Morning journal and courier., 1892-10-28

nc whitney Avenue ana Statc |
Street Roads Desire to Use the
Trolley system - An Interesting
Statement by Lawer 8. HI. Wagner
Taken by the Committee on Rail- {
roads and Brid2es-TO Meet Next
Wednesday When the Matter and
Also That of the Fair Haven and
Westville Road VIII be Decided.
At a bearing last night before the COM
nittee on railroads and bridges, at which
The petition of tho State street and Whit
ney avenue railroads for electrical equip
ment was heard, Mr.. Wagner, director of
the State street road and the representative
of a majority of the stockholders of the
company, among other things said:
''The public has for long time de-
rapid transit on these lines. The
new owners of the property propose to
equip them electrically in the best possible
manner and to extend the lines as fast as
possible. There seems to be some slight |
objection to the use of electricity or to the |
use of the trolley system. Iwish to say to |
you that there is no system of cleo
trical propulsion known to the eleotri- |
trolley system. mean by this
that there is no system which lie a com
mercial success. There are large num-
Der of storage battery companies, which
have gulled the public into spending
several millions of dollars in the efforts to
utilize storage batteries on surface cars,
but none of them have met with any sue
cess. They have been placed on two or
three roads in New York and removed, and
they have been tried in many western
cities, in all of which instances they
absolutely failed, notably in Dubuque,
Iowa, where they nearly wrecked the com
sunk over half million in the undertak-
ing. The only place where I am able to
learn that they are used to-day is between
Milford and Hopedale, Massachusetts, and
one line in Washington, district of Colum-
bia. In each of these places they are run
by storage. The Milford and Hopedale
road was recently examined by an expert
sent by the Thomson-Houston company
with the following results.
The road is two miles long. 1t makes
eleven round trips day, or forty-four
miles in all. To accomplish this 1t requires
six motor cars, and only allows one car at
time on the road. 1t takes ten men to
operate the one car. At this rate to
operate the eight cars we are now running
on the State street and Whitney avenue
roads it would require about fifty cars and
| about eighty men. This, as you can see,
| Is perfectly impracticable. The road
| would be in bankruptcy inside of sixty
days.
| Again the bus line which was running
between Milford and Hopedale before the
electric road started, is still running,
which shows that the electaic road does
not suit the public. The six Milford and
Hopedale cars. keeping one on the road, as
they do, only cover forty-four miles day,
against siogle electric car on the West
Haven road which runs $50 miles a day.
This little road with its one car is operated
by the storage battery company, which
| company it is needless to say are keeping
| up the large expenditure required to run
the road, not to successfully operate the
road, but as a stock jobbing operation,
VIZ, to cell the shares in the storage bat
terry company.
The Washington street railway operated
by storage batteries is run by another stor-
sell, and not by the street railway com
psny, who could not indulge in any such
luxury. Both of these are flat failures and
will end where all other storage battery
companies have ended, in some bankrupt.
| cy proceedings. There Is, gentlemen, nc
such think as a practical storage battery
system.
1t is urged against the trolley system
that it is dangerous. I can assure yor
that it is the least dangerous of any rapic
transit system known to-day.
From most careful Investigation it ii
found that out of thousand accidents OF
roads equipped with the trolley system no
over ten or twenty of such accidents ar
directly attributable to the trolley. Thi
reduces the danger from the trolley to al
: most nothing.
There are over five hundred electric rail
roads operated by the trolley system in tn
United States, propelling over seven thou
sand motor cars and carrying more passen
gers to-day than all the steam roads in tn
| | United States. Thus you will see that tn
number of accidents caused by electri
f | roads, when compared with those cause,
. by the steam roads, Is very small indeed
The report of the railroad commission O
the state of Massachusetts shows that If
child were born on an electric car and rod
there continuously it would be over fit
years of age before its time came for acci
dent.
9 Among others who appeared in favor Q
, the petition were Samuel A. Blatchley
Judge L. E. Munson, E. A. Durant, Sam
uel n. Kirby, John B. Judson, Georg
3 Paine, E. J. Judson, b. R. Studmuller, F
? A. Belts and T. P. Merwin. Mr.. Merwi
o said that the public demanded rapid tran
: sit, and in his opinion the introduction Q
Q electricity was the only feasible plan. Fou
: years ago, he said, he was unqualified
i. opposed to electricity, but was now heart
. lily in favor of it.
Q Civil Engineer Alexander Thompso
p said that the only practical way to run
y street railway by electricity was by tn
| n uuh hot
i horse and electric power have been use
the percentage has been in the ratio of
to 1.
At this point petition in favor of til
proposed adoption of electrical power wa
= presented and read. The petition wa
r signed by the following residents and taz
e payers of the city: Thomas Forsythe, job
! Adj, Samuel q. Kirby, E. I. Judson, F. r
|. Brooks, John B. Judson, Samuel Morris
o w. Il. Bradley, g. G.. Elsner, F. A. Belts
Munson, 8. II. Barnum and others.
The opposition to the granting of tn
petition was generated by Francis Way
land, dean of the Yale law school. Tn
Y first speaker in favor of the opposition wa
= Harvey S. Munson. He stated that
= favored the introduction of electricity, bu
objected to the granting of additions
: | 1dVOI5 10 ANY IhLTOdu cOmpaDy III ILLS GU
, unless they granted reasonable concession
in the form Of transfers to other roads, etc
he also objected to any electric road beinl
9 allowed to run on tracks within ten feet o
the sidewalk.
Dean Wayland appeared in opposition
; to the use of the trolley system. He sail
l that he did not oppose electricity, but dit
1 oppose the trolley. He had never heard
he said, Of the deadly horse car, but hat
7 often of the deadly trolley system. Tn
q leading newspapers of New York dali,
3 protest against the introduction of tn
trolley system, and that means something
l He then introduced remonstrance signet
by residents of whitney avenue, repre-
3 senting an area of nearly mile and
half. The remonstrants, he stated, were
3 satisfied with the present service of til,
l road; that the overhead wires and pole
. were dis6guring and the system danger
| GUS. The remonstrance was signed by
. Francis Wayland, A. P. Rockwell, r. NJ
J Everit, Isaphene Hillhouse, W. E. Davies
N. A. Baldwin, Mrs. Sherman Wells
F. Wayland Fellows, 81. w. Farnam, Yal,
l university, J. W. Nichols, heirs of R. s
Fellows, Mrs. Massena Clark, F. P. Clark
E. Whitney, 3. 81. Kimberly, A. T. Had
ley, Thomas II. Russell, Laura W. Everit
estate of George 81. Watrous.
J. N. B. Dwight appeared in opposition
to the trolley system, claiming that the
use of electricity was dangerous to the
health of women and it was in their be-
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