Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-12-10

VIII connect Portland and Boston will
oc round to be no Dream
Npfop0S to II discussion of the ,tos-
''"n oi the great increase in the past
anu 'he probable increase in the inn
hie"iate future of the street railway
HAs'rhi OF Maine u reference to the
enormous development of this service
IN inns country might not be out of
place.
thousand million dollars have been
invested iii the building and enuipment
of trolley lines throughout the United
states. and another billion is awaiting
SliAiiar investment while projects FOR
new l'n"S are numbered by the hun
nfc"S perhaps ~ the thousands. The
rariditE Of development has been ac-
celeiai"d by successful experiments;
With the long-diStance transmission Of
power. \ California line receive;
power from the YUba riv.r $50 mics
away. with a loss of only H.. per cent.
and when the electric plant is com
pleted il will send forth its mower 4 dis
tance Of IL miles. while transmission
900 or even 1000 miles is now believed 10
he entirely practicable.
In the West ii has been decided To
equip siXty-SiX- mile section Of The
Great Northern Railway with .lcc-
triclty instead of steam and if the ox-
pertinent is a success n section over l4n
miles in length viii discard steam ana
employ electricity. In Ohio there are
""c miles Of steam railway in opera
upn. whil" >oS miles Of electric road arc
under construction and franchises and
rights of way have been secured FOR
~" additional miles
IA" unit" train iS th,. favu,itr
in"a. ana electricians say there is no
good reason why fast electric ear
Should not br despatched from Jersey
city every fly" minutes to go to
Philadelphia without stop i'll an hour
Ii can be seen from these marvellous
possibilities what bonanzaS Quay and
i s friends We're preparing for them
selves when they gobbled up the .lec-
tie franchises of the principal cities
~ tn" state by special dynamic legisla-
tinn last summer
here are said to hc enterprises un-
dcr way in central New York whereby
IN 4 few years passengers will h.. t-n-
1b!ed to 20 from Boston and New York
10 t;uffalu by electric ears and lit is
quite within the bounds to predict that
III electric train will run from Chicago
&" New York in 4 single night. \ man
could dine III Chicago. sleep COM
fuItably cn route and breakfast next
morning in New York. for hitherto un-
n"ard Of rates Of speed are contem-
plated and sleeping ana buffet as Well
rs express and baggage ears ar" in
'iuded in the prospective equipment.
~ these lines can be constructed more
ch.aply ana operated at a much lower
cost. the rates of travel. of freight and
all other kinds Of transportation must
be greatly reduced. In the East a
trolley road from Albany to Pittsiicld is
n.W under construction, and one from
the latter city 10 Springfield will fol
low. The work going on between Bns-
tuL and Worcester is of recent interest.
liz the West still greater things are do
ing and powerful SyndicateS are aC-
curing and consolidating innumera-
BILE lines. There is little doubt that
eventually the steam railways ana the
trolley Will jine drives--the recent re-
tir1ment of the steam railway oppoSi-
ton as shown in the permit TO connect
Lewiston and Portland by trolley. be
ing a sign of the times. After the ulti-
mate consolidation the people will have
Ia look for cheap transit by legislative
order when the Octopus fails to be
wise But all signs point to the unifiCa
ton Of steam and trolley and to gov
crnment regulation.