hoyt
first deputy police commissioner, who
had charge of traffic under Commits
sloner Mclaughlin, as he now has
under Commissioner Warren
The first horseless carriages that
made their appearance in the city had
little effect on traffic" said Commits
sioner Hoyt. They were regarded as
curiosities. The only problem they
presented was an epidemic Of run
awaEs. Strangely enough, when auto
mobiles began to appear in consider
able numbers, the early effect was to
improve traffic conditions, because
they speeded 1t up and increased street
capacity. 1t is only within the last
decade that the automobile began to
ureSpnt q Dr0hlarD when tho numb ar