get their mails many hours earlier by the arrival of pouches at Chicago in the morning instead of the middle of the afternoon, as now; Pittsburg will get the New York papers at noon on the day of issue, and a dozen trains leaving that city at noon will carry the news befortnight to hundreds of points, that now get it on the following day. The acceleration will reach clear across the continent, putting Los Angeles within less than four days and four hours of New York, and bringing all the intermediate region into closer communication with the east.-Railway Age.

A national conference of employers and employes is to be held in Minneapolis, September 22 to 26, inclusive. The object of coming together is an attempt to inaugurate a campaign of education on the labor problem, with a view of promoting better feeling between employers and employes and furthering the work of social and industrial betterment. Feeling that the time is ripe when employer and employe should settle upon a general policy concerning several important matters touching the relation of the employer and employe, a national convention has been called, and in which will be heard opinions from both sides-employer and employe. In the booklet issued on this subject the author says: "The first step is to get together and talk the matter over in a spirit of fairness and good will. Let each side present its grievances and its claims from its own point of view, and then look at the matter when it is presented by the other side. In this way thousands of delegates from various places, and representing various interests all over the country, will have a chance to look at the situation from different standpoints. When once the problem is stated in specific terms and the people get to thinking about it everywhere, the right solution is bound to be found sooner or later."

Among those who have made definite arrangements to address the conference, are: Cyrus Northrop, President of the University of Minnesota; J. B. Clark, Professor of Political Economy in Columbia University; Hon. Carroll D. Wright; James Kilbourne; Richard T. Ely; Frank L. McVey; Miss Jane Addams; Senator J. W. Baily from Texas; Archbishop John Ireland; W. D. Winman; John Mitchell; Florence Kelly; Hon. Knute Nelson; T. V. Powderly; Charles M. Schwab; James M. Lynch; W. A. Jackson; John Mangan; E. E. Clark; M. P. Carrick and F. P. Sargent. Special arrangements have been made to bring the delegates to this convention. Delegates may come on their own

The invention illustrated in the accompanying cut is a car coupler knuckle for use on couplers of the Janney type.

The object of the invention is to provide a removable shoe for the knuckle of the car coupler to take up the wear, and which shall be of such construction that it will fill the slot usually formed in the knuckles for the insertion of links when one of these automatic couplers is connected to a car employing a link coupling, thus making a smooth joint at the slot to prevent chipping and damage, which have heretofore taken place at this point and which have materially reduced the life and usefulness of the coupler.

In the cut, I denotes a car coupler knuckle having a transverse link slot 2 and a pin aperature 3; 4 denotes the shoe, which is fitted to the inner face of the knuckle, where the greatest wear comes, and is provided with a laterallyextending block 5, which conforms to and entirely fills the link slot and is provided with a vertical aperture which registers with the pin aperture, so that the shoe may be retained in position by an ordinary pin 7, which has been heretofore used for connecting the knuckle with the car employing the old style link-and-pin coupling. The face of the knuckle is recessed, as shown at 8, so that the shoe when fitted to the knuckle may conform to its general contour and present no abrupt points.

By the employment of a shoe the life of a knuckle is materially increased,

not only from the fact that the shoe may be removed when worn and replaced with a new one, but, furthermore, for the reason that the link-slot formed in the knuckle is entirely filled by the block of the shoe, thus preventing chipping of the edge of the slot, and the pin being located in the aperature, prevents bending and collapsing of the knuckle, thus making a much stronger knuckle and one of increased durability.

If it becomes necessary to couple on with a link, chain or switch rope, all that is necessary is to remove the shoe.

More secure couplings, longer life of couplers and economy are claimed for the device.

In the Review of Reviews for July the issues of the great coal strike are presented from various points of view; the editor, in "The Progress of the World," reviews the position of the railroads and the operators; an illustrated account of the methods of anthracite mining is contributed by Mrs. Rosamond D. Rhone of Wilkes Barre; Dr. Talcott Williams gives "A General View of the Coal Strike;" and Mr. H. T. Newcomb, editor of the Railway World, furnishes important statistical data relative to the anthracite-carrying railroads.

President Roosevelt's speech at Pittsburg has attracted widespread attention and everywhere it is regarded as plain notice that he is in favor of additional legislation in restraint of trusts. Among other things said was, "We may need, and in my belief do need, new legislation conceived in no radical or revolutionary spirit, but in a spirit of common sense, common honesty, and a resolute desire to face the facts as they are."

It is said that Kansas will need ten thousand men to harvest the wheat crop of that state and thus far only five hundred are available. The migratory character known as the hobo in search of employment will exercise considerable tact in keeping away from Kansas, for according to the rules of their union they are not allowed to harvest in the summer nor shovel snow in the winter.

According to the laws of the state of Kansas labor unions shall form a state