Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-02-20
SEAG0|NC RAILROAD.
remarkable Line That Runs On
Florida Keys.
CUBA NOW HALF A DAY NEARER

new Held or employment for w0.
men is to be opened by the railways,
says a Washington special dispatch to
the Chicago Record Herald. This does
not mean that the roads will employ
women telegraphers; but, on the con-
trary, their employment will be for
the purpose of taking the places of te-
legraphers already in the service. The
future women railway operating en-
ployees will be engaged at the smaller
stations taking train orders over tel
ephones, where formerly such orders
were transmitted and received by tele-
graph. This new field will be open to
women when the new nine hour day
law governing the working time of
railway telegraphers goes into effect
on March l.
1t was confidently expected that this
law would work a revolution in rail-
way operation. and it was with this
end in view that the Order of Railway
Telegraphers procured it's passage de-
spite the determined opposition of the
railway managers and even against
advice direct from the White House
The revolution is coming. all right, but
it will be a revolution which Will rele-
gate the telegraph to n back seat as an
adjunct to railway operation and will
throw thousands of operators out of
employment and annually Will de-
crease their number until they will al
most disappear from American rail
ways.
1t was expected that the reduction in
the working hours of railway telegra-
piers to nine hours would compel the
railroads to employ at least 5000 addi
tional men at once. 1t was also known
that 1t would be impossible to secure
this number of men when needed, and
it was therefore hoped by the men
that an increase in wages would be a
part of - revolution planned
The railway managers at first took a
similar view of the situation, but it
soon was discovered that it would be
impossible to supply the demand If all
existing telegraph offices were to be
maintained after March l. As a result
of careful study of the situation the
nine hour day for telegraphers will
bring about the following changes:
First.-The abandonment of all sta
tions as telegraph stations except divi-
sion headquarters and functional points.
Second.-The substitution of tele-
phones for the receipt ana the trans
mission of orders and messages.
Third.-The employment of women
as agents in many stations thus trans
int
Fourth.-The transaction of a tre-
mendous amount of office business by
letter which formerly was transacted
by telegraph.
Fifth.-The rapid extension of the
automatic electric block signal system,
which will make telegraph stations un-
necessary.
In determining to inaugurate these
changes the railway managers found
that they had in reality been preparing
for them for years. 1t was discovered
also that by adopting the most eXpen-
sive system of block signaling train
orders and telegraph stations could for
the greater part be done away with.
The railroads therefore decided that
they would rather spend millions in
providing and maintaining automatic
block signals which never go to sleep
and which never fail unless they spell
danger" than to spend the same mon
ey in maintaining telegraph stations
and telegraph operators. The closing
of stations as telegraph stations is
made possible by the fact that with an
automatic electric signal all that is nee
essary is to start trains as fast as the
terminal block is empty and keep them
going until semaphore says stop"
Accordingly many of the big systems,
notably the Hartman roads, have been
fastening the installing of such sig
nails, and the new year finds them
ready to lock the telegraph keys In
hundreds of stations. The second con-
viction, but one which many have hith-
erto lacked courage to put into effect,
is that the telephone is really the most
scientific means of communication be-
tween stations and headquarters The
Burlington road, for example, has been
successfully operating trains by phone
over its heaviest division. between Chi
cago and Galesburg, for several years.
The Illinois Central, the New York
Central lines and other big systems
have for several years had telephone
communication throughout the entire
length of their systems.