The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 18, 1906, Page 7

ICTURE in your minds a man being shot through a pneu- tube as a ing iness of the commerecial world of San Francisco, It seems aln probable, still it is ‘dbeing discussed in the East, where its feasi- bility has already been demonstrated with the aid of birds and animals This proposed nothing more e greater degree ©f the pneumatic tube service now in use in Ph phia for the transporta- tiom of maifl matter, and which was re- 1y suggested for use in Ban Fran- co for the transporting of mall from the new Postoffice to the ferries. ough the postoffice authorities at Washington have not given S8an Fran- co the emcouragement it expected in ans - for ‘a pneumatic tube ser- it has not yet abandoned hope of ring one and possibly by the time service has been installed the n delphia will al use sit system. e new double lines of pneu- ubes were tested at the fMce and two branch of- transit of man is the development to =ec SLTE LTSS >oane (e cry of a newsboy tside broke sharply on the sile f the warm, suniit rible @ of the mited" Twe eor Extra stene nanically . hea open and Te-read the bit of - wrecked, escaped unhurt, will » John Bronson, Y a ¥ passionate cry of relief > she pressed the crumpled yellow messenger to her lips All the next day she listened anxieusly for his ring and yet when he finally came broad-showsdered. erossing the to her with a quick, easy stride, could find no words for the wild rush oy that enveloped her, but steod, mo- holding out her hands to him in onless e dim, firelft room. Martha, Martha!” he sald, unsteadily, grasping her slender, outstretched hands tightly in his own. And when she did not speak— "PNEUMA ot Fver Shoaken Up After Hiz Swiit R:de of A Mile Philadelphia recently it was rily demonstrated that living ¥ be inclosed In metallic carriers, whisked at high speed for miles underground,and emerge none the for the experience. In no case has an animal been made 111 or injured by its ride through the tube Two pupples, two guinea pigs, a nd an aquarfum of goldfish experienced the mnovel trip, not but several timee: remains only for a human being to undertake this exciting new method of rapld tramsit. When the concejn operating the tubes installs a twelve- inch tube somebody will be given an opportunity to ride in it. A very small or a young boy might do so. Only one serious danger would beset him—the carriage inclosing his body might become stuck in the tube. Such a thing has happened to a cartridge of mail more than once. The tube men say there is enough air in the tubes to sustain life indefinitely, and should a human being ride in a cartridge the 1id would be so fixed that it be opened from the inside. T there is a clever device by which exact spot where a carrier is stuck may be determined, making speedy res- m co cue possible. very commercial establishment of size in Philadelphia has agreed to in- stall the twelve-inch tube under con- ditions. It is promised that by this means within five years all packages not too large will be delivered from stores to stations of the transit com- pany, and thence by pushcarts to home § TELEGRAPHY OF THE SOUL Marthe, have I made a mistake? Do you want me to stay? Tell me the truth.” “Yes, ves!” she answered, tremulously, leaving her hands in his in her tumult of “I—oh, can you not see it?” T know."” delight “Yes,” he said, gravely. “I never meant that other,’ on, breaking into low, nerv: “I knew even when I sald it that I didn’t. Then—yesterday—oh!”—the clasp of ber slendér fingers tightened on his—“T don’t know what I should have done if you had—" She stopped abruptly, and with a heavy shudder burst into tears in the strong, tender clasp of his arms. Some time afterward she slipped away from him =z2nd dropped Into <the deep leather chair drawn up in front of tife fireplace. A little sigh escaped her. She motioned him to a nelghboring chair, but gravely and not with her accustomed gayety. ' “Too far off. 1 can do the subject jus- tice only at close range,” he objected. Standing on the hearthrug he smiled down at her. She was looking straight before her, wide-eyed and motfonless, staring into the dancing flames. He re- garded her searchingly, and if im- pelled to the question because of her ex- treme stiliness: “Of what are you thinking?” be asked. of purchasers. After the practicability of the idea shall have been proven in Philadelphia it is proposed to install the system in New York, .provided that merchants there are favorable to it. As a foretaste of what the pneumatic delivery” system will mean, the company in testing the mall tubes transmitted a large assortment of provisions—break- able, liquid and otherwise—fifty-seven va- rieties in all—from a branch