Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-02-11
In their letter 20 the President the Commits

In their letter 20 the President the Commits
sionsrs place themselves. concerning the trolley.
in general harmony with the whole community,
except those citizens who are stockholders in
street railway or electric corporations and who
estimate their private gains as Of more i'm
portnnce than the public welfare. They urge
special reasons. however. for making temporary
exceptions in the Of the lexington road
60 the wise policy Of prohibiting and abolish
ing without delay the trolley and the car horse
from the streets Of the capital Undeniably
there il force in much Of their reasoning. The
objection. however, urged by them against
the Buda-Pe-;h system, which is suggested
a solution Of their problem. is triaing
and irrelevant They say that the slot
in thi. underground system as it is constructed
in Buda -Pesih Is too broad to be tolerated upon
our streets. which are traversed by narrow-tired
vehicles. II Is not at all necessary to make the
slot in the Washington system rs broad as in
the Buda-Pesth system. II would be great
saving 20 our asphalt pavenients II all
heavy vehicles were required to have
the broad tires OF corresponding European
vehie!es. But II it be necessary to
make the slot come to the tires instead OF
compelling the tires to come to the slot. there
IL no reason whatsoever why the slot should
not be narrowed staff correspondent Of The
STAR in describing the Buda-Pesth system last
summer wrote: Various improvements that
can easily be made have suggested themselves
as desirable in perfecting the system for Amer
lean use. The cost Of construction can be
ehsapeued The slot can BE- made ndTro,rer, the
contact frame stronger and the pattern OF the
rails can be improved. But the fact remains
that IN spite OF minor and easily renedied de-
fects this system has proved commercially prac-
ncsbls snd wonderful! success upon the lead
ing rssl~ay Of a city of half a million people,
the most enterprising. progressive and rapidly
developing capital TODAY in all Europe
The Columbia street railway, which has decided
20 use the Buda-Pesth system, has also decided
to make such notable changes in construction
A. the removal Of the conduit from under
split rail to the space between the two sets OF
tracks. and the utilizing of this one large con-
iuit for both tracks instead of Duplicating the
conduit In comparison with such departures
a. this from the Buda-Pe-th model. the mere
narrowing Of the conduit is as nothing. II is
hoped that none Of the impending changes in
street railway ownership will negative the Co
Iumbias present plans of giving the Buda-Pesth
system q fair trial here. 20 be sure the under
ground system is to be used upon the city ex-
tension Of the Rock Greek road. But when the
motive power to Re tested differs from that used
by the e1perimenter, is employed by legal COM
pulsion and merely upon fraction Of the rail-
way route and il more expensive than the
motor used upon the main line so that 1t Is TO
the experimenter's pecuniary interest to prove
IL a failure and be absolved from its use, the
new motor is apt to fare badly. This has been
the case in other cities. II is the case in re-
spect to the Eckington's use of the storage bat
terry on its @ street extension. II the Buda-
Pesth system Is used here to operate the whole
Of city railway several miles long. as pro-
posed II will have had fair trial. and ample
opportunity to show its merits and caPabiii-
ties.