The cars seat 50 passengers, and weigh upward of 14 tons. They will run 12 miles with a single charge on the level, but owing to the heavy grades one charge suffices for but 83 miles, the consumption of air being 35 pounds per mile on the grades and about 24 pounds on the level. The objection to this system of traction has been the great weight of the reservoirs. These the engineer has succeeded in reducing. The feeding points are at intervals of about 1 mile, and the car, as it runs over the points, automatically makes connection with mains supplied from a central station, a stop of a few seconds only being required to fill the reservoirs. Gas-Motor Cars.-In 1893 much progress was made in European cities with gas-motor surface cars. Coal gas was chosen in preference to horse power, electricity, and compressed air, as being more economical for a train line between Neuchâtel and St. Blaise, a distance of 3 miles. The gas motors use cylinders of gas compressed to 10 atmospheres, and containing enough gas to do the run out and home. The motors are reported as being strong, simple, practical, and safe, and free from noise and smoke; they only require a weekly cleaning. The starting and stopping are instant and free from shock. The weight of the car, with 20 passengers, a driver, and a conductor, is about 6 tons. The highest ground on the journey is halfway, 40 feet higher than at the starting point, Neuchâtel. To get up a speed of 11 miles an hour, 79 horse power is necessary. If another car is hitched on, also fully loaded, the journey takes 274 minutes. The cost of gas, with one car, is $1.12 per thousand cubic feet, cent per passenger per journey. Experience in Europe has proved that gas can run a small traffic. A gas car can go anywhere, and there may be few or many in use. Electric cars," says an authority, at this time," are a good deal dependent on one another, and upon the arrangement of the track for them." In a report to the municipal authorities at Nordhausen, numerous advantages of gas cars over electric cars were noted. Among them were: Much less first cost; less current cost; independent action of cars, thus doing away with breakdowns; ease of beginning in a small way and gradually developing; and, lastly, ease of replacing gas motors by electric motors, while the inverse change can not be made in an electric car. Statistics published in the fall of 1894 concerning the working of gas-motor cars, such as was referred to in previous paragraphs, show that in Europe the cost of a gas-motor car weighing 7 tons empty, to carry 29 persons, and fitted with two 7-horse-power gas engines, is $4,500, and the gas consumption, with 10 to 12 persons on board, is from 34-7 to 37 cubic feet per car mile. The cost of construction, 5 miles with cars running every five minutes, requiring 20 cars and working fourteen hours per day, is put at $5,200 per mile, including everything, while in Germany, at the same period, an electric tramway costs $37,240 per mile and a horse tramway $28,180. Working expense for gasmotor cars are given as from 84 cents to 10 cents per car mile with a 10-horse-power gas motor, as compared, in Germany, with 7 cents per car mile for the electric system. The conclusion arrived at is," says the writer, "that with similar traffic conditions a gas tram might be expected to give a return of 6 per cent. on the capital invested, while an electric tram would barely cover cost of working." Oil Vapor as a Motive Power.-Oil vapor as a power for propulsion of surface cars was introduced early in 1893 on the London and Greenwich tramway system, England, and proved successful. The Connelly motor, previously used in the United States, furnished the power. The engine is fixed in a small car, and is capable of developing 12 horse power on the brake. In 350 trips, covering 507.85 miles and carrying 4,182 passengers, the total consumption of oil was 70 gallons. The engine worked satisfactorily, taking gradients and sharp curves without difficulty, and the legal speed of 8 miles could easily be increased. Wire-Rope Tramways.-This article is chiefly intended to exhibit the progress and present condition of surface city railroads, yet occasional details outside of these limits will aid the reader in forming an adequate idea of progress made in other directions toward the desired end, i. e., the rapid conveyance of passengers, in and near cities, to and from all destinations within easy reach for business or pleasure. Four years ago a wire-rope tramway for passenger-car service over the Tennessee river at Knoxville was put in operation and worked successfully. The tramway was suspended at a height of 350 feet above the water. The cables were 18 inch in diameter and the length of the span 1,060 feet. The car, when empty, weighed 1,200 pounds. It had a 14foot body, was 