having raised corners for engaging in timbers of a car body, a hollow sleeve open from end to end and provided with internal threads for a portion of its length adapted to engage the threads of the bolt, the lower edge of the said sleeve being formed with oppositely arranged concaved recesses for fitting upon the flange of the car wheel, the structure being such that the sleeve will be provided with narrow bearings for engaging the rim of the car wheel at two points, so that the said sleeve will closely fit the periphery of any car flange, substantially as described."

It is but 41⁄2 inches in length and 1 in. in diameter closed, but is capable of being adjusted to any length up to 9 inches, thereby being capable of contact between the flange and the sill of any

car.

Members of the Benefit Department please enclose a note to the Grand Secretary requesting supply of printed envelopes for use in making remittances, whenever more are needed. Some members remit more frequently than others, hence all do not use the same number and the practice of sending supply to all members at one time is not entirely satisfactory. Requests will be attended to promptly.

Since our editorial was written about the lock-out of J. N.Ward & Co., of Peoria, Ill., elsewhere in this issue, we are advised by the secretary of local union 146 U. G. W. of A. that they have reached a satisfactory agreement with the firm of Ward & Co., in which they restore all members of Union 146 to their former employment and unionize their shop throughout, and will henceforth use the union label on their goods.

How much nearer to each other the nations of the world seem to be today and really are today than was the case a few decades ago. When weeks and months were required for communications between the United States and Europe the countries of the old world appeared to be a long way off. Now the circumference of old earth is belted with telegraph and cable lines in every possible direction. What happens today in Europe, Asia, Africa. Australia, South America and the great islands of the sea is made known to us tomorrow by great newspapers like the Chicago Record-Herald, whose foreign news correspondents are located in every important city in the world outside of the United States. In addition to its own staff correspondents, The Record-Her

ald enjoys the foreign news service of the New York Herald, famous for many years for the reliability of its foreign news, and also of that great co-operative news-gathering organization, the Associated Press. No other daily newspaper in America possesses facilities so varied and extensive for covering the news of all nations.

A prominent actor tells the following story of his ride in one of St. Louis' electric cars: "I boarded a 'standing room only' trolley car yesterday, and had just got inside the door and was looking for a nice strap on which to hang, when the motorman gave us a short stop. It meant a quick start for me. I went sailing through the car as if I had been sent for. I landed against the front door with a thud, and was just getting my bearings when the villain did it all over again. It didn't seem so far going back, but when I crashed against the rear door the conductor yanked it open and snarled:

"Do you want to get out here?' "No,' said I. 'I want to stay in.' "Well,' said he, 'if you want to ride on this car you'll have to stop running up and down the aisle.'

"I'd be a bird if I could do that,' said I.

"'Well, be a bird,' said he, 'but light somewhere.'"-The Optimist.

The Interstate Commerce Commission has issued Accident Bulletin No. 1, in which facts, figures and conclusions are given as taken or gathered from the reports of accidents made to the Commission by railway officials, under the Act of March 3, 1901, covering the months of July, August and September, 1901. The Bulletin says:

"The number of persons reported killed in the three months ending September 30, 1901, in collisions, derailments, and miscellaneous train accidents is 240, and of injured 2,622. Accidents of other kinds, including those sustained by employes while at work, and by passengers in getting on or off cars, etc., increase the total number of casualties to 11,212 (725 killed and 10,487 injured). No reports are required of casualties at highway crossings, or to trespassers or persons walking along the track, nor to employes who are not on duty; and the classification does not include trifling accidents which, if tabulated, would needlessly swell the totals.

The number of passengers killed in collisions and derailments during this quarter-57-is very large, and is equal to more than half of the total shown for twelve months in the Commission's annual report for 1900. The present record

is swelled by a single collision in August, in which 28 passengers and 3 employes of the road were killed. This collision, due to a runaway of freight cars on a long and steep grade, can not be satisfactorily classified as to cause, as the officers of the road report that the cars which ran away had been left on a side track, suitably secured by hand brakes; and they have not discovered how the brakes were released.

The next most serious accident in August, causing the death of 9 passengers and 1 trainman, was also due to some cause not discovered. A passenger train while running at moderate speed was derailed with disastrous results, but no defect was found in cars, engine, or track. It is supposed, therefore, that some obstruction may have been maliciously placed on the track.

The number of passengers killed in collisions and derailments in July was 7, and in September 8 were killed from these causes. In one collision, occurring in July, 4 passengers and 5 trainmen were killed and 57 persons were injured. This collision, damaging the railroad company's property to the extent of over $50,000, was due to forgetfulness on the part of the conductor and engineman of a freight train. These two men were killed in the collision. The conductor had served in that capacity ten months and the engineman eight days. Both had had several years' experience in subordinate positions.

