New-York tribune., 1907-05-05
THE RAILROADS sTUPENDoUs TASK

The revived charge that their ''speculative
projectors ran them everywhere and nowhere may
be considered at greater length. one trouble with
this contention is that those who have made it
have been taking European railroad building as a
standard OF comparison. whereas European Old
:, long inhabited and d denseIy settled portion of
tme Luz sIobe-haS built railroads to answer more or
iesS existing demands, while here the roads have
DIit % up me country To create business for them
tNr f,,, h2where.m WI originally. and which have
Io,uflshlng terInnals-and prosperous communities
lying hetween-are too numerous to warrant and
700 700 We'll known 10 need recapitulation here. Per
maps more forcefu expression of this idea is TO
De found in recent statement of an authority on
in nSini 'aTo matters; The great fact to bear
prHcuce Is that the building of our railroads was
naened but none like it viii ever sg5n be eT9r nn
aeftaken. We built railroads in advance of popIi-
hnIy settled Territory We did It in order that at
or5er ation t might be built or at least did it
mat n we could make money-f you choose 10 put
IL % that way At any rate. the result was the
,aI The charge that railroad arrangements have en-
neglect to provide adequate safeguards through
enforce dsepn a % ba and through % neglect 70
greater tf length recent Statement to the writer
eyer eyer, answers this in a way ITO make it pos
sge aq e S Sre9a6ss Rd o Of mile
try we have had TO do things that would not have
svc woaS oen not sa5 RSyf b5
on walked across this continent on the legs of the
thing an iron railroad bridge was when YOU were a
tons the railroads % e ned GT tafe OF ers9 s
pHope po prGty well running over wooden bridges
the Of car Wheels We never in the
we DID "6oia 6 nave had the rapid development that
TInes Ti as much for our car wheels as we did paw
laying attened rail- on tie and nanr iethSo II Sou o,
t nah SPIKE. SO for the Lords sake. don't abuse
grewth 9y Of the United States possibie "'aue 'ne
the several ems wUnid If Pe b wen to take up specifically
Inora eoia.et @ mere that as means Of impartng
portant safeguards under discussion, there win be
IN me proper places descriptions of the
art in these various fields No thorough under
ot Iheir Character and of the conditions
stage Adequate safeguards e is y6en at fn TINS
the innumerabie references to- them In the press 1i
are meant to include more particularly steel cars
ing and Lighting rails that won't break or spread
wheels that will not hatten, axles without flaws
spikes that will not pull out shear Off ties that
will not rot or split. locomotive boilers that wifi
not explode, auto train stops, and upto-dae signal
AS regards the train-brake systems and the auto
has been Compelled by sw snee Jana hat 'her s & Sss
Safety car heating is in general use all Amerl-
law No way has yet been discovered of determn-
Ing the integrity of steel rails; the one which
weight, and was rolled in 1904. the Carnegie
Works. 1t broke because of a concealed flaw,
something that cannot be discovered by any test
except actual wear; il relaid at the spot
again proving that it was brittle Concerning the
fattening of car wheels, this results from wear
something that human ingenuity has not yet dis
covered way to prevent; nor is IL possible to de-
termine when IL danger point has been reached
The axle s subject the weakness the
ra-the concealed flaw Much has been claimed
for the screw spike and it Is said to be In general
in Europe: here 1t is only under trial. While
American experts are inclined 10 think it more Sc
than the ordinary spike for fastening rails
they not at all certain that the results from
Its adoption would be sufficiently advantageous to
justify the greater expenditure it would entail.
The tie is vexed question; its liability to decay
and thus release the spike, but more particularly
the growing scarcity of suitable timber have led
to experiments with concrete and steel ties. for
bot of which much is claimed though the value
of neither has as yet been determined Boiler eX-
plosions perhaps. present the greatest difnculty
experts have to encounter in determining the
causes against which to guard for things are gen
erallv so torn up, in such disasters, that all clues
are usually destroyed The suggestion-or per-
nand-that the railroads discard the nlniisy
wooden cars" and promptly equip themselves with
all steel is founded in ignorance OF the STATE
of the art" in this branch OF passenger car Dulu-
ing which is yet in it's infancy; 1t would De q4Ie 4
beyond this young industry to comply with an lih-
rnediate demand from all the roads HOW young
q is can be figured the fact that when IL was
decided TO use steel in the subway, was
fonnd that so little progress had been made IN
this direction. designs had to be improViseo' ana
e. Is welt known that the results so oDlaheu nave
N 11id he desired