operative parts of the triple, is it not advisable to disconnect and inspect and clean the strainer? A. Yes. The improved drain cup in the train pipe has proved that it reduces the amount, but does not entirely exclude the dirt which usually finds its way to the triple valve. Q.-665. Please describe this improved strainer. A.-The strainer is mounted on a removable spider 36, which may be unscrewed and the strainer examined, without breaking the pipe joints. The strainer 35 is placed at the top where no water or dirt rolling along in the pipe can reach it. The drainage pocket may be emptied by unscrewing the plug 32. This device is interchangeable with the standard form. Q.-666. Is it not highly essential that dirt should be excluded as far as possible from this triple? A. Yes. The wear and sticking of the two piston packing rings in their cylinders and the troubles attending dirt lodging on the vent valve, accentuates the necessity for the inspector and cleaner to do their work thoroughly. The strainer 28 should be taken out and cleaned, and also the strainer 35 in the drain cup in the main train pipe, previously described. Q.-667. Where would you look for the trouble if there was a constant flow of air out of the square vent holes (port J) under the side of the triple valve? A.-Look for dust or sand in the emergency cylinder, causing the piston to stick and hold the emergency valve from its seat. The dust or sand gets in through port M and port J, and the result causes the brake to fail to apply, and a leakage from auxiliary reservoir which must be supplied from the engine. Q.-668. If the air pump were laboring hard, train-pipe pressure continued to drop, and brakes could not be released, indicating that there was a bad leakage of train-pipe pressure somewhere, where would you look for the trouble? A. After examining hose couplings and train pipe connections proper, and they had proved to be tight, the trouble would probably be found in the triple valve. Q.-669. How could the particular triple or triples giving the trouble be lo cated? A.-By a blowing or leakage of pressure at port M, the round hole. Q.-670. Where would this leakage be coming from, and what defective parts would cause it? A.-The leakage would be coming direct from the train pipe, through vent valve 71, it not being seated properly. Q.-671. What causes would prevent the vent valve from seating properly and securely? A. First, there might be some dirt or other foreign matter lodged between the valve and the seat. Second, a too tight fit of the packing ring in vent piston 129, due to poor repair work or dirty and gummy cylinder. Third, bent vent piston stem, caused by repairman or cleaner wrenching the valve apart or forcing together, which holds the vent valve off its seat. Fourth, stop plate 142, taken off during cleaning, and put back out of line, binding the piston and holding the vent valve partly open. Fifth, the rubber seat of the vent valve, becoming worn at the bottom, will allow the lever arm of the vent valve and the stem of the vent piston to come in contact, thus leaving an opening past the worn rubber seat for trainpipe pressure to escape. Q.-672. Should not precautions be taken to guard against these faults in cleaning the triple, and the rubber seat of the vent valve be watched closely and be replaced when it becomes worn? Q.-673. Suppose, after an examination of the triples, no pressure was found escaping at port M, the round hole, but the air pump continued to labor hard, and a less violent leakage was found at ports J, the square holes, than that just described, due to defective vent piston, stop plate or vent valve? Where next would the trouble likely be found? A. The emergency valve 138 may not be seated tightly, and auxiliary reservoir pressure is leaking past the emergency valve and the stem of the emergency piston 137 to the atmosphere, through ports J, the square holes. Auxiliary reservoir pressure is also leaking past the emergency valve, through port L and nonreturn check valve 117, into the brake cylinder and out of the retaining valve if the leakage is greater than can pass the stem of emergency piston. Q.-674. What would cause the emergency valve to leak as just described? A.-Dirt or other foreign matter may be lodged between the valve and its seat; the rubber seat may be badly worn and in need of renewing; and emergency piston may be jammed tight in its cylinder, due to dirt and sand working in through ports J (the square holes) and holding the emergency valve off its seat. Q.-675. How may these disorders be corrected? A. By renewing the rubber seat, if necessary, or by cleaning the emergency valve and piston, and replacing them with no oil on them. Q.-676. Suppose the pump labors hard and brakes refuse to release, and while search is being made to locate the cause of the trouble, it corrects itself and disappears. Where would we look for the trouble? A. The vent piston 129 is either gummed up or bent. This fault will hold open the vent valve 71, discharge train pipe pressure to the atmosphere via passage H and port M, the round hole, finally allowing the vent valve to leisurely seat and stop the leakage. This is one of the most delusive disorders experienced with the triple, and when the trouble is once located, the triple should be put in order or cut out. Q.-677. If the triple will not respond to an emergency reduction in the train pipe, that is, if the emergency parts cannot be brought into play, where should the trouble be looked for? A.-Either port F has been enlarged or the packing ring in the vent piston leaks, thus allowing the pressure in the space G to escape uniformly with the reduction of train-pipe pressure. Q.-678. Are the New York and Westinghouse quick-action triples interchange able? A. The one will fit on the cylinder or auxiliary reservoir of the other, but, as will be seen by reference to the cuts of the two valves, none of the working parts of one will fit in the other triple. Q.