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