Arizona republican., 1901-10-18
ONE HUNDRED MILES AN HOUR
As to the Prospect of That Rate Being
 Reached By Electric Traction.

Through years we have been inward- ly bracing ourselves for the triumph ant entry of that hundred-r r1iie-an- hour train. But we have waited in vain with the patience of St. Simon Stylites. The conversion Of the trunk lines of this country to electric power has not yet come. By this statement we mean in no way to minimize the enormous strides which the science of electric traction has accomplished during the last ten years. It has revo- lutionized urban and suburban trans- portation and has brought with it a host of benefits to city and country dwellers which seemed absolutely un- attainable Q decade and a half ago. But 1t is undeniably far cry from the largest electric railway enterprise at present carried out to the most modest of the high speed projects that have been before the public eye. And the discrepancy between promise and full filment is one that should be explained.
 More than ten years ago the experi- ments of Crosby made 1t certain that electric traction at very high speed was. as an engineering feat. entirely practicable. even with the means t1e.i at hand. His results In determining air resistance removed the only really doubtful factor from the problem. ani the experience of more recent years with locomotives has confirmed these results in the fullest and most satis- factory manrer. Further no engineer Is today disposed to deny that the cleo. trio motor has certain very marked and decisive advantages for such work It renders the whole weight of the locc- motive. or. with multiple-unit control. of the entire train available for trae ton, facilitates braking by the genera tor function of the motors. and greatly facilitates the reduction of dead weight to be dragged. At the present time there has been long enough experience with long power transmission lines to show that the continuous supply ut large amounts of energy over long sec tions of line is q very simple and easy matter and that the efficiency of such a transmission Is high enough to utilize fuel more economically than Is pos sible with locomotives. even setting aside the great advantage to be gained by the use of water power.
 The cost of the conducting system. once a matter of very grave import. has subsided inthese days of high volt ages into comparative moderation, and Is likely to subside still further. And. finally, the trials carried out abroad within the past year or two have shown conclusiveiy that energy at very high voltage can readily be taken 10 the motors by a flying contact with trolley wheel or shoe, so that the trans mission line and the working conductor may be one and the same.
 The fact is, that, with the light upo, the subject now available, 1t is not too much to say that an electric train at 100 miles per hour not only Is entirely practicable. but involves very little O. an experimental character. One might almost go further and say that the only difficulties worth serious consideration are those involved in the track and road bed, which, of course. are quite apart from the motive power, except us the electric motor has somewhat tha. advantage in the lessened pounding of the rails. Yet. in spite of all this. the high speed electric road Is today seemingly further from accomplish ment in this country than it was seven or eight years ago. Abroad it seems to have been taken up with some pros pect of success. particularly by the Sudden Gesellschatt. an association of the German electrical companies. or the Berlin-Zossen line, and 1t wouIi be far from surprising to see the first success reached on the continent.
 The reason for such a state of things Is not altogether obvious. It appar-
 
 technical diiiculty that stands In the way. and the difficulty seems to be curiously composite one. Are we to suppose that no one wishes to travel at such speed. or that, wishing it. the cost would be found to be prohibitive? Certainly we have seldom seen aI American business man who wished to travel by a slow train if a faster were available and the agreements between ffroa Ic fn ta, fp1x chat hot the public considers the quicker routes desirable, even if the difference in time be only 10 or 15 per cent
 The same argument against higher speed has been used against every ad- vance for half a century past and In every case competition has forced the Improvements and the public has wei comed it. As to the matter of cost. f Is absurd to suppose that fast express trains would be running today If. everything considered. they did not pay. You cannot convince the Amer lean public by any amount of juggling with statistics that the existing .Iait- roads are regularly running trains at loss out of philanthropic enthusiasm. Directly or indirectly, good service pays and it is fairly demonstratab,e that the cost of electric service at 100 miles an hour would not be largely n excess-per passenger carried-of the cost of the existing fast express ser vice between large centers. Moreover extra fares would be gladly paid for the sake of the time gained. Time is money to business man and if he could step aboard a train In Chicago at. 5 p. m. and be landed in New York at a. m., he. would save an entire business day over the present trip. And the speed thereby implied woa!1 be considerably under the 100 mile in four that seems worthy objective point in fact, less than seventy miles per hour. including stops.
 l In this hypothetical trip is perhaps the key to one of the problems of high | speed traction. Most of the fast cleo