Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1916-08-22
ENGINEERS HERE
COLLECTING DATA
Party Of Ten Men Getting 1nforma-
ton for Interstate Commerce
Commission.

NOW many lies, spikes, IdllS, DOlIo,
nuts, crossing planks, crossing signs,
ring and whistle posts are there be-
tween here and Fort Dodge on the
Illinois Central railway? 1t would
be safe to make a guess that you do
not know. Neither does the Inter-
state Commerce Commission, but the
commission intends to find out, and
with that end in view there is right
now in this city party of ten en-
gineers collecting this information.
In the year 1913 law was pass
ed empowering the Interstate Com
merce Commission to collect all this
information. At first the work was
carried on in sort of an experiment
tai way, but about year and half
ago the system was completed to
such an extent that the work is now
being carried on in systematic way
under an organization that is indeed
highly efficient.
The United States is divided by
the commission into five districts, as
follows: The Eastern district with
headquarters at Washington, D. c.;
the Southern district with headquar-
tiers at Chattanooga, Tenn; the Cen
trail district with headquarters at
Chicago; the Western district with
Kansas City, Mo-, as headquarters
and the Pacific district with head
quarters at San Francisco, Cal.
Then each district has six depart
ments which collect the data requir-
ed by the commission. The roadway
and track department, to which the
party here belongs, gathers the num-
Der of planks at road crossings, ties,
rails and footage of rails, switch
frogs, plates, in fact, everything
practically that is used in the con-
struction Of the road. The bridge
and building department of the SER
vice inventories the buildings and
bridges of each railway. The me-
chanical department collects data on
the rolling stock, shop machinery,
etc. The telephone and telegraph
department, as the name implies,
checks the number of poles owned,
amount Of wire, instruments, etc.
The real estate department. deter
mines the amount of land owned by
bo ole rtno1 n.
ton, which is the smallest in the
service, collects the information rel
alive to block signals and all cleo
trical devices used by the cOmpan-
les.
At the present time there are six
ty parties working in the United
States, employing approximately six
hundred men. This does not include
the number of employees in the Of
fees. 1t is safe to say that there
are from 1900 to 1880 people en-
ployed now in securing information
relative to the railways of the Unit
ed States for the Interstate Com
merce COMMISSION.
The railroad company is allowed
by the commission to have a repre-
sentative with each party to check
up the information collected by the
party. All reports are made out in
duplicate, the original being sent to
the government and copy going to
the railroad company. 1t is the duty
Of the railroad representative with
each party, to check over these re-
ports and accept them for the COM
pany Each mile is made out separ-
ately, or as unit, as they are call
ed. The report on some miles is so
voluminous that it is an inch in
thickness. The unit reports show
that there is more material used in
the construction of one mile of rail-
road than the average individual
would imagine is used in construct
ing ten miles. No detail, however
minute, is left out. One report which
was shown to the reporter, made
mention of the fact that there were
40 additional rail spikes on this par
ticular mile unit. This shows the
care with which the information is
collected.
The party here, which arrived
Saturday evening. is in charge of
Assistant Field Engineer Ray Grow.
1t is expected the work here will be
completed by Thursday. The work
is so planned that the party works
in the north in summer and in the
south in winter.
The car which is furnished by the
commission for the men has practic-
ally every convenience for which a
person could wish. 1t was the pleas
ure of the reporter to be shown
through the car. The kitchen, which
of course must of necessity be rather
small, is, however, convenient and
everything is handy for the chef who