LONDON —The largest city in the world awoke today to find itself as helpless as any little roadside hamlet.
Confident yesterday that there would be an 11th hour settlement of the general strike, London seemed really amazed today to find its transportation facilities at a standstill.
starting at 4 and 5 a. m., workers of all ages and walks of life began trudging toward their daily tasks in the city.
At 6 a. m., a United Press correspondent, chartering one of the few automobiles in the streets, toured the circle bordered by the great railway terminals of Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, Euston, Victoria and Waterloo stations.
Effective at Start.
Regardless of whether the strike continues, it has started with complete effectiveness.
Straggling workers were afoot for the most part, but bicycles, motorcycles, and all manner of wagons and carts passed by in fantastic procession.
The automobile is not the vehicle of the office man or workman here. It is only the wealthy who, rolling to work in their cars, can scorn the effects of the general strike.
No Busses, Tram Cars.
Beyond a few “pirate” nonunion omnibuses, the streets were completely free of the 5,000 busses which regularly choke London’s thoroughfares. Tram cars are not running and the entrances to the subways are closed as though under quarantine.
The great railway stations are deserted, except for a few idle workers loitering about.
The drivers of the few sight-seeing taxis in London are particularly pleased.
“Why, hit’s a pleasure to drive in London without them bloomin’ busses!” one said. “Will they win? why there ain’t a doubt of it. A man’s worth ’is ’ire, ain’t he?”
Hikers By the Hundred.
Hundreds of weary trampers stopped their march at streetside coffee halls for refreshment. One tall, white-haired man, pausing to gulp a cup of coffee, said:
“I’ve done seven miles since 5:30 and I’ve got 30 minutes in which to do two more. Watch make ’em!”
The sight of two girls on one motorcycle, one riding the pillion seat, elicited a cheer from the walking crowds.
The strike has resulted in the appearance of the six-seater motorcycle, its cargo consisting of the driver, two on the pillion seat and three in a side car.
A business center which seemed unaffected was the Covent Garden area, London’s distributing center for vegetables and flowers. At the stalls workers were all busy and cheerful, anticipating a record business from housewives stocking their larders against a shortage of foodstuffs.
Even Use Roller Skates.
By 9:30 the streets in all directions were black with pedestrians, cyclists and motor cars streaming to work from the suburbs two to 10 miles distant.
Government officials estimate that there are 6,000,000 bicycles in England, and it appeared today that all were concentrated here. They swept the streets in flocks.
Roller skates were pressed into service to expedite travel. Not only boys, but dignified men going to work in the business district sped by on the tiny rollers.
The effect of the strike probably was most noticeable at the bridges of the Thames, over which a throng of humanity poured steadily, the crowds overflowing from the sidewalks and spreading into the street.
Milwaukee Leader, Milwaukee, WI, May 5, 1926