The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-08-17
USE ELECTRICITY
 ON THE RAILROADS
By HOLLAND

lIc "dter powers or the united states would be utilized so as to furnish electric energy fer the hauling of trains upon practically al. of the railroads of the United States. MT. Westinghouse spoke { to the delegates of the Southern Business ,, congress, which met at Atlanta nearly 10 years ago. It was one of the rare oc- casions when MT. Westinghouse accepted l invitation to make public addresses But ne felt that the industrial and transpor- tation interests of the south had at hand such an inconceivably great natural re- source whereby power for industrial and transportation purposes could be secured that It might be of some service to the people oe the south if he called atten- uon 10 this resource, feeling justified in going so far as to predict that the water powers of the south would, within tho course of IS or 20 years, perhaps sooner, De captured and harnessed so that from them could be procured electric energy Tn amount sufficient to meet industrial and transportation needs
 No doubt at that time Mr. McAdoo, who had perfected the so-called McAdoo
 
 under the Hudson river from Manhattan Island to Newark could be secured, ob- tained good understanding of what the future relation of electricity to the move ment of trains was sure to be. The elec- tric current which operates the trains that run through tht McAdoo tubes aroin New York to Newark is secured by burn Ing coal. If fhara in ho New York abundant water power that undoubtedly would have been utilized not only for the McAdoo tubes, but also for the Pennsylvania electrified system, as well as that part of the New York Cen tral an1 of the New Haven railroad, where trains are operated by electricity.
 MADOO AND ELECTRICITY NOW, Secretary McAdoo has had ~op- portunity during his excursion to the Pa. cific coast and back to Washington to take heed of the enormous water powers or the west and probably to gain some information respecting the utilization of water powers in the mountain regions of the northwest whereby original energy | IS converted into electric energy sufficient 10 operate trains upon a section nearly bO0 miles in length of that part of the St. Paul railroad system which has been re. {. gently completed to the Pacific coast MT. McAdoo's observaron or these water powers and of the utilization of some of some of them which has already been
 made led him to say upon his return to Washington few days ago that he was
 of the opinion that these water powers | throughout the country could be so util- l lZed as to result in the electrifying of
 the railroad systems of the United
 States.
 THE FIRST COST
 l When MT. Westinghouse first suggested
 that electricity be used as motive power for hauling railroad trains, the railroad managers were fearful lest the cost of in- | stall1ng electric plants and eQuippirg 2
 railroads. witk electric apparatus would l be so great to make a proposition of
 that Kind impracticable. But the exper- fence of the New Haven railroad, which l Is electrified from New York to New
 Haven and the later experience upon the { Pacific extension of the St. Paul rail- l road have demonstrated apparently that ! although the cost entailed by installing | electricity as the motive power for the
 railroads is great, nevertheless the econ | omies which are effected and the various | facilities Tor operating trains which elec- | triclty makes possible fully justify the in vestment of the capital needed for in- l stalling hydro-electric power and for op- | erating the railroads with electricity.
 Mr. McAdoo clearly intimates that If the 1 government is to continue to administer
 the railroads of the United States for a 1 considerable period at the close of the 1 war he would advocate the utilization of water power and electricity for hauling
 railroad trains. The government would
 be able with its vast financial resources
 to facilitate the employment of water | DrO6nnino ifyy O y1d n
 the equipment of railroad lines with elec-
 tric apparatus. MT. McAdoo is quoted as l saying that there is an inconceivao.y
 great empire of water power yet to ne ] harnessed and turned to account in the l operation Of industries and the trans-
 portation Of persons and traffic over the
 railroads. These are almost the exact
 words used by MT. Westinghouse in his
 address of 10 years ago
 AN INEXHAUSTIBLE RESOURCE 1 Aside from the convenience, the econ | omy and the efficiency which the utiliza- | tion of electricity for moving trans
 makes possible, thereiis another point nf view which is of equal importance. For
 If the water powers of the United States which constitute an inexhaustible nal.
 ural resource be so harnessed as to crA- ate another inexhaustible resource which
 IS electricity, then the serious question Of | the conser, ation of coal will be an 1 swered Some months ago Dr. E. G.
 Acheson. who is recognized as one of tho l foremost of American men of science, demonstrated in an article that if the water powers of the United States were l utilized for industrial and transporta. ;. l tion purposes, then the menace of the ] exhaustion of our supplies of coal would be removed. Dr. Acheson gained infor- 1 madQon from high authority which justi- lied him in calling attention to the ba- | lief Of some of the experts that our sup | ply of anthracite coal at the present Tate l of consumption may be exhaused in about i 50 years Our supply of bituminous coal at the present rate of consumption miehs last loO years longer, but, as Dr. Ache son said, what is a century in cOmpari- son to the life of a nation? The United States, he asserted. possesses an inex- haustible natural resource in our water powers and no matter how many railroad trains are operated by electricity or how large the rumber of industries which make use of electricity for their motive power. nevertheless our inexhaustible re- source in water power will make tha. a question of no importance.
 This thought seems to have occurred to Mir. McAdoo. for he is quoted as say ing that the incidental economy to Le obtained om the use of electricity for manufacturing and transportation pur- poses through the utilization of our water powers will be partly represented by 3 saving in labor. That would make pos ho <<f u]l4 He r,fF