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pear greenish. It is because of such jugglery that good men are discharged, that employes become suspicious of the honesty of examining officers, and the will of the people is defeated.

The "Murphy"
Method.

On the Cincinnati Scuthern Railway an innovation in examination and instruction of men engaged in train service has been introduced, known as the Murphy Method." If the reports that reach this office are reliable, the new method has many commendable features This method consigns the" doctor's" dirty flags and multi-colored yarns to the scrap-heap, and substitutes therefor a stereoptican and a collection of slides, from which are exhibited railway signals in their natural colors and positions. A view of a busy railroad yard is thrown on the screen, and the man subjected to examination "feels at home." The switch targets and semaphores loom up as natural as life." He is not befuddled by a thousand strings of yarn, of half as many colors, that are swished in his face by a "doctor" who does not know a driving-box cellar from the cellar of a farm house.

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W. J. Murphy, of the Cincinnati Southern, is due the credit of first installing such a test, and now it is proposed to give mechanical instructions and examinations by the same means. Sectional diagrams of brake mechanism, valve motion, etc., will be thrown on canvas, and the instructor will be able to deal with a large class. Whatever the outcome, it is hoped that eyesight tests will be made more practical, and the suggestion is here made that it would be far better for the service if a man's defective vision could be made apparent to his fellow-workers, and not rest entirely with the "doctor." If a class was examined at one time, the man who "couldn't see" would soon become known to the entire class, and a petty official could not use such test to discharge a man who had at one time sassed" him.

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Wearing
Glasses.

Some time since, a member at Toledo, Ohio, asked the FIREMEN'S MAGAZINE: What are the State laws in regard to the examination of the eyes of railway enginemen? Are you allowed to use glasses or not?" The latter part of this query was interesting. It opened up a new feature of the subject. If a man, by wearing glasses, can overcome a defect of vision, should he not be considered a" safe" man? In France, engineers are encouraged to wear glass dust-guards. Then why not permit a man to wear glasses that make his vision perfect?

It is said that after the test is made in daylight" colors the slides are changed to night scenes, and many tiny lights glimmer on the screen, making the view as realistic as though you were peering through your front cab window, pulling a train into this same yard on a dark night. Instead of confusing the mind, it would seem that such a test would sharpen the wits. Of course, the reliability of the test would depend entirely upon the excellence of the slides used in the lantern - a de fective slide would be as bad or worse than the doctor's" bundle of yarn. Report says that to Superintendent referring to me for answer a letter of

This matter was referred to Mr. J. H. Murphy, legal adviser of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, and he replied as follows:

DENVER Col., Feb. 6, 1899. Mr. W. S. Carter, Editor and Manager Locomotive Firemen's Magazine, Peoria, Ill.: DEAR SIR AND BROTHER: -Your favor

inquiry from an Ohio correspondent, asking about the State laws concerning color blindness of railway employes, was duly received.

Provisions making it unlawful for railway companies to employ any one in train service who is afflicted with color blindness,

have been enacted by some of the States, while other States have not any legislation on the subject. From the letter of your correspondent it appears that he wishes to

know the law of Ohio, which relates to the matter, and as the law will, no doubt, be of general interest to your readers, the Ohio statute is set out in full, and is as follows: Section 9816. (Giauque's Revised Stat

utes of Ohio, 6th Ed.) Be it Enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio: "That no railroad company shall hereafter contract to employ any persons in a position which requires him to distinguish form or color signals, unless such person within two years next preceding, has been examined for color blindness in the distinct color in actual use by such railroad company, by some competent person employed and paid by the railroad company, and has received a certificate that he is not disqualified for such position by color blindness in colors used by the railroad company. Every railroad company shall require such employe to be reëxamined at least once within every two years at the

expense of the railroad company: provided, That nothing in this section shall prevent any railroad company continuing in its employment any employe having defective sight, in all cases where such defective sight can be fully remedied by the use of glasses or by other means, satisfactory to the person making the examination."

Sec. 9817. A railroad company shall be liable to a fine of one hundred dollars for each violation of the preceding section." From the reading of Section 9816 it is clear that any engineer or fireman or other person engaged in the train service might wear glasses while discharging his duty and come entirely within the provisions of the law.

