Correspondence.

All contributions to our Correspondence and Technical columns must be in not later than the Ioth of the month to insure insertion.

Articles must be written on one side of the paper only. Noms de plume may be used, but every article must be signed with full name and address of the writer to insure insertion.

We shall be glad to receive articles on any subject of general interest to the fraternity.

All communications are subject to revision or rejection, as the Editor may deem proper.

The Editor does not assume responsibility for the opinions expressed by contributors in this department. C. H. SALMONS, Editor and Manager.

A Sign of Spring.

Today I heard a robin;

His old familiar trill

Right through my heart went bobbin Tho' cold as winter still;

He tells me it is over,

And since he went away, He lived in fields of clover, And sported every day.

'Twas down in southern valleys, Where sunshine lingers long, And every songster rallies,

To fill the vales with song; While we are fighting blizzards, And digging out the trains, With cold and hungry gizzards, And almost stagnant brains.

He tells of southern Brothers

In shirt-sleeves on the rails, While our beloved mothers, Amid the driving gales, Would never know the darlings They danced upon their knees, Unless 'twas by their snarlings, And efforts not to freeze.

There is a land of all lands

Beyond this vale of tears,

Where wreaths of choicest garlands
Are waiting engineers,
Who toil with brain and muscle
To keep old mills alive,
Through many a weary tussle
Of ceaseless drudge and drive.

From there no robins wander-
'Tis summer all the time;
Fond hearts ne'er drift asunder,
In that delightful clime.
I heard so from my pastor,
Long years and years ago,
Ere called to meet the Master,
Away from frost and snow.

-SHANDY MAGUIRE.

Trouble and Triumphs of Travel.

BY SHANDY MAGUIRE.

[Continued from March JOURNAL.]

I went to the station in the afternoon and asked for a lower berth of the Pullman ticket agent. "I have nothing but upper berths," he replied. That was bad news, and I drew back from the window to think upon a plan of procedure. He looked like a man who hated himself, and with good reason. He was old, crabbed looking, uncommunicative and sour as a crab-apple in his conversation. He had been reading a paper as I approached, and I had no right whatever to disturb his Royal Nibs, a poor crawling plebeian like me, or to come between the wind and his nobility. He was no bureau of information gabbler, who would steer you for Kalamazoo if you desired information how to get to Oshkosh. He was simply an autocratic berth dispenser. I watched him till he laid down the paper, and had at him again. The time arrived. He yawned, which indicated bile knocking about in his stomach, and I stood at the window and tried him again. "Standing in front of a window all day, in drafts, and answering all manner of questions, is about equal to pulling the stroke oar in a slave galley; and I always have a heart full of sympathy for the man who is obliged to earn his daily bread in such a way."

He fired a glance of his half closed eyes at me, hung in the wind for a second or two, and said:

"If old Job had the job, he'd never be noted for his patience."

He nibbled the bait and I played to land him.

"Indeed, your allusion is a happy one. There are many sufferers in this world who have internal carbuncles, principally on their hearts, and must keep a smile wreathed on their faces to please people, just as you are obliged to do here, no matter how you feel."

"That is true. Where did I understand you to say you are going?"

"Los Angeles."

"Are you alone?" "No, sir."

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The first business in order, after entering a sleeper, is to note who are your fellow travelers, and try to discern some of our own folks" amongst the Philistines, if any are to be found. Neither was it a crowded traveling caravansary, about fifteen all told.

All the bipeds had to get into the smoking room while berths were being gotten ready, so as to let the ladies have the vacant seats. I sized up faces, but could not recognize anybody. After a few moments I saw I was being watched by a strapping looking young fellow on the weather side of 30; and after a spell, he came alongside and handed me his card; it read, "F. J. Bryant, Lafayette,

and other places."

"Are you going to Los Angeles?"
"I am."

“Why are you so late?”

"Waiting for passes.”

"Put it there," I said, extending my hand, "I am a passenger in the same canoe."

After a chat, we retired as we were passing through Joliet.

Ere saying "Now I lay me down to sleep," I related some experiences I had in the place in October, 1887, during the Chicago Convention. That was the year, and Chicago the place, of the founding of the Ladies' Auxiliary into a grand body. In those days, before women be

came legislators, to help along the interests of our order, they used to go sightseeing daily. On one of the days we were furnished a special train for them to Joliet to see the prison of the state, and also to see the town. There were 166 ladies and but three or four men, of whom I was one. We were all brought into the chapel of the prison, where we were given instructions hy the superintendent, and emphatically told that there must be no conversation whatever with the inmates. We were then marshaled in pairs, Mrs. Perry, wife of the Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, and myself leading. As we advanced a few paces from the official, I got my handkerchief into the shape of a gag, and was asked by my marching mate what I intended doing with it. True to my instructions of holding my tongue, I pantomimed its use. She gave me the laugh. We entered the prison proper the next instant, and witnessed one of the sad sides of human nature. After having been treated exceedingly courteous by our guide in our rounds of the prison and when again in the chapel, the ladies were paid a deserved compliment for their obedience to the request to hold their tongues.

