St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-09-09
MINNEAPOLIS news.
The Roadmasters and Their
Wives and Daughters Take
the Town.
Talk Of Fish Plates and Frogs
Does not Make Them Out
Fishermen.
Mayor Winston Tenders to the
Daughters the Freedom Of
the City.
The Committee on Standard
Frogs Makes Some Import
ant recommendations.

Inc llcKet agents came over from the
Sanity City to look at Minneapolis for lit
lie while, but the roadmasters were here all
day. They came early in the morning and
stayed all night. They came not alone. In
obedience to the circular sent out by the Sec
rotary, they brought their wives with them
at least a good many of them did There is
no fuss and iummery about these roadmas-
! tiers. They are not the men that sit in pala-
| tial offices and operate the railroads of the
| country. They get out on the track and ex-
anime rails, joints, fish plates and frogs
And although they talk so much about fish
plates and frogs, they are not fishermen.
They are too busy for that sort of thing The
railways OF the Harmonic hall building gave
evidence OF the practical character of the
men " hO were assembled there. A big hand
car took up one-half of the hail, and there
were track velocipedes and other railway ap-
planes scattered about in reckless abandon.
The sessions were not less practical. The
actual practice of railroad building was what
they had gathered TO discuss. They did it
well, too, because they knew what they were
talking about
1t was a few minutes after 10 o'clock when
President Doyle raped the convention TO
order and introduced Mayor Winston. who
had come to tender the keys of the city. The
mayor is man who knows something about
railroads, and he felt at home in talking TO
the. roadmasters. His address was full of
technical railroad expressions. When he
came to speak of the services of the road
masters and their accomplishments. he said
that they could refer the inquirer 10 the
200, GOO miles of railroad in this country, to
the 4,0Oe miles of river bridged and TO the
numberless mountains pierced with tunnels.
He concluded:
Now, gentlemen, not TO detain you longer.
have no doubt you have found some sharp
curves in your mortal rum you have found
some heavy grades: but we now invite you to
share our hospitality. In behalf of the city
of Minneapolis assure you a most cordial
reception. Feeling that you are justly ell
titled to full share OF our confidence, | now
take pleasure In presenting you with the key
TO the gates of our city. and at the
same time 1 take the liberty of adj
monishing you to guard well the switches"
that you my not be side tracked
Look out fol low joints and avoid col
ltsions': but If sou should meet with any
accident / beg that you will call OH the
mayor. who has had much experience in
clearing wrecks and repairing dafhages.'
Gentlemen, the freedom of the city is yours.
Teese keys have not only unlocked the doors
of the frozen North west, but now give them
to you with this njunction-that you guard
well your switches, and if you have an acct
dent, or are unfortunate enough to get in
wreck, come to the mayor. who is used to
clearing away wrecks and repairing dam
ages"
The mayor was as good as his word in pre-
senting the keys this time. AS he finished
speaking he laid two large papier mache
keys on the desk of the president. AS soon
as the applause had died away Mayor Win
ston was unanimously elected an honory
member of the association. Then President
Doyle made a short address, in the
course of which he said that
any legislation injuring the railroads
injured the employees. W. II. Stearns.
of the Northwestern road, first vice presi-
dent of the association, responded to the adj
dress of the mayor. Isaac Burnett, THE
father of the association" added his indorse-
ment to the words of MIR. Stearns. j. NJ.
Meade, of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
system, read some statistics illustrative of
the growth of Minneapolis. Then the roll
was called and adjournment was taken until
the afternoon.
The first thing at the afternoon session
was the election of some new members.
Then the reports of the secretary and treas
urer were read. They showed that the asso-
citation had a membership of 4S9 and a new
membership not included. There had been
two deaths in the association, that of
G. r. Campbell of the It. o. & o. c,
Railway, and W. II. McNuitv of the
A. II. q S. F. railway at Ell Paso.
The thanks of the association were asked
on behalf of Mr.. Meeker, OF the Northwest
ern Track and Bridge association, who had
exerted himself for the good of the meeting
The report showed the receipts for the year
from all sources to be S2,22676 . and the ex-
penditure of Sl,44969, leaving a balance of
81, II OH the books. There were bills for
dues outstanding amounting to SOB.
communication was read from the
brotherhood OF Section Foreman of the Uni
ted States. The foremen have an order that
is for insurance purposes purely. They want
the roadmasters TO indorse its objects The
sentiment of the convent on was thatl the
brotherhood should not be Endorsed
until a committee of roadmasters had
reputable organization. The fol-
lowing committee was named to do
the examining and report at the convention:
Joseph Kindelan, j. II. X. Burgwin, G. L.
7 A in
teresting letter from Richard Smith. of Fort
Worth, Texas, was read on the subjecting of
making rail plates wider. 1t will be taken
up at another time for discussion. ". Ii.
Stearns, j. W. Meeker, /. Burnett, E. f.
Swart o. F. Jordan were added to the com
mittee on track work. The first report of the
afternoon was that of the committee on
standard frogs. The committee reported:
Your committee makes these recon-
mendations: That for all main line turn
outs l in 10 spring rail frog be used
for all weights of rail, sixty pounds to the
yard and upwards: and for yard use a rigid
frog not less than in 81
There was a discussion on this that occu-
pied most all of the afternoon. Two techni-
cal papers were read one of them by /. Bur-
nett. Opinions on this frog matter were
various. All were agreed on only one point
that the spring rail frog is the best when
durability, cost and safety are all considered.
j. NJ, Meade wanted all reference to the size
of frog to be cut out because all roads do not
made Mr. Kindelan hot He declared him
self thus:
I'VE did not come here to recommend any
scrub frogs We want to decide on the best
We want every road in America some day so
that every locomotive in the country can run
over it,"
His opinion prevailed, and the report was
adopted.
The committee on rail joints presented its
report. 1t had examined all the rail Joints
invented since the last convention. OF these
two were recommended as worth fair trial
the Heath rail joint, the work of a Minneapo-
lis inventor, and the joint by the Continuous
Rail Joint company, of New jersey. The
reading of reports or the trials of the joints
recommended for trial at the last convention
occupied the remainder of the session. The
programme for to-dty is: The convention
will be called to order promptly at a. m.
and general business proceeded with. The
afternoon will be spent at the state fair, and
an evening business session will complete
the day.
The Minnesota Loan and Trust Co.
llowS 4 ner cent interest on civ