THE ELECTRIC RAILWAY. 751 



be such a horrible thing as a collision between two ponderous trains, 

 not only because of the lightness of the electric cars, but also because 

 they do not carry steam and fire as locomotives do. Another advan- 

 tage of the lightness of the cars lies in the fact that they will exert 

 less " wear and tear" upon the tracks, and therefore occasion less out- 

 lay for repairs. 



When the present mode of traveling in Pullman cars is compared 

 with the mode in use not very long ago, by which people were cramped 

 for hours and even days in a coach without springs worth calling by 

 that name, and were jolted and tossed about over uneven roads, we 

 conclude that traveling at the present time is a very luxurious thing. 

 But what will it be when we can sit at an open window, and glide 

 along at the rate of sixty miles an hour, without the fear of smoke 

 or cinders ; when electric bells are at hand leading to the inaccessible 

 retreats where porters now secrete themselves safe from discovery ; 

 when we can start from our homes to take a car for Boston, as we 

 now start to take an elevated train, knowing that, if we miss one 

 car, another will be soon at hand ; when electric incandescent lamps, 

 which can not, in case of accident, scatter burning oil in all directions, 

 shall fill the car with a mild and steady light ; when dispatches can be 

 received on board a train in motion as well as at an office ; when the 

 cars shall be heated and meals prepared by electric stoves which can 

 not, in case of accident, set fire to the car — all the electricity needed for 

 these and numberless other purposes being derived from the same con- 

 venient source — the conductor carrying the current which furnishes 

 the propelling power ? 



That any such ideas as to what electricity can accomplish are vis- 

 ionary and impracticable may seem to be the case to some ; that they 

 are so in reality is not believed by many who have given the subject 

 impartial study. Some of these believe that, in the very near future 

 electric cars will supplant horse-cars ; and upon short lines like ele- 

 vated roads, steam-locomotives ; but that it will not be practicable for 

 many years to run electrical cars upon long lines. Such may be the 

 case. But it should be remembered that, in most instances in the his- 

 tory of industrial progress, the practical developments of meritorious 

 systems have surpassed in rapidity and extent the expectations of even 

 impartial men. A very high scientific authority in England once 

 spoke very favorably of the idea of using steam-vessels for accom- 

 plishing short distances, and for river navigation, but laughed heartily 

 over the suggestion of their ever going to sea, and offered publicly 

 to eat the boilers and engines of the first one that should cross the 

 Atlantic. Probably there are not many men who, in the light of what 

 has recently been accomplished, would promise to eat the motor of 

 the first electric car that should run from New York to Chicago. 



