Evening star., 1933-03-05
INAUGURAL CROWD
EXCEEDS 100000
Railroads Handle Bulk of
Traffic From Every Section
of Nation.

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All arteries Of travel into the city
the day before In the assembling Of
host OF more than 100000 persons
enough to populate q city Of very re-
spectacle size-who came to witness the
inauguration Of President Franklin D.
Roosevelt.
The bulk Of the burden fell on the
railroads, which brought crowds from
all points of the compass totaling more
than 200 900, at what was described by
ofiicials as conservative estimate" on
March 2, 3 and 4. More than half Of
the arrivals poured through Union
Station yesterday in the seven hours
Immediately preceding the taking OF
the oath of office by the new President,
and while throngs were still arriving to
see the parade the exodus Of those who
ceremony was in full swing.
$4,000 visiting Autos.
In spite Of the exhortations Of the
local Police Department to visitors to
leave their cars at home, some 43 900
automobiles converged on the city dur
ing Friday and Saturday, according to
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servative, by the District branch Of the
American Automobile Association Esti-
mating an average car load Of more
than two but less than three persons,
the A. A. A. came to the conclusion
that not less than 100000 visitors
reached the city by automobile.
| There also were those who arranged
for accommodations near he ely and
rode in on buses, and relatively
small number who came by air East
ern Air Transport reported the arrival
Of about $50 passengers, and Pennsyl-
vania Airlines smaller number. The
latter system was compelled to cancel
many bookings for trips In from Cleve-
land and Pittsburg. on account OF
weather conditions in the mountains.
Washington Hoover Airport, carrying an
average Of four to five passengers each.
1t was easy to credit the estimate Of
railroad passengers by the seemingly
never-ending mass Of humanity which
| jammed itself through the enormous
concourse. inched its way through the
| spacious waiting room and out onto the
nswly completed Capitol Plaza. BY
o'clock yesterday morning, all Of the IA
cilities Of the station had been
swamped. As the day wore on it be-
came a task Of is minutes to half
| hour to get into telephone booth, to
check parcel, send telegram or to
do any OF the dozen things the arriving
throng would normally do.
Tracks Constantly Used.
All tracks on both levels at the termi-
nal were in constant use. In addi-
ton. several holiday specials were
parked at Fourteenth and Water streets
southwest, seventeenth street and
! Pennsylvania avenue southeast. at
Benning and the lexington freight
yards. These were trains which the
night until their departure today. The
bulk Of the travel was in excursion
trains which left such points as Phile-
delphia, Pittsburgh. New York and Bal
timore. The Pennsylvania Railroads s
New York excursion brought approxi-
mately 1000 yesterday. and there were
about 10000 passengers on B. & o. and
Pennsylvania excursions from Pitts
burgh and similarly large numbers from
other points.
The Southern. Chesapeake & Ohio.
Richmond, Fredericksburg e. Potomac
and other roads serving the Democratic
South brought in excursion specials
from Richmond Norfolk. Miami and
many other Southern points.
1t was the excursion specials on these
and the Northern and Western lines
which moved out first. Immediately
after the new President had taken the
cath. The Pullman specials. such as
| those from New York, were held until
late last night or early this morning
before departing.
Practically every regular train ar
| irving Friday night or Saturday came
! in two sections and some were in three
notably that which brought Al Smith
and the Tammany delegation.
The District branch Of the American
Automobile Association started to count
all Of the cars bearing out-of-town tags
beginning Friday, but the booths set up
at the various entrances to the city
were so swamped yesterday that the
task was abandoned There were booths
at Bladensburg road and New York
avenue northeast, Rhode Island avenue
and Newton street northeast. Wisconsin
avenue at the District line, Fourteenth
street southwest, near the tourist camp
and on Mount Vernon Boulevard al
Capital Overlook.
Heaviest Travel Period.
The heaviest travel was reported be-
tween noon Friday and II O'Clock yes
terday. Tags from Pennsylvania. New
York and New Jersey predominated In
spite of the difficulty which local
motorists experienced in finding park
ing spaces all Of the incoming auto
mobiles must have been parked some
where and the A. A. A. reported that
it had no complaints Of scarcity oi
parking places.
Although traffic moved at a snail's
pace both before and after the parade
the double shift of Traffic Bureau foot
and motor cycle policemen managed tc
keep it moving and no very seriou!
jams were reported.
The slowest stretch was said to bt
Fourteenth street between Pennsylvania
avenue and K street, largely because
of the extraordinary pedestrian traffic
at the intersection with Fourteenth
street of Pennsylvania avenue. E. anc
G streets. The arteries leading out o1
the city we're heavily travelled. but
traffic managed to find its way in anc
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