Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-13
Ride Into the Past

There has been prolonged
discussion as to abolishing the
electric cars in Washington
in favor of all-bus transporta-
ton. A decision must be made
soon, and l hope it will not be
decision to fill the streets of
our city with an added fleet
of buses. For the electric car,
though less mobile than the
bus, is much more comfortable
to ride in; and no evidence
has been produced to prove
that it is less swift than the
bus in transit.
This agitation for the aboli-
ton of great invention-thiS
threatened local victory of
gasoline over electricity-re-
calls wildly to the writer his
own lifetime experience with
the electric car.
l was a boy of II when one
of the first local installations
Of the electric car took place
in my native town of Newton,
Mass, a suburb of Boston.
This electric car was primi-
tive affair-short, and so
bumpy that this would have
been unbearable but for the
slow speed.
I remember the fun we boys
had in chasing such a car and
jumping on the back platform
for a ride when the conductor
was up front. The car never
went so fast but what, with
a backward lean we had OBJ
served in train conductors, we
could jump off in safety.
Soon the primitive urban
electric developed into the
swift and smooth-riding inter-
urban car which in a short
time Spanned the entire New
England countryside. AS
youth just out of college, 1
enjoyed on occasions long
distance trips as far north
from Boston as Portland, Me-,
and as far south as Hartford,
Conn.
In the summer, riding in
these large, easy-rolling open
cars was a delightful expert
ence. 1t was my endeavor at
each terminal and change of
cars to secure a front seat on
the shady side. Sitting thus in
the open air and speeding
through towns and through
charming countryside scenes,
my delight was complete. The
modern sports car has nothing
more than this to offer, if as
much-for it cannot lead one
over fields, by verdant brooks.
and along the edge of woods
and through quaint towns, and
all in perfect safety from COL
lision.
This interurban extension of
the electric car became the
rage, but for all too brief a
season. Quietly, and almost I'M
perceptably, a modest little
mobile car was threatening the
existence of the electric mon
ster. Ford. with his good roads
program and every man a
car" slogan. was soon to spell
the doom of the electric car.
Yes, the smaller and more
clever vehicle ousted from the
planet the electrical dinosaur
Of locomotion, much to the dis
may of stockholders If of no
one else. And the iron tracks
that crisscrossed the country
side had TO yield to progress
eventually to disappear COM
pletely and leave skeletons Of
bridges and demolished rights
of-ways as evidence of a brief
but glorious past.
1t seems incredible, looking
backward, that single lifetime
could span the initiation, the
swift development, and the
downfall Of such a great inven-
ton as that of the electric car.
1t is certainly a fluent age in
which we live. And If we are
too much disturbed by diff
ficulties, national or interna-
tional. we can find certain
cold comfort-as the Chinese
have been wont to do--in the
thought: This too will pass,
in time
StanwOOd Cobb,
Director. Chevy Chase
Country Day School.