-679. If, in a train of mixed New York and Westinghouse triples, a brake works in quick action with a service application, can it be told whether the defective triple valve is a New York or Westinghouse? A. It can in many cases, as a New York triple, which works in the emergency, will set in this manner with less than five pounds reduction; while a Westinghouse, in same condition, usually requires more than a five-pound reduction to apply it. Q.-680. How can the defective valve be located? A. If the ground is dry by having a service application made and look to see where the dust is first kicked up. If the ground is wet we might, by locating the trainmen along the train, hear the train-pipe pressure venting to the atmosphere. If these methods fail it should be located by closing an angle cock about the center of the train and have an application made to determine if it is in front or behind this point, proceeding in this manner until located. Q.-681. What would be found wrong with the defective valve? A. The vent piston will usually be found stuck or working too stiff in the main piston. Q.-682. What is the object of the small plug in vent valve piston 129? A. To permit of easily grinding in the vent valve piston ring, a 1⁄4-inch hole is drilled through the piston, which gives a free passage of air to and from chamber G during the process of grinding. After the ring has been fitted the plug referred to should be inserted, as its absence would prevent the operation of the emergency features of the triple valve. [TO BE CONTINUED] Interesting Information. "Commercial Alaska in 1902'' is the title of a monograph prepared by the Treasury Bureau of Statistics for publication in the forthcoming issue of the Monthly Summary. In this the commercial conditions, opportunities and prospects in Alaska are set forth, the number of industries at the present time, the routes of travel, the methods of reaching that once distant but now accessible territory, and a summarization of the commercial and financial results of ownership of that territory by the United States. This statement is presented at the present moment both by reason of the growing interest in Alaska and especially because of the fact that the Bureau of Statistics is to publish in future monthly statements of the commerce of Alaska with ports of the United States. Heretofore no detailed statistics of commerce with Alaska have been obtainable because of the fact that no provision of law existed for the collection of statistics of commerce between customs districts of the United States; and as Alaska was by law a customs district such statistics could not be gathered, under the law. When the Hawaiian Islands and. Porto Rico were also made customs districts of the Uniten States and the collection of statistics of our commerce with those islands was rendered impracticable, a measure providing for the collection of statistics of trade between the United States and all of its non-contiguous territories was framed by the Bureau of Statistics, approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, sent to Congress, passed, and signed by the President; and beginning with the new fiscal year the record of trade between the United States and all of its non-contiguous territory will be available in form similar to that of commerce between the United States and foreign countries. The fact that statistical statements of the commerce and conditions of Alaska have not been regularly made in the past renders the attempt to present a picture of present conditions in Alaska a difficult one. Necessarily the information is fragmentary. Aside from the statistics of population published by the census, and statements of the number of fur seals taken by the lessees of the Pribilof Islands, the number of cans of salmon packed, and the number of fish taken as reported by the special agent of the Treasury department, and the statement of gold production reported by the Mint Bureau, little information of a statistical nature is available. Even these reports are extremely meager and in most cases the statements are simply those of quantity unaccompanied by estimates of value. The shipments of merchandise between the United States and Alaska have been considered as coastwise commerce and no reports of the value of merchandise so transported have been made to the collectors; while in many cases the manifests are so indefinite in statements of quantity that it has been found difficult to obtain satisfactory estimates in detail of the movements of merchandise into and out of Alaska. The fluctuation in prices of the seal and other furs and the salmon and other fish, which have been, until recent years, the chief industries of Alaska, coupled with the fact that in the official reports only quantities were stated, have in the past rendered detailed statements of values year by year difficult. The statements which are presented as to the industries and their result from a financial standpoint are the results of careful inquiries from collectors of customs both in Alaska and the United States by the various governors of Alaska and their subordinates and by the special agents of the government appointed to report upon the various industries. In general terms it may be said that Alaska, for which the United States paid Russia $7,200,000 in 1867, has supplied furs, fish and gold amounting to about $150,000,000 in value, about equally divided between these three items; that the investments of capital from the United States in Alaska are probably $25,000,000, with a large additional sum invested in transportation to that territory; and that the annual shipments of merchandise to Alaska now aggregate more than $12,000,000, and have aggregated since the purchase nearly or quite $100,000,000. Meantime the population has grown from an estimated 30,000 at the date of purchase to 32,052 in 1890, 63,592 in 1900, and an estimated 75,000 at the present time. The number of fur seals taken on the Pribilof Islands from 1870 to 1901 is 2,187,317*, and the value of the seal and other fus taken since the purchase of Alaska by the United States is estimated at about $50,000,000. The fur seal industry, which has declined in the last few years, was succeeded by the fishing industry, Alaska now supplying about one-half of the salmon of the country. The