The next morning being the Sabbath, we were gladdened by a most beautiful day. We arrived in Kansas City on time, and having half an hour there we had a brief view of a part of the town. After the train again started, Fred Bryant said to me, "There is a delegate on this car." "Who is he, and did he also have to play the waiting game?"

"His name is Billy Sanderson. He is a Wabash man, from St. Thomas, you can ask him the remainder. Here he is.” We had a shake and a chat, and an inquiry if western water agreed with me, or would I like it diluted; to all of which the proper replies had been given, and we went together into the smoking compartment. As I was standing, during a lag in the conversation, I heard immediately behind me a voice saying: "Will you permit an old chum to have a shake of your paw?"

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The same. Are you alone?"

No; my wife is outside."

"I am right glad of it. You need never be ashamed of her company. She has the stamp of genuine womanhood on her handsome face, and the only surprise is how you caught her; for, like myself, you must have been crowded into a corner when beauty was being dispensed."

Gentle reader and fellow-tramp, you will discern that we're rapidly growing into a condition to win the praise of President Roosevelt, on account of the increase of our family. Besides those already mentioned, there was Miss Lape, whose father used to be Superintendent of Motive Power of the Santa Fe, and a companion, another charming young lady, whose name has escaped my memory, making seven so far; and as a certain lady, the mother of eleven children, once said in reply to her husband's inquiry, in my hearing, if the youngest was to be the "baby":

"I don't know, Jack. God is good; we may have more."

We had an appetizing dinner at Topeka; and after we again got in motion we were formed into a family group, expatiating on the beautiful views we were getting from our car windows of the fruitful farming lands of Kansas. The magnificent roadbed we were getting whirled over came in for its share of encomium, as did the stations and their tasteful surroundings.

When the shadows of the trees were lengthening that evening as the sun was sinking below the horizon, Brother McGovern directed our thoughts into a religious channel, saying that such a gorgeous sunset was a welcome omen of good luck sent us from the Throne of the Deity, and we should return thanks for such favors. He then, in a voice of much sweetness, began singing the following words to a well-known air:

How glorious the sun is declining,
The sky is with splendor ablaze,
The scenes we behold are refining,
And filling our hearts full of praise.

Oh, beautiful land we skim over,
Abundantly fruitful today,
May heavenly gifts o'er you hover,

And prosper the dear Santa Fe.

Then, in unison with the singer, every one in the group burst out in perfect harmony in the chorus:

And prosper the dear Santa Fe,
All over its whole right of way,
May engines and cars

Speed along without jars,
The same as we're running today.

The great Rocky Mountains we're nearing,
The foot-hills shall soon be in sight,
And now the bright sun's disappearing,
Dear Kansas we bid you good-night!
Some hundreds of miles in the morning
Our train shall have shortened its way,
And sunshine again be adorning

The sights on the fine Santa Fe.
Chorus:

The sights on the fine Santa Fe,
Through every hour of the day,
Rock ballast and ties

Are the best 'neath the skies,
In use on the fine Santa Fe.

Berths were made up soon after, and a refreshing night's sleep was our portion. The next morning we had an increase to our family. Brother Pound, of Div. 156, Birmingham, Ala., with his wife and young daughter, joined us. The object of his visit to Los Angeles, as near as I could make out, was to endeavor to secure the next convention for his home town in the sunny South.

How he did expound on the beauty of Birmingham! This side of Paradise there was no other such place; and the realms of fact and fancy were to contribute their choicest rewards to be conferred on all who'd help to get it there. The Division could not have sent out a more enthusiastic advocate. He extolled the town and gave it all the virtues ever catalogued. He certainly did his duty to his constituents, but Hiner had the whip hand, and he was helped to crack it, too, by a few silent toilers, unheard of yet by him, who did it for old acquaintance' sake.

Still later on this same day we had another increase to our family-Bro. and Mrs. H. C. Davis, of Denver, and their

two sons, one about 15 and the other about 17 years old, making our number fifteen, and here we are some of us, but not all, as the remainder are not yet out from dinner. We are at Las Vegas, and Fred Bryant is the button pusher. I am the first on the left, looking like Shakespeare's sixth age of man "shifted into the lean and slippered pantaloons"; Old Sweetness next, one of the Davis boys next, Brother Sanderson next, then Brother Pound, Mrs. McGovern, Brother McGovern, Mr. and Mr. Davis.

