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38 THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN.
and signal system controlling the train move­
ments of the entire terminal organization.
The electro-pneumatic switch and signal system
was installed by the Union Switch & Signal Co.
and its extent and importance will be realized
when it is stated that during the Exposition
traffic the number of trains handled per day in
the St. Louis terminal averaged between 500 and
550. aggregating 2.001) to 2,500 cars. This does
not include a portion of the freight service which
passes over the terminal trackage. At the main
terminal station alone the total number of signals
is 284, the number of switches 157 and the number
of bridges 20. In addition there are in the Four­
teenth street. Twenty-third street and Grand avenue
yards probably an equal number of switch
and signal appliances. Under the most severe
service which arose during the exposition this
system of train control operated with perfect
success. The entire installation is a splendid
example of pneumatic engineering and shows the
importance of compressed air in transportation
problems, and its perfect reliability when applied
along approved lines of practice.
COAL DEALERS SEEK LEGISLATION.
The Coal Dealers Association of Oklahoma held
their semi-annual meeting at Guthrie on Febuary
1, at which the question of coal legislation was
taken up. A legislative committee composed of
A. M. Debolt, chairman, of Oklahoma City; N. F.
Cheadle and J. B. Fairfield of Guthrie, was se­
lected to formulate and work for the passage of
a measure providing for destination weights for
the retail dealers, or in other words, requiring the
railroad companies to deliver to the coal dealer
the exact amount of coal receipted for at the
mines by the railroads. The retail dealers find
it necessary to ask for some legislation along this
line, from the great amount of shortage each
year, from the coal being stolen from the open
cars. One retail dealer says this shortage
amounts on an average to over 4,000 pounds per
car..
Pittsburgh Coal Directorate Changed.
The annual meeting of the Pittsburgh Coal Co.
was held in Jersey City on February 10. A change
in the directorate was made by the retirement
of John D. Nicholson, of Pittsburgh; Peter M.
Hitchcock, of Cleveland, and N. H. Taylor, of
Erie. Four new directors were elected, one of
them to the vacancy which existed in the board
throughout last year. They are Calvary Morris.
of Cleveland; S. M. Wallace, the treasurer of the
company; Henry B. Rea and Judge Elliott Rodg­
ers, of Pittsburgh.
LONG WALL BRUSHINGS.
A Southern college professor has announced that
there is enough coal in the Cumberland plateau
in Tennessee to supply the world for 100,000 years.
This is evidently another insidious plot to "bear"
tne coal market, but if it is merely intended to
soothe those who spend their lives worrying over
the increased consumption of coal, a little of the
dope that produced the idea would insure its
effectiveness.
— o —
Down in Roswell, N. M., geological sharps are
disputing over the identity of an alleged prehistoric
animal found imbedded in a lump of coal.
It resembles a house cat. has black and white fur
and a black tail. There are several hundred thousand
Northern school boys who have never studied
geology but can identify a skunk without any
further description than that given.
— o —
The British press waxed facetious over the mis­
haps of the merchantmen of other nations when
they were caught trying to run the gauntlet at
Port Arthur, but now that British colliers are
being tripped up regularly while trying to put
contraband coal into Vladivostock, their wrath is
aroused. It makes a difference whose ox, etc.
— o —
Mine working rules prohibiting the use of cigarettes
by employes are often ridiculed and those
who make and enforce them are pronounced martinets,
but it was the stub of a cigarette which
caused the recent mine fire at Decatur, 111., in
which six lives were lost, several more endangered
and considerable property destroyed.
— o —
Blizzard weather is universally regarded as the
coal man's harvest time, but few stop to think
that he is frequently obliged to employ four or
five horses to handle a one-horse load. From the
tone of much of the daily comment it is to be inferred
that the extra horses are needed to haul the
profits home.
The readiness with which some people are ad­
vocating a reciprocity agreement with Canada.
regarding the exportation and importation of coal,
is another instance of the willingness of most
people to accept benefits regardless of who should­
ers the expense so long as it is not themselves.
— o —
William A. Thompson, an independent candi­
date for mayor of Reading, Pa., was arrested while
stealing two bags of coal. From politics to prison!
But others have gone and more will go the same
way.