matter of much surgical importance. The general belief and teaching is that a severed nerve will always degenerate, a contused nerve sometimes, but that there can be no rule for the occurrence of inflammation. This is probably not altogether true as far as it applies to wounds of nerves, for it may be set down as a rule that the danger of neuritis is inversely as the wound is free from infective micro-organisms. There is still much confusion. regarding this question of neuritis, for a large category of degenerative changes which are not properly inflammations in any sense have been designated as neuritis. Strümpell claims that traumatic neuritis must always arise from an open wound, and that it is only from such wounds that ascending neuritis results. Aseptic wounds, he claims, never give rise to neuritis, but only to degenerative disturbances, followed by secondary degeneration, outgrowth of new connective tissue and finally by regeneration. According to the observations of Marinesco, in an infected wound associated with neuritis he found streptococci infiltrating the diseased nerve near the wound, while higher up, near the cord, the sections of the nerve showed leucocytic infiltration, but no bacteria. This he explained by the assumption that the ptomaines of the cocci had been transmitted up the course of the nerve through the lymphatics of the nerve and had caused the evidences of inflammatory irritation which the microscope had revealed.

Traumatism to a peripheral nerve may apparently seem unimportant at the time of injury, and yet the nerve may be left in such a condition that years afterward a trivial cause may be sufficient to effect its complete paralysis. Weber has reported two cases of ulnar paralysis, in one of which an infection of the elbow-joint preceded the paralysis twenty-seven years, and in the other thirty-three years. Careful investigation into many obscure cases of nerve paralysis would probably show that an old trauma or localized infection was the cause of the palsy.

In the cases of open wounds of nerves the fact that some time always intervenes between the injury and the occurrence of the neuritis, and that the inflammation of the nerve usually is announced by a rigor, points pretty conclusively to the infective etiology of this complication. Large nerve trunks are more susceptible to this inflammation than small ones, and the centripetal spread of the disease is common when infection is present. As far as the susceptibility to this spreading inflammation goes, constitutional conditions seem to play an important rôle. Thus in alcoholics, syphilitics and other individuals whose resisting power has been lowered or whose tissues have been for a long time subjected to the vitality-lowering effects of constitutional poisons, neuritis is prone to occur.

When a nerve has been divided, and the reaction of degeneration has supervened, and the wound has healed without complications, the fate of the peripheral segment must depend largely upon the degree of separation of the divided ends and the amount and character of the connective tissue scar interposed. In the ultimate process of regeneration there is always a tendency for the upper segment to proliferate nerve tissue at its cut end. If these new nerve filaments reach the distal cut end, a communication is re-established and nerve tissue may be deposited until the continuity of the nerve is fully restored. This is a natural reparative process which may always be hoped

for, and which has required in some cases as long as twenty years for its completion. If there is but little intervening scar, and particularly if the fibers of the intervening tissue lie mostly in a direction parallel to the nerve, the restoration of function may be accomplished in a short time. If, however, these favorable conditions do not exist, the reparative effort results in the building up of a mass of nerve and fibrous tissue at the end of the proximal segment, which appears as a ball or club shaped termination, while the paralyzed distal portion of the nerve lies atrophied and inactive.

In operations for facial neuralgia a nerve has been divided or as much as 2 inches of its substance resected, and later pain has returned, by virtue of a restoration of nerve tissue across the defective gap. This has been particularly observed in the inferior dental canal. In such a case the intervening space after the operation has been filled by loose tissue, the common direction of the fibers of which has been parallel with those of the nerve filaments, thereby favoring and directing the new nerve growth toward the distal end.

In the surgical treatment of wounds of nerves the surgeon has these principles for his guide. The treatment of the wound should be so conducted as to give rise to the smallest possible amount of new connective tissue. In order to accomplish this early suture and the prevention of infection are called for. Notwithstanding the reports of primary union of nerves and immediate restoration of function, which appear from time to time, it is still questionable whether this can occur in man. The Experiments of Glück proved that primary union could take place in the fowl and rabbit. Ten days after dividing and suturing the vagus in a rabbit, he has divided the nerve of the opposite side and the animal did not die, but when following this by division of the nerve that had been sutured death has taken place immediately, showing that the suture had restored the function of the nerve first divided. In man it is different, although some of Bowlby's cases almost suffice to prove the possibility of success.

