The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-24
THE ELECTRIC RAILWAY
IT'S DEVELOPMENT IN THE UNITED
STATES IN A FEW YEARS.
Hundreds of Millions of Dollars In
vested-MiIes of Track, Number of
Cars and Passengers Carried.
st. Louis Republic.

ST. Louis Republic
Gigantic as was the wooden horse of
Ulysses in the siege of Troy, it uwindles
to insignihcance when compared with the
size of the horse it would take to draw
all the electric street-railway cars now in
use in the United States. 1t is calculated
that 100000 horses would be required to
move the cars now propelled by electricity,
making no allowance for the extra cars
which would have to be run to equalize the
present schedule were horses used.
One horse representing the combined
height length and bulk of the 10000 would
be so massive that he could plant the hoofs
OF his fore legs down in Cincinnati and
Stake his thirst in the Ohio river while his
hind legs rested on Manhattan island
whence with mis- tail he could brush the
flies off the Brooklyn bridge management
His back would be high up above the reach
OF clouds, higher than the air strata through
which 1t is proposed by visionary electri-
cal inventors tc communicate the current
generated by Niagara falls to Paris to run
the exhibition in 1900
The illustration appears exaggerated, but
1t truly represents the condition of what is
claimed to be the most important individual
industry in this country. The amount of
capital involved in the electric street rail-
ways Is placed at about one and half bill
lions and it is increasing rapidly every
month Should the national government de-
eide to buy all these roads it would take
>all the $525,OO00OO of gold. the $l2O, 600 of
silver, the $4OO000000 of certificates, the 1925.
100000 national bank notes. and $25O,O0O. 900
OIL United States treasury notes in circula-
ton to pay for the purchase
The total population of Greater New York
chicago, Philadelphia and Boston is not
greater than the number of passengers car
ried by the electric cars of the Nation every
business day. A conservative estimate places
the amount of passengers carried in a year
py the electric cars at 2, $780, 600, 000 not in
GS.iudlng the passengers transferred from one
line to another. That means two rides each
year for every human being on earth. The
steam roads of the United States carry only
535 CJ0,020 passengers annually over 1S2 900
miles of track
An electric street ear travels an average
speed much greater than that OF the anti
quated horse car. 1t would naturally be sup
posed that the increased speed and length
OF ground covered would heghten the ele-
ment OF danger in street-car travel but not
So Omcial statistics show that only one
only one in every 10000 is hurt in any wav
Inc palnstaking statistician figures it out
mat man would have TO travel an hour
xl.lD
5-cent car fares before his chance for an in
jury would come around. That is correct
as tar as the mathematical deduction is con-
cerned, but 1t is equally true that accidents
do not occur according to any time schedule
1t is, therefore, not advisable for any man
to attempt to prove the figures by personal
TEST as his turn is liable tooerop up at any
moment during the term indicated.
on the same principle a man would have
TO 1--we five and half centuries and remain
on the electric cars day and night through
out his entire life to come up to his proper
time for accidental death, according to the
statistician. Still there are complaints But
most OF them come from ambitious persons
not passengers, who seek by bodily resist
anee to impede the progress of the cars.
The advantages of clean, Well-lighted cleo
trlc cars over most other means of local
traffic are always appreciated quickly by the
public, as is invariably demonstrated by the
increase in business of the company adopt
ing electricity for its motive power and the
decrease of patronage on. parallel lines of
less progressive polcy0 i6n kas nss .hg
AS a rapid developerVOf suburban property
the electric railway has been and continues
to be the most important factor. Many of
the lines in the cities are built to extend
beyond the populous districts and into the
adjoining farm lands, which are quickly
turned into building lots and eagerly pur-
chased by men of moderate means for home
building purposes. THUS, by spreading the
population out over larger areas with bet
ter sanitary conditions, the electric roads
nave helped to reduce the death rate in al
most all the larger cities.
Cheap transportation is another virtue
claimed for electric traction. Passengers get
much longer, though quicker. rides for their
nickelS on the modern cars than they ever
gould on the horse cars. Trolley trips of
from ten to fifteen miles in length are not
uncommon in many cities on which the
regular scent fare only is charged Once
more the statstician's figures are referred
to, which show that the average increased
addition to the length of street-car rides
during the last ten years is 337 per cent.
The speed has been more than doubled
The equipment of an electric street rail-
road involves much greater investment of
money than the old horse-car lines. The
cars, the power houses, transmission me-
diums and the rails and roadbeds are all
expensive items. The roadbed particularly
must be constructed substantially and dur
ably In the new underground trolley lines
in New York rails weighing 106 pounds per
yard are used. These are laid on a con-
crete foundation, and the cost of construc-
ton is something like 100000 per mile
The electric street railway, like many 9TH
err progressive Innovations is essentially an
American product. All its principal features
were invented and developed here. Europe
was slow to adopt electricity as the motive
power for its street car lines, or tramways,
as they call them over there. But they are
making up for lost time now. Germany leads
the countries OF Europe in the mileage of
electric roads 1t has built 707 miles and
uses q 93 motor cars. France comes next
with 246:5 miles and 664 cars, and Great
Britain is third by wide margin, with 97.6
miles and 252 cars. Switzerland is close up
with SOS miles and 237 cars while Italy has
S2.2 miles and 81 cars. Big Russia is ninth
on the list. with only 10 miles and IS cars,
and Hollands 19 miles ranks fourteenth.
The United States companies operate 1900
miles of electric street railways employing
over 10000 cars in their service.
Japan has more electric railways than al
most any of the European nations. and new
lines are being built in Australia, Egypt,
India, Ceylon, Mexico and the South Ameri-
can republics. America supplies not only the
ideas and plans for these foreign enter
prises, but much of the material and ma
chinery for construction and operation as
well. England purchases engines, dynamos
and motors here for her latest and best
railway systems. Poor old Spain patronizes
us, too, in this respect The new electric
roads in Madrid and Barcelona are equipped
with material made in America.
The pay rolls of the electrical railway
companies in the United States contain the
names of 100000 men, These include execu-
tive and operating officers lawyers, cleo
tr1cianS, engineers, firemen, car and track
mechanics, motormen. conductors inspect
ors, laborers and several other classical
tions. Until recently the use of the electric
railway has been restricted to city traffic
and that of its immediate surroundings 1t
is gradually reaching out for more territory,
however, and threatens to become a more
and more formidable rival to steam roads
In suburban traffic. wherever the trolley
has come into competition with steam the
trolley has always become the more popular