132 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1907. 
roads, which began their commercial expansion with the signing 
of the Richmond contract almost twenty years ago to-day, exceed 
$3,.500,000,000. 
My attitude on the broad question of trunk-line operation may be 
briefly summarized in the simple statement that, taken as a whole, 
the electrical equipment and operation of trunk lines is essentially 
more of a financial than a technical problem. It is certainly not 
solvable by ingenious methods of bookkeeping, or transmission of 
burdens to posterity. 
Fifteen years ago, in my imaugural address as president of this 
Institute, on the subject of ‘* Coming Developments of Electric Rail- 
ways,” I said: 
Any predictions which are made concerning the future of electric propulsion, 
either in ignorance or disregard of the possibilities of steam duty, and the 
limitations necessarily existing in all systems of transportation, deserve and 
will receive little consideration from those charged with the responsibilities 
of conducting our great railway system, for unless passengers and goods can 
be moved over a system with increased benefit to a community, or at a reduced 
cost, or with a commensurate return on capital invested, an electric will not 
replace a steam system. 
In discussing the subject of electrification of trunk lines, there is 
a tendency sometimes to ignore the varying conditions on the roads, 
and also the changes in methods of operation which the introduction 
of electricity may make possible. The railroads seem to be often 
regarded as systems which must be conducted very much on present 
lines; that is, operated with locomotive-drawn trains. In order to 
come to any clear decision, on many roads at least, this conception 
must be changed. There is no hard and fast rule of classification. 
A trunk line may generally be considered as a system joining impor- 
tant terminal cities, over which is conducted all kinds of traffic, 
through and local, passenger, express and freight, and in the larger 
systems a heavy suburban passenger service. The divisions and 
character of service of course vary widely, but the constant tendency 
is toward an increasing density of traffic, multiplication of tracks, 
and extension of the limits of local and suburban services. 
A change of motive power involving vast expenditures of money 
and radical changes in methods of operation can not safely be deter- , 
mined upon except after presentation of a comprehensive report, and 
a general plan of equipment and operation based upon an investiga- 
tion of previous practice, present or pending developments, and an 
analysis of important features and details. And this seems all the 
more essential, for at the present time the technical press is filled with 
the rival claims of the advocates of direct and alternating current 
systems, the merits and defects of single-phase, polyphase, and direct- 
current motors, and the beauties and ugliness, the danger and safety 
