The morning times., 1896-12-26
PHASES OF RAPID TRANSIT
Social Conditions Changed With
Its Introduction.
SETS THE WORLD HURRYING
Remarkable Growth of Power Street
Car Llnes-Facts About the Horse
as Affected by the Change-Hard
to Realize the Revolution of
Decade.


1t is fairly certain that within the next
twel We months every street car line
within the limits OF Washington VIII
have in operation or contemplated, some
method Of propulsion other than horse
power.
Whether by cable, overhead or under
ground troIIey. compressed air, or, per
haps, by some means not as yet sug-
gested, IL can be taken for granted that the
stress of public opinion viii shortly make
il necessary that the Belt Line and its ad-
juncts and the AnacostIa line adopt some
form Of rapid transit.
When it takes place it will signalize in
Washington an event that is SO highly
suggestive of the progress or the age
and has So large bearing on several
economic problems over which ciyiliza-
ton i s now worrying, that it deserves more
than a passing notice.
The event referred TO is the absolute
release of the horse from street car use,
here and elsewhere. The consideration OF
causes and effect in this movement toward
the disuse OF the horse as draft animal
is curious study. So strange and so re-
cent in activity are the causes, and so
many and SO vastly important are the
effects that the subject gains In interest
as its phases are developed
The First Power Line.
No movement OF equal Importance has So
short a history. Just nine years ago tins
fall a Southern city OF historic fame wit
messed the complet on and operation of the
first commercially successful electric street
railway An amusing story is { Old in con
nection with the event 1t S said that
Upon the morning upon which the first
motor car made It's initial trip an old col
Ored rag-picker halted at a street corner
to gaze at what must have appeared 10
him to be a miracle. a street car without
visible motive power was rapidly mount
ing the steep grade up which three mules
had usually toiled with the small II OBJ
tall ears. So wonderful to him was the
sightthat ne dropped his bundle and plucked
at the sleeve of Il gentleman who had also
stopped to view the curious sight. With
chattering teeth and bulging eyes, he ex
claimed:
''Fo' Gods sake. mahster, wh-wh what's
maxim dat cyar go 'long?'
The gentleman told MIN that it was
a VI Wonderful invention Of a Yankee who
had found a way 10 make the lightning do
the work Of horses and mules. When the
car had pasSed the old darkey sEoGldcred
his pack and hObhled away -uuttering while
Yet within hearing of the white man:
well, my Lordl Dem Yankees ain sat
isfied wild settin' de niggcTs free; dey's
jes' come do wn here an sCt all the mules
an horses free. Ny Lord! / wuhner whut
dey gonter do mex"
Some Curious Figures.
Millions have joined him in wondering
''what they are going 70 do next, " but the
old negro, in all his ignorance, had u
prophetic insight into the real significance
OF electricity as a locomotive power. 1t
meant the emancipation OF the horse.
Statistics show that more than 100000
draft animals have been displaced by in
ventions that have been perfected within
the last decade. The principal factors in
bringing about this remarkable result
have been the bicycle and the electric
street car. 1t is a curious fact that the
use of bicycles in cities very materially
FASTENED the Introduction Of the trolley
and cable systems.
1t can easily Dr seen that the popularity
OF the bicycle and its use by men and
women OF fixed habits and settled life, not
primarily as Eealthful exercise, but as
cheap and efficient means OF loConIotiOn
to and from their places OF work and
business. has had another and more serious
effect upon the use of horses IN cities.
II is fact, rot Immediately apparent
but tremendously real. that the decreased
from the extensive use of the bicycle,
rendered the introduction of some cheaper
motor than horse power an absolute ne
cessity The mana gers of the street car
lines saw their receipts growing less and
less, until it became a matter of choice
between operating at a loss or adopting
cheaper motor.
Development OF Transit.
Here, as ever, the old adage proved its
truth, and necessity gave birth TO a host
of inventions. The electric InOtor-the
trolley system now so familiar TO ali
and the cable took the place of the horse
to a very great extent For lines serving
crowded city districts where the traffic
is heavy and regular the cable has been
most often used.
Recently, however, 10th in New York
and Washington, the underground trolley
system is being introduced. In this. the
energiZing wires are carried, for their
own safety and that of the public. in u
slotted onduit between the rails. The cur
rent istiplivcrcd from below instead Of from
above But the liberatOr OF the hors
and the arCn enemy o1 the orse-bTeedsT
is the trolley Five hundred thousand over
worked and underfcd horses owe thei
liberty to 1t.
A peculiar and beautiful characteristic Of
the electric current as produced by the
dynamo makes electricity the only power
suitable for suburban lines ard all Others
where the traffic is either light or irregular
or derived flom communities scattered at
intervals along the line On electric rail-
ways, other things being equal, the power
consumed and consequently the coal burned
at the dynamo house is in proportion to
the numb of passengers hauled 30 that
expenses and receipts may be said to bear
fixed ratio to each other, which is not
the case when any other Iowcr is used
Interests 1t Affects.
The effect of the disuSe of horses upon
all classes of citizens, 10th rural and urban,
is of so varied a character that we do not
Immediately realize how far reaching it Is
Judging the matter from surface lndica
tions al one, it apparently works q hardship
to the farmers and Eorse-raisers of the
country largely reducing their market and
decreasing the value OF an eT ormous in
vestment OF capital. But as Nature heals
the e'woIuds she makes herself, so the art:
and sciences automatically adjust and cor
rect the differences brought about by th'
march of civilization.
Electricity, by enabling the working
man to reside in the suburbs where reni
| is cheap, has been the principal factor II
bringing about the enormous increase III
| the populdt on of cities, so noticeable III
recent wears Electric traction, then, by
| lowering rents, has 7 OF only increased th'
| farmers market, but has ieft larger pro
port on of all wage e-earnings TO be expended
| in fo cd and clothing, whicht he farmer n us
| furnish in one Condition or another.
The CITY dweller lives better and tbs
| farmer finds a different and more remnn
erative class of customers, by the elimna
| tiop of the horse from the economy of city