River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1905-04-20
CONGRESS OF
RAILWAY MEN
INTERNATIONAL GATHERING TO
BE HELD IN WASHINGTON.
SESSIONS TO BEGIN MAY a
Interesting Questions to Be Discussed
by Owners and Operators of 4OO,-
600 Miles of Railway in
Forty-Four Countries.

| Washington, April 17.-Nearly 1000
| delegates, the owners and operating Of
| ficials of upwards of 400, 900 miles Of rail-
way in A different countries, constitute
the personnel of the International Rail-
way congress which is to hold ten-days'
session in this city beginning May next.
At the close of the congress the delegates
are to make thorough inspection OF the
railways of the United States, particular
ly with reference to equipment and
shops. The congress is somewhat
unique in it's organization purposes and
manner of conducting it's affairs. 1t was
organized in 1885. and has held sessions
| every five years since. It's first session.
held in Brussels, celebrated the fiftieth
anniversary of the opening OF the Bel
! gian railways. Milan, Paris, st. Peters
burg and London have been meeting
places since, Paris having had two Ses-
sions At the session in that city in 1900,
the invitation of President Mckinley to
| hold the next meeting in Washington
was accepted Congress at it's last ses-
sion enactedappropriateleg legislation COM
hitting this government to participation
|
| in the congress.
Fairbanks to Open Congress.
In the absence of President Roosevelt,
Vice President Fairbanks will accept the
post of honorary president and open the
| congress with an address of welcome,
afterwards extending the courtesies OF
| the nation to the delegates at the white
house. The preliminary formalities
over, the congress will resolve itself into
| five sections and proceed to its discus
| sions in French and in secret. ALI of the
papers to be presented have been under
| consideration for some years, all have
been printed, and the delegates are thor
oughly familiar with their contents. All
of the topics to be considered are tech
nical and necessarily devoid of popular
| interest.
The honorary presidents, represent
| ing the railways of this country, will be
Messrs. A. J. Cassatt and e. H. Harri-
man, while the actual president will be
| Stuyvesant Fish of the Illinois Central
railroad. The lines these three gentle
men represent touch one another and
form continuous line of rail from the
Atlan..c to the Pacific, passing through
the heart e the continent and extending
from the great lakes to the gulf. The
largest attendance of American railway
officials at any of these sessions was at
London in 1895, when out of about 800
delegates 40 were Americans.
Scope of the Work.
| Part of the important work accom-
plished at these meetings is the inspec-
ton of workshops, equipment and con-
struction in each country visited, with
the result of stimulating inquiry into
improved methods and giving the whole
world the benefit of the work of the
brightest minds everywhere engaged in
solving problems which present differ
ent phases in different countries but
which have features of common interest
to all alike. An extensive exhibit OF
railway supplies will be made at the
time of the congress, and will give an un-
usual opportunity of examining in de-
tail great part of American railway ap-
planes. This will be supplemented
after adjournment by tours of inspec-
ton, on which the foreign delegates will
be taken. No such assemblage of repre-
sentatives of railway interests has ever
been brought together in the United
States. AS the sessions are held only
once in five years it is likely to be many
years before it will meet again in this
| country.