Owing to a variety of causes, the system which was assigned to me at
the last convention to report on has made less material progress in a
commercial way than its competitors.


PRIMARY BATTERIES.

So far, primary batteries have been applied only to the operation of
the smallest stationary motors. Their application in the near future
to traction may, I think, be entirely disregarded. Were it not a
purely technical matter, it might be easily demonstrated, with our
knowledge of electro-chemistry, that such an arrangement as an
electric primary battery driving a car is an impossibility.

In view of the claims of certain inventors, I regret to be obliged to
make so absolute a statement; but the results so far have produced
nothing of value.


SECONDARY BATTERIES.

The application of secondary or storage batteries to electrical
traction has been accomplished in a number of cities, with a varying
amount of success. Roads equipped by batteries have now been
sufficiently long in operation to allow us to draw some conclusions as
to the practical results obtained and what is possible in the near
future. The advantages which have been demonstrated on Madison Avenue,
in New York; Dubuque, Iowa; Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, may be
summarized as follows: