Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-10-23
PENNsYs WATER SUPPLY
Pure Water indispensable to the Rail-
roads operatlon--The Old North
States Trial Trip--our Ships
on Every Sea
BY GEORGE NOx MCCAIN

has been superintendent of water companies.
In his new capacity he will be in entire
charge OF all the water systems affiliated
with or controlled by the Pennsylvania Rail-
road in the territory covered by that system.
His range Of control extends from New York
to Chicago and st. Louis ..
In placing under one official head its vast
interests in the storing and the distribution
or water for its use, and for communities
bordering the thousands Of miles Of its sys-
TEN, the Pennsylvania Railroad has done a
greater thing than is suggested in the mere
announcement of Mr.. McCaleb's appoint
ment. I-0
The one great effort of the system Is the
securing of an adequate supply of pure
water. In this work it is co operating with
state and municipal governments and indus
trial corporations.
II is not, let it be frankly said, a purely
philanthropic movement. Pure water Is Just
as essential to the operation of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroads. thousands of locomotives as
it is to municipalities who store and dis
tribute 1t for domestic purposes.
ENORMOUS losses are incurred every
~ year by the railroad systems of the East
that operate through mining regions, where
the water supply is contaminated by drain
age from coal mines
The presence Of acids in quantities that
might not render 1t harmful to the human
organization is destructive of boilers and
boiler tubes to an extent scarcely conceivable
to those unfamiliar with the subject.
1t requires but short time for locomo-
tive which uses chemically impure water to
break down as the result of leaks and the
"pitting' of it's boiler tubes
This means q reduction in motive power
to say nothing of the expense for shop re-
pairs.
1t is worse than useless for coal CORPORA
tions to mine millions of tons of coal and at
the same time pump the mine drainage into
the streams of a water shed that empties
into great water supply basin, ultimately
to find its way into locomotive boilers and
thus render them incapable of moving the
coal to its destination.
are being urged by the Pennsylvania to CO.
operate with it in protecting the water sup
ply OF this country, particularly in Pennsyl-
vania and the middle western states.
Incidentally, it is also benefit to the
population at large.
TNHE magnificent steamship Old North
L State, the latest product of Delaware
river shipyards, had her trial trip this week
She is already under charter and loading
for her maiden voyage.
Her trial trip was an event in itself
Prominent men of affairs were the guests of
her builders. This in itself marked with q
white stone the line of demarcation between
the war days and the present.
When the Delaware shipyards, not so long
ago, were smashing out record unparalleled
in the history of the world of one ship every
twenty four hours, there was little time or
tendency to celebrate these events
But the war is n thing of the past except
technically for the United States, thanks to
Mr.. Wilson.
There is opportunity and occasion now to
observe with greater formality the success
of such great undertakings.
Twenty years ago the Cramps celebrated
the trial trips of their battleshps. cruisers
ana merchant vessels with certain social
accompaniment that has become memorable.
The presence on board the Old North
state of select company of prominent men,
the guests of the construction company.
marked return to former traditions and
1t in reality marked the beginning of a
new era.
A MEXICAN ships are sailing every sea
"A today. They are found in every mort.
They, are in reality Philadelphia products.
for the vast majority of them were built and
sent forth on the Delaware.
And yet the newspapers of Hamburg in
1897 announced that thirty years had elapsed
since that port had seen the Stars and
Stripes at masthead.
In the thirty seven years from 1860 IN
1S3S the tonnage Of the United States regis
tered for foreign trade was but one fourth
of what it had been before the Civil War.
In the same period the merchant tonnage
VI tHe DTltlSn empire more than doubled.
In the last decade of the last century il
was estimated that American ships carried
less than one half of the total commerce be-
tween this country, Mexico, Central America
and the north coast of South America.
N0twithstanding this. no vessel of the
merchant type flying the American flag en-
1897. '"''
'uERBERT HOOVER on Wednesday last
1 at hearing before the International
Joint Commission urged a deem sea water.
way from the Great Lakes through the St
Lawrence river as means of holding Amer
ica's supremacy in grain shipments to Eu-
rope
Mr.. Hoover knows what he is talking
about Tor he has the data on this subject at
his fingers ends.
Had he been disposed, he might have in
formed the commission that prior to the
world war British and German vessels car.
ried - per cent of our grain exports to
Europe.
The fact might have been disclosed also
that in the same period ships flying the
American flag carried only about seven one
hundredths of our exports and imports to
points on this hemisphere south of the
Equator.
But all of this is changed now. Our
ships passing through the Straits of Gibral-
tar are as familiar as were the ships of other
nations in other years
me port OF lnllhuelpnla mas as many
regular steamship lines for foreign ports
today as New York had twenty five years
ago.
uENRY S. WILLIAMS, president Of
IL Williams, Brown & Earle Inc, is the
latest Philadelphian to land an uppercut on
the chin of the Pro League Independent Or
ganizaton The league functions from New
York and its object is the election of Cox
and Roosevelt.
The chosen subjects of its propaganda are
independent Republicans of the Progressive
school.
Hundreds Of letters have been received in
Philadelphia from this organization in the
last ten days. Prominent men are invited
to lend their names for use in the literature
of the organization.
This is the way Mr.. Williams, in his quiet
Quaker way, deftly handed out the rough
stuff in letter to the pro lcaguers:
From my point of view, the election of
Cox will only continue the attitude of the
major portion of the Democratic senators
toward the League of Nations, and | feel
that the election Of Harding will enable tho