kind of traffic benefited as well as by the Interstate Commerce Commission classifications. The form provides a balance with pay rolls, material sheets, etc., and furnishes a record for determining the maintenance charges to tenant lines and for dividing charges on joint structures. A memorandum should be made at the head of the column alloted to each structure, showing its original cost, date of construction and date of heavy repairs or other items that may have a bearing on maintenance charges. The accounts for each building should be made continuous, being carried from sheet to sheet in order to provide a permanent record from which comparisons of maintenance costs on the same building and on different buildings of the same type can be secured. A column is provided for Additions and Betterments accounts in which such charges can be entered until an authority for expenditure is received. When such charges are transferred a credit is entered in red. An improvement record can be drawn up for buildings, bridges or tracks. A detailed estimate should be shown in order to enable a clerk to keep a check on each item so that discrepancies and excessive cost can be taken up promptly. The bridge record is similar to the structure record, with the exception that the distribution according to the kind of traffic is, of course, unnecessary. The section labor record is prepared with a column for each month and a line for each class of work, the record of each gang being kept on separate sheets. An average rate for the entire gang is determined, which includes a proportion of the foreman's time arrived at by dividing the total number of hours the laborers work into the total pay roli, including the foreman's wages. The charges against each item are made on a time basis showing its average rate. It is not necessary to figure out the cost of the different items, as the number of hours can be used as a basis of comparison. Each piece of work is classified under the appropriate Interstate Commerce Commission account and by comparing the sheets for different sections a direct check on the work of the various foremen can be secured.

The section material record is classified under both the Maintenance of Way and Structures distribution and the Additions and Betterments distribution, serving as a check on Additions and Betterments work not so reported by the foreman, also as a check on salvage as a basis for figuring the scrap when making inventory, etc. It is of considerable value to have the details of maintenance work shown in the records in order to provide for a separation of charges on joint maintenance work. For example, a line having joint use of a main line, but not doing any local business along that line, should probably not be charged with the cost of maintenance on sidings, industrial tracks and yards. A material record should be made out for each section and a monthly summary of track material on hand made to cover each roadmaster's district. This summary, made after the foreman's reports are received, would assist the roadmaster in keeping up his stock and would show him where surplus material is being kept which he may want to reach in an emergency. In addition to track material the supervisor of bridge buildings could profitably keep a stock record, regardless of whether or not the material yard is handled by the storekeeper. It is important for the roadmaster and supervisors to be able to locate their stock accurately in order to economize when possible.

MAINTENANCE ACCOUNTS.

For maintenance work on roads using a district accounting system it should be a comparatively simple matter to keep up such a record as material charges, engine and train services and other records are handled through one office and no department bills are required. Supervisors and roadmasters usually check the material used and keep a partial record of charges to improvements as a means of protecting themselves. roads the supervisors or roadmasters report the material used to the division superintendent. In such cases this report could be made in triplicate and used as a bill form by the department

On many

making material charges and one copy furnished the accountant to use in making up the cost record and file. Labor charges should, of course, be taken direct from the foreman's book. In handling track material a printed form in copying ink could be used to advantage, allowing the section foreman to make entries with an indelible pencil or copying ink, which would be checked by the roadmaster and one of the accountants. These records should be copied in an impression book and returned to the roadmaster to be filed by sections as a permanent record.

There is no uniform method of handling Maintenance of Way accounts. At present on various roads they are kept in the office of either the auditor, storekeeper or chief engineer. Such accounts should be kept by the officer in charge of maintenance or preferably by district accountants, as the detailed cost records kept by supervisors, roadmasters, foremen or other clerks are of very little value. A record kept by the man actually doing the work is incomplete, as it cannot include train service and other items from the operating department. The accounting details should be kept out of the hands of roadmasters and foremen as much as possible so that they can give their time to actual maintenance work. The accounting should be handled, however, by the division accountant in order to keep it close to the work and make them responsible for all records on the division. The distribution should be checked by experienced men, as the foremen are often inclined to make the distribution which would give them the best showing rather than one which would represent the actual condition. The desire to make a showing often leads to the charging of maintenance costs against improvement accounts whenever the estimate will allow, and the responsibility is not always confined to the foremen. This condition would be relieved by the use of a complete maintenance record.

