Year: 1871

l ~~~~ ~'~o-~


In the teeth of our advice last week to the
west side car companies to correct the various


abuses of their management, we are sorry
| to see that the Sixth and Eighth avenue lines


are growing daily more intolerably uncomfort-


able. The Eighth avenue, indeed, rivals the


Third in its wanton disregard Of the conven-


ience Of its passengers and in its pachyder-
matous Indifference to criticism which it


must be conscious it has richly deserved.


The Eighth avenue certainly carries off the
palm from all competitors in the matter OF
brutally discourteous conductors. Some OF


the outrages we have witnessed on this line


have been enough to make the blood Of


humane and civilized man boil with passionate


indignation. In some way it seems as


though women of the poorer sort use this


line more than any other; and especially on
Saturdays there are any quantity Of market


and laundress' baskets brought aboard the


cars. If our ideal of car line were carried
into effect special provision would be made for
| these Smpedinaenta-say on the roof and an
extra charge Of q cent or two exacted. But
no man with heart in his body, sensible as
he may be of the unpleasant features of the
daughters of toll place on the only means Of
conveyance they can afford. Their treatment,
however, by the conductors presents vast
field Of labor for some man willing to
assume towards the human race the
place of Bergh with the dumb creation. We
hov xrit hor
arms full of packages, purposely jerked off
the platform, because she hesitated a moment
before stepping out upon the muddy, slippery


street. Oh, that we had some modern knight
errant to avenge such cold-blooded outrages


some Rodolph with the purse of prince to


pay assault and battery fnes the kind heart
| of saint and the muscles and science Of a
| Morrissey to meddle in our mysteries of New
| York and convert a conductor day to good


manners. We have specially instanced the
conduct Of these brutes to poor women, but
such champion would also redress the
wrongs OF many passenger OF the sterner
sex who has been snubbed, insulted and per-


haps even physically injured and annoyed.


AS to overcrowding, there is little to choose
between the Sixth and the Eighth. A ride on
either line during six out of the twenty-four


hours is to voluntarily cast ones self into q
black hole of Calcutta. Some Ingenious
physician once wrote a treatise on the bad
influence of daily railroad travelling on the
human Frame But what must be the effect
upon the health of a majority of our popula-
ton of half an hours ride twice day in the
vitiated and poisonous air of these over
crowded prisons2 On an Eighth avenue car
one summer Sunday night we once counted
ninety odd passengers The cubic feet of air
and space to each person could easily be COM
puted, and even with the windows open the
press was too great to allow of the atmosphere
speedily renewing itself. But most of
our readers must have frequently


noticed for themselves the enervating effect
Of journey up town under similar
conditions. The poor victim escapes from the
car weak and faint and exhausted, and he


rejoices in the free air of the open street as


though he had been mewed up for weeks in


some unwholesome dungeon. We are sure,
| indeed that if the Board of Health did its
| duty it would prosecute both these car lines
| for not keeping their vehicles in proper


sanitary condition.


Against both these companies we also make
the charge that their cars are habitually and


hideously filthy. Perhaps the Eighth avenue
is the drtiest, and the Sixth most infested
with vermin. In other respects, such as
! speedy running and absence Of detentions, we
/: have but little fault to find. We believe both


lines are sometimes blocked up by wagons,


but that is trouble springing from the mar
| rowness of the streets and not from NAL
| administration. We only blame the companies


for what they can easily avoid, if they would.
| And now, to close, we ask for a reform on


the car lines of the city because we believe
daily familiarity with discomfort and unclean-
| liness does great deal Of harm to us as a


people. Selfshness, dirt and brutality are


more contagious than yellow fever or the


cholera. The overcrowding in tenement


houses has had far worse results morally than


physically; and the overcrowding in our


cars has already converted large par


of our men into selfish and unmanly brutes, at


any rate in one respect. 1t used to be counted


an infamy for an American gentleman to sit


while a lady was standing But now, how


many men persevere in such old-fashioned gal


lantry? Not one in a score, we should Judge


the other nineteen glory in their selfish indif'


ference to the suiferings of the half-faintng


women who hang on by the straps and strive


to conceal the pain which each sharp jerk OF


the vehicle round a corner infcts. Some men,


we know, make the excuse that the lady ac'


cepts the offered seat as a right and not as a


favor. We do not believe this is true; we


have noticed that nineteen women out OF


twenty do say "Thank you, and the twentieth,


if she says nothing, at least looks her graft