Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-01-04

-. hcle airplane-theSe words spell
the progress of transportation in America.
Thus has one of Uncle Sans transportation
experts painted word picture OF the Natlons
pageant of locomotlon,
This expert, Attorney Examiner Leo J. Flynn
of the interstate Commerce Commission, might
have added that each era of transportation de-
velopment suffered the growing pains lncloent
to the infancy of any new mode OF travel
The progress Of transportation outlined by
Mr.. Flynn was not an orderly evolution MANS
attempt to get places more quickly and more
cheaply and more efficiently have bsen fraught
with pitfalls and setbacks and ridicule. The
trail has been rocky and devious. The quest has
been colorful and romantic in the extreme.
TN THE stages of advancement from the seldge
or travels through the horse era there were
no marked lines of cleavage. There was no
'trafic problem" even in the day Of the stage
coach ard the dashing pony express. There was
no need for regulatory legislation.
The advent of steam power effected the first
great revolution in transportation AT first it
was met with counter rebellion inStigated by
skeptics of steam, by lovers of horsef1esh and
by critics of speed. The rebellion was doomed
to fail and the revolution became firmly estab-
hshed
The infant rail industry had its trials and It's
tribulations however Poor service, irregular
schedules, hazardous equipment and other de-
veloping problems were the subject of complaint
I'D of inquiry Consolidation and co-ordina-
ton completed the evolution.
There has come now a new instrument Of
transportation to challenge the railroad Within
the space of a very few years there has sprung
up over the Nation an astounding network OF
bus lines. Public attention has been focused
on ramifcations of this industry which has
dared to be the first real competitor of the
railroad since the first whimsical steam engine
chugged and sputtered in this country more
than 100 years ago.
ham Grad hu Esd ofrcI a0fO
coach business has reached tremendous proper
tions with heterogeneous Spontaneity not con-
ducive to uniform comfort, safety, rates or
efficisncy.
Believing the bus has become national
problem, to be dealt with under interstate
commerce laws just as railroads are supervised
Uncle Sam has launched searching investiga-
ton of bus and truck transportation in the
United States. The inquiry is in charge of
Ezra Brainerd, jr., chairman of the Interstate
Commerce Commission, and the aforementon-
ed attorney-examiner with the picturesque per-
spective. The latter is the author of the So
called Flynn report" recommending Govern
ment regulation of buses.
comparison of the complaints against buses
with the criticism which greeted the early
railroads affords an interesting comm ntary
on the march of progress
Speed is a subject Of discussion now, Just as
Y was century ago. There persons who
~ out against the reckless speed" of modern
and even so miles an hour are common for
some OF the larger coaches and that such
speeds are menace to all who use the roads
Without rejecting upon the soundness Of
these contentious, it is at least amusing to pom
der upon the protests voiced hundred years
ago against the mania for speed"
THE classic of them all was this grave pro-
nouncement of an Ohio school board in
1928 in response to a request for use of a
schoolhouse as the scene of a debate on steam
power:
''You are welcome to use the school room to
debate all proper questions: but such things
mhdelities. There is nothing in the Word of
God about them. If God had designed that His
intelligent creatures should travel at the fright
full speed Of is miles an hour by steam, He
would have foretold 1t through His holy
prophets 1t is device of Satan to lead inn
mortal souls down to He'll"
In erudite Boston, moreover warning was
issued that such unhoy speed would lead to
conclusion of the brain and end in race of
speed maniacs"
As early as 1872 Oliver Evans had been called
crazy because he predicted in letters to Con-
gress that ''the time will come when carriages
propelled by steam will be in general use
travelling at the rate of Is miles an hour or
30 miles day, as fast as birds fly" and
that two sets of railways will be laid . and
passengers will sleep IN these stages"
An Albany paper in 1928 criticized the speed
of stage coaches after a In which
citizens OF Buffalo sought to lower the record
for travel between their city and Utica, and did
so by covering the 80 miles in hours and
26la minutes.
why" this newspaper asked "the necessity
for this waste of horseflesh? OF travelling Is
miles hour party OF pleasure and at
cary moment in danger Of running afoul Of
other carriages In the road?"
An Englishman, In letter 10 a newspaper,
wrote: