The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-24

upon the guilty parties. We do not
into silence, or to be covered with
weak whitewash to extenuate and ex-
cuse, until wrongs have been righted,
and until the people of Minnesota can
feel that the institutions which they
have provided. and supported have not
been reduced to chambers of horrors.
AN ELECTRIC CONDUIT SYSTEM.
The G1 b e asks the people of st.
Paul to consider that they have an
opportunity now to secure most bene-
fetal change in the operation of our
street railway system. Since the street
railway company rejected the ordi-
nance passed by the council, it ought
to be determined that whatever chang
es are made henceforth shall be made
with a view first Of all to the public
interest and welfare There is no need
for US to make any more concessions
or to accept anything less than what
is right and fair.
In the first place, under resolutions
which have already passed both houses
OF the council, the street railway COM
pany will be compelled to pave the
space between it's tracks On Third and
Fourth streets with asphalt, as it ought
to have been done in the first place.
Permits n NIT cd
only on the plea that asphalt was i'm
practicable, and that plea has been
utterly demolished by practical ex-
per1ence on several of our thorough
fares. Therefore, the contract un-
der which granite was permitted
having been rescinded, the COM
pany is placed under the restrictions
OF the general ordinance, and the city
should, and undoubtedly WILL insist
upon the use of asphalt in all paving
done by the company hereafter on
streets whose surface is covered with
that material. Before this asphalt is.
put down, the company will have to
decide, of course, upon what method
or propulsion it proposes to use for
some years to come. 1t could not
afford to put down asphalt over the
large portion of street surface that it
occupies and d short time thereafter
change from a cable to an electric sys-
tenn, or make any other move which
would necessitate tearing up the ex-
pensive work recently completed 1t
will have to do some planning for the
future, and in that line we wish to
suggest very earnestly for considera-
ton the adoption for the Selby avenue
line of the electric conduit system.
One of the objections properly urged
against permitting the change of the
Selby avenue line to an electric is that
it will once more cumber Fourth street
with poles and wires, and carry these
dangerous distractions down into the
heart of the wholesale district Sac
rifices such as this people make for
the sake of transit facilities, but in
this case they are. not necessary.
There is now in operation in different
cities in this country a system of cleo
trio transit in which the current is
taken from below the street surface,
instead of from above, and the results
are said to be highly satisfactory to
the companies, as well as to the public.
We present, in an interview elsewhere,
a practical description of the working
of this system.
A line in Washington is especially
welI-knoWn to all recent visitors of
that city. The motor starts and stops
with a touch; there is no Whirring
noise; there are no poles or wires; there
is no trolley, no shower of sparks
wherever the wires are covered with
rain or sleet; in fact, the system seems
to be almost ideal. The conductor for
the electric current runs underneath
the surface, the power is taken up
by the car through a brush or shoe,
and the operation is economical, as
we'll as effective.
Now. the ST. Paul city railway COM
pany has on the Se1by avenue line
tunnels for such a system already in
place. We do not know what changes
might have to be made in them, if
any; but, obviously, the conduit sys-
tenn can be applied with comparatively
little expense where a conduit is al
ready in place The introduction of
this system on the Selby avenue line
would go far to remove the objec
tions made to the change. and it seems
opportune to recommend it strongly
before the new pavement is put down
It is only question Of time when the
trolley must 60 If the Fourth street
cable is to be changed to an electric
the trolley should not come. That
line. at least, ought to be operated
on the conduit system.
THE GLASS TO NATURE.
The comparative failure Of Sothern's
recent revival of 1.-The Lady of Lyons
gives point to some remarks by the
editor of Scribners on the tendency of
American actors of the present day
to oyerfeel and underact. Sothern is
perhaps the best of the romantic ac-
tors of the American stage, and the