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another of the same race, with any result but that of final disaster and ruin to those who expect to profit by it.

When corporations are taken by the State, no one else will want them on the same terms, and the carnival of the public, while in possession, will be brief and unsatisfactory.

It is an unpleasant task to sound a note of warning and generally an unwel come one, but he lacks sagacity no less than courage, who seeks to hide an evident future, or hesitates to look any unpleasant prospect in the face.

It is possible that a fortunate and timely change in public views and sentiments may yet turn back the tide of confiscation and distribution, which has been already begun.

It is possible that statutes may be repealed, ordinances rescinded, and decisions reversed, so that the property of one class shall no longer be seized upon for the benefit of another, but is it probable?

He must be an optimist indeed, who can discover in the present attitude of the legislatures or the courts, the press or the public, anything which is prophetic of such a just and desirable consummation.

Respectfully submitted,

G. HILTON SCRIBNER.

ACTION ON THE REPORT ON PUBLIC AND STATE TREAT

MENT OF CORPORATIONS. No. 2.

Mr. Edward C. Graham, of Baltimore: I move that we extend a vote of thanks to the author of the paper just read, and that it be received and placed on file.

Mr. H. H. Littell: I would like to amend by adding that five copies be sent to each member of the Association. Carried.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE APPOINTED.

The President: I will now appoint the Nominating Committee. It will consist of Messrs Wyman, of New York; Semmes, of Memphis; Cronyn, of London; Littell, of Louisville, and Holmes, of Pittsburgh.

REPRESENTATIVES OF ELECTRIC TRACTION SYSTEMS

INVITED TO ADDRESS THE CONVENTION.

Mr. Stephenson, of Washington: I renew my motion that the representatives of the different electrical systems be allowed five minutes each to address this meeting. Let them rotate, so to speak; the storage battery system five minutes; the overhead system five minutes and the underground system five minutes, and so on.

Mr. Richardson: We adopted a vote, sir, giving these gentlemen the privilege of being present, so that we might hear what they had to say. We gave them the privilege of being present, and now comes the suggestion of a restriction upon the invitation. It seems to me, sir, judging by the fact that I have had one of these gentlemen sitting alongside of me and explaining his system, and he has taken at least fifteen minutes to do it, that to expect them to do it here in five would be a delusion and a snare. Even the "Short" electric system could not get through in that time. [Laughter.] I ask the gentleman to withdraw the limit of time, and leave it to the judgment of the President to bring down his gavel when he sees them begin to run emptyings.

Mr. George W. Pearson, of Washington: I suggest that we find out how many there are to speak. I would suggest that each gentleman representing a different system here notify you that he wishes to explain his system, and by that means we can tell how many speeches we will get and how much time we can afford to give to each one.

The President: Will the gentlemen who wish to address the meeting, please rise and state how long they will occupy?

The gentlemen present thereupon responded, as follows:
United Electric Traction Company, 10 minutes.
Edison General Electric Company, 10 minutes.
Accumulator Company, about 10 minutes.

Storage Battery, about 5 minutes.

Underground Conduit Company, about 3 minutes.

Wheless Electric Company, 10 minutes.

Thomson-Houston system, 3 or 4 minutes.

Mr. Stephenson: There are some seven or eight in all; and I move that each one be restricted to ten minutes. Carried.

The President: The Nominating Committee, which is also the Committee to select the place for holding the next Annual Meeting, have retired. I would like to ask if any one has an invitation to extend to the Convention to visit any particular city, as the Committee desire information on that point.

INVITATION FOR ASSOCIATION TO MEET AT KANSAS CITY.

Mr. McCarty I would like to speak in behalf of Kansas City. I can only say that the Convention was held in the West last year, is held in the East this year, and it seems to me that it

Kansas City has sixty-five

ought to go to the West next year. miles of cable, twenty miles of electric road, four miles of elevated road, and about eleven or twelve miles of horse railroad, all of which involve an investment of fifteen millions of dollars. We have very interesting viaducts, similar to those in Cincinnati; and I think the hotel accommodations would be quite satisfactory to the Convention in every way. I do not know of anything else I can say, gentlemen. I hope you will give Kansas City fair consideration.

INVITATION FOR ASSOCIATION TO MEET AT PITTSBURGH.

