The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-10-18

NEW YORK, Oct lS.-fSpecial. There
! Is no surer indication Of the general state
| Of trade throughout tho continent Of North
! America than conditions I'm the shops
where railway signal and other lamps are
manufactured. Just now such Of those
| shops as are located hero in Now York are
buster than they bayo been since 1898,
and, judging from present Indications are
likely to continue running at full or over
time for several months 20 come.
At no previous time in iss history was
the railroad signal lamp business So
depressed as between the middle OF
1873 and the latter part Of 1897. Dur
ing that period tho general business
OF all tho great lines dropped 10 extremely
unsatisfactory figures, whi!c the smaller
branch lines were even worse OF, and the
railroad managers virtually stopped order
ing signal lamps. Fortunately for them.
but unfortunately for tho lamp men, most
roads were we'll supplied with lamps at the
beginning of 1898.
For q year or thereabouts the lamp.
makers put up with the stagnation as best
they could. Some of thoni, possessing the
on fair time, manufacturing In advance
of tho demand sure To como whenever re-
enforcement of the lamp supply was inn
perative. This, tho lampmakers believed.
could not be deferred beyond 1894, and
the railroad men as q rule concurred in
the belief
By the close of that year the roads were
shorter Of lamps than they ever had been
before, but, sad to say, their business was
then at lower ebb than ever, and though
the railroad men wanted to buy lamps as
sincerely as tho makers desired them TO do
SO the purchases were either just enough
to insure fairly safe night running or fall
ed TO matcrialize altogether.
Railroads short Of Lamps.
BY 1895 the situation was worse yet,
and it is stated on first class authority
that some of the bigger lines, even, prefer
red to handicap themselves by refusing to
restock. BY the end of 1896 one trunk
line that hardly need be mentioned here
was SO put to 1t for signal lamps that ev-
cry engine had to be stripped Of its com
plement the moment 1t arrived In the yard
in order that there might be lamps to
afiix TO engines scheduled to haul out
bound trains. 1t was and now is law In
most states that lamps shall never be re-
moved from any engine so long as II Is
likely to be run out. Nobody at ali
likely to complain, unless IL DO tho lamp
manufacturers agents, knew much about
this violation of the law, and they said
never a word.
The lampmakers were naturally bluer
than whetstones while the railroad de-
preston was on. While some Of them,
notably those of New York, managed to
keep going on part time at least, Others
had to close down altogether, and all had
to wait as patiently as possible for q
change of the tide.
1t began to come early in 1897, gradual
ly at first, but still perceptibly and in
creasng slowly till the time for the NOV
ing OF that years big crop rolled round.
Then things took a jump in the signal
lamp business, and from that time to this
nearly all the shops have been running on
full time or better, while those manu-
facturers who had fair sized stocks or
hand reaped satisfactory rewards for their
faith i'm the future through the sale OF their
| goods.
Their grounds for believing the present
good business Is likely to continue some
| time are found in such statements as that
| lately made by the Canadian Pacific man
| ayers, who compute that, allowing 200
| cars of wheat to days work, they have
300 days of east bound wheat hauling
ahead Of them, to say nothing of the west
bound business that will thereby be en-
gendered. In these circumstances all
trades that depend on railroad patronage
| for prosperity will do well, for IL railroads
ever feel justified in equipping ito the
! limit" it Is at such time as this.
where Is That Third RaiIf
Electric railroading is making great
strides through the Introduction of tho
undertrolley here In New York, but in
one respect the onward movement of the
| mystic current with reference to trans.
portation seems to have been checked.
The introduction Of the third rail on the
suburban lines centering in Now York,
foreshadowed by the usoGpf that device on
ono or two short branches Of the New
York, New Haven and Hartford and pre-
dicted generally In the press, has failed to
materialize.
Whether this is due solely to the natural
conservatism of railroad managers who
hesitate To make n change involving such
rcnunciation Of costly equipment rs the
dscarding of locomotives would mean, or
whether IL Is caused by tho discovery on
the New Haven lines that, after all, the
! third rail- has great practical draw oaoks,
Is not apparent on the surface. Possibly
some of the suburban lines are preparing
to make the change without taking the
public into their confidence
At all events, one Of the best known
suburban lines, operated by the Erie, has
been vastly improved within the last
twelvemonth and that without the slight
est sign OF making ready for the Use OF
electricity In any form. On the contrary,
several new and swift locomotives of the
latest typa have been put on for the haul
ing of tho suburban trains at heavy cx-
pense and to the loudly expressed JOY Of