(To be continued.)

I recall one instance in the long ago when the influence of the Brotherhood of the Footboard, as it was then called, won their first fight for an increase of pay on the New York Central, and it was not a hard fight, either. The Civil War had increased the cost of living, and the railroads had raised the rates on freight, and the Central was getting as high as $130 a car for live stock from Buffalo to Albany, and the engineers thought they were entitled to an increase of pay. They were getting at that time $2 a day and the firemen were getting just half, making $60

Early Days of Railroading.

NIAGARA FALLS, ONT., Feb. 14, 1905. EDITOR JOURNAL: It seems to me that if some of the old members of our Brotherhood would contribute short articles on the early days of railroading and the benefits accomplished by the B. of L. E., it would make interesting reading for both the old and the new members. In the early days the members, like the signers of the Declaration of Independence, had to hang together or they would hang separately, as Benjamin Franklin put it.

to $62 a month for engineers and $30 to $31 for firemen.

I attended a meeting of Div. 18, of which I was a member, the night that a committee was appointed to go to New York and try to get an interview with Dean Richmond, who was president of the New York Central. The committee was composed of three of the oldest engineers-George Colborne, Robert Chapman, and Charles Wilson, afterwards our Grand Chief. He is now dead, but Colborne and Chapman are still living and in

good health. The committee were instructed to ask for an increase of 25 cents a day, if satisfactory to the committee from Albany and New York. I think P. M. Arthur was on the committee from Albany, but am not certain. However, the committees got together in New York and were received by Mr. Richmond. Brother Wilson acted as the spokesman. He told Mr. Richmond that the cost of living had gone up, that they had to pay war prices for everything they needed, and that as the road had advanced their rates of freight, they, the engineers, asked for an increase in their pay.

Mr. Richmond asked if they represented the engineers' organization. Brother Wilson replied that they did. Mr. Richmond then asked how much the cost of living had advanced. Brother Wilson took his pencil and figured the cost of living, taking a basis of five in a family and the increase in house rent, beefsteak and clothing, and then asked Mr. Richmond if he did not think they needed an increase.

Mr. Richmond then asked them how much of an increase they wanted. Brother Wilson said 25 cents a day. Mr. Richmond said: "Why, that isn't enough. I will make it 50 cents a day, and the same increase will apply to the firemen in proportion to their wages. The committee thanked Mr. Richmond and retired to their hotel, and after a conference they decided to go back and tell Mr. Richmond that inasmuch as he had treated them so liberally, they would not take pay for Sundays, only when they ran their engines, as they were not often required to run Sundays, but were always paid for the day.

Mr. Richmond again admitted them, and Brother Wilson told him what the committee had decided on. But Mr. Richmond said: "No, I will pay you for Sundays, so that we can use you when we need you, but will try to give you every Sunday off when possible. I think the increase is just, and I will not decrease it one cent."

That is the kind of a man Dean Richmond was; and the road prospered under his management and grew rich, and Com

modore Vanderbilt never could get hold of the Central while Richmond lived, and when Richmond died the engineers lost their best friend, and every locomotive was draped in mourning from one end of the road to the other.

I remember boarding a special train at Rochester. The train was made up at Albany, and I met P. M. Arthur for the first time while on his way to Mr. Richmond's funeral.

Dean Richmond now sleeps in a marble tomb in the old cemetery at Batavia, and near it stands a granite column with the statue of Capt. William Morgan, the man who, after joining the Masonic organization, published a book revealing all their secrets, and who disappeared and never was heard of afterwards; and the beams of the setting sun fall with a mellow light on Richmond's tomb and cast a shadow over Morgan's statue. Richmond recognized the new organization, and Morgan, after joining the older one and getting its secrets, gave them away to its enemies and mankind.

Well, judge between the two men. The name of Dean Richmond will last as long as the Brotherhood or its last member survives. Fraternally yours,

W. H. H. WEBSTER, Div. 328.

Politicians to Make Through Rates.

EDITOR JOURNAL: At the present time, when there is so much being said and written regarding a law authorizing the Interstate Commerce Commission to make freight and passenger rates for the railways of this country, I thought that a few lines from an engineer as he sees it from his standpoint might set the railway employees of this country to thinking, and perhaps bring them to realize that this is a matter of vital importance to us all, and that we should do anything and everything in our power to influence legislation and try to prevent the enactment of this law. There is no reason why we cannot make our influence felt if we go at it in the right manner.

Regardless of the fact that we are enjoying a period of commercial and indus