6×6 feet, and carried 16 passengers. ap In Foreign Countries. Shortly before the close of 1891 the first overhead electric tram line" was opened at Leeds, Yorkshire. Previous electrical pliances in England were on the conduit central rail or storage-battery system, owing to the unsightliness of the overhead trolley equipment. The trolleys were on 21-feet standards, "the current being drawn off to the motors on the cars through a small grooved wheel, which is pressed against the under side of this bar, and runs along it as the car progresses. The return current from the car passes through the wheels to the rails and the return wire." Many odd developments have appeared as the electrical system gained in strength and patronage. At Chemnitz, Saxony, in 1894, horses were declared obsolete for street-car service; the trolley was substituted. At the same time the trolley pole was pronounced undesirable and superfluous. The method of stringing wires at Chemnitz is by means of ornamental rosettes fastened into the woodwork or walls of houses, having projecting hooks to which the wires are attached. These hooks are firmly fastened and are tested with seven times the weight they are called upon to bear. The plan works satisfactorily. A similar plan is now in use on the Brooklyn Bridge for trolley-car service. Another novel feature on this line is that there are no car conductors. Fare boxes are attached to each end of the cars, and there are very few evasions of fare-paying. The fare is 10 pfennigs, a trifle less than 2 cents, including transfers. If 150,000 persons evade payment of fare, the total loss would be 15,000 marks. The number of delinquents would have to be trebled before the company would begin to lose, the saving of conductors' salaries amounting to more than 45,000 marks. In Saxony the people pay for food and drink in restaurants, saloons, and gardens on honor alone. Later on it is hoped the same condition may exist in the United States. Double-Deck Cars.-The limited use of "doubledeckers" for relief of congested morning and evening traffic on surface lines, such as the Broadway and Columbus Avenue routes in New York city, has frequently been advocated and will probably be instituted in due course. The picture of a doubledeck car given in this article is a representation of the series constructed for and now in use on the new electric railway in Cape Town, South Africa. These cars have a seating capacity of sixty-four pas 748 sengers-thirty-two above and a similar number below. The seats on both decks are arranged transversely, with a central aisle. The increase of 100 per cent. costs comparatively little extra dead weight. "The increased accommodation is obtained by the addition of a roof carried on light iron rods, two end stairways, and the seats, together with such increase in the strength of the car body and frame as may be necessary. The platforms are specially commodious, and accommodation is provided for the motorman, controller, and brake apparatus on the outside of the step landing. The cars are mounted on Eureka maximum-traction pivotal trucks, and are equipped with Westinghouse No. 38 50-horse-power motors." Mileage of Street Railways, also Number of Cars, 1893.-In reviewing the progress of surface roads, the New York "Sun," especially reliable in statistical matters, announced, in July, 1893, that "three years ago the mileage of horse roads was 5,173; of electric roads, 1,641; of steam roads, 554; and of cable roads, 527. Now the electric roads lead all others. . . . At the beginning of 1890, when appliances for propulsion, etc. The total amount given, with interest, was $1,246,000. tion.-Some interesting facts and figures concernCost of Electric and Cable Road Construcing surface-car systems were presented at a meeting 1894. During the meeting it was announced that of the New York Electrical Society in November, the cost of the New York city cable roads, single track, was not less than $150,000 per mile; in Washington, D. C., about $30,000: average cost of cable roads in cities per mile, $60,000 to $75,000. harder on the rails than cable traction, when the Electric traction, it was stated, is very much headway is under three minutes. Cars for electric motor costs from ten to twelve times as much and cable roads are about equal in cost, but the as the grips, or a difference of about $1,000 per car. Advantages of Electric System as to Cost, way Journal" in 1896 under this heading, said that, etc.