The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-31
Foreshadows Day When All Big Railroads Will be Op-
 erated by Electricity
HUGE CASH TRADE
 AMONG MERCHANTS
Eastern Bank Reports Show That Holiday Business Was Largest in the History Of Retail
 Establishments
By HOLLANO

In order to operate by electricity both passenger and freight trains upon the main line of the New Haven railroad energy of Il 1000 volts. This is reduced to about 500 volts for the actual opera tion of the electric motors. Some freight trains numbering 80 or 90 cars are each hauled by the motors All the passenger trains are operated by electric energy for about 34 miles out if New York and nearly all of the passenger and freight trains are in that way operated as far as New Haven.
 This was the first of Identification upon a large scale of American rail- roads. But it is a trifle in comparison with what is said to be the largest and the most powerful electric equipment, such as the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul system has now adopted for over 40 miles, ultimately, no doubt, to be in- stalled upon the entire length of it's Pa cific system. Leaders in the railway world, as well as leading electricians, do not hesitate to say that electric equipment of this kind for a distance al - most equivalent to the distance between New York and Buffalo or New York and Pittsburg inevitably points to the rapid approach of the day when some of the larger railway systems of the United States will be operated by electric en- ergy.
 Occasionally the building and oper- ating of some of the very large steam locomotives used upon the railroads of the Rocky mountain region, as well as the ntiliZa tiOn of oil i'm (. steam have been spoken of as among the chief advances in railroad equip ment, and especially the kind that pro- duces profitable economies. But these locomotives are almost dwarfed by the electric locomotives which are to oper- ate upon the heavy grades of the St. Paul system in the Rocky mountain region They demonstrate what cleo tricity can do when adequately con- trolled and distributed.
 The locomotive itself weighs 260 tons and it has a capacity of 3000- horse power. The apparatus perfectly controls 5000 volts, and this energy mastered by these transcontinental electric locomotives is capable or nauI- ing up heavy grades long freight trains and can easily control these trains upon the down grade. The demonstration of this capacity which was made upon the St: Paul system is sanother illustration of the achievements of magnitude un- paralleled which have been made since the European war began.
 CHRISTMAS AND THE BANKS
 No one who ventured into any of the shops to buy Christmas presents or to look at articles suitable for such pres ents needed to be sold by department store and jewelry shop managers that the Christmas shopping this year, and es- pecially the cash shopping, was the largest ever known. Department store managers willingly make this statement and the statement is confirmed by in- formal reports which have come from the banks. Some of the bank managers have been astonished at the accumula- tion of deposits in the Christmas season from shops where Christmas goods were dealt in. One of the two interesting features of this shopping which have caused comment is the fact that deposits ln the postal savings banks have in creased and there has been no loss, but increase of deposits in the savings banks. The other feature of this Christmas shop ping which has been alluded to by some of the bankers has been the information that in other parts of the coutry like plethora of funds and of Christmas giving have been as conspicuous as in New York.
 A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT
 Many are the references to the achieve ment of Daniel Willard, president of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, in the year 1915. They are ranked with those which secured the swift change from despair to prosperity some years ago with the Reading Railroad company. Were J. P. Morgan alive he would be disposed to re- peat what he said when the Reading Rail- read company turned the corner and was on the high road to prosperity. MT. Morgan then said that those who retained their faith as well as their stock owner ship in the Reading Railroad company at last knew they were justified, and his first thought when prosperity was as- sured was for the stockholders. Presi- dent Willard is spoken of as having handled both ends of the proposition in- volving prosperity for the Baltimore and Ohio with equal skill. For he permitted the operating expenses to be only slightly increased while at the same time the gross revenues of the system were in five months-July 1 to December lin creased S6, All GOO, the comparison being made with these five months from July 1, 1914 He has, therefore, been able to
 report, not only to the stockholders, but
 to the public, that the net operating eX-
 penses for the five months were a little
 oyer $15, ,5000 900, an increase of nearly 25 per cent.
 President Willard has so operated the system that it has been earning gross from operations since July l little over S9, ,O00 GOO month. Very likely he will be able to report for the year 1915 the rail road will have earned gross considerably
 more than $100000,O00. Behind these fig ures lies a story of true economy, foi these increases were made possible by the expenditure of large sums of money whereby gross revenues from operation and net as we'll were surely Increased Had his economies been limited by small expenditures, his earnings would have been much smaller. From some points of view this is looked upon record achievement ill the railroad work of 1915.
 TWO MILLIONS A MONTH The tented city where a little over 5t years ago General Grant established his headquarters in the last campaign oi the civil war lapsed into a deserted set dement, almost, soon after the war was ended From the headquarters which were established there for General Grant went the last orders which ne issued ur to the day of Appomattox. Nobody could have dreamed that upon this spot made historic in that way there would have been established within year an indus try of such size that its pay rolls to the powder makers aggregate S2.000,O00 each month, the envelopes being distributed SC as to bring some 5000 people into living that is to say, household and savings bank--relation to these wages. Presum- ably after the war is ended the city of Hopewell-which formerly was City Point will be maintained, since the chances are good that the United States will need Of l. lind C.