The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-03-31
THE WEEKS TALK
 IN NEW YORK CITY Electricity to SuppIant Steam LoComotion in Ten Years POLICE RUMPUS ON AGAIN T. F. Ryan to Grow Peanuts in the conso-stranee Story of Man
 Who Gets His Freedom
 After 25 Years.
POLICE RUMPUS ON AGAIN
BY SEWELL HAGGARD.

New York, March 30.--According to the railway prophets, ten years hence will see steam locomotives almost as much of novelty as the horse car is today. Five years ago, except for the overhead trolley and in q few experimental cases, there was not a railroad in the country using electricity as a motive power.
 Now more than 200 electric trains pass though the terminal station of the New York Central railroad in this city every day. The present trains are used ex- clusively for suburban service, but off, cers of the road predict that in ten years electricity will have supplanted steam as the motive power on the entire system
 An Investigation of this subject has just been made by two experts of the Ameri- can Institute of Electrical Engineers, in the endeavor to find an adequate an- swer to the question, Will it pay to sub stitute electricity for steam on all rail roads?' In the course of this investiga- tion it is found that wherever it has been possible to compare electric with steam railroading on the same or parallel lines the popularity of the former is most marked.
 Among many factors contributing to this marked success of lines using cleo tricity the ability of the latter to run on close headway is considered especially i'm portant. In the matter of speed, also it has been demonstrated that the electric train can be operated at rate twice as great as that of our fastest express trains on runs of any considerable length, and exceeding by about 50 per cent, the maximum which can be attained, even for short distance, by the steam loco- motive with reasonable degree of safe ty. At high speeds. also, the economy of the steam locomotive falls off rapidly while that of it's electric competitor re- mains practically constant.
 Although experience with electric roads is comparatively recent and number of problems still remain to be solved be- fore their operation reaches a complete success, enough is known, according to the experts of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, to lead to the conclusion that electric traction, if the equipment be prop erly designed and installed is essentially and materially safer, so far as the trav- cling public is concerned, than steam trac- tion.
 From comparative survey of the cost Of railroad operation throughout the United State, based on the report of the interstate commerce commission, it ap- pears that steam operating expenses per mile averages s5255-a difference in favor of electricity of $1154 per mile. This es- innate is exclusive of , per cent interest on electric equipment, which is placed at $516 per mile.
 According to this estimate, if all the railways of the United States were to- day run by Electricity. using the system adopted for tlfe equipment of the New Haven railroad. the energy required be- ing developed by power plants such as are now in extensive use, the aggregate cost of railroad operation, which in 190o amounted, in round numbers. to S1, 100000 . 900, would be reduced by about s250. GOO OOO In other words. 1t appears that the en- tire railroad system of the United States could be operated at less cost by the i electric motor than by the steam locomo- tive. and this with an earning power much greater than 1t has today.