The Connecticut labor news., 1922-03-31
BELL, WHO MADE RAIL WATCH SAFE, HDEAD;; FAME IS WORLD-WIDE
Thousands of Workers Alive Today Because He Standardized
 Timepieces.

Cleveland, O., March 3I.-Webb C. Ball, the man who held a watch on 175, 900 miles of railroad," and known throughout the world as the greatest authority on railroad time service, passed away at his home in Cleveland last week.
 Thousands of railroad workers throughout the country are alive to- day, and thousands more are in wig orous health who would otherwise be hopelessly maimed, because Webb C Ball standardized railroad clocks and watches and put an end to hit-and- miss train dispatChing, with its costly wrecks and fearful toll in human life and limb He found great railroads operating by tinplated alarm clocks and dollar watches, which were so out of line with each other that 1t used to be a standing order for trains to wait at all meeting points at least five minutes to take care of the var iation in watches. And even then ac- cidents were frequent, since these tirnepieces differed more than five minutes with each other. Today, largely as the work of one man, rail road time is figured to the second, and no variation Is allowed for i'm perfect watches.
 Railroad train service employees of the pas regeneration reckoned Webb (. Ball among their truest friends be- cause he conscientiously protected them fl om fake inspectors who would order the men to buy a certain watch i'll order to get a rake-oH.
 Frequently employees were compeil- ed to buy new watches whenever a new inspector came on the division, because the new inspector would be connected with different set ot time piece grafters than his predecessor had been Millions of dollars were mulcted from the hard-earned wages of the employees in this fashion.
 In commenting upon the death of MT. Ball, Grand Chief Engineer War ren 5. Stone, of the B. of L. E., states: "Webb C. Ball devoted his life to the welfare of the men and to the stand ardization of railroad time service. Every improvement in the service that has been made in the last 30 years can be traced directly to his untiring efforts and devotion. He has accomplished more for the railroad men in the last 30 years than any safety appliance that has been adopt ed upon our railroads. He devoted QlS 1Ie to tIllS WOIk, dIu IL WdS d work of love with him. He was the highest type of Christian gentleman, and his death at this time comes as a direct loss to every man in the rail road service"
 A statement issued by the officers of the B. of L. E. Cooperative Ma tional Bank of Cleveland at the close of business on March 10 shows re- sources of $I4,oI2, ,oo2.12, Or approxi- matcly $I, I,ooo, ,ooo more than reported a month ago. At the same time de posits have increased to $II,43I,84o,22, or $7,5oo,ooo more than on this date a year ago.
 A high official of nationally known bank of New York City, who was in Cleveland during the past week, declares that to his knowledge no other state or national bank in the history of America has ever achieved such sound and rapid growth. This, the officers of the bank assert, is not due to luck or good fortune, but is the result of the cooperative princi pie of sharing earnings with deposit ors and using the workers funds for productive rather than speculative purposes.