-Mr. S. L. Foster, writing to the "Street Railfrom comparisons made in San Francisco, people prefer to ride in electric cars. It was also ascer VIADUCT, CINCINNATI, OHIO. electric-railroad building first began to be popular, there were 200 companies in operation, covering 1,641 miles of track and using 2,346 cars. To-day so great has been the multiplication of lines that there are more than 7,000 miles of electric street railroads." Franchises. As time progressed companies interested in the development of electrical street-railway facilities began to make arrangements far ahead for securing franchise and other municipal privileges. Just before the close of 1893 the New Orleans and Lake Railroad Company purchased from the municipal authorities of New Orleans, for $700,000 cash down, a renewal of privileges already held. This renewal extends from 1906 until 1956. This security was needed and obtained by the company to justify a heavy investment in electrical tained beyond any doubt that electric cars carry the people more cheaply. "These results were not obtained from a few electric cars run on level lines and at high rates of speed, but from the operation of upward of 150 cars at from one and a half to two having grades as high as 14.5 per cent." Mr. Foster, and a half minutes headway at times, and on lines in conclusion, said: pensed with and the lines operated by electricity, "Every time a cable power house can be disthe item 'fuel' is reduced both on account of the that power house's item labor' is wiped out, and less fuel required per car mile for an electric road houses are usually run noncondensing, whereas in as against a cable road, and because the cable the electric power house the engines are run condensing." occurred in small cities and in suburban and rural districts. Mileage. The changes in distribution of mileage by motive powers between 1890 and 1897 are shown in the following statement, published in the "Street Railway Journal": Animal. MOTORS. Use and Waste of Electrical Energy.-Consequent on the evident general acceptability of the electric system for surface roads in cities, it is important to know something of the use and waste of electrical energy as applied or misapplied by motormen. Prof. Herman S. Hering, of Johns Hopkins University, in a paper on "The Use and Waste of Electrical Energy" read in 1896, said: "By far the largest part of the electrical energy used by the cars is expended in accelerating and lifting them"-that is to say, in starting and in hill climbing. If a car be driven to the top of a hill, it represents, by the time it reaches the summit, an amount of energy which an intelli- Miscellaneous gent motorman will carefully husband on the down grade, using only as much current as will start it and utilizing the "drifting" capacity of the car when it reaches the level for as great a distance as possible. Motormen frequently use current on a down grade when it is totally unnecessary, and then jam down their brakes when reaching the foot of the grade, which results in a total loss of this energy. "The tests show that 74 per cent. of the total energy expended per car mile in city work is used up in lifting and accelerating, and only 26 per cent. for horizontal traction. "When a special motorman made a test he showed an economy of 15 per cent. on the up grade and 26 per cent, on the down grade, over the ordinary motorman. The saving per year on a tenmile road, with 100 cars making 15 trips per diem, represents $7,000. It was ascertained by the tests that on the same road, under similar conditions, one unnecessary stop per car per trip cost $46.7 per year." General Progress during the Past Three Years. Most notable, perhaps, among the developments, improvements, etc., at home and abroad during the past three years have been the lighting of cable cars by electricity, as illustrated in the Brooklyn-Bridge system now in vogue; the introduction of a steam tramway along the banks of the Suez Canal, joining Port Said with Ismalia; the change of the Philadelphia street-car system from cable to trolley; the introduction of fenders for public safety in many cities; the adoption of the trolley system as a means of transporting funeral parties in cities; the determination of the Metropolitan Street Railway Company, New York city, to adopt the underground trolley as rapidly as possible on all its main lines, after ascertaining, by means of the Lenox Avenue experiment, that the efficiency of the system is not impaired, if proper appliances are used, by snow, rain, or other rough weather; the introduction of the overhead trolley system in Japan; the completion of the Boston subway; the installation of the overhead trolley system in Vienna, Austria; and the adoption, completion, and opening up of the underground trolley system on Fourth and other avenues in New York city. Statistics.