The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1899-06-16

There Went He Any, IN A0thoRat1
Say0-PneaAatic Tubea,

There Went he Any, an Authority
Says-Pneanatic Tubess
F. I. whitney. OF st. Paul. general pas
senger agent of the Great Northern rail-
road. In speaking Of the future develop
ment OF railroad travel. says:
THE great development Of railroad
travel hfty years hence will undoubtedly
be along the line of urban and suburban
rapid transit. Long distance steam rail-
roads. as we know them today. carrying
both freight and passengers, are In some
respects at the apex of their achievement.
Speed Is for all practical purposes limited
to the maximum Of sixty miles an hour.
or but little more. The item of comfort
has reached . point where there Is little
to be desired. Accidents affecting life
and limb on = modern passenger railway
have been reduced to q percentage 20 low
that It 10 actually safer to travel on q
railway train than to walk along city
street.
ut Is possible that for some time to
come ng-distance travel will continue to
follow the same general lines as now ex-
list. Steam locomotives may give place to
machinery operated by electricity or COM
pressed air; the two rails may In process
of time become one. Cars. both passen-
ger and freight. may be still further i'm
proved. but In the main the railway sys-
TEN Of 1850 will be simply an improvement
on what exists today. with an ever-pres-
ent speed limit Of less than 100 miles an
hour.
There is department Of railway
travel. however. that demands and will
experience radical changes, and that Is
urban and suburban rapid transit of both
passengers and freight: II IL the crying
need OF the day Municipalities and cor
porations are moving heaven and earth to
provide better means for transporting the
millions OF men from their homes TO their
offices and workshops. Conditions, In
stead OF improving. grow steadily worse.
In all the large centers exceeding half
million population the congestion OF
street car lines-horse cars electric cars
or cable cars and elevated roads--is a
constant menace to health. life and prop
erty.
Extension along the lines OF existing
methods Is almost at a standstill. New
York the second city In the world. seems
helpless before the ever-growing problem.
Twice every day struggling mass of hu-
manity wastes precious hours In a slow.
tedious Journey between WORK and home
There Is no more room for surface lines
Of railway. The extension Of the elevated
system means The ruination of valuable
streets. What Is wanted is some method
that will practically annihilate distance
and at the same time remove from the
city streets the dangers and defects OF
the present systems One possible solu-
ton occurs TO me.
ut requires no effort OF the imagina tion
to see an extension of the pneumatic tube
system now in use In the largest cities. A
view OF New York. London Paris or any
other large city In 1850 may show something
after this fashion. Dustless. asphaited
streets with no noise OF Changing gong or
steel shod hoofs: clean. unbrokcn pave
ments across which pass with no.seless
rush ruhbe. tired. horseiess carriages; no
deathiy tracery OF electric lines or network
OF smoke-begrimed elevated treet!e work
Instead. at convenient intervals the small
round stations Of the Pneumatic Under
ground Transportation Company. The pas
senger will step into an automatic elevator
which gently lowers him 10 the track, II
such name can be applied to a system
that has no track. Incandescen, lamps
hight the underground station and the air
is pure and sweet. Accompanied by other
suburban residents the passengers enters a
luxuriously appointed car whose arched
sides and ceilings disclose its tubular con-
ssruet!on- The conductor touches an cleo
trio button which closes the door softly
and gently: there n a dIstinc, bu, hardly
percer,ible forward motion az the car
starts. and in almost an instant so rapid
has been the motion. the trip has been
made from the Battery to Forty second
street: and the ellen; elevator lifts the pas.
senger into the sunshine before the Grand
Central station. Harlem Is reached tw,
minutes later. and from here the system
branches out TO distan; suburbs In con.
nection with the pneumatic underground
railway. automobile carriages and lonx.
elm. sngle-rail afr cars distribute nass~n-
gers to their homes In an incredibly shor,
time
The pneumatic transit system NAV hs
extended 10 include neighboring cities ana
the effect will be practically to ann,hi,a..
all distance OF less than 40 miles. which
= about the maximum az which II will be
necessary or desirable 10 use pneumatic
transit fer suburban trains. The use OF this
MISUNDERSTANDING system will add sew
era, hours a day 20 the leisure time OF busy
men and bring residence district. located
thirty or forty miles away within ten or
twenty minutes run OF business dist-.cis
The difficulties In the way Of practical,
application % the pneumatic tube system
are nc. greater than confronted the in
vensor OF the steam railroad az today. The
principle IL now IN active service on a
smaller scale, and the workings 81 il ex-
cite no common: whatever New York
sun
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