Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-06-30
Their Merits Discussed Before Com.
missioners Today.
ARGUMENTS OF INTERESTED CITIZENS
Authorities to Determine Whether
System is a Good One.
THE POINTS AT ISSUE

as a motive power to the lexington and
Belt railroads.
Mr.. A. r. Server was the first speaker.
He introduced the subject by referring to
the recent tests of the air motor on the
lexington road, and said:
THE act of February 3, 1897. provides
for an extension of time within which the
lexington and Soldiers Home Railroad
Company and the Belt Railway Company
are to comply with the provisions of the
act of June 10, 1896. For that purpose the
time for the trial of the air motors is ex-
tended to July l. Section 3 of the act of
February 8. 1897. provides that if the
compressed air motors are not adopted on
or before July 1, 1897, the railway COM
panies shall, within one year of that date,
equip their respective lines with an un-
foreground electric system.
The act of June 10, 1896, section l. pro-
vfdes that If after trial of three months
the said compressed air motors shall, in
the judgment of the Commissioners, prove
to be in all respects proper and salts
factory motive power for the speedy and
convenient propulsion of street cars, then
the said Commissioners are hereby author
lied and directed to issue to the said rail-
way companies, respectively, permits to
equip their lines with such compressed air
motors
Simply q Repetition.
1T appears that this is simply a repeti-
tion of section 10 of the original charter of
the company, which provides that the
company shall place cars of the best con-
struction on said railways, with all modern
improvements necessary to the convenience
and comfort Of passengers. 1t Is simply
stating the same thing in another way.
Now. the act of June 10. 1886, as we
have seen, provides that If after trial of
three months the compressed air cars shall,
In the judgment of the Commissioners,
prove to be in all respects a proper and
satisfactory motive power, then the Com
missionerS are to issue q permit for the
complete equipment Of the road with such
cars. If the Commissioners are satisfied
that the cars have done this, then it be-
comes their duty to issue the permit.
Now, 1t seems to US that thus far the
Commissioners have not had ;u orportu-
nifty to become satisfied that the cars are
in all respects proper and satisfactory
motive power There arc number of
things which do not seem to have been sat
isfied by the tests. AS far as the nechan-
ical part goes, l understand that you gen.
tiemen had an engineer, especially appoint
ed or detailed, to examine and report .pon
this point. We feel very much indebted to
the Commissioners for assigning some one
to give special attention to the matter
We feel that this is the first time that the
air motor, as applied to street car propLl-
sion. has been given an opportunity for an
Official and unprecedented investigation.
Must he Satisfied.
But the law states that the Commission
ers must be satisfied in all respects that
this is a proper and satisfactory motive
power for the speedy and convenient pro-
puision Of street cars. We do not think
that the Commissioners have had oppor-
tunity to satisfy themselves of this.
Another point. 1t seems that the peo-
urE int cd IN, t1,1 oil
Soldiers Home Railroad Company are also
Interested in this particular system of air
mote rs."- .'- "'-''i -
Capt. 81 .ck-"Have you any proof Of
that?"., =, f..
Mr.. Serven-"Simply report that Is all. /
uEderstan nd that Mr.. Hoadley has stated
that, and 1 have also heard it from other
quarters. the stockholders of the railway
company are stockholders also In the air
motor"
Mr.. Kane-'T will state that Mr.. Dolan
of Philadelphia has admitted that In pub
lished statement in the New York Mail a I'd
Express. He stated that they had invest
ed large sums of money in this particular
motor. and had condemned 1t as far as its
adoption the Metropolitan line in New
York city was concerned. If you would
Ike to have copy Of that interview 1 will
get it for YOU
Capt. Black: I'VE are glad to get all the
information we can on the subject"
Other Subjects of Inquiry.
Mr.. Severn: I'm addition, there are some
other things in connection with the car
which the Commissioners have to inquire
into. l don't know how satisfactory the
tests have been as to the ability of the
car to run over all the lines without re-
charging, but / suppose the report Of your
engineer will probably furnish that. / I'M
derstand i'll the most exhaustive tests
made the car failed to make the round
fri fnT ND ~bnxy ct. n
from the power house, then went down on
the 9TH street line. and down to 7th street,
but on the return trip they failed to quite
reach Brookland. '.--
Il suppose the Brookland people are very
much interested in that. 1t would mean
one of two things for them. They would
either have to be transferred from one
to another, or else the air car would
have to draw a trailer and If it is not able
to run to Brookland, the question arises,
would it be able to draw a trailer?
1T is presumed that your engineer has
discovered how many trips the car can
make without recharging, and how long it
would take to rechargc. 1t would also
seem that the Commissioners should be-
fore being satisfied in tine matter require
the company or it's responsible officers, II
they have any, to file a sort of statement
with the Commissioners showing what
sort of schedules can be run. and whether
the cars can run anywhere continuously
over what sections of the line the cars
Der of cars that have to be taken out Il
service to be recharged; length of time OF
recharging.
The Schedules.
1.-THE cars to be proper and satisfactory
certainly should be able to make an un-
interrupted schedule throughout the day,
and maintain a good service during the
business hours of the day. They should
be reasonably safe and sure in making a
fairly satisfactory schedule, and the Com
missioncrs should be satisfied of this before
authorizing their use, and unless they can
do that, 1t cannot be considered a salts
factory motive power.
lit is true that the cars have been MAX
ing short trips, and have been running at
intervals, but they have not been put to a
business test at all If they want TO fully
test 1t. put the car on al 6 in the morning
and run it, say, until 9 o'clock in the even
ing. or until II o'clock at night.
"Another question comes up In this con-
nection. The act of February 3. 1897, seems
to extend the time until July l. 1897. for the
preliminaries Of the trial. The act of Feb
ruary 3, 1897. requires that If said motors
are adopted, the companies shall equip
their lines with such motive power on OF
before July !, 1885,"
Inquiry by Mr.. Ross.
Mr.. Ross-"Do you think they are re-
quired, taking the two acts into considera-
ton, to come TO q decision by the LIST of