-In 1880 the street-railway mileage of road in the United States, as reported in the tenth census, was 2,050. In 1890 the mileage of track was 8,123 miles. In 1897 the total track mileage of the country was 15,718, an increase of 93.5 per cent. over 1890. The larger part of this increase Total. The miscellaneous mileage is largely in elevated railroads in the Eastern and Central States, and in steam dummy lines in the Southern and Western States, Alabama particularly having a number of dummy roads. By the same authority, the distribution by sections is given as follows: SECTIONS. New England States. Total.... The number of passenger cars in operation on American street railways has grown from 32,505 in 1890 to 51,532 in 1897, an increase of 585 per cent. Capital, Debt, etc.-Concerning capitalization. the following comparison can be made: The total earning power given in the census of 1890 for all the street railways then in existence was $91,721,845; the total operating expenses were $62,011,185; the total fixed charges were $13,978,903; and the net income was $15,731,757, from which was paid $10,180,726 in dividends and $1,217,193 for miscellaneous purposes; leaving a net surplus of $4,333,838. "It is nearly certain," says the writer, "that our street railways to-day [1897] are earning at least $150,000,000 gross, and it is probable that the net earnings applicable to return on investments, as figured by the companies themselves, would be between $40,000,000 and $50,000,000." The order of States, taking the first five, or, rather, the five highest, in several classes of facts, 1897, is as under: Number of roads-New York, 111; Pennsylvania, 110; Massachusetts, 76; Ohio, 58; Illinois, 57. Track mileage, electric-Pennsylvania, 1,658; New York, 1,559; Massachusetts, 1,325; Ohio, 1,174; Illinois, 1,113. There are electric roads in every State and Territory. Track mileage, cable-California, 117; Missouri, 101; Illinois, 82; New York, 55; Ohio, 45. There are no cable roads in New England, and one mile of track in the Southern States. Track mileage, horse-New York, 298; California, 127; Texas, 54; District of Columbia, 44; Kentucky, 40. There are no horse cars in Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Montana, Utah, and Washington. Cities.-Reference is made throughout the foregoing text to progress recorded during the past seven years in large cities. In order to secure, if possible, accurate official data concerning the present condition of transportation facilities for passengers in the largest municipalities, letters of inquiry were recently addressed to the mayors of all cities of 100,000 population and over in 1890. In very few instances have complete returns been rendered. But official figures have been secured from available data to enable a fair showing and comparison to be made. As there is a difference in the plan of statement between the official figures for 1890 and the returns secured for 1897, it will be most convenient for general reference to give separate tabular exhibits. The footnotes to each will explain the plan. 66 153 111 83 80 97 76 103 78 128 99 62 51 127 59 Length of all tracks. 499 500 With Hoboken. MOTIVE POWER,* 1897. 226 + 283 15:3 319 177 333 169# 225 189 140# 85. 89 11 215 140 the last, "length of all tracks." This shows for 1897 a total mileage of 6,857, against 3,995 in 1890, the increase being 2,862 miles of street-railroad track in 25 cities in seven years. It may be noted from the tables that, whereas every city mentioned had 10 miles or more of horse-car track in 1890, 14 of the same cities in 1897 had abandoned horses as motive power. Other interesting facts may be seen from the tables. In 8 cities (1890) there were no electric cars, and in 10 other cities the electric-car mileage was less than 10. Now in 21 of the 25 cities the electric-car mileage exceeds 100. The record of Chicago, including the annexed territory, reaches the total of 830 miles of electric-car tracks, with more to be added, according to the most recent returns. City Notes. Chicago.-In an exhaustive statement furnished for the "Annual Cyclopædia" by the mayor of Chicago, it is stated that the estimated cost of double-track horse-car railroad in that city is $36,000 a mile; cable road, $100,000; electric, $40,000. Boston. The municipal authorities of Boston, in a letter to the "Annual," estimate the average cost per mile for electrical-car track, etc., at $32.266; equipment, $24,351; land and buildings, $39,794. San Francisco.-An estimate supplied by the mayor shows that the estimated cost of a cable road in that city is from $100,000 to $125,000. Cleveland, Ohio.-In the statement furnished by the mayor of Cleveland it is noted that streetrailroad companies in that city pay a general property tax of $28.50 per $1,000 of valuation. They also pay a license fee of $10 on each car owned, and are required to pave a strip 14 to 16 feet wide when pavements are laid on streets occupied by tracks. Washington, D. C.