As far as I have examined the different State enactments the wearing of glasses by trainmen is in no way prohibited, and if the defective vision of any person can be remedied by adopting such means the provision of the law is fulfilled, at least it

would be under such a statute as Ohio has, as the law of that State, upon the subject. Yours fraternally,

JOHN H. Murphy.

Subsequently our attorney wrote:

Respecting that portion of the letter which refers to the use of glasses I will state that I talked with two occulists as to whether or not they could remedy color-blindness by the use of glasses, and each claimed that it could be done to a certain extent, but they also stated that there were cases in which they could afford no relief by the use of glasses."

American Locomotives in England.

The announcement last winter that

the Midland Railway Company of England had placed an order for twenty American locomotives created quite a stir in the engineering trade of that country. Various reasons were assigned by those ignorant of the facts for this innovation. After considerable reticence on the part of the company's officials, the following statement was given to the public at the annual meeting of the company:

It would be seen that the directors had ordered some locomotives in America, and, as this was a new departure, no doubt some information on the subject would be of interest. He would much prefer to order goods of any kind that were of home manufacture, and he might say that the question of cost was not one that entered into the calculations of the directors when asking for tenders from over the water. The increase in their train mileage had been very large lately, being in 1898 considerably over 2,000,000 miles; and it was obvious, therefore, that additional engines must be purchased. For years past, their locomotive superintendent (Mr. Johnson) had impressed upon them that they worked their engines too hard. He believed the ideal position. according to Mr. Johnson, would be that they should have seventy-five per cent. of steam; but ninety per cent. had been much

nearer their figure, so that there was no margin. They had now on order in this country one hundred and seventy engines. They commenced ordering in December, 1897, and the first delivery should have been made in July of that year, and they should have been receiving a number in each month, which would have made up a delivery to the present time of forty-eight engines. The company had not received one of these. The last order given was in November of last year for twenty engines at an extravagant price, and the makers did not even promise delivery of one for fifteen months, the order to be completed in May.

1900. Locomotives were a necessity to the company; they must have them, and so the directors determined to ask for tenders from America. They asked for tenders for ten engines from two firms-the Baldwin and Schenectadys- and they received offers to

deliver in the one case within ten weeks from the date of the receipt of all necessary information for construction, and in the other case shipment from American was promised for March next. This offer was made in December, so that, while the directors could not get an engine made in England and delivered in Derby in less than a year and a quarter, they could get twenty from America in four months. The engines would be of the American type, with certain alterations which Mr. Johnson considered

desirable. They would be of the same power as the Midland engines, and it would certainly be interesting to watch their performance, as Mr. Johnson- and he hoped all his staff—intended that they should have fair play in every particular.

Safety Appliances.

In a recent report, the Interstate Commerce Commission says: "As stated in the last annual report, the Commission granted numerous competitive carriers an extension of two years from January 1, 1898, within which to comply with the requirements of Sections 1 and 2 of the Safety Appliance Act, and required the companies whose equipment was incomplete to make semi-annual reports showing the progress thereafter made. On May 19th

the carriers were notified to file such a

were

report for the six months ending June 1, 1898. Returns received from 283 of the 294 carriers which were granted an extension of time show 1,156,616 freight cars owned, an increase of 20,611 over the number reported on December 1, 1897. During the six months 119,938 freight cars equipped with automatic couplers and 67,400 were fitted with train brakes, making a total of 795,253, or 69 per cent., having automatic couplers, and 511,666, or 44 per cent., equipped with train brakes up to June 1, 1898. On that date 29.175, or 90 per cent., of the total number of locomotives owned by these reporting carriers were equipped with driving-wheel brakes.

"The returns for the six months ending December 1, 1898, are not yet filed, but it is believed that they will show reasonable progress and indicate the probability of full provision of automatic couplers and the required number of train brakes on January 1, 1900, the date when the extension order will expire. Thousands of cars have been inspected during the year, but comparatively few were found not to be in conformity with the law in respect to drawbars and handholds. With regard to a suggestion that the Commission should increase the maximum height of drawbars from 341⁄2 to 35 inches, the Commission says that the standard height of 341⁄2 inches was designated by the American Railway Association, under authority expressly conferred by the Safety Appliance Act, and having been so fixed, in conformity with the act, it can only be changed by the action of Congress.

"Since the enactment of the law in 1893, there has been a decreasing number of casualties. There were 1,034 fewer employes killed and 4,062

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RECENTLY CONSTRUCTED BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVES FOR DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN RAILWAYS.

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