Brother O. E. Parsons of Division 60 has been nominated to succeed himself as probate judge of Pettis County, Mo. Brother Parsons has a way of "getting there," even if he does have to do it with one arm.

We are in receipt of an invitation to attend a reception and spread to be given by Denver Division No. 44, O. R. C., to Division No. 23 L. A. to O. R. C., and their visiting members at Eagle Hall, Club Building, No. 1731 Arapahoe Street, September 11th, 1902, at 8:30 p. m.

We note with pleasure the following increase in pay: An increase, amounting to $125,000 a year, to about two thousand signalmen, dispatchers, telegraphers and towermen on the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad.

Remittance slips bearing changes of address for the M. B. D. will not apply to address for THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR unless so specified by letter accompanying. Always give your Division number when writing THE RAILWAY CONDUC

TOR.

Someone sent us a newspaper clipping with an account of a picnic and excursion given by Division 139 at Farner and the loop on the A. K. & N. It is not necessary to say that the boys of 139 know how to make everybody enjoy himself.

Perhaps no quality is more characteristic of the work of Booker T. Washington than the sanity of his point of view. His article "Problems in Education" in the September Cosmopolitan deals not only with the work of Tuskegee Institute but with the educational needs of the entire colored population of the United States. The race problem is not one which can be left to settle itself, and every thinking man or woman should read this valuable contribution to a discussion whose importance will increase rather than decrease in the years to come.

The convention of the B. L. E. at Norfolk, Va., in May passed resolutions expressing their appreciation of the action of the Governor of Iowa in appointing E. D. Brigham, a member of the B. L. E., to the position of Commissioner of Labor Statistics for the state.

Brother A. W. Zimmerman, of Division 343, has been appointed traveling passenger and freight agent of the D. P. & A. N. Co. Line of Steamers and the Columbia River & Northern Ry. Co. with headquarters at The Dalles, Oregon. Brother Zimmerman was formerly passenger conductor on the Rock Island at Horton, Kan. The appointment bears date of Aug. 12, 1902.

Ralph M. McKenzie, in answering the query, "Could Congress, if assembled, settle the coal strike?" says in The Times, Washington, D. C.: "The very fact that Congress proceeds to demononstrate its willingness to do something would immediately have its weight and effect upon the recalcitrant captains of industry, whether employer or employe."

There is no better way to keep posted in detail on the progress of the world outside of the United States than by watching the "Foreign News Notes' published in The Chicago Record-Herald. Over a hundred foreign staff correspondents of The Chicago RecordHerald are located in important cities abroad. Their duties do not end with the transmission of news by cable, but include also correspondence by mail concerning all important matters of any interest to readers in this country. It is worthy of note also that in addition to the work of its own correspondents The Record-Herald receives the full foreign news service of the New York Herald and the Associated Press.

The newest thing out in the way of a caboose is just on exhibition by the Goodwin Car Company. It is a steel caboose built and especially intended for use in connection with the Goodwin steel dump cars. It is a safe and convenient lodging place for a train crew, and is provided with a full supply of parts liable to damage, also a number of air tools for use in case of serious damage. The power for using pneumatic tools is to be taken from the air pressure of the train line. While its appointments are admirable and make every conductor feel that he would like to "own" one there is no pros

pect in the immediate future that they will be generally adopted on all roads. Cost too much.

The strike of the anthracite coal miners has been the topic of absorbing interest in the labor world for several weeks. The miners have all along expressed an entire willingness to submit the differences to arbitration and abide by the award. The operators have positively refused to listen to any propositions for arbitration. Strong efforts are being made in the labor world to give these miners financial assistance, which is, of course, needed. The situation is one that appeals strongly to all and it is hoped that all who are so inclined, whether individuals or Divisions or lodges of organizations, will make such response as they feel able to make in this direction, sending their remittances to W. E. Wilson, Secretary United Mine Workers, Stevenson Building, Indianapolis, Ind.

