Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-05-09
Had A BUSY WEEK
WASHINGTON ERTAIN D
RAILROAD MEN AND MINING
ENGINEERS.

RAILROAD MEN AND MINING
ENGINEERS.
Spicy Events Marked the Sessions OF
the Senate Interstate Commerce
Committee - Loss of Life In Mines
May be Lessened BY Mining En-.
gineers' Efforts.
Washington, D. c., May s.-(spe-
ciaD During the last week Wash
ington has been entertaining the great
railroad men of the world, and the
great mining engineers. And at the
same time committee has been inves-
tigating as to the desirability of TAX
ing the operation of the railroads out
of the hands of those selected by the
owners, and placing it in the hands of
government commission. The country
was enjoying an era of prosperity, but
In all countries, and especially in
America, there are those who are not
content to let we'll enough alone, and
oOAAAS
body else's business better than those
who have had the experience. From
this class arose the cry that the gov
eminent should take over to itself the
task of fixing freight rates for the rail-
roads. The cry once started received
a new vehemence from many quarters,
broken-down anu unsuccessful pol1tl-
clans, persons who had failed to sue
cessfully manage business for them
selves, socialists, communists and so
on, and so on, and the army of rate re-
formers came down on congress as the
Assyrian once descended on the hap
less sons of Abraham.
There have been some spicy pro-
ceedings before the senate committee
and the senators, as well as the peo-
pie, are wiser than they were when the
hearing began. To the outsider it
looked like an easy thing to fix rates.
but IT has been shown to be very
perplexing problem. requiring expert
knowledge of wide range, coupled
with long and varied experience in
railroading. Some new things in re-
gard to the interstate commerce COM
mission that will astonish the public
have developed in the course of the
hearings. The commission is sort
of court to hear and determine GER
tain classes of complaints against
railroads. Being a court one
would naturally suppose its de-
cisions would be judicial, and be
twenty-five per cent of his decisions
were overruled by the appellate court.
Since the organization of the commits
sion forty-seven cases decided by it
have been taken to the courts. In thir-
ty-six the court reversed the commits
sion, and sustained it in eleven only.
Every body has heard of the doctor,
who in a case of obstetrics, felt very
happy that he had managed to save
the father, the mother and infant hav-
ing died.
The international congress of rail-
road men is one of the most import
ant gatherings ever witnessed in the
United States. 1t is composed Of men
who have made life study of trans
portation, or the successful manage
ment of great railroad systems. They
come from every country where a
railroad is in operation. Their COM
ing has brought together an exhibit of
all the latest devices for safety, for
comfort, for the economical handling
Of trains, of constructing tracks
bridges, etc.
With the travelling public there has
been rapidly growing demand for
better system of car ventilation. and
this demand has been, and is backed
by the potent voice of the various
health officers of the country Those
two useful classes of citizens would
find much to enchain their attention
in the exhibit. Several new devices
are presented. One is offered by Prof.
J. Ross Taylor of New York. Prof.
Taylor has long been regarded as an
on ventilation, and is the au-
thor of the article on that subject in
the latest edition of the American En-
cyclopedia. 1t is claimed for his de-
vice that the air in a passenger coach
can be wholly changed in less than
two minutes, without producing al
draught When this device was
tested under the supervision Of the
Brooklyn Department of Public
Health, it received the earnest com
Of all who witnessed the
test. It is simple in its construction
and can be utilized on street cars as
we'll as on passenger coaches on
steam roads. 1t is also claimed that
It would operate with equal efficiency
On freight cars used for the transpor-
5ation of perishable food products.
Second only to the railroad congress
Il not fully equal to it in Importance
and general interest. is the meeting of
mining engineers. The sacrifice of life
Turing the last year in American
mines has been appalling Within the
asst thirty days more than 100 miners
lave been killed by explosions alone. I
That there is fault somewhere every
me freely admits, but just how this
appalling sacrifice of human life is to
,e prevented is problem of great