ELECTRIC TRUNK-LINE OPERATION—SPRAGUE. 161 
In closing, let me again remind you of the probability, nay cer- 
tainty, that there is at present no single system which can be selected 
as best for all purposes, but, rather, that a wide and increasing use of 
each will be created, and in the majority of cases a compromise selec- 
tion of the best elements of alternating and direct current practice 
will obtain. 
While there are many things in railroading which have been stand- 
ardized, and others which can now very properly be, and which of 
themselves do not militate against the independent judgment of 
operating railway officials in matters individual to their own systems, 
I think it is certain that these same officials will in the future, as in the 
past, consider the problems involved in a change of motive power from 
steam to electricity from an individual standpoint, and that they will 
demand from manufacturers, as well as from their engineers, all 
possible freedom from restricton, exercising in a large measure their 
own judgment as to the adoption of any system. I see no practical 
necessity to formulate conclusions by averaging conditions, and I can 
not conceive the responsible officers of any trunk-line road being 
guided in their determination of what seems best for their own 
requirements by consideration of what some road thousands of miles 
removed in location, and enormously differing in operating conditions 
may do. 
In any case, the most satisfactory system will be that one which 
will permit of continuous all-round operation under such conditions 
as will utilize to the utmost all the beneficial features of electric 
application. If any one system can be demonstrated to meet these 
conditions better than all others, then that system will become pre- 
eminent, no matter what standards may have been adopted or recom- 
mended, and no matter what our preconceived prejudices may be. 