All experience up to the present time goes to show the advantage of immediate suture. This should be done as soon as a diagnosis of division of a nerve trunk has been made. When there is any doubt the nerve should be exposed and examined. In fresh wounds in the arm I have been struck by the extent of retraction which may take place in divided nerve ends. These may be found by extending an incision over the course of the nerve. When the ends have been secured they should be brought down until they will lie in easy contact. I believe it is a mistake to depend upon the suture to actually holds the ends together. The suture should be regarded more in the nature of a splint to steady the parts until union takes place. It order that the ends may lie in easy contact it often becomes advisable to make traction upon the stumps to stretch them. This operation is. not only not fraught with harm to the nerve, but is of positive assistance in securing the best result.

Pre-eminently the best suture material is very fine chromicized gut or fine kangaroo tendon. Silk I believe to be seriously objectionable. Every strand of silk left buried in the tissues, no matter how small, is surrounded by a capsule of new connective tissue. This is just what the surgeon should strive to eliminate in operations on

nerves. The ends of the nerve should be evenly trimmed, and, having been stretched until they lie in easy contact, the sutures passed with the finest possible needle. In a nerve such as the median or musculo-spiral, the most satisfactory suture consists in four separate sutures of the four quadrants of the nerve's circumference, passed transversely through the nerve sheath about % to 1-6 inch from the end. Having applied these sutures, a layer of fascia should be sewed over the nerve wound to act as a splint and to further serve the purpose of eliminating dead space in which new connective can form. If fascia is not available then muscle or other tissue should be sewed over the nerve so as to lie firmly and closely in contact with the sutured nerve wound. When this operation is done without infection the surgeon may await with confidence the restoration of the function of the nerve. It is from this time one, however, that the surgeon is wont to display how little of a neurologist he is. In all of his work he has accustomed himself to see improvement follow a successful operation. His mind is habituated to this condition. If improvement does not follow the habit of his faculties evolves the impression of failure. These unreasoned impressions prevail the more strongly when, as is usually the case after primary suture, the symptoms of paralysis not only fail to improve but actually grow worse. The surgeon, after his operation, sees the muscles grow more flabby and the limb atrophy from week to week, and the faith in his operation fails him. On the other hand we have seen the surgeon, who discovers that the area supplied by the nerve which he has just sutured is already sensitive to pressure and the prick of a pin, almost before degeneration has begun, and the suggestion of restoration of function comes to his mind. These are the reasons why the reports of the surgeon often are confusing and unreliable.

The secondary suture of divided nerves has become an operation of great importance and satisfaction, and has borne witness to the presistent vitality of this highly organized tissue. It presents the advantage that restoration of function may be accomplished more quickly because the process of degeneration has been gone through with. This operation consists in dealing with a locus of interrupted nerve, which may be due to actual division and separation of the nerve, to a deposit of fibrous inflammatory tissue, or to compression from without. When the operation is done for division of nerve the two ends should be freely exposed, the intervening scar tissue removed and the bulbous proximal extremity cut away until nerve tissue is exposed which is not densely infiltrated. In order to bring the ends together stretching almost up to the point of avulsion is indicated. When this cannot be accomplished any of the various neuroplastic operations may be attempted. The nerve may be lengthened by turning down a flap from one or both sides, by making a sliding flap of nerve or by grafting the two separated ends upon a neighboring nerve. Glück has demonstrated the practicability of this latter operation. Where the paralysis is due to the presence of nerve scar strangulating the nerve cells or to exertional pressure from callus or angle of bone the exciting cause must be removed and the structure treated de novo as a divided nerve. The cardi

structures which are free from fibrous deposits. In wide separations the expedient of nerve grafting has been attempted by Atkinson and Moullin with doubtful success. The introduction of strands of catgut to act as a trestle through which the new nerve cells may be guided in this growth, apparently in a few cases has proven of service. Forcible stretching even to concealed separation of the nerve, I am inclined to look upon as the best of the last

resorts.

After the wounds have been closed it is important that the limb or part be immobilized by splints in order to insure quiet of the muscles about the wound. After a varying period there is a return first of sensation and then of motion. The improvement in motion has continued as long as twenty years after the injury. Gradual improvement in sensation makes the outlook for motion encouraging. After two weeks, when the nerve ends have had time to unite, massage and electrization of the paralyzed parts is indicated, to maintain the nutrition of the soft tissues and preserve the suppleness of the joints.

