Does not the Convenience of the Citizens of Brooklyn Demand the Continued Running of the City Railroad Cars Night and Day—Sundays Included?
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Does not the Convenience of the Citizens of Brooklyn Demand the Continued Running of the City Railroad Cars Night and Day—Sundays Included?
The time is at hand when the question at the head of this article is to be seriously met by the representatives of the city; and the writer is clear to say that it will have to be answered in the affirmative. Consolidated Brooklyn, an immense city, or rather union of cities, sprawled out in different directions, including within their broad limits 200,000 people, cannot possibly be deprived of the People's Cheap Medium of Travel, either during that portion of the twenty-four hours which comes immediately after midnight, or during the twenty-four hours that follow Saturday night. We are not some little country village; we form one of the great cities of the earth. In our limits are included a great variety of nativities, settlements, religions, interests, and tastes. These need not necessarily interfere with each other; a little toleration will allow every one in perfect good nature to pursue its own path, without prejudice to the other. The German element in consolidated Brooklyn is very large. The German thinks much of his Sunday enjoyment; and in general, he does great credit to it—goes out somewhere toward the county with his wife, children, parents, sweetheart, or friend, and after a few hours' healthy amusement, returns home none the worse. There are from fifteen to twenty thousand Germans, or persons immediately descended from German parentage, now residents of consolidated Brooklyn; and every one of them is in favor of the running of the City Railroad Cars on Sunday, just the same as the other days of the week.
Some persons think it smart to sneer at the Dutch, but the best blood in Brooklyn emigrated two hundred years ago from the Netherlands—perhaps the liberties of America could be traced back to the lessons of the same land and race. The present emigration of Brooklyn Dutch of course have their own ways, some of them different from ours, but the children that proceed from them soon become in nearly all respects like Americans, and make first rate citizens.
Gowanus, South Brooklyn, Bedford, Prospect Hill, New Brooklyn, the neighborhood of Gates avenue, &c. Bushwick, Williamsburgh, Greenpoint, East Brooklyn, Myrtle avenue, the Naval Hospital, &c., &c., with almost every family in any of the suburban parts of consolidated Brooklyn, are all interested in having the City Cars run continually every day of the seven, and every hour of the twenty-four. Consolidated Brooklyn is peculiarly situated; its inhabitants are not contained within themselves, in matters of business or amusement, visiting, and so on; they live here, or in the suburbs, yet they work, travel, or visit continually in New York. More than fifty thousand people pass from Brooklyn to New York every day, or from the Eastern to the Western District, or from Bedford, Gowanus, or New Brooklyn, down to the City Hall. On Sundays the tide sets the other way, thousands upon thousands seek Brooklyn for purposes of friendship, sociality, and so on. Some come to visit the churches, or hear the celebrated preachers. From the suburbs, hundreds would like to go to Beecher's church, or to the Church of the Trinity, or to the Unitarian Church, or to the Baptist, Universalist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, or other churches. Of course, families with women and children cannot walk from Bedford, East Brooklyn, or Greenpoint, to away beyond the City Hall. The City cars are needed for this convenience.
Thousands of benevolent and friendly purposes are afoot on Sunday, which can only be achieved by travelling. Relatives would visit: children their parents; parents their children; the sick would be called upon and cheered up, ten thousand noble things would be done; now, a dead lock is put to all, or many of them. This is especially the case among working men, and their families. They do not want the fatigue of walking several miles, after their week's work; some stay at home and sleep,—others pass the afternoon or evening in the nearest tavern—others, if near the ferries, cross to New York.
The Rights and Convenience of the Mechanics of Brooklyn, and their families, demand the running of the City Cars on Sundays. This cheap travel is the people's luxury. Rich persons can hire carriages; if the five-cent ride in the cars is to be shut off, the ten dollar pleasure-trip in a coach should be also shut off.
A few selfish men, living in the heart of Brooklyn, or having their own private conveyances, to take them where they choose, must not expect any longer to stand up against the wishes of nine-tenths of the inhabitants of consolidated Brooklyn.
The public have a perfect right to raise their voice in this matter; and, no doubt, the City Railroad Company are sincerely anxious to accommodate them, and listen to their wishes. A valuable monopoly has been granted the Company; in a few years it will be one of the most valuable in the United States, and pay the best returns. It stands the Company in hand to exercise a liberal spirit toward the people pf Brooklyn. They have, upon the whole, done as well as could be expected. Last winter, a year ago, the detentions were sometimes annoying; but it was a severe winter, and they were unfortunately caught napping at the onset. They have done better this winter.
The writer intends to recur to this subject again, and to have something to say on the Company's payment of liberal wages to the drivers and conductors of the cars, and one or two little improvements that can easily be made in Brooklyn City Railroad travel; in the mean time cheerfully acknowledging that the City Cars, on all the lines, have thus far accomplished full as much as could reasonably be expected.
W. W.