New Britain herald., 1917-08-24

Northern European Russia, coal and wood are the fuel. The facilities for loading wood are also bad and plans are under waay for improvements in the system. Water is supplied to pas senger cars by means of buckets at most railway stations. Few stations nave the hose necessary for watering cars in a hurry. These have not been reqiured because engines took water so slowly and labor was so abundant that it was possible to supply the cars with water by hand while the loco- motive was being cared for.
 But now even the labor of women must be economized as much as pos- slble. Women are required In the fields to replace men. They are the baggage handlers at most stations and are even firing locomotives. Wages necessarily have risen with the tn- creased cost of living and every possible labor-saving device must be used
 Because of the lack of skilled labor, the inadequacy of repair shops ana the scarcity of metals and other SUD- plies many locom otives on the Rus- sian railways are out of repair. The American railway engineers have ad- vised an immediate extension of re- pair shops and the employment of foreign mechanics, If necessary, to re- mediately.
 | Pig Iron in Demand
 Pig iron is among the needs of Russia which officials have reported to the American experts. Worn rails and other iron and steel have been used very prodigally by the railways in construction work. At nearly every railway station in Russia tons of old steel rails are in use as hand railings. They are used at railway crossings for fences and are found in many other places on railway prop erty where wood would serve as we'll. In the larger centers hundreds Of tons of old steel and iron could be col lected by the government from rail- way property on short notice. This material would meet the urgent. de- mand for iron without placing further burden upon overloaded ships, and 1t is not unlikely that the government will avail itself of this metal.
 Russia is also in need of far more than it's mines are producing. The American Railway Commission is 1n- vestigating the great Donetz coal fields with a view to determining whether it will be possible to produce the required fuel by enlargtng the present mines and speeding them up.
 The rails on all Russian railways are light. Consequently, it Is not pos sble to attain the speed possible on 90 and 1OO-pound rails. But railway administration in Russia Is not cen- tralized sufficiently to get the greatest possible service out of tracks. Trains are operated on local orders. By the employment of division superintend- ents and the institution of a moro general system of dispatching. the service can be obtained from all lines. 1
 Since the overthrow of the emperor, railway employees have chosen of their ] own officials. The success of such a | system is doubtful. But it was nec l essary, apparently, to throw off the domination of the old bureaucracy. Michaelis Military Mentor of Japan.
 Tokio, July 25.-Dr. George Mi chaelis, the recently appointed inn perial chancellor of Germany, was the man who introduced into the Japanese school system the idea of military training that every Japanese school boy of today goes through. He was then a teacher in the Ger man school in Kanda, Tokio.
 Thirty years ago Dr. Michaelis came out to Japan as young man to become principal of the German school, which was supported by the