station to the Central postoffice. Eggs, bottles of milk, jars of olives, dressed chickens, glasses of jelly ina and silverware, packages of biscuits— almost every kind of article that one would be apt to order in a hurry from the grocer wr butcher—were delivered from a point over a .mfle away in less than two minutes after they had been ordered by telephone. As a cheerful climax, a pot of tea was made at the other end of the line, and two minutes later was served hot to the guests in the Central postoffice, after it had passed through the tube. It would be too much to suppose that the pot of tea should go through the tube without spilling, unless it were sub- jected to some special preparation. It was necessary to place it in the carrier right side up and to seal the spout. Even if left unsealed the# beverage might make the trip without being spilled, but the jolt at the end of the Journey, when the cartridge plunges with terrific force into an air cushion, would be too much for the equilibrium, Under ground the tube is horizontal, and, in most places, straight. To be sure, B AR A S A AN NSO NI L0000, O RSN NGRS NGO 0000000053 i “It was yesterday,” she went on in a choked voice, nervously clasping and un- clasping his hand. “I was sitting here, and I kept thinking and thinking of you, and then suddenly 1 saw you. You were sitting in a car, smoking and laughing and talking, and all the while some dreadful thing was creeping up beside you—closing in around you—and you would not see. ‘With all my might I called to you to come away, and almost that same instant came a terrific jolt and the horrible, grinding sound of crashing cars. 1 tried to close my eyes to the blinding glare of the spreading flames, and then—I was here gain—just sitting here before the fire at home.” “Thé dream haunted me. Then your tel- egram came. Robert—she changed her position somewhat and ‘regarded him earnestly—*“I aid not dream it. I saw it. Tell me that you believe I did not dream it He nodded, regarding her gravely. His voice, intense and hushed, was the first to break the silence. “I was in the front part of the train, in the smoking car,” he said, =ravely. “I had finished one cigar, and was about to take another. = Indeed, the cigar case was in my hand, and I was just about to offer it to my companion when I look- ed up and saw—you. There you were, standing just inside the door at the end of the car. I remember you standing HUMAN BEINGS a curve is necessary when golng from the street into a building, and again when ascending from the'ground to the room where the exit is; but these curves are gradual, having little effect on the smooth running of the cartridge. The test of the new service between the Central postoffice and stations 8 and O was made on February 9, before the service was turned over to the Govern- ment by the Pneumatic Transit Com- pany. A few speeches were made and then a Bible wrapped in an American flag was sent over the route to station S and re- turn. The guests in the Central post- office walited, watches in hand, until the return of the book. It took just six min- utes and one second to make the round trip. Next, John E. Milholland, who was su- perintending the tests, announced that he would give a demonstration of the im- provement in the special delivery service made possible by the pneumatic system. For the purpese of the demonstration an address was desired to which a spe- cial delivery message might be sent, and it was arranged to use the office’ of W. Atlee Burpee, Fifth and Buttonwood streets, for the purpose. The letter addressed to Mr. Burpee, consisting of forty words, was trans- mitted from the Central postoffice just as if it had been received in the regular order of business. Simultaneously a message of eleven words was sent by telegraph messenger boy to be transmit- ted from the nearest telegraph office, The telegraph was Dlaced at a disad- vantage at the start on account of the boy having to go several doors away to give the message to an operator; but at the other end of the line the telegraph office and postoffice were at about the same distance from the office of Mr. Burpee. ¢ Victor T. Bradley, Superintendent of Railway Mail Service, who was present, said he had figured up the distance and that ordinarily it would take a special delivery messenger, using: street car or bicyele, an hour and five minutes to there, so I must have seen your whole figure; but all that I noticed were your eyes—intense — compelling—electric with some message—fastened on mine with a look of passionate, agonizing appeal. “I do not remember that I was sur- prised. My only thought was that you wanted me. ‘As I' went down the aisle toward vou, you opened the door and passed swiftly into the car beyond, your