Surgeons do not fully appreciate the value of nerve suturing. If a satisfactory operation has been done the result must be watched for for months and years. Most cases are lost sight of after a few weeks or months, at which time the result looks bad. The surgeon must have patience. If the nerve ends have been placed in good opposition he may with confidence leave the result to time. An examination of the voluminous literature corroborates this hope. The failures have been due to infection of the wound, too great tension upon the nerve sutures, the use of unabsorbable sutures and failure to remove or prevent the formation of nerve constricting connective scar tissue; notwithstanding these things successes have obtained in the presence of these hinderances.

When in doubt as to the local condition of a wounded or sutured nerve the surgeon should have no hesitancy in making an exploratory exposure of the trunk in question. By this operation many weeks or months of time may be saved. When in doubt suture may be offered as a rule and guide. While time may be relied upon to remedy much, both in the removal of scar tissue and in the development of new nerve through gaps made by wounds, yet surgery may be called upon in the aid of these natural processes.

Above all the judgment of the neurologist is required, both to determine the extent and character of nerve injury in cases in which the wound of the nerve is not exposed, and to define the prognosis and progress of restoration. Because of the surgeon's incompetence to appreciate these things, our surgical literature is defective. chiefly in this.-Jour. Assn. of Military Surgeons.

Big Four's Saint Louis Route Plans.-To facilitate the movement of its passenger trains during the exposition and to safeguard its passengers, the Cleveland Cincinnati Chicago & St. Louis will as far as practicable abolish freight service between Indianapolis and Galion, Ind., routing it via the Springfield and Columbus route. This road is pushing the

construction of its 44-mile double-track cut-off between Hills

boro and Mitchell, Ill.-a point about 12 miles above East Saint Louis. This cut-off when completed will save about 20 miles over the old route. Between Pana and Hillsboro, 20 miles, the old route is being double-tracked. The Chicago & Eastern Illinois is completing its cut-off between Findlay

of the amount of scar tissue, and the bringing together of

Four from Pana into Saint Louis.

Notices and Reviews.

"Diseases of the Nose and Throat." By Charles Huntoon Knight, A. M., M. D., Professor of Laryngology, Cornell University Medical College, etc. Pp., 423, with 147 illustrations. Philadelphia: P. Blakiston's Son & Co. 1903. Cloth. Price, 3.00 net.

The author presents a clearly and tersely written exposition of the present state of the art in the practice of Khino-Laryngology, and the publishers have ably assisted by arranging the matter so as to give a volume of convenient size for study or reference, the typographic production of which is all that could be asked for. The text is embellished by a sufficient number of illustrations which vie in excellence with the other features of the work.

The minute details of examination and manipulative procedures are clearly given. The surgical steps advised are guided by moderation and conservatism. Different operations, which have from time to time been suggested for the correction of nose and throat defects and deformities, are so briefly and clearly described that the reader gets a better idea thereof than may have been obtained from the original and more extensive descriptions. Unlike several other writers the author favors the judicious use of the galvano-cautery upon the septum and in the larnyx.

The author has displayed the happy faculty of giving in the fewest possible words the ultimate findings derived from the work of various investigators, particularly as regards the questions of pathology and etiology. His suggestions as to treatment are evidently based largely on his personal experience, and if any one feature of the work is to be singled out for special praise it is regarding the thoroughly up-to-date consideration of therapeutics. The entire work is written in such an easy and graceful manner that its perusal is to the reader a pastime as well as a profit. EDWIN PYNCHON.

"A Treatise on Orthopedic Surgery. By Royal Whitman, M. D., Instructor in Orthopedic Surgery in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York; Associate Surgeon to the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled; Chief of the Orthopedic Department of the Vanderbilt Clinic, etc. New (second) edition, thoroughly revised and much enlarged. Octavo, 820 pages, with 507 engravings, mostly original. Philadelphia and New York: Lea Brothers & Co. 1903. Cloth, $5.50 net. The interest taken in the growth of this surgical specialty is shown by the speedy exhaustion of the first edition of this treatise. In preparing the second edition, the author has subjected the entire work to a thorough revision.

