Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1894-01-18
ELECTRICITY AND STEAM.
MOST PERFECT MADE,


Important Changes Likely to Occurs
in the Next Few Years.
1t is becoming so plain that the pres
ent mode of travel by rail will not 60
to satisfy people very long, that invent
ors are at work on the serious problem
of new system Of rapid transit. It
is not claimed that the present service
is growing worse, but improvement SO
far is entirely on the old lines. This
will not remain satisfactory long, no
matter how far it is carried. Men are
getting the idea that radical improve;
ments are possible. The result is the
appearance Of propositions that lie
somewhere between invention and spec
ulative suggestion. That this research.
will necessarily, remain in the specula-
tive stage for some time is made plain
by q writer in the Atlantic Monthly;
who believes that the ideal method,
toward which the general desire is di-i
rected, must embody speed, safety,
clleapness, and absence of dirt and
noise. This writer conceives a sort Of
individual car, or one that carries but
few people, which can be operated by
electricity automatically from central
station, SO as to need no attendants,
and by using an elevated single-rail
track requires neither roadbeds nor
crossings.
The cinders nuisance will go as soon
as electricity can be utilized for long
distance. Then the custom of running
heavy trains several hours apart will
give way to single cars at very short
intervals. There is little doubt that
such cars could be managed from a
station without the aid Of trainmen,
but this innovation would not be prac-
ticable while grade crossings exist.
Hence the bold advocacy Of change
of system radical enough to secure adj
| vantages that would include cheap oper-
alton along with safety. The limita-
| tons Of steam us motive power are
| sufficient to drive it forever out Of use
the moment electricity is found to be
| transnissible long distances without
great loss. The appearance of such
suggestions as the foregoing Is an evil
dence of general expectation that cleo
| tricity is destined not merely to Inn
prove upon steam locomotion, but to
revOlutoniZe 1t.
The very moment the engineers en-
gagged on the problem Of tran shifting
the electricity to be generated by the
Niagara tunnel announce that 1t Is
solved, all the things suggested by the
anonymous contributor to the Atlantic
will be possible, and, with them, q
hest Of still more startling innova-
| lions which have not vet been con-
ceived. There will be no further use
for cinders or smoke-there is really
very little now-the danger Of fires will
also disappear with the employment of
improved insulating apparatus. boiler
explosions will pass into history. horse
power will be superseded and manual
labor aided as steam could never aid
it, and, indeed, hardly branch of
mechanics, however remote or obscure,
will fail to receive sharp impetus.
If this new Niagara power is q sue
cess, electricity will be generated else
where as soon as more is needed. There
are two elements Of success already In
sight, which were, in measure, created
/ by the Niagara tunnel, far as it still
is from completion. One is the impetus
given to electric research by the under
| taking itself, and the other is the size
of the undertaking, which justiies an
amount Of work on the problem that
would not be thought of in ordinary
electric ventures. 1t may be said that,
in q great measure, the magnitude OF
the operations practically compels sue
cess, so long as success Is possible
Buffalo Express.