Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-07-06
RAPID MAIL TRANSIT.
bPecuLATlNc As TO POSSIBLE I'M
PRovEMENTs IN THE SERVICE.

A system Of Fass Trains Runniss from
New York and Points South and Bssasa
and Points north - the West asd whas
II Could do.
Especial Correspondence
WASHINGTON, July 3.-One Of the signs
pf the times is certainty Of the coming,
In the near future, Of more rapid transit
Of tho public mails. Men who have
given this subject close attention declare
the telegraph can never DO made TO
supersedc the mail, except for pressing
business correspondence, and that fast
mails offer and will continue to offer the
greatest benefit TO the greatest number.
Postal telegraphy is as yet not much
more tangible than dream, and while
engineers and all who stand on the OBJ
bervation towers Of progress are able to
bee that the electrical inventors are sure
to bring us from their Pandora's box q
railway train like that designed and
built by Mr.. Wcems, of Baltimore, trav-
cling two hundred or more miles an hour.
for the present all improvements in the
dispatch Of the public mails must be
made upon existing railways.
The fast mail train, SO called, now run
between New York and Chicago is q
farce. 1t practically expedites nothing
IT leaves New York city at 8 o'clock in
the evening, at least four hours later
than there is any excuse for, and six
hours later than would be necessary II
tho business community were given no
tice OF an earlier departure. This fast
in making the run from New York to
Chicago, arriving In the latter city at the
absurd hour of 12:35 in the morning.
The speed made Is about the same as that
of n number of regular trains on several
roads For n special train, running with
out stop or hindrance, it Is really a very
slow schedule. The mail it takes from
the east for Chicago stands in the sacks
till next morning, when 1t Is assorted
and delivered. So far as Chicago is con-
Eerned, the train might just rs well ar
rive six hours later. AS in New York
! business men do not write letters at or
3 in the evening, SO in Chicago they are
not on hand TO receive mail at Q or in
| tho morning.
! Service TO the west from Chicago Is
| expedited only by means of special trains
| leaving Chicago at 8 a. m. and arriving
| mt the chief terminal points-Omaha, ST.
! Paul and Minneapolis--so late in the
afternoon that the delivery, even though
promptly made from the train itself, is
Of little value to the business commu-
nifty. For none of these trains does the
/ government pay anything more than the
regular rate per ton of mails paid all
! roads. At present tho New York,
/ Brooklyn or Philadelphia business man
! who on Monday writes letter to a Chi
| cago correspondent does SO with the con-
! seriousness that his missive will not reach
its destination till Wednesday, and that
If the letter be answered the same day
he will not receive the reply till Friday.
This 10 too slow for the times and the
country.
Chief Bell, Of the railway mail serv-
ice, thinks it possible to arrange a fast
mail train that will take letters written
I'm New York during business hours OF
ono day and deliver them in Chicago
during business hours of the next day
Even Boston and pretty much all New
England can be brought into the same
over night service between cast and
west If Chief Bell succeeds in accom-
plishing this he will create the greatest
fast mail train ever known in this OF
any other country, one which will stand
as perfection till the Weems or some
other electric railway supplants it.
a great share Of mercantile telegraph
ing is done by might messages" which
are cheaper than day messages If at
o'clock in the afternoon New York
merchant sends telegram to IA mann
sacturer in Chicago, it will not be delit
Sred till the next forenoon. 1t seems al
most incredible that a fast mail trair
could be arranged to give by post sub
Stantially tho same service as is afforded
by.a night wire. but it is possible anc
,will some Gay be done.
! The fastest trains between New Yorl
and Chicago now make the journey il
twenty-five hours. These are the "lim
Iited" trains, on which an extra fare i
charged. Going west they gain al
lhours time at PittsburS, and therefore
reach Chicago in an apparent running
time of twenty four hours. These train
ARE not remarkably fast, their schedules
lcalling for about forty miles an hour
IThcy are rarely late, even in winter, II
from any cause they lose an hour or tw,
on one part OF the journey. the loss
usually made up on another part.
One recent Sunday the Pennsylvania
llimted ran from Fort Wayne to Chica
go, liS miles, in three hours and tel
minutes, carrying five heavy vestibul
Ears. Eleven stops were made en- route
making the actual running time tw
hours and forty minutes, or an ave
rage speed Of tifty-five miles an hour
There are faster trains than these limite,
expresses. For years the Baltimore an,
Ohio has run regular trains from Balti
more TO Washington. forty miles, ant
with two yards to traverse at slow speed
in forty-five minutes The trip has bee
made in forty minutes. Trains OF tn
same road regularly make fifty miles al
hour between Philadelphia and Washing
ton The Pennsylvania runs many reg
ular trains between New York and Phil
,adelphia. ninety miles, in two hours o
less, In England large number of reg
ular trains travel from fifty TO fifty-fv
miles an hour, some Of them on Ion
journeys.
Very fast time cannot be made on
road with many steep grades in its tract
Fast time cannot be made with heav
trains Of six or eight cars, PARTICULAR
If they are sleeping cars. which weig
nearly twice as much as ordinary coacl
es. Fast time cannot be made with fr
,quent stops at stations or grade crossing
Between New York and Chicago a trai
must stop forty times in pursuance {
the state laws, which require full hal