We find a full and exhaustive account of congenital dislocation of the hip, including the Lorenz method of treatment. To one not acquainted with the subject the number of deformities requiring correction will be a surprise. In flat foot, the author recommends a metal support, the operation he states "is as a rule successful, but in the majority of cases it is unnecessary."

As the subject of prevention of deformity is kept constantly in the foreground, as well as the early treatment of the disease, which can be carried out by the general prac titioner, the work will be of value to the latter as well as to the general surgeon.

"Modern Surgery: General and Operative." By John Chalmers Da Costa, M. D., Professor of the Principles of Surgery and of Clinical Surgery in the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Co. Chicago: W. T. Keener & Co. 1903. Cloth, $5.00 net; sheep or half morocco, $6.00 net.

This work well shows how difficult is the task of considering the enormous multitude of facts relating to modern surgery within the limits of a single volume. The first edition issued so recently as 1896, contained 785 pages with 188 cuts; the present one has grown to a portly octavo of 1,099 pages with over 700 illustrations, some in colors. Some of this increase in size is due to the use of larger type, but the rest is due to the constant progress in the surgical world.

With all this new matter, new illustrations and a thorough revision of the old, the volume forms a capital textbook.

"A Textbook of Legal Medicine and Toxicology." Edited by Frederick Peterson, M. D., Chief of Clinic, Nervous Department of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and Walter S. Haines, M. D., Professor of Chemistry, Pharmacy and Toxicology, Rush Medical College, in affiliation with the University of Chicago. Two imperial octavo volumes, fully illustrated. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Co. Chicago: W. T. Keener & Co. 1903. Per volume: Cloth, $5.00 net; sheep or half morocco, $6.00 net. Vol. II., 785 pages, 14 plates, many colored; 88 illustrations.

We had occasion not long since to notice the appearance of Vol. I of this work. The second volume has now

been published completing the work.

The greater part of the present volume is devoted to toxicology, by such well-known authorities as the senior editor, J. W. Holland, A. B. Prescott, C. A. Doremus. and V. C. Vaughan. We also find an important section— which is novel as well-on the Medico-legal Relations of the Röntgen X-rays.

The work as a whole deserves a place in every medical man's library, as a standard one on the subject.

"International Clinics." A Quarterly of Illustrated Clinical

Lectures and Especially Prepared Original Articles. Edited by A. O. J. Kelly, A. M., M. D. Thirteenth Series. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. 1903. $2.00 per volume. Among the various interesting articles in this issue will be found: Inter-Ilio Abdominal Amputation with a Synopsis of Cases by W. W. Keen and J. C. Da Costa; Radical Cure of Prostatic Hypertrophy by Professor Albarran of Paris; Differential Diagnosis of Acute Abdominal Conditions Requiring Surgical Treatment by W. H. Battle and E. M. Corner of London, and a very thorough résumé of our knowledge of Immunity by J. McFarland.

"The Four Epochs of Woman's Life. Maidenhood, Marriage, Maternity, Menopause." By Anna M. Galbraith, M. D. 12mo, 247 pages. Philadelphia, New York, London: W. B. Saunders & Co. Chicago: W. T. Keener & Co., 1903. Cloth, $1.50 net.

This subject is popular just at present, necessitating a second edition. Three sections have been added: The Hygiene of Puberty; Hemorrhage at the Menopause a Significant Symptom of Cancer; and The Hygiene of the Menopause. It will prove an appropriate gift from physicians to their patients.

Railway Miscellany.

THE TEMPERATURE OF SLEEPING CARS.

To the Editors:

I am not an Englishman to whom a temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit seems warm or hot. Like most Americans I can get along very well in an indoor temperature of from 68 to 75 degrees. Several days ago I awoke between 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning with the perspiration literally flowing from me. The sleeping car in which I occupied a section must have reached a temperature of 90 or 100 degrees. The porter did what he could to give myself and my fellow sufferers immediate relief by opening windows, etc. A few days later, in another Pullman, I was awakened at various intervals during the night shivering with cold. To-day I am obliged to keep my room because my system cannot endure parching lips one night and teethchattering cold the next. During the past week I have made inquiries of perhaps 20 travelers and almost without exception every one of them had suffered from excessive heat in sleeping cars. The discomforture consequent upon extreme temperatures is in itself enervating, but when unregulated temperatures over which one has no control result in illness with its attendant losses the evil becomes doubly serious. I am anything but a chronic kicker, but I should greatly appreciate it if your valuable paper could come to the rescue of a distressed public.

