The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-06-19
Short Tax With the Boys.
~ y. QUAD.

why, It's q machine which cfaUs tn
: cars"
"What is an engine?"
"Well, it's aro,her machine 10 rur
mills, boats, factories, etc."
"How wide is railroad track?"
"Oh, FIVE or six feet"
, What is the weight Of fiat Car 2"
81 dunno"
"What is the cost of an ordinary pas
senger coach ~
Never heard"
"Aii, my lad just wish was about
II years old, and had the chances you
are throwing away"
What would you do"'
why, I'd post myself. For one thing
I'd walk down to the depot and when O
locomotive brought. in its train and went
Oft to the round house 70 be wiped up,
I'D follow it and fad out how it was
made. Ia have peep at every lever
and crank and cog and wheel and rod
I'd know why and how steam exerted its
power. I'D satisfy myself why that
boiler mounted on wheels was able TO
pull and push. When left the round.
house I'd 20 to q factory and overhaul a
stationary engine and see where the Two
differed. Then Id get hold of some
railroad man and pump him until ! was
posted even as TO the quantity oi oil used
10 run locomotive hundred miles"
Why, what good would all tha. do
me?"
why? Because born fool has ius.
AZ good eyes as You have. He secs g.
train speeding along the track, and he
realizes that it is train. That is all you
realize, although you have every chance
to know more. don't say that it will
be money in your pocket to know these
things, but it will be satisfaction to you
which money cannot buy. You never
expect 10 visit the Cannibal Islands, but
their location, number, products, area,
etc., are given IN geography To post you
and broaden your mind.
| zone of the grandest business of tho
age Is railroading. Go down to the Union
depot and count the trains going out and
coming in for an hour and you will be
amazed. Every ono leaves on time
every one comes in almost to the minute.
burning accident. Ii it were not so the
business Of the entire country would
soon fall into confusion. The train which
Ia due in Chicago at 8 o'clock a. M, or
| III Bullalo at noon, or in Cincinnati ut
Up. m, must be there to the minute if
nothing breaks down. Passengers expect
1.-THE postolIice officials, banks mer.
chants-cverybOdy expects it, and all
business arrangements are made accord.
ingly.
"Have you any idea of the millions of
money required to build, equip aud run
railroad? Have you ever asked your.
self how many locomotives, coachn,. cars
| and men such n road ~ the Michigan
Central must keep constantly employed?
Did you ever figule on what fortune it
must cost each year to keep up all this
rolling stock, track, stations, tanks, etc.
etc. Aud think of the perfect system
that prevails in all the departments
NO train leaves the depot until the gong
strikes the exact minute, and from the
time 1t leaves here until it reaches its
destination 1t is under the watchful eve
OF the train dispatcher, and all it's move.
ments are known through the telegraph.
Go down to the depot at IL O'Clock n. m.
end ask the train dispatcher where the
train is which left for the West three
hours before, and he will locate IL.
Every conductor has his orders. He
must run by these until the telegraph
makes change. There is O continual
click click Of the telegraph all along
the line, and If there are fifty trains On
the rails each one makes it's run without
bothering another. There must be a
perfect system, and men must obey orders
to the very letter.
Ride the length Of railroad and YOU
see piles Of rails tere, heaps Of ties there,
old car wheels and scrap. iron by the acre
and you must imagine that great reck.
iessness prevails in the financial manage.
ment. No corporation cuts expenses
closer than RAILROAD. Every tie is
counted every cid css wheel has i.a
'!value--every hundred pounds Of seTap.
iron 10 looked after. On some roads the
engineers are limited Ms to the amount of
oil to be used each trip. It is even
figured down just how long wheel will
run and how long an axle will last.
feople talk about the position of Presi.
dent OF the United States as If it de.
mandea great ability on the part Of the
lncum6cnt. The active superintendent
OF frst.ciass railroad exercises Ave
times the brain power required in anv
political Office in tho land. Think Of
the many stations along the route-the
hundreds of section hands-tho train
men-tn, roiliug stock-the purchasing
selling and repniringl He may not bur.
den himself with every detail, but be
must see that Others do. He must have
the head to control others hands.
"As said before, it rnay not be money
in your pocket to know these things, but
it will be food for the mind. You can.
not post yourseif too much. The mind
Is q book In which there's always room
for another page. Did you ever take
common door lock apart?"
'eThen you do not know. that d bit Of a
brass spring 10 the hidden mystery which
works both catch aud bolt. Without
this insignificant tribe, costing less tban
penny, the lock, costinc from thirty
cents TO dollar of itself. would bel ionly
30 much old iron. You have opened and
shut o pocket knife thousands of times
but 1t never occurred to you that q
spring, acting on q different principle
holda the blade shut or open.
''foue ace spaper hanger at work, but !
yo9ar5 ighoreht OF tha fact that he must
f66egiR bis work in one cornor of the room
BY plamb Hngar he will not make q
gnodt JOB OF bis papering. You can't
tteil whether Q horse shoe Is put on with
slx or tea; nails, rs, You never counted tho
spoEes' IN the wheel of wagon. You
HsYeF cnunted the bricks which hod.
4 fcaff!es can shoulder up tho ladder. Your
aonI knoW whether cow has teeth in
-ooth YaHs or only In one. You don't
know that binndefing Detroit lad ten
years old earelessly put together tbs pat
tern of! ice .tongs' now used all over the
country, aud let d fhah 8teal his idea
away and make fortune out of It. If
he had been an observing boy he would
hav 70 seen and realized the value or his
acton. M He went about picking up soas