Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-08
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

The inexhaustible numbers OF peopl
| who go to make UP the population of
| great city are comprehended rather bet
ter by the street-car rider than by any
body else.
The automobilist has enough to do Il
avoid running over the populace Il
spend much time in contemplation o.
distractions.
The pedestrian has more than enough
to do to keep himself from being rur
over to spend many of his walking mo
ments musing about the hordes.
1t Is the street-car passenger alont
who is in q position to note the vas
numbers Of human beings who flow on
OF apartment houses, around corners
through the streets, along the sidewalks
He knows that the phenomenon Il
not new, that it is literally as old as thu
hills, but every morning IL impresse
him anew with the immense vitality o
human life.
Visions of ancient Rome, Antioch
Alexandria, float before his eyes. Thu
dress and appearance of their citizen
must have been amazingly different
their thoroughfares and buildings ever
more, but In the main they must havl
presented similar scenes.
The crowding, some say herding, O
people into cities is one Of the eterna
proofs Of the gregariousness of hui
mainly.
Man is no solitary animal, no lon,
wolf, but runs in his packs, or cities
towns. villages. Wherever one and ont
get together, among men, they will form
town. The variety that results is as.
founding, considering that the under
lying idea is the same, whether In Paris
France, or Cross Roads, Wis.
II -
The Washingtonian who observes hi
city while it grows wonders why tn,
public vehicles should remain s,
crowded, since so many tens Of thou
| sands Of persons transport themselves
personally to work and home agar
every day
Surely the public transit lines. ever
as augmented by buses, would breal
down under the impact or avalanch,
Of human beings, If It we're not for thu
large number OF private cars which
fill the streets.
One need not consider q Hypothetical
Rome, which he has never seen, bu
has before him the wide panorama o.
an actual, living city, for a city is Z
living organism. after all, with every
thing in it devoted to the needs O.
human beings.
Inc SJTeSG car r1Qer observes Til
benefcent result of trafic lights, anC
realizes their importance in the modern
! city. Until some one shall show a bet
ter method of traffic control, the light
will increase in number, despite thu
protests of those who resent the mo
mentary waits at corners.
1t is only human to growl q bit
when one Is held up for half minute
or however long it is the lights remain
| In the wrong color.
Sometimes 1t seems, especially to mo-
florists and to bus passengers, that ont
hits" the lights wrong at every block
Then, again, on the next trip, on,
'hits" them right. passing on BLOCK
after block with almost no stoppage.
Surely modern Washington traffit
would be impossible without the lights
And still around the corners the,
come, thousands upon thousands o.
men and women, boys and girls, al
between the hours of 8 and 9 O'CLOCK
in the morning.
Tomorrow morning they will all bC
there again, but the passing observer
will not be able to recognize a one o.
them, or at most not more than ont
or two. In time, if he is fairly pune.
tual in his habits, he may come tx
know a few faces. Maybe an old mar
and young girl. But neither know;
him. All suffer from cityitis, which Il