The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-09-19
1.-THE PASSING OF
THE STEAM ENGINE"
Y. 4. Symons Discusses Condi.
lions Around Chicago In Pa
nAr on This Slhi.et
PAP on This Slhi.r =.

Wilson f. Symons read paper At
the last meeting OF the Western So
ciety of Engineers in the soeietys
room in Chicago on The Passing OF
the Steam Engine" The paper dealt
particularly with conditions in Chica.
go. He did not say that the steam
engine was doomed. Speaking OF the
identification of railroads with re-
specs to Chicago he said:
There are at the present time en-
tering the city of Chicago about TWEEN.
ty-six trunk line railways operating
with steam locomotives. These lines
have an aggregate mileage of 9O,2S5.
or about 40 per cent OF the total
mileage in this country; 22.623 To-
comotives, or 40 per cent OF the to-
tai; 845,106 cars, or about AZ per
cent of the total, and with a valua.
tion Of $5.324,O62. 900, or a little over
81 per cent of the valuation of all
railways in the United States. whic.,
Is placed at $16.93e,15o,2o4. These
; companies operate in Chicago With
few exceptions steam locomotives u.s.
ing bituminous coal for fuel, and not
1nfrequently contribute to the evils
properly chargeable to the
smoke nuisance. There are
in service in the City of
Chicago approximately $50 locomo.
tives each day, and assuming that
each engine consumes five tons of
coal day we have the sum cs $3.50
tons a day. and If l per cent of this
total amount permanently adheros to
buildings, structures, ETC., or contri-
butes to the death or destruction of
trees. grass, flowers, etc, or to the
injury of clothing, peoples health.
etc. then the steam locomotive, it
would seem, stands properly arraigH-
ed under very serious Indictment.
Before rendering verdict, however,
let US take evidence from both sides,
after which We can better determine
the proper degree of responsibility.
That there are hundreds, and I may
say thousands, of chimneys in Chica-
go daily contributing to the evils or
the smoke nuisance no one familiar
with the subject will dispute. The
public mind, however. has OF laoo
been Systematically and thoroughly
poisoned against corporations, espec
tally railway companies, and on this
account the author is inclined to be-
lieve that proper division of the re-
sponsibility has not been made. APP
proximately. 1,129,567 tons of coal a
year pass on from chimneys as smoke
or SCOT, and about per cent of this
volume of smoke or SCOT adheres per.
manently to buildings. structures, etc.
A division of responsibility serves to
indicate on whom the burden OF re-
lief should rest with respect to abate-
ment, and In this connection it should
be remembered that the schedule OF
miles, engines, cars and valuation OF
railways entering Chicago also applies
to many other cities and industrial
centres. In other words, many of
these lines have small interests here
as compared to the sum total Of their
interests at other points, while the
stationary plants are each one a unit
In Chicago's sum total of asset, and
In which we have seen that the steam
locomotive contributes only 13 per
cent Of the smoke nuisance. The
author suggests consideration of an
electric zone and submits a tenta-
tive plan from which all steam loco
motives using bituminous coal after
a certain date will be prohibited from
entering. And in the residence dis
tricts steam locomotives, regardless of
the kind Of fuel used, should be re-
duced to a minimum in numbers on
account of the noise their operation
produces.
1t would seem conservative pro-
position and one that would not inn
pose unnecessary financial burdens ON
the people, or present any unusual
complex engineering problems, to con-
slider the introduction of electricity as
a means of transportation in and ada
cent tt, all large cities or commercial
centres where the demand or the con-
ditions are similar to those which
have been and are being successfully
met in New York city Chicago Is
suffering more from the smoke nuis-
ance than New York ever did. It Is
also suffering from lack Of adequate
transportation facilities, and the sub
stitution Of electricity for the steam
locomotive would provide relief in the
matter of transportation and contri-
butte relief with respect to the smoke
nuisance In proportion to the degree
of it's responsibility. Both problems
are easier Of solution in Chicago than
they were in New York. presenting