Of the passengers killed in September, 6 are accounted for in a single collision, due to the careless movement of a freight locomotive on a track parallel to one on which a fast passenger train was passing. A misplaced switch was overlooked and the engine ran against the side of the passing passenger cars, overturning them.

The total number of collisions and derailments was 2,249 (1,247 collisions and 1,002 derailments), of which 217 collisions and 90 derailments affected passenger trains. The damage to cars, engines, and roadway by these accidents amounted to $1,842,224, namely: July, $600,047; August, $648,249; September, $593,928.

No comparisons can be made with former records, as records have never before been made for periods shorter than one year, and train accidents, as such, have not been reported to the Commission in any shape; but the dimunition in "coupler accidents," due to the general use of automatic couplers, may be roughly measured by comparing the present record for three months with one-fourth of the total for one year as shown in former reports. For the year ending June 30, 1900, the Commission reported 282 employes killed in

coupling and uncoupling. One-fourth of this number, 70%, is more than twice the number now reported for one-quarter of a year.

An examination of the reports of individual cases in this class of accidents shows that an appreciable percentage is made up of cases occurring in what may be called emergency work, such as coupling to a car which has just been in a slight accident, and on account of which the automatic coupler has been taken off the car or is out of order. Such irregular work is practically unavoidable, and the injury record, to the extent that it is produced by cases of this kind, is not to be taken as showing anything to the discredit of either the automatic coupler or the men doing the work.

Another point noticeable in the individual reports is the occurrence of accidents to men who have been only a few months in the service. The cases in which the report says that the injured man has been a brakeman or switchman for less than one year are not, perhaps, to be called numerous, yet their frequent recurrence suggests the need of a period of carefully managed apprenticeship for the proper training of a brakeman. That a considerable percentage of injuries in this class is due to some defect in the coupler is a matter of common knowledge.

This point was alluded to in the fifteenth annual report of the Commission to Congress. These defects are often very slight, and many of them are due to lack of intelligent care rather than to faults of material or design. A good share of them are to be classed as unpreventable except by the gradual improvement in design of parts and by added experience on the part of the men. This, of course, means that trainmen should exercise particular care for their own safety when any coupler or coupler attachment is in the slightest degree out of order.

"Coupler accidents" and those due to falling from cars, having for years constituted the two most prominent classes in the lists of casualties to trainmen, have received special attention.

The tabulated statements show that 30 conductors were injured coupling or uncoupling, and 6 were killed and 55 injured by falling from trains or engines. Thirty brakemen were killed and 435 were injured coupling or uncoupling, and 105 were killed and 1115 were injured by falling from trains or engines. Nineteen other employes were injured coupling or uncoupling; 1 engineer, 5 firemen and 18 other employes were killed, and 33 engineers, 82 firemen and 283 other employes were injured by falling from trains or engines. The report

urges the necessity of using the air brakes on all equipped cars.

In a recent issue of THE CONDUCTOR, we stated that in the near future we would open a column for the discussion of train rules and movement of trains by special orders. To this end we have secured the editorial service of an efficient train despatcher in active service on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, in the person of Mr. George E. Collingwood, who will begin the digest of this work with the June number. The following question, however, comes to us in advance of this date and we will submit same under head of Mentions:

Editor on Train Rules:- Please give us your opinion, through your journal, on the following question: "Can a train arrive at a station in advance of its schedule time?"

Following rules govern the case which I quote for your information:

Rule 5-"Where but one time is shown at any point, it is, unless otherwise indicated, the leaving time; when two times are shown, the earlier is the arriving time, and the later the leaving time."

Rule 92—“It must be understood that

It is clearly the intention of the rules quoted above to allow trains to arrive at any station ahead of schedule time. Standard Code Rule 92 has been so changed as to permit it, as will be seen by comparing Rule 92, quoted above, with Standard Code Rule 92, which reads: "A train must not arrive at a station in advance of its schedule arriving time. A train must not leave a station in advance of its schedule leaving time."

Under Standard Code Rules where only one time is shown, it is the departing time, and a train may arrive ahead of this time. Where two times are shown, the earlier is the arriving time, and a train must not arrive ahead of its arriving time, except where the arriving time is the time of a superior train, in which case Rule 89 is operative, and said inferior train must arrive ahead of its schedule arriving time long enough to clear the superior train the required number of minutes, (usually five minutes for opposing trains.) G. E. COLLINGWOOD. NGWO