value of the salmon pack in Alaska last year is estimated at about $7,000,000, and the total value of the fish taken in Alaska since the purchase about $50,000,000; while the value of gold and silver mined since the purchase is also about $50,000,000. *Estimated value, $35,000,000. Commerce between the United States and Porto Rico is increasing with phen omenal rapidity, especially since the removal of all tariff restrictions in July of last year. Our purchases from Porto Rico are nearly three times as great as the average during the closing five years of Spanish rule in the island, while the shipments from the United States to Porto Rico are five times as great, as the average during the five years preceding the termination of Spanish rule. The receipts of merchandise from Porto Rico at the ports of the United States now range between five and six millions annually, and the shipments to Porto Rico, which were about seven million dollars in the last fiscal year, seem likely to be ten millions in the present fiscal year ending June 30. This rapid growth in the movements of commerce between the ports of the United States and Porto Rico is presented by a statement just prepared by the Treasury Bureau of Statistics, which shows that the shipments of domestic merchandise from the United States to Porto Rico in the eight months ending with February amounted to $6,887,052, indicating that for the full fiscal year the total shipments of domestic and foreign goods from the ports of the United States to Porto Rico will aggregate about $10,000,000. The exports from the United States to Porto Rico during the five years ending with 1893 averaged less than $2,000,000 per annum, and thus justify the assertion that our shipments of merchandise during the present year to Porto Rico seem likely to be as much as in the entire five years ending with 1898. Over four-fifths of the merchandise now brought into Porto Rico is drawn from the United States, and a little over one-half of the merchandise shipped from that island is sent to the United States. The total value of goods shipped from the island in the eight months ending with February was $5,787,619, and of this sum $3,016,258, or 52 per cent, was to the United States. The total value of the merchandise received into the island during the same period was $8,413,078, of which $6,887,052, or 82 per cent, was from the United States. BY ELMER R. PILLING, Author of "Echoes From the Rail" and "Sidetracked." In the course of his sickness the author has had plenty of time for meditation, and out of the depths of the unseen, a character that he has called Dave Crago, was accustomed to materialize and stray into his presence any day between sun-up and sun-down. Dave helped to while away many otherwise tedious hours with his quaint sayings and observations on matters and things. Dave has his faults, and among them is the tendency to the use of expletives, forgetting the scripture injunction, "Let your communication be 'yea, yea,' 'nay, nay,' for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." He also does not observe the other injunction not to speak evil of dignities; but he stands as a representative of a class known in the Twin Cities and elsewhere, and if he is not always right, he at least must be reckoned with, and sometimes, at any rate, manages to hit the nail on the head. DAVE AND THE DOCTORS. "Hello, Pillin', how be you today? Thought it might be you'd be purty peart and would enjoy a good swig of butter-milk, and so I come over. Didn't spoze it'd hurt you. Sweet butter-milk wouldn't hurt anything, I jing! If it'd been sour, I'd a knowed better'n to give it to you." "Say, Pillin', do you think I look yaller? Well, blame my picters, if I hain't had a time of it for the last two weeks. I've been sick, I have! I've been around to see the doctors, too. I told Mary Yellen I wuz goin' up to see Pillin' kase I knew how to sympathize with him better'n I ever did before. Tell you what! I never made much pretenshions to bein' a real good man, nor wuz I ever much of a hand at makin' long prayers, but, I swan, if I haven't been tryin' for the last two weeks to foller along somewhere in the region of the straight and narrer path, with what little assistance I could get from Mary Yellen! "I hadn't been feelin' well for some time, and Mary Yellen said it wuz my liver; but I told her it wuz that hornswizzled sour butter-milk that had more to do with it than anything else. I got about as yaller as a turkey's foot, and I made up my mind I had the janders, I'm swiped if I didn't! "Through the parswashions of Mary Yellen I concluded to see a Homopath doctor. I had no faith in any doctor, but I always heard that path did the least harm and wuz the easiest to travel. Say, what do you think he give me, anyhow? I jing, if it wuzn't a bottle about as long as your thumb filled with little sugar pills! He said to take one before each meal and one at bed time, and to come back in three or four days till he'd examine me. At supper time I took out the bottle and put one of them pills in my mouth. It tasted purty well, and sez I to Mary Yellen, sez I, 'There ain't enough in one of these measly things to do me any good, so I'll just take the whole contwisted bottle full and be done with it.' "Suitin' th' action to the word, I downed the whole shootin' match. In about an hour I got an all fired pain in my gizzard. I thought I'd pass in my checks then fer sure, and I sent Mary Yellen for the very first doctor she could find. I jolly, if he didn't happen to be a different kind of a path! This one wuz an all'path. He felt my pulse and looked at my tongue, and allowed my stomach wuz a leetle out of order. I grammany, I guess he wuz right! He 'lowed that my liver needed stirrin' up some, too. I didn't say nothin', but it must of stray'd off into some corner if it wouldn't git stirred up along with some other things, the way I wuz a feelin' inside. The doctor left a prescription in exchange fur a dollar bill. Mary Yellen wuz somewhat uneasy, and she follered him out in the hall and asked him, 'wuz I in a dangerous condition?' And he told her ther wuz not much the |