The forms are printed on 24-column ledger paper, 17 in. x 29 in., printed on both sides. Some of the headings should be made by hand, as the forms vary according to the details of the work under way. The ledger and material record forms, however, could be printed complete and the invoice record could be printed with the exception of the distribution columns. Both sides of the forms are used to reduce the expense and size of the record. To reduce the work in the field, purchasing agents and other departments should render bills in duplicate as far as possible. The original should be made with a copying ribbon and the duplicate with a copying carbon. An impression copy can be kept at headquarters and the original and duplicates sent to the division official, and an impression copy taken of the duplicate. The original and duplicate can then be sent to the field engineer, the duplicate to be filed as part of his record, and the original certified and returned in the usual manner.

It is impossible to estimate from the experience gained so far how much additional clerical labor is required to keep up such a record. For the keeping of construction records there would no doubt be some additional forces required for handling the ac counting in the field, but the cost of keeping such a record would not be lost to the company, as it would reduce considerably the accounting necessary in the auditor's office, and would enable material economies to be effected in the prosecution of the work by providing engineers with a fuller knowledge of the costs during the time that the work is under way.

ELECTRIFICATION IN NEW SOUTH WALES.-The New South Wales chief commissioner of railways, on being pressed for an improved train service, said that the electrification of the railways was under consideration. The commissioner is of opinion that of all the suburban lines the North Shore will be taken in hand first. It is, however, the intention to electrify the whole of the Northern line as far as Newcastle. Presumably no definite plans will be arranged until experience has been gained with regard to the selection of the tenders, system of traction to be adopted, etc., in connection with the Melbourne scheme.

THOMAS FOWLER AND THE NEW YORK
ONTARIO & WESTERN.

The New York, Ontario & Western is a 566-mile road, with
more than half of its tonnage furnished by coal. It has been the
coal tonnage which has made the road what it is. Without that
it is hard to see how the property could have earned enough to
pay the interest on its funded debt, let alone any profit to its
stockholders. Thomas P. Fowler, who has retired both as
president and from the board, was elected president of the New
York, Ontario & Western in 1880. At that time the road had
no branch into the coal fields. It was in wretched physical
shape; it ran through a territory that held out little prospect of
either agricultural or manufacturing development, and was at a
great disadvantage as a through route, having to compete with
a number of lines in far better physical condition whose grades
were lower and whose cost of
operation was considerably
less. There had been some
talk of building a branch
down into the coal fields, but
the idea had been entirely
abandoned and was considered
quite impossible.

Mr. Fowler reconceived the idea and set about persuading his board of directors that such a branch was the one hope for the development of the property. He met opposition from bankers and from the railways which were already entrenched in the anthracite coal fields. It is probable that he had a hard time persuading even his own directors that such a branch would be profitable enough to warrant antagonizing other interests. It was due to Mr. Fowler personally, that the project was carried out and the New York, Ontario & Western became an anthracite road. The road has always had a hard time to raise money and a hard time to secure traffic. The two local prospects beside the coal that have been developed and are now profitable are the milk business and the summer passenger business. Mr. Fowler always took a keen interest in the development of the summer passenger business and helped materially to establish summer hotels and boarding houses through the territory served by the Ontario & Western.

ings was 4.75 per cent. and in through freight earnings, 1.95 per cent., and in coal earnings, 16.38 per cent.; while revenue from milk increased 6.73 per cent. The fact that by far the greater part of the loss in revenue was due to coal conditions over which the company had no control indicates that the poor showing made last year was temporary and that the property may fairly be expected to earn a small return on its capital stock in the future. The prospects, however, for any very large increase in earnings do not appear to be particularly good.

