Evening star., 1937-09-26
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star
The special Senate committee which
Will meet this Fall to consider the whole

The special Senate committee which
Will meet this Fall to consider the whole
cors;d.r;u subjects of railroads in
i"s the District" says The
Cable Cars. Star of September 49,
1887. will as part of its
duties overhaul Washington's street
railway system. Among the many IN
teresting questions which will arise In
the consideration of the matter Is the
subject of the most desirable motive
power for use by these railways. New
cable or electric roads will be asking
franchises. the existing roads will be
seeking permission to substitute some
more effective motor for their horses
and the public will desire that in this
general regulation Of the railways the
most efficient motor be required by Con-
eresS which can be obtained. 1t is evil
dent that the car horses must go. In
Winter and when great crowds are to
be transported the present service is de-
ficient, both passengers and horses suf-
fer, and in waste of horse flesh and
otherwise present methods are unneces-
sarily expensive.
The inclination in this city is now
toward cable roads. A new road with
the cable system was proposed last VIM
ter and the managers of the leading
horse railway of the city are convinced
of the superiority Of that motor and
propose to substitute it for their horses.
Recent experiments in Philadelphia at
tract renewed attention to the use of
electricity as motor. Both cable and
electric systems are faster and cheaper
to operate after first cost than the horse
power system. The objection to them
is that all the cars are moved by one
source of power and II hitch occurs at
one point the whole system is at stand
still.
I'm one form of electric railway there
is the additional drawback of a line of
poles and overhead wires. These obiec-
tions do not apply, however. to a system
in which the cars are driven separately
by stored electricity from secondary bat
teries placed in or beneath them, which
is the kind successfully tested in Phila-
delphia last week. At the Antwerp ex-
hibtion in 1885 careful experiments
were made upon different kinds of tram
way motors. and electric cars with
storage batteries obtained the highest
prize. Cars in present use can be con-
verted into electric motors by inserting
lilCSC SUI dsC DdllcIlcS. 6dCll CdI IuIlS
independently Of others and no overhead
wire or underground conduit is neces-
sary as in the case of direct supply of
current to all the cars from a single
source. The operation of the storage
battery cars is, however. somewhat more
expensive than that of cars furnished
with a direct supply of current. but is
said to be considerably less than the cost
of operating horse cars.
Probably discussion and investiga-
ton of the matter will develop that the
choice of motors is between the cable
and the electric storage battery, and the
advantages of each should be carefully
considered Washington, with its mag
nificent distances needs facilities for
rapid and safe street transit. All sec
tions of the District should be placed in
easy communication with one another
Wisdom on the part of the Senate COM
mittee in the regulation of the routes
of new lines Of railway and in the
selection of the best motor for street
railway use which the latest tests dis
close will add largely to the comfort and
convenience of Washingtonians and to
the development of all parts of the
District"