NORMAL TEMPERATURE.

RAILWAY CASUALTIES-BRITISH AND AMERICAN.

It has become a habit with public officials and newspaper writers to assume that the operation of railways in the United States results in a vastly greater number of casualties and fatalities of all kinds than in any other country, and British railways are especially cited as affording proof that our roads are operated with criminal recklessness. In the matter of train collisions our railways, it must be admitted, have made a disgraceful record; but collisions are responsible for only a fraction of the total number of casualties resulting from railway operation, and when the accident record as a whole is considered the immunity of British railways appears less evident. In the first place, a common basis for comparison must be found. The railway mileage of the United States is more than nine times that of the United Kingdom, and yet this fact is commonly ignored in contrasting the accident totals. On the other hand, with the difference in mileage in view, a member of the Interstate Commerce Commission is recently quoted as saying: "Despite assertions which have been made to the contrary by irresponsible persons, more casualties occur on American railways in proportion to their mileage than on those of any other country." Is this true?

Within a few days an abstract of the report of the British Board of Trade has come to hand, giving a summary of the accidents for the six months ended on June 30, 1903, thus furnishing means for some comparisons with the summary of accidents in the United States just made public by the Interstate Commerce Commission for the full year ended on the same date. British railways represent 22,152 miles of lines, while the length of the roads making complete reports to the Interstate Commerce Commission on the date named was 201,457 miles, or about nine and one-tenth times greater.

On the 22,152 miles of British railways in the six months 60 passengers and 229 employes were killed, and 1,159 passengers and 1,777 employes were injured.

On the 201,457 miles reported upon in the United States in the whole year, 321 passengers and 3,233 employes were killed, and 6,973 passengers and 39,044 employes were injured.

At first sight these figures seem to show a tremendous balance against the United States, but in order to make a just comparison it will be necessary to convert the mileage to a common basis and use the same measure of time. To

By this adjustment of figures to a common basis it appears that in proportion to mileage British railways are far more destructive of life and cause far more injuries than those in the United States.

For a comparison in which there is less discrepancy in the actual mileage, let us take the figures of accidents for the last year in the State of Illinois, whose mileage is a littlemore than one-half that of the United Kingdom. The Illinois figures are for the 12 months ended on June 30, whereas those of the British railways are for six months only. As, therefore, the British figures are for only one-half the time, but for nearly twice the mileage of those for Illinois, the summary for the respective States may be taken as substantially comparing equal mileage and equal time. The following are the totals of casualties to passengers and employes, as given in the official reports, for the two periods:

Illinois is not only the State of the greatest railway mileage, but of the greatest traffic, and the region where casualties to passengers and employes are naturally expected to be most numerous. The vast system. of railways centering at Chicago, the second city in the country, is crowded with the traffic of an immensely greater mileage than that which lies within the borders of this State, and the concentration of train and engine movements might be expected to be unusually productive of casualties. Yet it seems that only one-half as many passengers were killed in Illinois in the year as in Great Britain in six months, and that the number of employes killed was not very much greater than those on British railways. The number of passengers injured in Illinois was less than one-third of those on British railways, but the number of employes injured was very much larger in Illinois. The total of killed and injured, however, appears nearly balanced in the two columns.

FATALITIES FROM RAILWAY OPERATION AND OTHER CAUSES.

While the fatalities resulting from the operation of our vast system of railways during the past year are being brought to public notice, it is fair to remember that they form only a fraction of the total number of deaths by violence during the same period. Railways are such conspicuous and indispensable features of modern life that the tend ency is to fix attention on their offenses in the mass and to fail to realize that the aggregate of fatalities from other causes is enormously greater. In the last year 164 passengers were killed in train accidents and 157 lost their lives from other causes in connection with railway operation, a total of 321 passengers out of the vast total of 711,617,000carried. But in the year there were 8,976 murders and 8,597 suicides reported. Out of the million and a third railway

employes 1,241 were killed last year in train accidents and 2,338 by other causes, generally their own negligence, a total of 3,233. This is deplorable, but the fact that a far greater number of persons lost their lives by drowning and fire, for example, excites little notice. A single fire at the close of the year cost nearly twice as many lives as the entire number of railway passengers killed by train accidents and their own carelessness in the whole year. In a recent annual review the Chicago Tribune tabulates the deaths from certain causes, from which it appears that in the three years 19001903, there were reported 26,762 murders, 24,133 suicides and 8,390 drownings, while the number killed on and about railways by all forms of accidents was 10,954.

