officials above quoted, and of others, the Isthmian canal will be an active ratecontrolling competitor. That this is true will hardly be questioned, and if the canal can not compensate the railways with a larger volume of business, they will not share with the producing and manufacturing interests in the benefits accomplished by the water route. Whether the canal will give the Pacific railroads a larger traffic than they would otherwise have is partly a matter of judgment, and partly a question of safe deduction from past experience.

The belief entertained by one of the officials above referred to, that the Isthmian canal will draw traffic and the centers of industry back from the central section of the United States to the Eastern States, is based on an inadequate conception of the industrial strength of the Central States as compared with the Eastern. The Central States possess vast stores of coal and iron, and these and their other natural resources are causing the population and industrial activities of our country to become generally distributed. The railways that serve the Central States are wisely fostering this tendency, and these railway systems are among the strongest and most efficient of any in the United States. After ten or twelve years more of progress on the part of the industries and railway systems of the central portion of the country, they will be quite secure against defeat from competition with the East. Indeed the canal will so facilitate the foreign trade of the Central States as probably to make them stronger than they now are as compared with the Eastern section.

Pacific Trade Also to be Benefited.-It is asserted by one of the railway offi cials whose opinions are given above that the Isthmian canal will injure the Pacific States by diverting from them the imports destined for points east of the Rocky Mountains. The present volume of these imports by way of the Pacific Coast cities, however, is small and will probably remain so. Without an Isthmian canal the goods brought in from foreign Pacific countries will be imported into the eastern half of the United States, as most of them now are, by way of New York and other Atlantic ports. The importation of teas, silks, mattings and curios by way of our Pacific ports and the transcontinental railroads is increasing, it is true, and may be expected to grow in volume as the costs of rail

way transportation decline. After the canal route has been opened, the railways will be obliged to share this traffic with the steamers using the canal. Here, again, however, it is probable that additional facilities for transportation will be accompanied by a larger demand for commodities and an increased traffic for the old routes as well as the new. If the Isthmian canal produces any changes of importance, one effect will be to give greater prosperity to the western third of the United States, where the Pacific railroads must always perform the transportation service, to stimulate the growth of population there, and to increase the consumption of such articles as are imported from the Orient.

One of the witnesses above quoted thinks that the wheat exported from the Pacific Coast will, within a few years, be sent entirely to Pacific instead of Atlantic markets. There is a growing trans-Pacific trade in flour and an increasing quantity is required at home by the growing population of the Rocky Mountain and Pacific slope States. This, moreover, is being accompanied by a diversification of agriculture and the production of other cereal crops, and of fruits and vegetables. Nevertheless, the western section of the United States, particularly the States of Washington and Oregon, may be expected to remain large exporters of wheat and also barley to Atlantic countries for several decades to come.

Growth in Local Traffic of Pacific Lines.-The competition of the canal will affect, first, the volume and rates of the through business of the Pacific railroads, and secondly, the amount of their local traffic. At the beginning of their existence these railways depended almost entirely upon their through traffic; but their chief aim throughout their history has been to increase the local business; which is always more profitable than the through traffic; and, although the great stretch of country crossed by them is still in the infancy of its industrial develonment, the local traffic of some, if not all, of the Pacific roads has already become of chief importance. A vice-president of one of the Pacific railway systems recently said that since 1893, "The increase in business of the transcontinental lines has not come from the seaports, but from the development of the intermediate country." The canal can certainly in nowise check the growth of this local traffic; and the evidence strongly supports the belief

entertained by many persons that the canal will assist largely in the industrial expansion of the territory served by the Pacific railways.

If this be true, the proximate effect of the Isthmian canal in compelling a reduction and readjustment of the rates on the share of the transcontinental railway business that will be subject to the competition of the new water route will be more than offset by the ultimate and not distant expansion of the through and local traffic that must necessarily be handled by rail. It seems probable that the increase in the population of the country and the growth in our home and foreign trade will early demonstrate the need of the transportation service of both the canal and the railways.

Something About Railroad
Tramps.

