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' PORTLANU OREGOFi ' SUNDAY MORNING FEBRUARY ' 23, 1903:
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ST'"
J J THAT is the
ly value of a
r ' minute of
time? Do you think $i,
000,000 too extravagant
a figure?
Considerably more
than this is being paid
by some of the big rail
roads of the country in their eforts to van
quish Father Time. In order to save
about thirty minutes in reaching the heart
of New York, the Pennsylvania Railroad
is spending about $60,000,000 to burrow
under the Hudson river. That is paying
$2,000,000 for a minute.
When the New York Central's plans,
involving an expenditure of $70,000,000,
are completed, engineers figure that the run
ning schedule of each train will be reduced
six or eight minutes. Not all of this vast
sum for improvements can be charged to a
desire to save time, however. Still, every
minute lopped off will cost very near the
high-water mark-.
Leading railroads of the country, in
the last ten years, have spent more than
$800,000,000 in their determined fight
against time. It is figured that the gain, in
all, amounts to something lke thirteen or
fourteen hours on schedules.
Almost as startling is the assault made
upon Father Time by great steamship lines.
No sooner does a Deutschland eclipse the
ocean record than rival owners set out to
build a Lusitania and a Mauretania; when v0n,;o. .or, ,
. , . j .kL ' , ,, Walking, except for exercise, became too
thpv hmir rntitur'n th nine nnhnn rtt tli i . .1 , ,1 ,
.... . - biow many yearaago, men - iae norsecara ap
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j-j competitors plan even a mightier
vessel with which to wrest from them the
prize. Millions are lightly regarded in the
scales as against a few minutes clipped
from the record.
N'
"OT long since a genius for statistics
figured that, based upon the earnings
of the people of New York city, each
minute of the working day is worth
$30,000. Doubtless the average holds good else
where. This illustrates forcibly the old adage that
"Time is money." Minutes are viewed as dol-
.lars in the great, game of making money.
Everywhere the demand is for haste, and then
' more haste. If millions must be spent to gain
minutes why, spend them.
peared in .the cities. After a time the trollev
took up the burden in response to 4he demand
f6r greater speed.
Congestion often impeded the. surface trol
ley lines, and so feverish humanity built ele
vated roads and scooped out costly subways.
Ferryboats plying between large centers of
population proved too slow in time, end great
bridges were flung across the intervening water
gaps. For bridges, tunnels and their equip
ment and terminals, $500,000,000 is now being
spent in and around New York.
Most striking of the many assaults on time
have been those made of recent years, or now
being made, by the great railroad systems of
'. the teountry. They have poured out money like
water in improving physical conditions and en
larging terminals.
There is a reason for it all. From a ter
minal having) say, 120 trains a day. a minute
saved on each train means just two hours
saved in each twenty -four; this is 730 hours a
year, or a month gained. And the income ca
pacity of an additional month is something de
voutly to be wished by any business enterprise.
If the actual value of the time thus saved
to one company be multiplied by all of the
many transportation concerns of the country,
one may readily see why all are striving to
economize the minutes.
A pioneer in the tunnel-to-save-time move
ment was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
Some fifteen years ago engineers and public
alike were discussing with more or less wonder
its bold project to dig a way for its trains under
the 'city of Baltimore instead of taking a longer
route around.
. True, the " Pennsylvania at least a line
friendly to the Pennsylvania had already tun
neled under Baltimore; but this enterprise was
necessary in order to get -into the city. The '
Baltimore and Ohio already had its terminal
within the city, on the southern side, and this
"sufficed as long as the road was not directly
competing for northern business.
When the Baltimore and Ohio, then more
antagonistic to its formidable rival than now,
extended its lines to Philadelphia and made
arrangements to continue on to New Yorl, it
was obliged to skirt around Baltimore a to
cross the Patapsco river by ferry.
This seriously interfered with schedules in
tended to compete with the running time of
the Pennsylvania between New York and
.Washington.
So the plan to tunnel under the city origi
nated, and was promptly put into execution.
J ohn B. McDonald, who was to come into wider
fame later by constructing the New York sub
way system, undertook the work, which was to
cost something like $7,000,000.
This was considered an immense sum to
spend in the race for time, especially as it was
estimated by many that only about fifteen min
utes would be saved. Still, the work was com
pleted and the straightened line placed the
Baltimore and Ohio on a much better basis in
bidding for through traffic.
Paralleling in percentage this cost was an
engineering feat in New Mexico known as the
Belen cut-off on the Santa Fe line. There for
merly trains had to climb a steep grade of over
180 feet to the mile. , "
A modern engine with C-Id-faihioned cars
could negotiate this grade without great trou
ble, but. as traffic and competition increased the
size and carrying capacity of cars grew pro
portionately. There - was nothing to be done but avoid : -
this grade, hence the costly cut-off. For the"
construction of seven milea
of new track' about $10,-
.400,000 was expended. The
time saved is something ,
like twenty minutes a coat
of half a million dollars a
minute. The gain is count
ed as greatly exceeding
the cost.
This isn't the limit of money the Santa .
Fe is prepared to spend in order to increase4
its rapidity of train service. Already it is put-1
ting many more millions into tunnels through "
the Raton range in improving its long-miles of - ,
trackage. l .
In order to gain a point on Father Time,. ,
the longest bridge in the world was constructed f
by a railroad. This is the famous Lucin bridge
across Salt Lake, in Utah. It consists : of j
twelve miles of trestlework, and is well known;
to travelers between the East and the Pajsifioj
slope. This bridge Baves about two hours, time.
While it did not cost as much as some- more j .
recent enterprises, still the expenditure repre-
rented a charge against time of about' $35,000!
a minute. . , -, '-'
A railroad has constructed the largest con-'
crete bridge in the world. It spans the Santa '
Ana river near Riverside, Cal., is 60 feet high,!
1000 feet long, and contains 13,000 cubid, yards',"
of concrete. Its cost was great, but 'it' saves !
the minutes that count for so much in tho - "
making of train schedules. , .'.,-,,-
One of the most remarkable? of -latter , day 1
romances of millions ha3 to deal with the t
freight subway system of Chicago a marvel of j
enterprise requiring a staggering expenditure.
While this great enterprise was. not in
tended primarily to economize in time, its pur
pose was to facilitate the local receipt., ship
ment and exchange of freight to prevent con i-
gestion of streets, and in this way to insure a - ',
more prompt transaction of business' in the t
second largest city in the country. . .
A swifter transaction of the business ofj
the great city has been the result,- so that this )
expenditure of $30,000,000 -for forty-five miles f
of tunnels beneath Chicago's streets may be
charged up to the world-wide fight to gain time.; -
In its simpler commercial aspect -this sub-1
way system is' a forty-five-mile network of un
derground conduits to facilitate the movement
of freight from depot to" depot, from ware-, -house
to warehouse, from factory to store and
from merchant to consumer, ,
Every street within an : area - nearly two
miles square is I duplicated except as to build-'
ings at a depth of from 25 to 40 feet under-'
ground, each street intersection, name and di
, rection below corresponding; to i tho same on
,the surface." i ' '- ' ; f
'That such? underground facilities will
.. . .; CONTXNUia) ON INSIDE PAQS) .
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