The New York, New Haven & Hartford has held control of the New York, Ontario & Western since 1904. On June 30, 1911, the New Haven owned $29,160,000 stock of the Ontario & Western, or only a little more than half of the total outstanding, and recently has announced its intention of buying the minority stock. This announcement was made after the refusal of the New York Public Service Commission to permit the New

Haven to sell its majority holdings to the New York Central & Hudson River. Whether or not the New Haven intends to try to get all of the minority stock and then sell the property to the New York Central & Hudson River, of course, there is no way of knowing.

Some time ago Mr. Fowler announced his desire to retire, and on Wednesday he formally resigned as president of

the company and as a director. This means his complete retirement from the management

of the property. Charles S. Mellen, president of the New York, New Haven & Hartford, was elected also presiIdent of the Ontario & Western, succeeding Mr. Fowler.

Mr. Fowler was born in 1851 in Newburgh, N. Y. He is a graduate of the Columbia Law School and his railway experience has been entirely in the executive department. Operating a small property, Mr. Fowler was able to come in close personal contact with his officers and even, to some extent, with the employees of the road. He was a man who was very easily approachable, never standing on ceremony, Thomas P. Fowler. and always willing to hear suggestions, whether they came from his officers or from shippers or residents along the road.

The fiscal year ended June 30, 1912, was a poor one for the Ontario & Western because of disasters occurring in the collieries the year before and a cessation in mining during the two months that the miners were striking pending an adjustment of wages. The company earned $8,527,944 gross and managed to save $1,797,477 net. There was a surplus of $473,729 after the payment of fixed charges. No dividends were paid. In the previous year there was a surplus of $1,142,936 after the payment of fixed charges, and a dividend of two per cent. was paid on the $58,113,983 outstanding common stock. During last year, of the total revenue $3,843,962 was from coal, $1,061,830 from local freight, $847,960 from through freight, $799,064 from milk and $1,633.911 from passengers, The decrease in local freight earn

FAST SCHEDULES IN GERMANY.-A comparison of the longest runs without stops on the railways of the principal German states, shows one of 178 miles in 194 minutes in Prussia, between Berlin and Hamburg; one of 172 miles in 205 minutes between Munich and Wurzburg, in Bavaria; one of 81 miles in 117 minutes in Mecklenburg; one of 80 miles in 100 minutes, mostly in Alsace, between Ludwigshafen and Strasburg. The highest speed on these runs is 55 miles an hour between Berlin and Hamburg; 51 miles in Baden between Freiburg and Oos, and 48 miles between Ludwigshafen and Strasburg, and so on down. There are three runs in England longer than the longest in Germany, the longest, 226 miles, between London and Plymouth.

A general standardization and efficiency association was organized on the St. Louis & San Francisco at a meeting at Springfield on Tuesday, September 24, of the chief clerks, assistant chief clerks, heads of departments, accountants and timekeepers. The object of the association, which has been under consideration by the officers of the road for some time, is to increase the efficiency of the general and division offices, to standardize office methods and forms, eliminate unnecessary work and duplicate information and to bring about more harmonious relations between general and

division offices.

The membership of the organization will consist of the chief clerks and heads of departments in the general offices, the chief clerk, either the mechanical or transportation accountant, and the timekeeper in the division offices, and the chief clerks to the superintendents of terminals.

The plan of organization includes a president, vice-president and secretary, an executive committee composed of a chairman and six or eight members to be equally divided between the general and division offices, and the following committees: Reports committee, forms committee, office organization committee, office methods committee, claims and O. S. & D. committee, correspondence and files committee, accounts and accounting committee, schedules and timekeeping committee, state and interstate commission reports committee, and such other committees as may be found desirable in order that all matters in which the general and division officers are interested may be properly taken care of in the work of the association. A brief outline of the work to be handled by the various committees is as follows:

The duty of the executive committee will be to assemble reports from the various subcommittees and transmit to the various offices interested the matters which are to come up for discussion at the general meeting, which will be held either at Springfield or some other point every ninety days. They will arrange to have the reports mimeographed and distributed and will keep an account of the action taken on each individual item that shall come before the association for discussion, a copy of which detailed report will be sent to each member of the association as soon as possible after the close of the meeting. General instructions will be issued by the departments interested.

