364 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



with two wires and no ground return, is cumbersome, vexatious, 

 and unsiglitly. The storage battery is more or less experimen- 

 tal in its nature. 

 The electro - mag- 

 netic contact sys- 

 tems, with plates set 

 in the pavement 

 at stated intervals, 

 make no pretense 

 of avoiding electro- 

 lytic troubles. The 

 compressed-air mo- 

 tor has yet to re- 

 ceive popular ap- 

 proval. 



There seems to 

 be a mistaken im- 

 pression abroad that 

 the railway compa- 

 nies are indifferent 

 to this subject. So 

 far as my experi- 

 ence and informa- 

 tion go, this is not 



the case. They are 



only too anxious to 



find a remedy — not, 



as some electricians 



have stated, to save 



their coal-pile, for 



energy is wasted in 



forcing the elec- 

 tricity back to the 



power house, no 



matter what the 



path, but because 



they fear that at 



some future date 



the taxpayer, the 



corporation, and the 



municipality will 



band together, ])rc- 



sent overwhclmiiii; 



bills for damage^. 



