It is true that facilities for charging in some places were inadequate and considerable ingenuity had to be resorted to in order to get away without considerable delay. The important point is that the electric ran under its own power a distance of some 1,500 miles, and that no matter how great the difficulty might have been, charging facilities were in some way or another procured and the disposition upon the part of the central-station managers in every place where Colonel Bailey stopped was to the effect that if adequate facilities were not now available they would shortly be forthcoming.
The central-station managers of this country have been accused of indifference, apathy, stupidity, pin-headedness, and all sorts of things opprobrious, because of their attitude toward the charging of storage batteries for electric vehicles. We realize that it is not an easy matter to provide facilities, which may run into considerable expense, for the occasional car which may come to town. With the demonstration that Colonel Bailey has made, however, that the thing is entirely possible, we have no doubt but that a great many central stations will take a pride in being ready even with a makeshift device to receive a electric vehicle tourist with open arms, as it were, give him a full charge and send him on his way. With the proper co-operation between the electric vehicle manufacturers and the manufacturers of accessories and the central-station managers, a co-operation which can be splendidly handled by the joint committees of the National Electric Light Association and the Electric Vehicle Association, electric touring will become very common. The time has passed, as the Colonel says, when it is anything of a "stunt.