eyes, with their compelling appeal, still fastened on mine. 8o, in this fashion, in a sort of trance, I followed you from car to car, till we stood in the observation car at the end of the train. “Then 1 came to my senses. I started to call you, to cry out, and just at that moment,” he went on, his voice tense with emotion, “the train struck aniopen switeh, and the engine left the rails and plowed into the ground, tearing up the track for yards.” . Martha pressed closer to. his side, and he bent and touched his lips to her fore- head. The logs in the fireplace burned low, and the room grew dim, and vague, and mysterious, in the uncertain light. “The two cars followed the engine— the smoking and one other—jammed into it and were crushed, the fire from the cngine setting them ablaze. Most of the occupants were either killed or severely injured. There were some slight injuries to the passengers in all of the other cars, except the last.” His volce was heavy with emotion, “Every one in the observation car,”” he said, unsteadily, “‘escaved unhurt.” ot A Drop of Water Jpilled From theGold Guineas Pigs Arrived Safely ‘Taking Two Puppies I Tube Journey i ¢ deliver the letter to the address aud return with an answer. So lha real contest was evidently between the pneumatic tube and the telegraph. The letter that had been sent through the tube reached Mr. Burpee first. He answered it with a note of forty words, dictated to a stenographer and trans- cribed on a typewriter, inolosed it in an envelope and gave it to the boy tu be returned to Station S. In ten minutes and five seconds the reply was in the central office. In twenty-one minutes a reply of ten words to the note sent by telegraph was received. The tube had done the work In less than half the time of the telegraph. - Then came the livestock tests. De- spite the misgivings expressed by some of the persons present, Mr. Milholland declared that this tést was robbed of the nature of experiment, as all possi- ble obstacles had been considered and provided for. He announced that a rooster and an aquarium of goldfish were about to be transmitted through the ‘tube from Station S, one and two- tenths miles away. The misgivings of some spectators were emphasized by a study of the carrjers in which the llve stock was to be shipped. These carriers resem- ble mammoth ecannon balls and appear just as formidable. They are cylinders of half inch iron. seven inches in di- ameter inside and twenty-four inches long. A lid at one end Is shut and clamped with a device resembling a safe lock before the carrier is placed in the tvnbe breech for transmission. ! @000 (13 N S S HAT, may I ask is your business?” inquired a lady on an ocean steamer of & gentleman whose acquaint- ance she had chanced 'to make during the voyage. “I supply enthusiasm to a few persons about me and find it very profitable,” was his quick reply. In this semi-humorous, semi-serious answer was wrapped up the secret of an uncommonly success- ful career. A few years ago the man went to Europe with very little money and with no acquaintances either in Great Britian or on the Continent. But he carried with him the patent rights to. a recently invented American device of an amusement order. It took him weeks to overcome indifference and apathy. He spent many an hour in the outer offices of financial magnates in Londén, Paris and Berlin, awaliting his chance to be heard. But his own splen- aid optimism at last swept away all obstacles. He communicated to others his unguenchable enthuslasm and not many months ago he wis able to re- turn to America 2 millionaire, & Such is an outcome of the important business of supplying enthuslasm to others, or perhaps I should speak of itas S S I SIS SO S S S A A vom the Cortridae / “That rooster will surely dle in such a closed contrivance,” said a member of the party, who had looked in vain for an airhole. “No, it won't,” replied Mr. Milholland. ““There is plenty of air in a cartjer to sus- tain the life of a bird for three minutes; or, in fact, a much longer period.” “‘Yes, but if it should get stuck—"" It was agreed that in that event it would be the rooster’s misfortune; but the sys- tem had been so thoroughlystested, Mr. Milholland said, that there was practi- cally no danger of congestion. The telephone bell rang. “Thé rooster's on the way,” was the ahnouncement re- peated by the man who held the recelver. All was breathless silence: for two min- utes. A whistling sound made by the forcing of the air from the mouth of the tube was followed in a moment by the steel carrier, which whizzed along the twelve feet of circular ‘“‘table” and bumped its nose into an air cushion spring with an impetus that made it recoll four feet. “Good-by rooster!” was the doleful comment of a spectator. There was a general craning of necks as the carrier was placed on the floor and the top removed. First a quantity of waste was taken out—it had been inserted to provide against just such a bump as the carrier received—and then the colored attendant pulled out a bantam rooster and handed it to Secretary Riffe of the transit company. “Is he dead?” asked a half-dozen per- sons at once. NSNS ART OF ENTHUSING OTHERS the art of supplying enthusiasm. For the business aspect of the topic is alto- gether Inferior to its higher phases. Take for example enthusiasm, not for a business proposition, which always has more or less of the selfish element about it, but for a cause. History abounds in Instances of men champion- ing some great human interest, some desirable forward step In philanthropy or religion, in regard to which the mass of their fellowmen were at the start totally Indifferent or even hostile. Every now and then some man or wom- an has arisen surcharged with enthusi- asm for a noble cause, saying as did William Lloyd. Garrison in the early days of the abolition movement before the groundswell of protest had carried the people to his position, “I will be heard.” > So if one has today a righteous and im- portant cause to agitate there is every reason to exvect that if one’s own en- thusiasm holds out others in time will rally to the same standard. Of course the world is full of croakers equipped with a plenty of wet blankets. The populace laughed when the first believer in um- brellas appeared with his covering on the streets of London. So today the enthusi- ast encounters the pessimist, the croaker ,and the man with depleted enthusiasm and lowered ideals. “It can't be dome.” “It never has been dome.” “It is alto- NS OOONOOSEO0N000000008 Fish AQuarium — “Cock-a-doodle-doo!" replied the roaster, Next came the aquarfum of goldfish. There were six fish In the glass globe, swimming gracefully while being whisked under the busiest part of the city. To guard against spilling. the fish or water a plece of rubber cloth was fastened tightly about the top of the far. By this time all skepticism regarding the ability of living animals to travel with immunity in closed carriers under- ground was removed, so that the demon- strations that followed were in the nature of cumulative evidence. Two puppies a month old and two adult guinea pigs later passed through the tube successfully—apparently with pleasure. One of the puppies wobbled a bit when taken from the carrier, but promptly re- gained his equilibrium and began to play with a piece of twine on the floer. The new line of pneumatic tube extends from the Central postoffice to Station 8, at Sixth street and Fairmount avenue, a distance of 639 feet, or a little over one and two-tenths miles; thence to Station O, at Ninth street and Columbia avenue, a distance of 7454.75 feet, or a little over one and four-tenths miles, making the total length of the line 2.6231 miles. Carriers may be dispatched at interval of six seconds, going usually at the rate of thirty miles an Nour. The Philadeiphia postoffice has set out to have the best pneumatic mail tube ser- vice in the world. Further extension will be made as soon as appropriations’ pend- ing in Congress are secured. Such a ser- vice when completed would give the city over ten miles of pneumatic tube. S SOGO00 S0 000000 000000 00000000005050) i SN SVNS) gether vislonary.” “You're a crank.” So say nine out of ten to whom youtry to communicate your own enthusiasm. But never mind. Keep the fires of your own enthusiasm burning. Keep on sowing the seed and the fruitage, though de- layed, is certain. Best of all is it to be a supplier of en- thusiasm for life itself. It is good to have a joy in life, to take a rational de- light in eating and drinking, in working and plaving, in buying and selling, .in acquiring and expending, in receiving and giving, and In all the wholesome pro- cesses that go to make up life. But it.is better yet to be able to make those about one rejoice also in their very existence. It was sald of Lord Holland that he al- ways came down to breakfast with the air of one who had just inherited-a for- tune. The effect of such good spirits was bound to be contagious. Let us covet and strive for this power of communicating enthusiasm. But let us remember that enthuslasms are rooted in beliefs. “I never cared much about talk- ing insurance to others.”” said an agent to me recently, “until 1 took out a policy myself.”” Neither unbelief nor agnosti- cism breeds enthustasm, but if you are a real believer in that which s good and true and beautiful, the enthusidsm grow- ing out of that conviction will overflow the bounds of your own life and infect others with courage and hope