Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-04-19

paper and Advertising Medium it has no
competitor.
Advocates Of the disfguring and rnurderous
overhead railway wires have based their advo-
cacy upon the statement that the storage bat
terry and other electric systems Of motor are
failures, and that the only choice Is between
the trolley and the car horse. When siftcd
this statement Is found to mean no more than
that the railways cannot make much money
with the better and more expensive motors as
with ''the cheap and nasty variety. The only
failure Is IN the declaring Of enormous divi-
dends. On the basis of the reasoning which
pronounces the storage battery impracticable,
the cable is even 3 more conspicuous failure,
for il is still more expensive, and a greater
number Of roads win find il financially i'm
practicable. and q failure las q begetter Of
aividends).
The storage battery system Of the lexington
extension is success SO fa- as the public are
concerned The lexington road though COM
PEELED to maintain two systems Of Transports
ton on its line. involving distinct set of ex-
penses for fraction Of its route, and prevent
ing fair estimate of the ordinary average ex-
pense Of the storage battery system, is not pub
hcly expressing dissatisfaction with that sys-
tenn, and while it would undoubtedly prefer
some motor which would enable it
20 make more money, it is not
taking upon itself the responsibility.
Of pronouncing the storage battery failure,
when the people can see for themselves that IL
is a success Neither the public. the Ecking-
ton road, nor the company furnishing the stor-
age battery cars expresses dissatisfaction with
the working Of the system. That complaint
and denunciation Of the system as a failure are
reserved to those who would plant poles and
deadly wires on the beautiful streets and in
front of the houses Of the people Of Washing
ton.
The storage battery companies vigorously
resent the suggestion that their system is a
failure. The president Of one Of these COM
panies, writing to The STAR, says that the
difficulty which the Metropolitan has met
arises from the fact that instead of purchasing
or obtaining license TO use existing satisfac-
torily working batteries and motors i. has been
"wasting its time for two or three years past
In the futile efforts of inventing or constructing
storage battery that would not infringe exist
ing patents" % in inventing its own type Of
motor, and dynamos and other electrical devices,
wholly different from the types now in use."
poiitan's failure in this effort is not failure of
the storage battery system, and he adds: ''Of
course no one question their right to do
this and to spend their money in experiments,
but such a course can hardly be pu. forth as a
reasonable ground for asking an extension of
time as above, nor for attempting to substitute
the trolley FOR the storage battery system"
The public will commend the enterprise and
sav,blsc zpfrf xrhirb n. Lad re- aSr
10 attempt to perfect an improved storage bat
sery motor, and will wish for the effort the full
and speedy success of which the electrician and
officers of the company are hopeful But if the
Metropolitan's inventive effort should not sue
seed. the community would not view the failure
. failure Of the storage battery system, and
would hnd in this result no excuse whatever for
f0istinR upon it the trolley system.
II Is also to be remembered that the storage
battery system, while in theory the best since
y supplies each car with an Independent motor
md prevents an accident at one point from
stopping the whole system, Is not the only
alternative to the trolley, even among electric
motors. The electrical commission in report
ing against the overhead railway wires init
mated preference for the underground electric
system where the wire conveying the motive
power occupies conduit This system is pro-
hounced q conspicuous success a. Buda-Pes.h.
But II 10 more expensive than the trolley sys-
ssm, and the electric companies and street
railways Of this country ought therefore to find
no difficulty in proving it impracticable and a
failure on this side Of the ocean.
-Four hundred years ago Sunday, or the
Eth Of April, 1892, Ferdinand and Isabella
gave Christopher Columbus the authority to
ct out the expedition which was to dis
cover the western hemisphere. This man
Afterward, as before, met and overcsme
many obstacles He did what no other
man ever did or has done since-found
and made known the finding Of a new
world and took possession of it in the name OF
his sovereigns. That he had some faults and
weaknesses due to the age in which he lived or
to personal defects Of character is not denied
and rests on his 49,. evidence. But that be
was unworthy Of the honors paid to him or the
fame he achieved, although asserted by some
recent Investigators with persistent eIabora-
tion, is far from being corcIusively established.
The reaction from the iii .reatment and neclec,
In which he died, after the notable public scrv-
ices that he had rem tered, may have carried
his fame too high, and for perfectly accurate
estimate OF his character some slight exercise
Of the historians privilege Of detraction may
now be necessary. But 1t is better to leave
him trihe too large in the public estimation
than to depreciate him uniuly, especially as
the modern tendency is to whitewash the real
villains of the past. and to prove by elaborate
and exhaustive gument that none OF them
are half as black as they are painted The
process ought not to be reversed in the case Of
Coiumbus.
While Mr.. Holuan's amendment striking out
ofthe naval appropriation bill the single new
vessel Of high grade provided for was defeated,
the House passed the measure without tn de-
sired increase Of the number Of armored cruis-
ers and battle ships. 1t is hoped that the Sem
ate viii adhere to its probable action in pro-
viding for the requisite enlargement Of the
navy.
The National Academy Of Sciences in regular
business session here today, is an important