LONDON'S "YELLOW PERIL"

About the first thing one sees in New York,--and the last--is a taxi. The swarms of these bright-colored public machines have well-nigh squeezed all private cars from the down-town sections. But the enterprise of New York taxi magnates is not confined to the narrow limits of Manhattan. One of them proposes to speed up London traffic with a shipment of five hundred yellow cabs, and the London press has had no end of fun discussing the impending "yellow peril".

London taxis are painted a sober black, and are notoriously slow and tedious. Like their French counter parts most of them depend on one or two cylinder motors of ancient vintage, often so small that they defy discovery in times of trouble. But the yellow invasion will change all this. It must not be expected that any New York promoter will be satisfied to send only five hundred taxis to so promising a field for exploitation as London. And since New York taxis reach their maximum efficiency only when manipulated by New York chauffeurs, one must expect a proportional exportation of these valuable citizens. London laughs, and looks forward with pleasure to faster transportation; but she little knows the thrills, the dangers, and the daily accident lists which await her.