Statistics of Railways reported by the Interstate Commerce Commission for the year ending June 30, 1901, just out, show that the number of persons in the employment of the railways of the United States as reported for June 30, 1901, was 1,071,169, or an average of 548 employes per 100 miles of line. As compared with June 30, 1900, the number of employes increased 53,516, or 19 per 100 miles of line. The classification of these employes shows that 45,292 were enginemen, 47,166 firemen, 32,092 conductors, and 84,493 other trainmen. There were 47,576 switchmen, flagmen, and watchmen. Omitting 3,107 employes not assigned to any of the four general divisions of employment, it appears that the services of 38,816 employes were required for general administration, 343,717 for maintenance of way and structures, 206,418 for maintenance of equipment, and 479,111 for conducting transportation.

One summary in the report contains a statement of the average daily compensation of the eighteen classes of employes for ten years beginning with 1892, and another gives the total compensation paid to more than 99 per cent of the railway employes for the fiscal years 1895 to 1901. The amount paid in salaries and wages to employes during the year ending June 30, 1901, it is seen, was $610,713,701, which was $33,448,860 in excess of what was paid during 1900. The compensation of the railway employes for 1901 is equivalent to 59.27 per cent of the operating expenses of the railway companies and 38.44 per cent of their gross earnings.

The last of the main generators and engines intended to be installed in the power plant of the Mersey Tunnel Railway are about to be shipped from the Westinghouse Works at East Pittsburg. These generators are of the railway type (1,200 K. W., 650 volts, 90 revolutions per minute) and are to be direct connected to vertical cross-compound Westinghouse Corliss engines of 1,500 H. P. each. The power-house lighting and the electric light of all stations, sidings, etc., will be supplied from a separate generating plant comprising two compound-wound generators, each having a capacity of 200 K. W. at 650 volts, direct connected to Westinghouse compound engines and running at a speed of 250 revolutions per minute. The power generating plant will have an aggregate output of about 6,600 horse power-6,000 horse-power for railroad proper and 600 horse-power or lighting. The Westinghouse electro-pneumatic system of train control is to be used and the cars will be

the

equipped with Westinghouse high-speed air brakes. The rolling stock will consist of 60 cars, each about 60 ft. in length. The trains will be formed of five cars each, the first and last cars of a train being motor cars, equipped with four 100 H. P. motors each.

The Mersey Railway connects Liverpool and Birkenhead, and passes under the river Mersey. The tunnel is doubletracked. The route of the railway is about four miles and a half long, the total length of track, including sidings, being about twelve miles. Its situation is unique, joining two such important business cities between which the only competition in the transportation of passengers and freight is given by ferry boats on the river, and the traffic on the line is large. The number of passengers carried amounted to between seven and eight millions per year even with the old steam locomotive system.

The railway is standard guage, laid in accordance with heavy steam railway practice, the rails being of the ordinary English "Bull-head" type, weighing 86 lbs. per yard. The line is to be fitted with the third rail system, the conductor rail to be laid alongside and just outside of the running track. The running rails will not be used as the return electrical conductor, but a fourth rail is to be placed between them solely for this purpose. This will entirely prevent any destruction of the track rails or buried pipes in the vicinity by electrolytic action. The third and fourth rails will be similar in size and in arrangement. They are to be of T-section, 60 ft. in length and to weigh 100 lbs. per yard. They will be effectively bonded and carried on stoneware insulators spaced at intervals of seven or eight feet apart.

It is expected that the trains will run on a three-minute service. The tunnel and the seven stations of the system are to be electrically lighted throughout. The power generating station, the machinery and the track work are all being pushed rapidly to completion.

The arrest of President Burt of the Union Pacific on a charge of false imprisonment in connection with the transportation of a number of laborers who had been engaged to work in the shops at Omaha, where there is a strike of employes, seems to have been prompted solely by malice.. The men in question were engaged by an employment agent at Indianapolis, who had no connection with the railroad and who received a fee of $5 from each man, the railroad company furnishing free transportation to Omaha. It now appears that only one of the 18 men was a mechanic, that at least a portion of them desired to go.

