An article in the local news columns of the _Tribune_ says:
The loud outcry made a few years ago against the old fashioned plush
covered spring cushions, then used in street car for seats and backs,
caused them to be removed and set car builders at work to make a car
that would be light, healthy, and comfortable. The general plan of
perforated wooden seats with plain backs has been adopted by all the
companies. They are covered with a fine quality of heavy Axminster
carpet during the winter, and in the summer nearly all the cars have
only wooden seats and backs. Open cars are used on a number of routes
during the summer, and this is conducive to the health of passengers.
The only particular difference in the furniture of the cars is the mats
used on the floor. Seven of the lines use sectional wooden mats of
plain or ornamental design, while three retain cocoa mats. Wooden mats
are the easiest to clean. Cocoa mats retain moisture on damp or rainy
days, and emit a musty odor. There are four sets for each car, and they
are changed every trip on rainy days.
The First and Second Avenue routes, under one management run 150 cars;
the Third Avenue, 180; the Fourth, 75; the Sixth, 88; the Broadway and
Seventh, 135; the Eighth and Ninth, 160; and the Tenth, 120. At the
stables of each the same general arrangement for cleaning cars is used,
while the details only are different, being regulated by the judgment
and experience of superintendents. From six to fifteen men are employed
for cleaning cars by the different companies.
After every round trip that a car makes, it is taken to the stable, the
mats are taken off the floor, and two men with brooms and specially
constructed brushes give it a thorough sweeping and brushing. After
a car makes its last trip at night, it is run upon what is termed
the washstand, which is a large turn table surrounded by hydrants.
Everything movable is taken out of it, and water is played from a hose
on the inside and outside, while four men with scrubbing brushes and
stiff brooms remove whatever dirt has accumulated during the day. After
this operation the car is run upon a side track, and two men dry the
inside and polish the windows.
While passengers find fault with the untidiness of street cars,
superintendents have a word also of complaint against passengers. If
men would not convert a car into a spittoon for the reception of cigar
stumps, tobacco spit, and quids, and a garbage box for nut-shells,
fruit rinds, cores, and pits, the remnants of lunches and old papers,
it would be much easier to keep up a cleanly appearance. Section 167 of
the Sanitary Code, which provides that no soiled article of clothing
or bedding shall be carried on street cars, except on the front
platform, is strictly enforced by all the companies, and it is worth a
conductor's position if he is proved derelict in this respect.
Nearly all the car companies build their own cars, and all have repair
shops at their stables, and as soon as a car is damaged by a collision
it is sent at once to the shop and repaired. Men are detailed to keep a
strict watch over all the working parts of cars.
No metal or plate has yet been found of which to make a hand railing
that will keep bright and untarnished. Many experiments have been
tried, but the hardest plate that can be obtained will not stand the
friction of the hands longer than two months, before the plated metal
will show through. Cars are painted and varnished at least once a year.
The various parts of the car last different periods. The wheels average
about eighteen months on long routes; on short routes, about two years.
Steps and platforms last about five years. There is no particular limit
for the floors and framework, as they are but little worn. Cars are
frequently built up from an old floor or framework, but at the end of
about fifteen years there is but little left of the original car.