W

HAT are probably the largest freight yards in the world have just been completed by the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad at Proviso, Illinois, 13 miles from Chicago. In the yards there are 800 acres of land, 250 of which have already been covered with tracks. The yards at the widest point have 20 parallel tracks 13 feet apart from center to center. When completed the trackage will hold approximately 7,000 cars.

A feature of the yards is one of the most capacious roundhouses ever built by one railway system. It has 58 stalls, each of which is capable of holding the largest locomotive now built or that probably will be built in the next decade. In connection with the roundhouse and machine shop is a modern equipment that will make it possible to fit an engine for the road in two hours, as against five or six hours formerly.

In the yards seven wells have been drilled, some of which are 2,000 feet deep. From these wells flows a quality of soft water which is considered second only to Lake Michigan water-regarded as the standard-for use in locomotives. The water from these wells is stored in three immense tanks, of a new shape and style, each of which has a capacity of 150,000 gallons. A special high-pressure pipe line furnishes fire protection, the hydrants being supplied through a 14inch cast-iron pipe. There is also a system of sewers, built of vitrified brick.

An engineers' and firemen's building and a hotel and lunch room, providing elaborate facilities for the comfort of the railroad's employes, are other unusual features of this freight terminal. Two great viaducts, now in course of construction, will carry two country highways across the entire yards, thereby removing all danger to vehicles and pedestrians. The cost of these viaducts will be $150,000 each.

Connected with this new yard is a new double-track railway, known as the Des Plaines Valley Line, which connects two

independent double tracks of the same system between Chicago and Milwaukee, and these two tracks in turn connect with an out-of-town yard near Milwaukee. Through the Milwaukee yard, freight, originating in a vast field of the Northwest, is handled to the big yard at Proviso without touching the inside of the city limits of either city, and is later diverted to every section of the United States. This distribution is largely aided by a belt line running from one point on Lake Michigan in a half circle to another lake point 20 miles south, and intersecting every railroad line entering Chicago.

Trains of 80 cars over a grade of onetenth of one per cent are handled between Milwaukee and Proviso, the tonnage ranging from 2,800 to 3,000. By the use of this yard more than 2,000 loads are kept out of Chicago each 24 hours. Some of the freight is diverted in solid trains. without being broken, and all the transfer freight of less than car-load bulk is transferred at one point instead of several.

The Des Plaines Valley Line, 20 miles long, was built in three months by keeping forces at work both day and night. On the right of way there is one fill four miles long.

T was but yesterday, so it seems, that the naval nations of the world pinned their defensive faith to what we are now pleased to term dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts, and the popular imagination could dream of nothing likely to improve upon them save the logical increase of their own size and power. But now comes the battle cruiser to try conclusions with these giants and to glory in certain qualities which bid fair to produce spectacular results in future conflicts. It is not that the battle cruiser necessarily sounds the doom of the dreadnought but rather that another order of craft is born which may be the pioneer of a revolutionary amalgamation of the best qualities of both of these armored Titans.

Just as the English originated the

dreadnought so, too, are they responsible for the inception of the battle cruiser. In 1909, the maritime nations were fairly astounded by England's armored cruisers, the Indomitable, the Invincible, and the Inflexible. These ships were in size but little short of dreadnoughts, being of nearly 18,000 tons each, and on their trials developed speeds ranging from 25 knots to nearly 27 knots an hour. They carried prime batteries of 12-inch rifles. These rifles were individually the equal of the best afloat.

To say that the Germans were startled would be vastly understating the matter; these speedy cruisers were more than a match for any of the Kaiser's battleships. Accordingly, the Imperial Admiralty lost no time in building a comparable antagonist. This was the famous von der Tann

a ship of 19,000 tons and credited with a maximum speed of 27.75 knots an hour. The von der Tann carried a battery of 11-inch guns of high power, said, in fact, to be Krupp's answer to the British weapon of 12-inch caliber.

