The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-23

of them are preparing the way for 1t by acquiring electric railways within their territory. and even under present conditions the joint operation of cleo tric and steam lines has been attended by gratifying measure of success. Perhaps there is no better example of the way in which the trolley co-ope- l rates with the locomotive under mod arn American management than Is af
 forded by the system of steam and cleo tric lines which the New York. Now Haven and Hartford Railroad is build ing up In Its extremely important and very congested territory. The trolley car made its appearance only about twenty years ago. and within less than | ten years of its general use the New Haven system was using electric trac- tion, thus becoming the first steam railroad corporation in the world to use the new power. It was the first steam l corporation to equip a line with the trolley system. and 1t was likewise the first to equip line with the third rail In June. 1895. the first trolley cars for | steam road purposes were tested at Nantasket Beach, developing a speed of | fifty miles an hour. On the last day of
 that month the first trolley service on
 a former steam railroad was put into operation. Other experiments follow
 ed and were so successful that the
 company soon began the absorption of
 electric railways, and this policy has
 been steadily pursued until today the
 New Haven system controls more than
 300 miles of electric lines. By the
 union of steam and electric roads it is
 possible to make close connections and
 through traffic arrangements, and to introduce many economies in manage
 ment. When this policy was adopted
 great sections of the New Haven's back lterritory had no transportation service whatever, while others had more than
 they could profitebly support The New Haven engineers. having laid out
 a general scheme for the working to-
 gether of both kinds of lines. have been
 able to fill in the gaps intelligently and
 the whole district involved Is being sys- dramatically developed.
 | What the New Haven road is doing
 in Southern and Western New England
 Is being done to some extent-and to a | greater extent every year-in other
 parts of the country. and similar ex-
 periments are being conducted abroad. | The application of electric power and
 the use Of auto motors. especially on branch railways. wae one of the sub jects which the International Railway
 Congress. recently held in Washington,
 regarded as of pressing importance. In
 European countries industrial develop
 ment has been notably stunted. because
 with the restrictions under which they
 operate. the railroads are unable to
 build and run branch lines proftably
 II In France and Italy this condition has
 prompted the governments to allow
 large subsidies for branch railways.
 and in Germany and Russia, where
 nearly all the railway lines are owned
 by the government. extraordinary ap-
 propriations have been required for
 these lines. the State hoping to get it's money back through the increased val
 uation of property and the larger taxes that can therefore be collected from it.
 In the United States, where the rail roads are dependent on their own re-
 sources and where the prosperity of vast sections of the country Is depend
 ent upon the building of railroads economy of operation that shall not
 lower efficiency is a pressing necessity. It is partly as a result of these condi- tions and partly as a step ahead in nat ural expansion that other American railways have followed the policy ot