from wires strung across the street from pole to pole, and the single-bracket pole, will be used. The poles will be twenty-eight feet high. They will be all iron, and made by the National Tube Works, The power-house will be of iron and brick. There will be three boilers of the Babcock & Wilcox type, and three McIntosh & Seymour engines. The nominal horse-power of the plant is calculated at 1,200. The General Electric Company will furnish the electrical plant, the cars being equipped with seventy-horse-power motors. The J. G. Brill Company, of Philadelphia, is now constructing thirty cars for this

road.

More a Question of Pride.

The one subject that stirred up more animated discussion at the last convention of the Traveling Engineers' Association than any other topic was, whether a fireman should be entrusted with the handling of the feed-water or not. A careful reading of the committee's report, and the discussion which followed makes it evident that it is more economical for the fireman to do the pumping. Mr. Stack, of the Union Pacific, estimated the saving of coal to be about one per cent. on that system, and Mr. Conger, Mr. McBain and several others were emphatic in their statements that firemen do save coal when allowed to pump engines. But there were other things to be considered besides economy. Mr. Hankole, of the C. & N. W., hit the nail on the head when he said, during the dis cussion: "I will encourage the idea of having the fireman pump the engine, and I cannot see where it interferes with the fact that the engineer is the boss on the engine; and that is the objection that many brought up yesterday."

After "chewing the rag," to use a familiar expression, a part of two days, the following resolution was adopted:

We believe the engineer to be the one party responsible for the care and maintenance of the locomotive while on the road, and in consequence do not deem it advisable to recommend the placing of the handling of the feed-water in the hands of the fireman. It would be impracticable on many roads, on account of the location of the injectors, etc. We believe the question can best be settled by each individual engine

crew.

Counterfeiting Tickets.

One of the reasons advanced most

urgently for the passage of the antiticket scalping bill, is the counterfeiting practiced by scalpers. Limited tickets. are not only "plugged" and patched up in order to extend the time in which they are " good," but in some instances entire issues of tickets are counterfeited and sold at greatly reduced prices.

Sometimes the ticket scalper is the "middle man" between the forger and the innocent purchaser, while at other times the forger has agents who hang around stations and sell direct to purchasers. Of course ticket forging and ticket scalping are two different industries, and a law suppressing the latter will only inconvenience the former.

A Nut to Crack.

During a discussion of who should pump the engine, which took place at the last convention of the Traveling Engineers' Association, certain assertions were made that while irrelevant to the subject under consideration, is painfully relevant to the future welfare of locomotive engineers and firemen.

One speaker said: "I will say that on our division we have hired only three firemen from other roads in five years," This meant that they "made" their

firemen. It meant that men who know nothing whatever of the business were carried through a schooling (at the company's expense) rather than give a fireman a job.

Another gentleman said: "We make all our engineers from firemen, and therefore it is our policy to employ men that we can make good engineers of." This places the engineer in the same fix that the previous speaker had placed the firemen. It means that as long as a fireman or engineer holds his job he is a fireman or an engineer, but as soon as either loses his job he is a hobo " -unless he turns his attention to something else.

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If the engineers and firemen would get their heads together, each and every one forgetting self, and considering the good of all, it might be possible to provide employment for Brotherhood men but forgetting one's self is usually termed absent-minded."

Street Railways of Havana. As soon as it became known that American authority was to supersede that of the Spanish, a frightful rush was made to obtain franchises and concessions. The American "promotors" relied upon American influences, while foreign representatives of capital negotiated directly with the Spanish military government, which was yet in control. Report comes that much of the public property has been given away or sold to individuals and corporations by the Spanish officials, and the Americans who expected to secure all the plums are indignant.

The street railway system of Havana was a coveted prize, and although many syndicates were bidding for it, an English stock company plucked the fruit. The amount paid by the company was

$1,600,000, and the present horse-car system, about twenty-five miles in length, will be extended and electricity adopted as a motive power. Americans can console themselves with the knowledge that when it comes to equipping this large system of electric railway, nowhere in the world is electrical machinery so cheap as in the United States, and therefore Americans will supply the machinery.

Rates and Traffic in Finland. The reduction of the rates of carriage on the Finland State Railways, especially the passenger rates - which after repeated delays came into operation last spring- has resulted in a brisk impetus to the traffic, says the London Engineer. The State Railway receipts have shown a marked increase. They amounted in 1897 to 19,523,971 marks, against 17,867,386 marks during 1896. This increase of traffic has produced an increased demand for locomotives and carriages. To meet the deficiency an order for forty-two locomotives has been given to a firm in Philadelphia. At the same time a manufactory for locomotives has been established in Finland with the aid of a considerable subsidy from the Government.

Locomotive Engineering.

The many friends of the popular mechanical publication, Locomotive Engineering, will be sorry to learn of the total destruction by fire of its offices on December 5th. A request is made by the publishers for all persons whose subscriptions had not expired, to immediately send their names and addresses and date of expiration of their subscriptions to Locomotive Engineering, 95 Liberty St., New York, N. Y., as their