RELATIONS OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 609 



erating transportation by the electric street-car and railroad. In 

 a number of American cities it is possible to travel for five cents 

 any distance in one direction up to 10, 15, or even 20 miles, at a 

 schedule speed of from 7 to 12 miles per hour, and with cars on 

 headway of from 2 to 15 minutes. The reason for the cost of trans- 

 portation being so low is that the electric street-car is easily con- 

 trolled, can be started and stopped at small expense, and requires 

 no private roadbed or right of way. The effect of this reduction 

 in time and cost of transportation is to increase the available area 

 and dimmish the density of urban population. This rapid transit 

 acts as a distinct check to the modern tendency of overcrowding 

 city districts. It averages more nearly the values of real estate 

 and improves hygienic conditions. In 1902 the number of passen- 

 gers reported to have been carried by the steam railroads of the 

 United States was about 600 millions; while those carried by the 

 electric railroads was about 4800 millions; or eight times as many. 

 The average steam-railroad distance of travel was 30 miles for a 

 fare of 60 cents or very slightly over 2 cents per mile. The average 

 electric street-railroad fare was very nearly 5 cents. The electric 

 railroads carried the entire population on the average 63 times 

 during the year; while the steam railroads carried the population 

 nearly 8 times. But whereas the steam railroad passengers carried 

 had increased only 5% in the decade prior to 1902, the electric 

 passengers carried had increased 137 % in the same time. 



Not only has the electric railroad given cheap and convenient 

 urban and suburban traveling; but it has also largely removed 

 the preexisting- discomforts of such travel due to dust and smoke, 

 so that electric railroad traveling is frequently resorted to for pleas- 

 ure; while steam railroad traveling is usually only resorted to for 

 reaching a destination. 



From a constructive standpoint, electrical engineering has had 

 a marked beneficial influence upon other branches of engineering. 

 For example, it has developed the capacity of steam and hydraulic 

 prime movers. The largest stationary steam engines and the largest 

 hydraulic turbines have been called into existence by the demand 

 for electric power distributions. The high-speed reciprocating 

 steam engine was developed to meet the requirements of dynamos. 

 The most recent and highest speed type of steam engine the 

 steam turbine could hardly have been utilized or developed 

 for stationary work in the absence of electric power plants. These 

 steam turbines, while only of very recent growth, offer a working 

 efficiency comparable with that of the best reciprocating steam 

 engines; while they have markedly reduced the expense of ma- 

 terial, construction, floor-space, foundations, and operation. At the 

 present rate of progress, it would seem as though the reciprocating 



