Evening star., 1917-04-01

is still Inadequate. The enlisted men
assigned as ship keepers on vessels
able for thes esinstruction of the enlisted
men on board the vessels lent. and
also at drills in the local armories.
The assignment of Observation-Disclosures
ors has been beneficial. and the import
ance Of assigning officers to those Naval
Militia organizations that now have no in
observation-disclosures SO detailed is being
urged at the Navy Department. Retired
duty, and it is believed by the officials
that the employment Of retired officers
for this purpose is we'll justified If
active officers are not available.
Uncle Sans mails are still sought to
be extensively used in the operation
Of lotteries and prize
Lottery schemes of like character.
according to experts in
oeAeAnes' the Office of the solicitor
Of the Post Office Department, and only
by constant watchfulness and a strict
enforcement of the law against such
enterprises is the public protected from
imposition by this form of gambling.
which is employed not only by swim
dlers. but by more or less reputable in
dividuals and concerns for advertising
and selling purposes in conjunction
with otherwise legitimate business
Many subterfuges. 1t is said. are
adopted in the effort to evade the law.
Endeavor is made to make the plans as
attractive to the public as possible, and
1t is not uncommon to encounter
schemes in which the individual prizes
amount to many thousands of dollars.
In one case brought to the attention of
experts OF the department over $780,
600 was offered as prizes to be distrib-
uted through plans designed for the
purpose of procuring subscriptions to
publication.
In addition to the lottery element,
fraud permeates many of these prize
schemes. 1t has been found. One par
ticular kind of swindle against which
many complaints have been received by
the department during the past year
was plan by which itinerant piano
sellers disposed of inferior instruments
at excessive prices by the so-called
rake contest and credit voucher system.
The department. after investigation
caused criminal prosecution in a num-
per or these cases in an effort to close
the mails to such enterprises. and thus
far counts have ruled against the legality
Of such plans Of business
The number of domestic lottery
schemes passed upon and suppressed by
the department during the past year far
for the previous year. Foreign lottery,
quite naturally. decreased.
Some publishers continue to- rely
upon different forms Of prize offers
lists. and complaints against the
unfair manner in which the alleged
contests are conducted are numer-
Gus. The schemes. say the experts who
nave looked thoroughly into the COM
plants. are generally devised by pro-
moters engaged in that special line of
business. who sell their plans and
service to the publishers and usually
furnish men to conduct the campaigns
the publishers themselves having lit
tie or nothing to do with their actual
operation beyond publishing the mat
ter upon their responsibility and paw
ing for the subscription SO procured
AS result. no doubt, of the activity of
the department in vigorously enforc-
ing the law, many of the higher class
publications are abandoning such
means of obtaining subscriptions.
During the past year the valuation
division of the interstate commerce COM
mission has covered in
Valuation its work of valuing the
~ property and trackage
VI t'dllroaos. of the railroads of the
country more than $4,000 miles.
There are in the United States about
one and one-half miles of track of all
kinds for each mile of road SO that so 900
miles of road would call for $4,000 miles
of all tracks.
1t is said at the commission that If the
same rate of progress should be main
tanned in the field for the future as dur
ing the past year. the road and track
surveys should be completed by January
l. 1920. Some of the surveying parties
N ygrh hafn Ia
after, but this should be the average
There will. of course, still be certain
amount of field work to be done in con-
nection with mechanical and structural
work, but this probably will not require
much time Or a considerable force
During the past year the computing
force in connection with this work has
assembled. ready for pricing, about the
same number of miles. These are not,
however, the same miles. since there is
of necessity a considerable interval be-
tween the completion of the field work
and the completion Of the Office work.
Taking the country as whole the ex-
perts say, there is probably lag of six
months between the field and office work
In connection with this work of the
commission all of the principal carriers
in the United States were required to
report actual prices paid by them for
railway material and labor during the
five years, and, in some instances, ten
years preceding June 80, 1914. These
returns. quite naturally. were exceeding
ly Volumnous. and it has been a very
considerable task to compile the infor-
nation thus furnished
The prices obtained in this way are
those paid by the railroads. and do not
include the cost of putting the article
in place as a part of the railroad The
ascertainment of this cost is much more
difficult than the determination of the
unit price AS bearing upon the expense
of installation, many actual ira nsa ctiors
have been analyzed and examined, and
this has required more time than was
anticipated by experts of the commits
sion when the work was estimated
The commission has already made GER
tain tentative valua tions and the cues
tions raised by the protests to them will
be- heard and decided in due course by
the commission. Since many of these
questions are common to all properties
its decision in these first cases may
be controlling in other cases
AS soon as these fundamental uues-
tions have been passed upon there is no
reason why tentative valuations cannot be
completed at substantially the same rate
that the field work proceeds. The rapidity
with which valuations can be made final
and reported to Congress must depend
upon the number and character of the OBJ
jections which have been made to the ten
tative valuations.