A number of philanthropists who have established The Society for Organizing Charities, recently held a convention at Philadelphia at which some interesting statements were made, especially by a superintendent and four captains of the police force of the Pennsylvania Railroad. One hundred and fifty delegates from various parts of the country were present. The following facts were brought out:

On every freight train going from Philadelphia to New York there are from ten to fifty tramps.

In all these classes Mr. Bradley showed by statistics that about 15,000 are arrested each year in his district alone. In his district he showed that 4,664 tramps had been injured and 1,969 killed stealing rides during the last ten years. Many of the injured tramps, he said, proved recruits for the ranks of professional beggars.

Mr. Bradley said there was no fitting law to punish tramps for riding as they do, and that most country magistrates refused to send them to workhouses or prisons. To his mind the remedy for the tramp problem is:

First, legislation providing a punishment to fit the crime; secondly, magistrates that will enforce the law.

Questions were fired at Mr. Bradley from all the visiting delegates. As many of these questions concerned local conditions, Captain Graham, in charge of the Philadelphia division of the railroad police, supplied the answers.

One delegate wished to know if Mr. Bradley's estimate of tramps found on trains included those beggars of passes who ride in Pullman coaches.

Mr. Scott, a delegate from Newark, criticised the work of the trainmen, saying that to his knowledge 14,000 tramps rode free from Newark to Philadelphia last year.

Mr. Bradley replied that the trainmen couldn't be blamed, as they did all they could to keep tramps from trains. "The tramps attack trains in such numbers," said he, "that the trainmen don't dare

On the Pennsylvania lines west of Pittsburg an average of about 500 tramps are maimed each year. Most of these turn professional beggars, indicating that injured tramps throughout the country add about 10,000 new beggars annually.

The city of Trenton constantly supports about 200 tramps in jail.

Many counties refuse to attempt to punish tramps.

J. H. Bradley, superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad police for the western division, was the first speaker of the day. He said that trainmen divided tramps into three classes. First, the "local riders," comprised largely of men who would work if given a good chance; second, the professional tramps, who are fast disappearing from their old haunts; third, the Yegg men, or tramps, who are ready to commit robbery or murder a man for a few cents.

killed trying to drive tramps from a train.”

"Why don't the railroad police stop this?"

"They do their best," replied Captain Graham, "but the tramps jump from the trains just before any yard is reached, and don't jump on again until open country is reached."

"How many tramps pass free over the New York lines?"

"Oh, something over 500 a month," replied the Captain. "Each train carries from ten to fifty tramps while passing through open country. The tramps defy us because they know nothing can be done to them, and that few counties will accept them as prisoners. I suppose the citizens of Trenton constantly pay for the support of about 200 tramps in the jails."

"I think your estimate of tramps on the New York line is low," said G. A. Simmons, of the Rescue Home, Newark,

"I know fully 25,000 tramps have shaken my hand on leaving our place and said, 'Good-bye, I'm going to Philadelphia or Baltimore now, and must hurry down to the meadows to jump a freight.' I think the Pennsylvania should keep some officers in the meadows."

Raymond Robins, of Chicago, said the tramp problem reached deeper than the railroad police suggested. He said that the time had come when the railroads should run labor trains at a merely nominal fare between the big cities, so as to meet the shifting demand for labor. "Men in search of work can't pay the high fares now charged," said Mr. Robins. "Until the railroads arrange labor trains at some greatly reduced fare, magistrates will continue to sympathize with tramp-riders and discharge them. This was the stand taken by the Federation of Labor in opposing an attempt to pass some new legislation in Illinois on the stolen-ride subject."

Miss A. L. Higgins, of Boston, also took this view of the case.

After finishing the discussion of tramps that ride, the delegates followed the career of tramps and beggars sent to the houses of correction throughout the land. Addresses were made by Miss Higgins, of Boston, and the Rev. Thomas Kirkpatrick. International Railway Journal.

Artificial Fuels.