The reports committee will have jurisdiction over the methods of securing data and the manner of rendering the various reports, to see that each report is based on figures secured from the proper source, compiled in a uniform manner by all offices, and the questioning of any report which may be considered unnecessary, inaccurate or inconsistent. This committee will also consider the advisability of providing printed forms for the rendering of certain regular reports, which are to be submitted to the forms committee for their recommendation and further handling.

The forms committee will handle all recommendations with reference to forms and changes in printed forms; also supervise the caring for and the ordering of stationery supplies.

The office organization committee will endeavor to standardize, in so far as possible, the work required of different positions in the division offices and make recommendations covering any feature which will have a tendency to raise any office to the desired state of efficiency.

The claims and O. S. & D. committee will inaugurate a systematic method of investigating all claims and the prompt handling of O. S. & D. reports, which is a very large proportion of the correspondence in division offices.

The correspondence and files committee will systematize, so far as possible, the distribution and handling of corre

spondence in division offices, calling attention to any apparent duplication, or unnecessarily large volume of circular letters of instructions and calling for acknowledgments of various letters which may not serve any good purpose. The various file systems will be given particular attention by the committee to bring about a uniform method of indexing and filing correspondence and various office records.

The accounts and accounting committee will have jurisdiction over the method of preparing all labor and material distribution, payrolls, reports and statements required to be rendered to the accounting department, and such other matters directly pertaining to the handling of accounts.

The schedules and timekeeping committee will invite discussions and questions petaining to the proper interpretation of all schedules and the proper method of keeping time. The office method committee will look into improved office methods and make recommendations as to changes deemed necessary in order to obtain greater efficiency.

The state and interstate commission committee will issue a uniform and correct statement of the requirements prescribed by the Interstate Commerce Commission and the various state commissions.

The work to be assigned to these committees, it is expected, may be materially enlarged upon in addition to that outlined. All members of committees will serve for one year in order to enable them to carry to a successful conclusion subjects which it is impossible to dispose of in less time. It is proposed to hold the regular meetings of the association during the latter part of the month so as not to interfere with payrolls, monthly reports, etc.

The plan for the association originated with General Manager W. T. Tyler, who, over a year ago, brought about the organization of an office standardization committee of three members who visited the various offices and suggested changes in methods and forms for the purpose of obtaining uniformity and eliminating duplication. The work of this committee resulted in many conferences among officers, heads of departments and chief clerks, as to ways of increasing the efficiency and harmony of the various offices, during which the plan of organization of the general association was thoroughly discussed. It was found that while the former committee was able to accomplish some good results, it did not have sufficient authority to put into effect changes which it thought necessary and it is believed that the new association, with the hearty co-operation of the officers, will be able to create an enthusiasm and interest in securing greater efficiency among those who are in the best position to make the recommendations effective. The chief clerks will be able to adopt the recommendations in their own offices at once, except in case where it is necessary to consult the officer in charge, and it is proposed to hold meetings of the entire force in the office following the general meetings for the purpose of discussing and making effective the recommendations adopted at the general meetings.

WAGE INCREASES ON ENGLISH RAILWAYS.-The railway conciliation scheme of the English government, which stopped the strike, has now worked out in the concrete form of substantial increases of pay to the men on three systems. On the chief of them, the Lancashire & Yorkshire, nearly half the signalmen get 36 cents a week advance, and the other half 61 cents a week advance, amounting altogether to about $50,000 a year. The enginemen and other locomotive men get increases which will total $50,000 or $60,000 a year. Platform porters are to get $4.87 a week, which is 49 cents a week more than they have been getting since the strike, and 73 cents a week more than they got before the strike. In the same way passenger guards, who before the strike seldom got more than $6.81 a week, are now given a maximum of $7.78, to be reached automatically after seven years' service.

BULLETIN No. 37

BILLS INTRODUCED AND LAWS ENACTED IN STATE LEGISLATURES, RELATING TO OPERATION

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