Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-06-08
ELECTRICITY VERSUS HORSES.
4 Plan to Substitute the Former For the
Latter In Transporting Farm Products.

& Plan To SUBSTITUTE the tOrmcr TOR inc
Latter In Transporting Farm Products.
Mr.. Martin Dodge, i'll letter to tho
Chicago Inter Ocean, suggests radical
changes in road Improvement methods,
no less than tho substitution of electric
ity for animals as II motive power. He
says:
/ advocate an important and farreaCh
ing change i'll the manner of building
country roads-a change which, when
adopted, will lead to the substitution of
inanimate power for animal power for
the purpose of transportation on our
common roads all over the country. My
plan is to extend the street car tracks
from our cities out into the Circumja
cent territory distance of so or 40
miles, SO that all the territory between
centers of populations 60 or so miles
apart would be so reached. Let these
tracks be so made and laid that wagons
and carriages propelled by horses may
go upon them as we'll rs cars propelled
by electricity or other inanimatc power.
1t is already demonstrated that only
one-eighteenth of the power is required
to move n vehicle over Il smooth steel
track that would be required to move it
over gravel road, or One-cighth that
which would be required to move it
over the best pavement When this i'm
portant fact becomes generally known
to the farmers, they will realize that it
is n poor policy to promote the building
Of macadam roads when an equal out
lay would provide u good steel track.
When the track is once provided so that
cars and carriages propelled by horses
can also go upon the Same track with
cars propelled by electricity or other in
animate power, the superiority of the
inanimate power will be so apparent
that horsepower will be quickly aban-
doned.
Heretofore the use of electric cars has
been confined TO carrying passengers,
and the extension Of the system has de-
pended wholly upon private enterprise.
This must he changed by cnlarging the
use TO which the electric cars arc put
and by experimenting private enter
priSeS by Il moro liberal and enlightened
public policy Thorr is IN reason why
the electric roads should not be carriers
of freight rs We'll rs passengers, and es-
pecially the food products from the field
10 l1lt lltiIhtl. II IL tSsSN W SIC ltitl as
the steam cars superseded the horSepow
er for long hauls so the electric cars will
supplement- it for short hauls
1t is generally supposed that the cost
of building electric roads is greatly in
excess of the cost of building macadam-
lied roads. This is all fiction and pro-
ceeds mainly from the fact that to the
cost of building the electric road thoy
add the cost of oQuipping with cars.
power and operating force. Take the
cost of building macadam road and
add to that the cost of the horses, wag-
onS, carriages and drivers required 10
operate it. and you will find that the
macadam road is the more costly. COM
pairing the two rs shown i'll the cost of
transportation per tom per mile, we find
that with horses and wagons the cost
per ton per mile is 25 cents, while with
the electric car it is only : cents per
ton per mile. The cost of the iron road
bed is no more than the cost of the stone
rOadbet. but when it is once laid it con-
tributes much moro to cheaper transpor-
tation. l have estimated the increased
value of agricultural land resulting
from the decreased cost of transportation
over steel rails by inanimate power Mt
$50 per acre. Observation to confirm
this only waits upon experiment..