-It is reported officially that the cost of cable construction and equipment in Washington, D. C., exclusive of land, approximated $87,200 per mile of single track. The cost of roadbed and engineering per mile of single track is approximated at $53,177. The cost of construction, equipment, etc., of the Connett electric system now in use is approximately $106,000 per mile of single track, including land acquired for power houses, sheds, etc. Cost of road bed and engineering, $37, 500. SURETY COMPANIES. In view of all that has been said and written upon the dangers of one individual becoming surety for the honesty or good conduct of another, it is somewhat surprising that a system of corporate indemnity was not devised earlier than the middle of the present century. The theory of Prof. De Morgan, set forth in the" Dublin Review" for August, 1840, first applied the laws of average governing insurance to the moral hazard of personal integrity, though a society for the purpose of guaranteeing hired servants was organized at the Devil's Tavern, Charing Cross, London, in June, 1720. the advertisement being published in the "Daily Post." The advantages to employer and employed in a system that, assuming a risk with the expectation of meeting it, makes indemnification prompt and sure, and at the same time undertakes the punishment of an offender, while it relieves a person seeking honorable employment from the obligation to secure a bond, and enables him by the payment of a small premium to *These figures represent entire length of single track, insure his own faithful conduct himself, can readily counting one mile of double track as two of single, and + Since beginning of 1898 these figures have been reduced, taining a place rather than importune an unwilling #Since beginning of 1898 these figures have been in # March, 1898. be perceived. Men who would prefer to forego obfriend and men not possessing friends able to do them the service of acting as surety are benefited by the existence of surety companies, while private individuals are free from the embarrassments at the only column admitting of a fair comparison is loss and interminable liability, extending often beIn these tables, owing to the difference in plan, tending personal suretyship-the contingency of yond the lifetime of the surety, attached to the exe'cution of private bonds. The security given is also far more tangible, not being subject to the uncertainties of death, insolvency, or removal of individuals. This system is thoroughly established in England as an element of commercial life, and in our own country it is gaining ground. In both countries the business of fidelity insurance, as it is termed, may be divided into two classes: that originally intended, the guarantee of persons holding places of trust in the ordinary occupations of life, as clerks in banks, mercantile, insurance, and railway offices, and the later development of corporate suretyship in the issuing of court bonds (of administrator, guardian, trustee, or receiver) and undertakings in attachment, appeal, and suits of like character. In considering the first and simpler class of bonds, it is to be noted that the strictly business principles upon which surety companies act constitute their prime recommendation. In all essential elements the contract is one of insurance, and is entered into for a definite period, subject, moreover, to cancellation at pleasure of the insurer. Liability to loss on any single risk is limited to a certain percentage of capital or resources, and before any risk is assumed investigation is made not only into the character of the person seeking insurance, but the nature of the employment desired and the amount of salary to be received. Some occupations, it is conceded, afford too many opportunities for dishonesty, and are in general filled by a class of persons who are unfit subjects of fidelity insurance; while by the amount of salary received is generally determined the degree of responsibility, upon which depends the premium to be paid. Periodical inspections are required, or made, of accounts of persons guaranteed, and a general supervision of behavior is maintained, while, as a protection against collusive fraud, the criminal prosecution of all defaulters is required as a sine qua non. This last is to be considered a more efficient check upon individuals tempted to delinquency than the theoretical "moral guarantee" of fear of involving friends or relatives, acting as private sureties, in ruin or disgrace. At one time the question was discussed by the English Government of superseding altogether the requirement of securing from public officials, the Lords of the Treasury having become "strongly persuaded, in the course of their inquiries, that the exposure and prosecution of defaulters, without exception and under all circumstances, offer in the long run a much more efficacious guarantee against the dishonesty of public servants than any pecuniary