Mr. Henry I would extend an invitation from the city of Pittsburgh for the Convention to meet there next year. I think we will have pretty good showing, with at least one hundred miles of electric road, fifteen miles of cable road, and I cannot tell how many miles of horse road we will have at that time; but I think not many. We have one of the most extensive electric manufacturing establishments there is in the country to show you, and at that time we will have our exposition in full blast. We have iron, steel, glass and other industries, which will be, no doubt, very entertaining to the Convention, and we would like very much to have the Association meet there next year. Being a central point for the country at large, it is therefore readily accessible for the members attending.

REMARKS OF MR. JOHN N. STEWART CONCERNING

ASHTABULA, O.

Mr. John N. Stewart, of Ashtabula, O.: Mr. President, if I may be allowed, I would like to say a word. We have heard from Kansas City and Pittsburgh, where they have electric systems and cable systems, etc. If it would be possible for this Convention to meet next year at Ashtabula, where the followers of the Henry George theories exist in a large majority, and where you will see a railroad in the ditch instead of being operated, I will invite you there and pay the expenses of the Convention. [Laughter.]

I have listened very attentively and interestedly to the paper written by Mr. Scribner. I had hoped in coming to this Convention to be able to have a voice in its proceedings; but as the

city in which I live is by confiscation the owner at the present time of my street-car system, it is eligible for membership and I am not. I should like to have proposed to the members of this Convention that the paper of Mr. Scribner be prepared in pamphlet form; and I would like to subscribe for and pay liberally for one thousand copies of it. We have, as you know, the first instalment of the principle of confiscation, as illustrated by Mr. Scribner, and that is at Ashtabula, O.

Mr. Richardson: Is that the Ashtabula noted for the horrible bridge disaster?

Mr. Stewart Ashtabula has been noted for its many horrors all the way down the line. It started way back with "Gruff Old Ben Wade," who in the Senate of the United States stood as a holy horror to any and all oppression of mankind, and most of us yet live up to his ideas of things. Then came the horrible sacrifice of our friend and townsman, the illustrious Garfield, and then came the horrible disaster that my friend refers to, and then came the confiscation and destruction of my Ashtabula StreetRailway System.

The President: As there seem to be no other invitations, we will now proceed to the discussion of electricity.

REMARKS OF MR. D. H. BATES, OF THE ACCUMULATOR

COMPANY.

Mr. Bates I will read the following paper on storage battery

street cars:

The horse is a noble and extremely useful animal, but he seldom combines high speed with great endurance. The fast trotter is made to run his mile in from two and a quarter to three minutes, but he does it only on rare occasions, and is well fed and cared for between times.

It was not until yesterday when Mr. Odell's very interesting paper was read that I had any idea of the innumerable obstacles to be surmounted in first securing a perfect street-car horse, and second, in maintaining him in a constantly efficient condition.

Judging from the expressions of a large number of street-car men with whom I have talked on the subject of storage battery. cars, I have inferred that your street-car horse was ready for continuous hard work at all hours of the day or night; that it took no time to change horses at the end of a trip, and that you only feed

them at night after a sixty-mile run, and that oats and hay were always cheap; for all of these or like requirements must be met with in our storage batteries, if they are to satisfy the average street-car official.

When we undertake to show that the energy requisite to propel a sixteen foot car with its average load of passengers at the horse-car rate of speed must be increased one hundred per cent. if the speed be doubled, and that the cost of producing that increased energy, by whatever means employed, must necessarily be doubled, the scientific fact is perhaps admitted, but if storage. batteries are the medium, it is always taken for granted that they ought to do double the service at half the cost.

The overhead systems in operation throughout the country have demonstrated to you, gentlemen, the fact that electricity is not the coming power but the power already come. The mileage of street roads in the United States which in June, 1890, were operated electrically is, according to the eleventh census, eight and twenty-six one hundredths per cent. of the entire mileage, but omitting fifty-nine cities the proportion runs up to twenty-five per cent. This means one of two things, either that as a rule the authorities of our large cities will not allow overhead poles in the street, or that street-car managers prefer to await the result from the use of the electric system on a small scale in the towns and small cities before introducing it in the cities on a scale of greater magnitude.

The overhead systems already introduced in many places have so far improved upon the horse and mule that the public once given rapid transit would not go back to slower methods and are clamoring everywhere for such facilities.

You street-car owners and representatives, however, must look at the resultant in the matter of cost per car mile and net profits; and before some of you will yield to the loud demands of the pub. lic for rapid transit by adopting the overhead system, we beg you to carefully consider the merits of the storage battery.

1. It will propel a car just as fast and just as efficiently with all that that implies as the trolley system. Every word that can be said in favor of the trolley system applies equally to the storage battery.

A storage battery car is capable of much work that a trolley car cannot accomplish.

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