Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-16

oasis OF refuge from an otherwise exc
tremely heated experience
Within the past SIX months the Bal
ttmore & Ohio Railroad has introduced
artificial cooling into two trains q day,
each way. between New York and
washington. That railroad trip be-
tween the metropolis and the Capital
is in Summer one of the hottest and
otherwise most trying IN America.
Some of the New York business men
who served the Government during the
war and made the trip between New York
and Washington several times q week
shortened their lives by the experience.
Now. with those two air-cooied trains
running, an agreeable use Of hot July
on the Atlantic seaboard would be
! just to ride back and forth continue
ouSly. Ultimately every train in the
country win be similarly equipped,
similarly made agreeable.
The adoption Of Summer air-coo1ing
! for railroad trains is as certain as the
Winter transition that took place 50
to so years ago from the old-time coal
| fed stove in the corner of the car To
steam heat Many an American
| younger than President Hoover, who Is
81, can remember those old-time SQUAT
| stoves with isinglass panes in the eoora
into which the brakeman from time 70
time fed coal from q hod behind the
! stove. The common result was that
those in one end OF the car were dis
tressed by too much heat. even more
than those In the other end were dis
tressed by too little.
Does any stove-heated car still run
anywhere in the United States--per-
haos on some little branch line some
where? If they are all gone. when and
where did the fire die out in the last
! one? It is an interesting detail Of his
tory; the time and place are worth
recording.
Offices WIN Be Equipped.
The introduction Of hot water and
steam heating for houses, ONCE build
ings, and elsewhere, practically all oc-
CURED within the life Of the present
generation. Comparatively young men
can remember when steam heat was
an innovation. the early steam heaters
could serve the secondary function Of
alarm clocks. Children who now take
steam heat for granted. or vapor heat
or hot water heat, who never notice the
noiseless warming Of the room In the
morning-they know nothing Of the
fierce changing with which. in the
early devices, steam, on cold morn
ing. crept into and expanded the cold
iron pipes.
Artificial cooling viii come In much
the same way as steam heat, only more
rapidly. For under modern conditions
such innovations become universal In
much flasher time. It win get under
way quietly, before We realize 1t. AS
soon as one new ONCE building In a
city is erected with artificial cooling,
every older ONCE building, even though
comparatively new, win become obsolete.
The same viii happen as to hotels. and
ultimately residences. Once the process
I iC fNf EsN4fF
ing areas in nearly all American cities
viii be rebuilt, and later the residence
areas. What that means in volume Of
employment and business is almost
enough, alone, to form the basis Of q
new era of prosperity.
All this is right ahead OF us The
innovation, in various forms. Is here.
ready for use. With increasing use it
viii become less and less expensive, Just
as happened with the automobile
rule of mass production. Before we
realize 1t. the thing will be as familiar
as the automobile With our minds
intent on something else, we shall turn
on the valve of GOODNESS as Thought
lessly as we now turn on heat IN
Winter.
Russia Would Order Change.
This state Of facts brings US 10 O
perfectly legitimate indictment some
times made by radicals. or other critics
of Americas capitalistic system. In
Russia. so our critics argue, It would be
done at once, and all at once. by de-
cree, as part Of the plan" on which
Russia is managed. The Russian gov
eminent would decree. conceivably, that
within five years all rooms IN all ONCE
buildings and hotels and all dwellings
be equipped for artificial cooling. In
Russia, the government, theoretically,
would assign the necessary quantity OF
materials and labor and ordain that
the thing be done.
This allures those Americans who
have become enamored OF the plan"
idea. and who urge that America adopt
it. It is an illustration, they say. Of
the superiority of the Russian system.
And they make the Indictment super
flcially convincing. of the American
system of leaving the introduction Of
improvements to the aggregate Of indi-
vidual initiative.
Here" they charge, ''is new thing
which everybody would like to have.
Here is abundant labor. idle and asking
to be employed. Here are vast quantities
Of iron and all other needed raw ma
terials, the owners Of them begging for
some one to buy. And here. In the
banks. is the money necessary to finance
the operation. Why. then. Is the thing
not done2"
The answer Is. It viii be done Amer
lea viii do it. about this innovation, and
about others yet undreamed. Just as
America did 1t about the automobile.
The Russian system has not been under
way long We don't know how It win
work. But skeptic may doubt wheth-
er any Russian "ffve-year plan" or 10
flve-year plans In succession. viii bring
the condition familiar in America as the
product of our systematic condition In
which every family has an automobile,
and some are troubled by the insufn-