The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-23
RAIL AND CROsSTrR

4Oe montana legislature having, at us
last session, passed a law taxing mort>
cages, the assessors have been instructed to
list all the railway mortgages recorded in
their several counties, and as all the great
railway companies whose lines enter the
state have bonded indebtedness, the assess
ment on their mortgages WILL it is stated,
aid $50, CO00 goo to the taxable wealth of the
state.
The Erie railway management is entitled
to the thanks Of passengers for making an
effort 10 repress the irrepressibls train boy
In his annoying practices. Hereafter the
travelling railway merchant will not be
allowed to throw or lay books, fruit, candy,
peanuts, or other merchandise on the pasSen-
gers lap or on the seat beside him, but will
be restricted to Offering his wares in civil
and not too pressing manner.
The east-bound shipments Of dead freight
by rail from Chicago last week aggregated
40. 800 tons, while the lake lines show a
record of 0,454 tons. The shipments of
flour, grain and provisions from Chicago TO
| the seaoOard by the roads in the Central
Traffic Association aggregated -, 449 tono,
against IL, 75l for the week previous, an in
crease of Z, 69S tons, and against q, 49, for
the corresponding week LAST year, q decrease
| Of S,9S3 tons.
Another narrow gauge road has yielded
TO the nevi,able-the Saginaw Tusc0la and
Huron, running from Saginaw, Mich,
| northerly sixty-seven miles, the track Of
which has just been changed from three
| feet gauge to the standard width. Narrow
| gauge rolling stock has been placed on the
market literally of late years, with the sup
ply greatly exceeding the demand, the con
struction of new roads Of less than standard
gauge having practically ceased except oc>
casionally for special purposes in connection
with numbering and mining.
| The next annual convention of the Road
masters Association of America will be
held at Minneapolis. Mimi. Sept. 8, 9, and
| 10, when the following subjects, among
others, will be discussed: STANDARD
| frogs, )" "New rail joints" "Interlocklng de-
vices and position of guard rail at derail-
Ing switch" TRACK jacks" BEST general
method of doing track work upon various
kinds of ballast" "What is considered the
best proportion Of chemicals found in the
steel used in the manufacture of rails, 7"
weight and section necessary to secure
the best results" Which mode of laying
rails gives the best results, broken or even
joints~
The most important railway enterprise
that has been proposed in Great Britain for
| some years is that of road intended to DO
operated as a connection of the Manchester
ship canal. Parliament has passed the bill
| authorizing the road, which is to run from
| Warrington, sixteen miles from Liverpool,
to the seacoast at Lincoln, a distance Of
| 100 miles. The cost is estimated at about
| S2l, 80 coo including great viaduct 270 feet
high which, is said, will require the labor of
| 0,000 men for four years in constructing.
At Warrington, which is on the Mersey,
great docks are to be built where freights
from the Atlantic will be transferred to the
railway.
A rumor that is current in London and
Canada, where some credence is given to
the report, is to the effect that the two great
rival railway systems of Canada, the Grand
Trunk aud the Canadian Pacific, may ere
| long replace their bitter competition by
consolidation. 1t ia declared that at the
next meeting of the Grand Trunk directors
| The Canadian Pacific will nAme three mem
bers Of the board, and there are certainly
strong indications of an alliance in some
| form between these two great properties.
! The Canadian Pacific now represents over
| G,600 miles of railway. with a capital stock
Of $73, 100000 and a bonded indebtedness Of
nearly 10000, 000-or a total Indebtedness
Of about 1888. 900. The Grand Trunk,
| including its lines in the United States, foots
up a total Of nearly 1900 miles. and the
capital stock and bonds Of the parent COM
pany represent the enormous total of
| 1898, 900, 900.
M. j. Mclnarna, state inspector of rail
roads of Ohio, has Investigated the accident
on the New York, Lake Erie and Western
road at Ravenua, o., July 3, in which seven
| persons were killed and number injured
by freight train running into the rear OF
a passenger train standing on the main
track, and has submitted his report to the
state railroad commissioner. He relieves
the fagman of the passenger train from
serious blame and places the responsibility
upon the crew of the freight train. Inves-
! tigation showed that the two trains were
only four minutes apart at Kent, whilo the
rules of the company require that there
shall be at least five minutes between trains.
Another rule of the company permits pas
| SenRer trains to remain at the station three
minutes before sending back hagman.
This gave the fiagman but one minute to
| go back and be was 800 feet down the track
when the freight train came along. He is
mildly censured for not placing lighted
fuse on the track, but the freight crew is
charged with gross negligence.
| The Virginia law forbidding the running
OF Sunday freight trains has been decided
| by the supreme court Of that state to be un-
constitutional, on the ground that 1t inter-
| fered with Interstate commerce. The court
! held that the state may enforce observsnces
| of the Sabbath, mot as a religious duty,
but as a day of rest" but that when such
| legislation interferes with or obsUructs in
| terstate com merce it is void. This position has
been virtually already taken by the supreme
| court of the United States, and the result,
the RGtlwdy Age says, it ia feared, will be
to nullify the efforts which have been made
to diminish Sunday railway work, with
the purpose Of giving railway employees a
| fixed day for rest as well as for relig ious
observance if they are so disposed, for if the
running Of freight trains on Sunday is held
to be q necessity, and any restriction
thereof is an interference with interstate
commerce. Of course the same argument can
| be applied with still greater force to the
running OF passenger trains. At present
the prospect of any reduction ia Sunday
railway travel seems very small, and indeed
the tendency has been marked in the other
direction Of late years.
The Macon Telegraph says: Mckee &
Strang, the contractors sent 200 men and
$50 teams to Brewton Tuesday to begin
work on the Macon and Atlantic railroad.
new force will be put in the field as soon
as possible. Chief Engineer Wells,
with number Of assistants
goes out to-day to superintend
the work, which now consists almost
entirely Of tracklaying. 1t is said that
fully so per cent Of the grading has been
finished between Brewton and the Soath
Bound road. Thirteen miles Of track has
been laid southeast Of Brewton, leaving
seventy-two miles yet to be laid in that d.
rection to the South Bound. The contrac-
tors estimate that with good force OF men
and teams, and with the aid Of their track
laying machine, they can lay twenty miles