Everybody who has spent any time on the continent of Europe has noticed the economy practiced by Europeans in the consumption of coal and marveled that the results should be so satisfactory. To be sure, the lofty, tombstone-like porcelain stove of the Germans has a chilly look at first, and the cooler atmosphere of German houses may give one a homesick longing for the furnace-heated rooms of America, but gradually the open-minded stranger comes to look with approval on the European arrangements for keeping warm, and to wonder why his own people

have not perceived the beauty, the cleanliness, the economy, and satisfactory results that some patent fuels have to recommend them. That many a Yankee has turned the matter over in his busy brain is attested by a chapter on artificial fuels in Edward W. Parker's report on "The Production of Coal in 1902," which is about to be published by the United States Geological Survey as an extract from the annual volume of Mineral Resources.

Prior to 1902, about 400 patents had been issued in the United States on artificial fuels, but up to the close of 1901 none had proved a commercial success. Mr. Parker gives a list of United States patents granted since January 1, 1902. It remains to be seen whether any of them will be successfully developed. The list includes 37 patents, but contains no mention of fuels made from petroleum or petroleum residue unless used in connection with coal, lignite, or peat. Neither does it include any compounds that have for their object the increase of fuel efficiency unless they are used in the manufacture of the fuel itself. Three patents were used on briquetting machinery.

The steady advance in the price of coal no less than 40 per cent.-which has taken place since 1898 has stimulated experiments looking to the invention of artifial fuels. Results obtained in foreign countries from the use of lignite and peat in briquetted form should encourage producers in the United States to try similar methods of manufacture. Small sizes of anthracite coal formerly wasted are indeed recovered now by washeries from the old clum banks and utilized. A large amount of coal lost in the form of dust or finely pulverized material might also be put into convenient shape for domestic consumption, and slack now wasted at many of the bituminous mines in the United States might be used to advantage if compressed into briquettes. There are many indications that the time is not far distant when these neglected fuel resources will all be utilized.-Press Bulletin, United States Geological Survey.

Sparks.

It will be a source of deep regret to our entire membership to learn that our worthy Grand Master, Bro. John J. Hannahan, has been seriously ill for three weeks past. He has been suffering from a complication of sciatic and inflammatory rheumatism superinduced by exposure incident to the performance of duties of his most responsible position. Although in a dangerous condition, he persisted in directing the affairs of the Brotherhood from his sick room until compelled to desist therefrom by the peremptory orders of his attending physicians, who insisted that absolute rest and quiet was essential to his recovery. He is now much improved and it is hoped that he will soon be restored to his usual health and vigor.

Changes of address must be reported to this office by the 15th of the month in order to take effect with the following issue of the Magazine.

Appropriate resolutions of sympathy and condolence, occasioned by the deaths of Bros. C. F. Herbert and William Worman, of Lodge 11, who were killed on the Pennsylvania Railroad, have been adopted by their lodge.

Bro. A. N. Probst, Secretary of Lodge 162, at Elkhart, Ind., has the sincere sympathy of his many friends and brothers in the loss of his beloved wife, Lydia L. Probst, who died at the home of her parents at Union, Mich., Wednesday, February 17, 1904.

All changes of address must be reported to John F. McNamee, Editor and Man

ager Locomotive Fireman's Magazine, Commercial Club Building, Indianapolis, Ind., on or before the 15th of the month, in order to take effect with the following issue of the Magazine.

Bro. Robert R. Field, of Lodge 330, reports that while visiting Lodge 327 he was shown every courtesy possible by the members of said lodge. He states that each and every member tries to do more than his share of work in the lodge, and that they are also looking out for sick and traveling firemen.

The page advertisement of the McConway & Torley Company in this month's issue of the Magazine is in the nature of a request of our readers to send them detailed information regarding accidents in which the efficiency of car couplers is involved. Read their advertisement carefully and perhaps you might be able to tell them something that they desire to know. In return for this information they promise to send you a copy of their Plate No. 11, illustrating and describing the Kelso Coupler.

At a recent meeting of Lodge 14, Indianapolis, Ind., Bro. W. T. Offutt, of Lodge 10, a visiting brother, showed his great interest in the Brotherhood by presenting the lodge with eighteen applications for membership which he had secured within a week. The Secretary of the lodge states that this is the largest number of applications ever received at one meeting. A brother who will take the interest in upbuilding a sister lodge, as Bro. Offutt has, is deserving of much