The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-11-09
AFFAIRS OF THE RAILWAYS
That to DO with tho Few Dishonest Con-

What TO Do with tho Few Dishonest Con-
dnctors . Problem tn Many lineS
while doubtless majority OF the pas
Denger conductors are honest" says q gen.
pral superintendent, I'VE all have. sooner
pr later. to wrestls with the problem how
to head on the specuiations of the dishonest
conductors This is not confined to any
pne road The fact that more roads in the
last three months have dismissed their
ticket collectors than have put them on in
the last two years shows that the ticket
collector does not remedy the evil. The
discharge Of three of them for
alleged dishonesty on the Big
-Four lines did not strengthen
the belief that the ticket collector
would turn IN all the cash fares or handle
the tickets honestly. One thing is evident
60 me: that as long as we cannot In this
country adopt the English fashion OF fenc-
Ing platforms and compelling passengers
TO purchase tickets at any cost OF incon-
yenieDce. the morals of passenger con-
ductors cannot be elevated. SO far as our
road is concerned i believe 90 per cent Of
our conductors are honest men and turn
In every cent they collect. and for the
sake of the large per cent. OF honest con-
ductors wish some plan could be adopted
whereby they should not be looked upon
rs being anything than upright men in
every respect These remarks were
brought out from the reading OF lengthy
article in q late number of the Railroad
Gazette, which says conductors have one
dificulty 20 contend with which 10 not
often thought of. 1t IL that of preventing
losses from the inability Of honest conduc-
tors 10 ges tloksts or fares from all the
passenger One road which recently made
. careful examination found that z per
trains were not taken MP. The invostfga-
flon was continued for some time. and on
many trains, lsag enough To- show that.
practically. one out of every fourteen pas
still in his pocket 90 be used at some fut-
uxe time. Tbs showing was on way
trains, OF course. Many officers will claim
that this 10 an unusually bad record. and
snss rI pad. they haze Tho
loss would be serious leak and
We all know, from the nature of things,
that this 10 feature in which American
railroad msaaEsmsnt IL 1t fault every
where. That the leak exists. even under
the best care. 10 evident from the OK perience
% large Western road, which recently
adopted the practice of limiting Gil local
tickets to- one day after the date of sale.
of unused tickets for redemption. and the
plumber thus presented became so large az
70 almost startls the officers of the road.
Gas-Lightsd Trains
As the prospects are good for the estab-
fishing of factory here to manufacture
gas for lighting passenger trains. informa-
tion regarding the enterprise Will be read
with interest. There are in this country now
thirty different stations where such plants
are established. This gas - made to light
srains. and in all Of them the same process
of manufacture is observed. thereby insur-
ing a uniform quality of gas in all parts of
the country. As consequence the gas is
Of an extremely pure quality, the light
given soft and brillisnr, the illumination
Of the car perfect and oil clements of dan
ger absolutely eradicated. To those to
whom gas-lighted trains are q novelty
little something about the process Will be
interesting. The gas Is made from crude
the Fetorts 10 thoroughly washed, scrubbed,
purified, and. by the act of compression. all
the Objectionable elements which then
remain in the gas are removed.
After being compressed into the
shareholders it is taken in pipelines
into the yards of the stations. and de-
hvered to receivers or cylinders which are
underneath the cars. The gas. when 1t is
placed receivers, pressure
-of 100 pounds per square inch, but before it
enters into the pipes and lamps IN the car
tt passes through an automatic regulator.
which reduces this pressure TO about one
half of an ounce per square inch, thereby
leaving oil the high-pressure gas entirely
outside the car. thus removing all the ele-
ments of danger In case OF q wreck.
Personal, Local and General Notes.
The Central Traffic Association meeting
IA 70, hch hal in IN m
First Vice president Thomson and party,
of the Pennsylvania lines. left yesterday
for q hunt at hunting grounds on the line
of the st. Louis q Iron Mountain road.
The annual report of General Manager
Williams. of the tandaiia, will show that
the roads in the system were operated on q
smaller per cent. of their gross earnin IS
than IN either Of the last seven years.
The Yandalia is already feeling the eff
feet Of securing control of the Terre Haute
q Peoria road, the latter turning over
Vandaiia. and the number of passengers
that the line IL giving to the Vandelia -
quite q Surprise.
Oscar Murray, second vice. president of
the Big Four. gave n grand banquet atthe
ST. Nicholas Hotel. Cincinnati. f.. A.
Peck. general superintendent OF the Big
Fonr system, and W. u. Iiams. president of
the Belt Road and StDcky ards Company,
went down to Cincinnati, Yesterday after.
noon. TO attend the banquet
Shippers on the lines of the Indianapolis
railways have no cause for complaint of
the furnishing of cars. as the officers of
every road have instilled it into the minds
OF ell their agents that local business must
first be taken care of. and local shippers
consequently, are treated much better on
she car question than are the through ship
pers.
President Ashley and General MANAGER
HAYS. of the Wabash. Will this morning
make an inspection OF the Detroit * Chi
o. 20 division, which Is now rapidly near
ing completion. IL Is stated that this
road has been so thoroughly built that il
will not be necessary to run freight trains
over IL several months TO get the track solid
AID smooth.
Master Mechanic McKenna of the In
dianapolis Decatur & Western shops has
commenced the rebuilding of two of the
original Grant engines. adopting the Belle
pare boiler and many other modern i'm
provements. lt is said that but few loco
motives IN th country have made as good
. mileage record as have the Grant passen-
ger engines on the J.. ID. * w. road.
The body OF engineer Allison. who went
down IN the wreck, ten days ago. on the st.
Louis division Of the Big -Four, has not
yet been recovered; neither have the en-
Rines, which went into the Wabash river,
been raised. and nothing can be done in