The von der Tann's sea record of a continuous run of 2,000 knots, at an average speed of 24 knots an hour, is fairly indicative of the wide field and the

aggressive service she can perform in the hour of strife. The von der Tann was promptly followed by the Moltke and the Goeben-ships of 4,000 tons greater displacement and capable of making more than 30 knots, when pushed to it. These vessels were called battle cruisers to distinguish them from their less formidable prototypes, the armored cruiser.

The

two

success of the Germans caused the British authorities much anxiety. Two of the Colonies patriotically provided for the building of first-class fighting ships, and no time was lost in laying down the battle cruisers New Zealand and Australia, ships of something more than 19,000 tons displacement, to be armed with 12-inch guns. At the same time, the Home Government authorized two other battle cruisers, and, with much secrecy, the Lion and the Princess Royal were put upon the blocks. These vessels have since been finished. They have displacements of nearly 27,000 tons, and are fitted with large batteries of formidable 13.5-inch rifles. Today, the United States has no ship in service armed with a weapon of such power.

* The Lion led off on her trials with a speed of 31.5 knots, and, profiting by the lessons learned and the modifications demanded, the Princess Royal, following a little later, made the extraordinary speed of 34.7 knots. Put into terms familiar to the landsman, this means a rate of travel of 40 miles an hour! A third British battle cruiser, the Queen Mary, will be ready for commissioning before long. She is larger than the Lion and the Princess Royal and it is said will probably be speedier and more formidable. But the English efforts to excel the Germans do not stop there; the Tiger, not yet launched, is to have a displacement of something like 32,000 tons.

The Germans are not resting the

been launched, and a larger type mate, the Kaiserin Augusta, is building. Details are lacking, but the ships will undoubtedly equal the best the British have under way. It is said that they will be armed with guns of 15-inch caliber.

The Japanese have three battle cruisers building and one, the Kongo, will be ready for service before long. This craft is nearly a duplicate of the Princess Royal save that she will have 14-inch rifles for her main power of attack. The Russians have authorized the construction of four such craft. It is rather amazing that no provision has been made in this country for a single ship of this sort.

The battle cruiser can not withstand the same weight of attack that a dreadnought can, and this is because the cruiser has thinner armor. But, by way of compensation, the battle cruiser's greater speed enables her to choose her own point of attack and to profit by the defensive advantages which this entails. In a measure, this balances her thinner coat of mail.

With her high sea speed and her tremendous powers of attack, the battle cruiser can face a dreadnought during daylight and can stand the pounding she may receive until she is close enough to launch her torpedoes with every promise of success. The logical outcome of this is the evolution of a supreme type of battleship capable of making forty knots an hour and carrying a few guns of the biggest caliber which can be loaded and

WARNING MAY CAUSE

DISASTERS

A SYSTEM of mine warnings to be

sent to the operators of all the big coal and iron deposits of the United States was recently installed by the United States Weather Bureau. When extra precautions should be taken to guard against explosions resulting from atmospheric conditions, the Bureau will send out warnings. It is declared that "when there is a marked fall in atmospheric pressure, the chances of mine explosions are greatly increased."

The Director of the United States Bureau of Mines expressed the fear that "the warnings themselves may add to the risks and dangers in mines where gases occur in dangerous quantities. Investigations have been going. on for two

years," he says, "as to the influence of weather conditions, especially atmospheric pressure as indicated by the barometer, upon the amount of gas in coal mines." The results obtained have not been conclusive. They have, however, been indicative. The Director added: "As to the value of warnings, that will depend upon the way in which they are used. If they serve to make miners and mine operators more careful when they are issued and not less careful at other times, they may do good in mines where gases occur in dangerous quantities. If, however, they should serve to make miners and operators less careful during the extended intervals between the receipt of such warnings, the warnings may increase the hazards of mining in those coal mines, and thus add indirectly to the cause of the disasters."