The evening times., 1896-03-02
H0RSElEsS NAIL CARS
Pest Office Department Anxious
for Rapid Transit.
TESTING TIE INVENTIONS
Mail Handlers. All Over the World
Are Trying to Devise Il Cheaper,
Surer and Quicker Power Than
Equines Furnish-Gen. Nelson De-
scribes Work Done to That End.

HOrSeIeSS mail wagons are TO De an addi-
ton TO the United States postal service
in a short time.
With the displacement of the horse as a
motive power in ever-extending and en-
larging fields OF commercial life IL is not at
all wonderful that the government Off
Gals have contemplated replacing the
equines in. Uncle Sam's service by a better
and cheaper force. This has been. tried
in the substitution of the bicycle for the
horse in the army, and now some other
power is 10 he attached to the cOnveyances
of the voluminOus mails of the nation.
The postOfrlcc Officials are rather silent
about the project at present, but 1t is a
1act that new experiments are now being
made with vehicles intended TO run with
out horses, and to carry mail from one point
to another, and that it will be but a COM
paratively short time until practical demon
strations are made Of the new Inventions
YET IN ITS INCIPIENCY.
Second Assistant Postmaster General
Nelson has had the subject under con-
sideration for months. and a machine or
wagon is now being constructed under his
pa rtial supervision, that, If success,
will displace the heavy van that now rolls
over the streets behind two weary-loOking
horses, and will be a veritabIe postofrice
on wheels, calculated to revolutiOnize the
present postal system.
"Oh. l can't explain IL to you yet" re-
piled Gen. Nelson, IN answer 10 question
from Times reporter. You see, the pro-
i-ct is yet in its mia ncy. and would really
rather the papers would not say anything
about it yet.
1T is true that we are trying to get some
motorcycle that will do away with horses.
There is now machine under process OF
construction that may answer the purpose,
but we don't knuw;-H Is all an experiment.
II will be at least two months yet before
any experiments are made, even in pri-
vate, so that you can see the vehicle mas
not advanced so very far-that Is, THIS par
Hos .l.f.. .lg HhnN hn Hf4nn RI
menting with them for years. both here
and abroad
= ..Only this morning / received a letter
from the London pos,Officc. asking hne what
progress we have made. They are working
ON the same thing there. They have no
strcet-railway mail cars, because the speed
of tram cars is limited to four miles an hour,
so they are worse off than we are"
THEN NEW HoRSELESS CAR.
As matter of fact the new car under
construction Will lie about 2 feet lone. 8
feet wide and over e feet high. 1t VIII he
fitted up as the regulation railway postal
car. and the mail will be sorted. labeled and
marked. ready tuc distribution immediately
on its collection. Two men will be required
to run the average sized wagon. one to act
as mail clerk and The other TO engineer
the machine. What power Will be used to
propcl the innovation Is yet Que of unsOlycd
queries
we will not necessarily use electricity
to mora the Vehicle said Gen. Nelson.
There are hdlr a dozen powers other
than horse power. and think that The out
come will Ice a sort of compromise on all
OF them I-aisisCnc of the most imI ortant
questions we are now wrestling with.
The public does not know what big
project this is. If the scheme is a sue
cess 1t will he used In both country and
city. In the city il will take the place
or-the mail vans that haul the mails to
the station. That much we are sure of.
and it may be extended still farther in
order 10 make speedy distributions Of the
mail throughout the city. In the country
1t will be extensively ust1l over those routes
where there arr no railroads, and VIII mean
an enlargement OF the rural POSTAL system.
CAPITAL Is CHARY.
Capital is the shyest thing on earth.'
continued Gen. Nelson. systematically.
1t takes money to back such project
as this. Ii il proves n success We may ex-
pect none V from, the government. as we are
a bout TO get il now FOR the street railway
mail cars. Before then some one else must
carry the expense. II the newspapers talk
about thing in lis infancy they are very
apt TO ruin it. IT they talk about il when
the project is well under headway they
do it lots of good.
But the minute the newspapers Ia kc up
a new thing ttIl paople ha We To spend money
on they make the people that have the
money grow waryaniit iShard to keep hem
That is the reason we want
so little said about if. It's big project to
handle the 5000 tons Of mail transported
each day in this country, and we want to
devise the most expedient means to do it,
"Will you ask Congress for an appro.
priation to carry on the experiments"
Not yet. We are not far enough along.
II will Ee., n year teforc we know fully
where we are. By that time we may be
ready TO ask tEem for help
will the street railway cars be displaced
by the horselcss wagoGs?'
"Oh, no, not at all. Both have their
provinces TO work in. In fact, the street
cars are so successful that We hope to
speedily increase the service. / trust ID
will not be long before we are able to
put mail cars on the Fourteenth street
line in this city, and will also try and
introduce some of the large cars in the
service here"