indemnity which it is possible to exact from them." and, although the proposition was not carried into effect, it was ordered that in every case of default report should be made, "whether or not the amount be recovered," that exposure and prosecution might be had. The second class of obligations assumed by surety companies offers the disadvantages of indefinite duration and speculative character, pecuniary as well as "honesty" risks being in some cases incurred, dependent on contingencies and events. In England the acceptance by law of policies or bonds of surety companies in place of the form of bonds prescribed by statute removes in great measure the former objection, while in both countries surety companies require security as protection to themselves from the persons for whom they assume risks. Thus, the American Surety Company of New York, issuing the bond of an administrator for $1,000,000, was secured by the bond of the administrator and of all the heirs interested in the estate, and also by the securities and funds of the estate deposited in a safe-deposit and trust com pany, under the joint control of the administrator and the surety company. The Guarantee Society, of London, incorporated in 1840 on the basis laid down by Prof. De Morgan, secured, June 18, 1842, a special act of Parliament, authorizing the acceptance of its bonds by the treasury and by heads of Government departments. The principles of its business were approved by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, the kt. Hon. Henry Goulburn, and by his predecessor, the Rt. Hon. H. T. F. Baring. On Aug. 20, 1867, was passed the guarantee by companies act, prior to which only such companies transacted surety business as were authorized by specific acts of Parliament. By this act the security of any qualified company was received, holding a certificate from the treasury, where its accounts were yearly filed. The Government officers security act of Aug. 11, 1875, repealed the foregoing, in consequence of the involved condition of affairs of the European Assurance Society, authorized to transact surety business, which had assumed large liabilities of other kinds of insurance, and for which an arbitration act had been passed three years previously, July 25, 1872. By this repeal the Government ceased to warrant the solvency of surety corporations, the treasury being forbidden to issue further certificates; but the security of such corporations was and continues to be received under treasury minute of Nov. 1, 1871. The act of June 23, 1887, of the Canadian Parliament enabled the acceptance in the Dominion of Canada of the guarantee by policy or bond of any public officer by an incorporated company. Prior to 1880 there were 5 surety companies in the United Kingdom, having a joint capital of more than $665,000, which published no statistics and had no stock on the market, both circumstances indicating that the business investment was profitable. At the opening of the year 1889 10 guarantee or surety companies were in existence in England, the policies of the larger being accepted by the courts of justice, the corporation of London, railroad companies, and various heads of Government departments. By a new method individual contracts are now dispensed by these companies, and a collective or “floating" policy, covering loss from a staff of employees of any number beyond five, is issued, the employer being insured against loss to the amount contracted for on each member of the staff. The lowest premium paid is 5s. per cent., and the highest 60s. per cent. The usual charge for elerks and cashiers is from 108. to 30s. per cent. There is also a Bankers' Guarantee Trust Fund Society, to indemnify against loss from bank employees, and the Bank of England and several railway companies possess funds contributed by employees to secure their employers against loss by dishonesty of any of their number. The first legislation with regard to fidelity insurance in the United States is found in chapter 463 of the laws of the State of New York for 1853. By acts of 1881, 1885, and 1886 the Legislature of that State extended the powers of surety companies to cover the judicial branch of security that has been referred to. Successive States have provided for the acceptance of this class of bonds in the following order: Rhode Island, 1884; Oregon, Florida, Maine, Nebraska, Indiana, California, Missouri, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Michigan, Pennsylvania, 1885; New Jersey, 1886; Massachusetts, 1884, 1886, and 1887; Illinois and Georgia, 1887. While no restriction is imposed by the Government of the United States upon the acceptance of the guarantee of surety companies in cases within the jurisdiction of Federal courts and departments, there is no legislation enabling such. Postmaster |