'to Denver to work on a cattle ranch and that they took advantage of the opportunity to get a free ride, with no thought of working for the railroad. The employment agent accompanied the men to Omaha and the charge of false imprisonment is based on the statement that the men were locked in the car at Council Bluffs and were not permitted to leave it until they reached the 'shop yards at Omaha. Four of the men accepted employment, but the remaining fourteen declined to go to work, asserting that they had been deceived by the employment agent, who represented to them that they were to go to Denver. They were provided for at the company's hotel in the shop yards until they were ready to leave, but were not compelled to remain against their will, as charged. Learning that the men claimed to have been imposed upon, the company offered them free transportation from Omaha to Chicago, so that they could return to their homes, but declined to pass them on to Denver, as requested. Eight of them agreed to accept transportation to Chicago, which was issued and delivered to them, but instead of leaving the city they fell in with the strikers, by whom they were persuaded to swear out complaints against the employment agent and President Burt, on the assumption that the latter was responsible for the alleged illegal act complained of. The above appear to be the facts, as outlined in a statement given to the press by the general attorney of the road, who characterizes the arrest of Mr. Burt as a malicious act, committed for the purpose of keeping the public agitated on the strike difficulties. Thus far the strike seems to have been conducted in an orderly manner, but this act on the part of the strikers will not redound to their credit. Apparently seeing defeat staring them in the face, they have attempted to humiliate and disgrace the highest official of the Union Pacific railroad. Such a procedure and the revengeful spirit which prompted it will tend only to widen the breach between employer and employe.-Railway Age.

Labor Commissioner Carroll D. Wright in speaking of the anthracite coal strike, says:

"The specific demands, as given to me in writing by Mr. John Mitchell, the president of the United Mine Workers of America, are as follows:

"1. That there shall be an increase of 20 per cent to the miners who are paid by the ton. These men involve about 40 per cent of all the miners.

2. A reduction of 20 per cent in the time of per diem employes. The mines are operated about 200 days per year, 10

hours per day. This demand, if granted, would result in reducing the day to eight hours (20 per cent), so that the mines would be operated 240 days; hence an equivalent of 20 per cent increase in pay, no increase in the rates of per diem employes being demanded.

"3. That 2,240 pounds shall constitute the ton on which payment is based for all coal mined where the miners are paid by weight.

These demands being rejected, the miners subsequently offered to accept one-half-that is to say, 10 per cent increase in the pay per ton where mining is paid in that manner, and 10 per cent decrease in the working day. They also offered to leave the whole matter to arbitration and investigation and accept the result.

"All these demands and modified requests were rejected by the operators, and so the issue remains an open one. The employes are willing to make a three years' contract, on the offered terms-that is, one-half the original demand.

"If an anthracite coal miners' union could be organized and officered by men from the anthracite industry the whole matter would be far on the way to fairly satisfactory adjustment.

"All the operators whom I met disclaimed distinctly that they had any antagonism to labor unions as such. They do object, and most seriously, to some of the methods adopted by the unions, and they feel that when asked to make contracts with the unions the latter should put themselves in a position to be pecuniarily responsible for carrying out such contracts.

"The miners state that if the operators will make an agreement with them they will carry it out, as far as it lies in their power to do so, but that without an agreement they are all the time quibbling as to conditions under which miners shall work. They feel that an agreement in writing will protect the corporations from unjust strikes, if they really desire such protection. The way it appears to the average workman is that the operators do not want an agreement that will bind them.

"On the other hand, the operators contend that no such agreement would have any binding effect upon the miners, and that it is ridiculous and foolish to undertake to make one; that they are interfered with constantly in their efforts to preserve order and good discipline.

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All this shows, and proves clearly, that there is no confidence existing between the employes and their employers, and that suspicion lurks in the minds of everyone and distrust in every action on either side.

"The mine owners too often have re