How many lives were lost last year in ordinary accidents -by fire, flood, tornado, in workshops, in mining, lumbering, hunting, by electric cars, by automobiles, by runaway horses, by explosions of gasoline stoves and oil lamps, and by other forms of violence? The total for any one of these causes would be appalling, if known, and the grand total would make railway fatalities seem few in comparison. With 42,000 locomotives and 1,541,000 cars running on the 275,000 miles of main track and sidings in the United States, there will be accidents, and railway officials and employes will continue to agonize over them and strive to prevent them; but it is not fair to hold these men up to execration as if railways were the sole or chief cause of death and suffering from casualties. When the railway commissions have occasion to print the deplorable figures of railway disasters, it would be only just to allude also to the marvelous safety with which innumerable train movements by day and night all over this country are conducted, and to the small number of fatalities in comparison with the vastness of the service rendered.

THE MECHANICAL ASSOCIATIONS.

In the editorial on "Representative Membership for the Master Mechanics' Association" in The Railway Age of December 18, 1903, reference was made to the important work performed by Mr. M. N. Forney, who was a member of the committee which revised the constitution and by-laws of the Master Car Builders' Association at the time that association was placed on a representative basis. In a recent letter from Mr. Forney he suggests that the two associations be consolidated, and his views are given below. The tendency toward consolidation is not confined to railroad systems, banks and churches, but it is seen in the federation of the various scientific and industrial organizations, and is extending to railroad associations. The consolidation of the two railroad mechanical associations has often been proposed, but never seriously taken up with a decided purpose in view. It would appear that the time is now ripe for such a movement, and three important changes could be made at the same time. First, the Master Mechanics' Association would have a representative membership; second, the Master Car Builders' constitution and by-laws, with slight modification, would be appropriated by the Master Mechanics, and third, the two organizations would be consolidated and have separate sections for the special interest of each. It is interesting to find that all these radical changes in the government of the associations are favored by Mr. Forney, who is one of the oldest and most influential members of the two organizations. Mr. Forney says:

"I agree with you that it would be very desirable to put the Master Mechanics' Association on a representative basis, the same as the Master Car Builders' Association is now. The best way to bring this about would be to consolidate the two associations in an organization consisting of two separate sections, one for the consideration of car matters, and the other to discuss locomotive construction and operation, with one president for both, but a chairman for each, who would preside over the meetings of the two sections. As at present, let one of the sections hold its meeting first one year, and the other the next, but hold a joint meeting between the two, over which the president would preside.

"Representative members would be appointed to the loco

motive section, as at present in the M. C. B. Association. The same or different persons might represent a road in the two sections. The representative members in the locomotive section should have a vote for each hundred locomotives owned by the companies, and pay dues on that basis.

"If this was proposed the question would be whether the president and managers would stand the additional assessment. My impression is that they would, if the matter was properly presented to them before action was taken.

"It seems to me the best basis of representation would be simply the total number of locomotives owned. Any other basis, I fear, would be more or less complicated and might lead to misunderstandings.

"The constitution of the M. C. B. Association is a very good one. In evidence of this it may be said that since its adoption there have been, I think, only three amendments to it, and these of only minor points, and the association has worked very smoothly and successfully under that code. Very slight modifications, it seems to me, would be needed for such an organization as is outlined above.

"I have the impression that, if the chairmen of the two sections were appointed by the president with the approval of the executive committee, that we would get better presid ing officers than we can get by electing them."

Criticism of Railway Official Changes.

Referring to the occasional tendency of some newspapers to protest against changes that railroad officials make in their employes, the Raleigh (N. C.) Times says, with much good sense: "This has always seemed to us a rather gratuitous service on the part of an editor. Railroad people are as far from doing spite work as any class of men to be found. The best interest of their own business would not allow this, even if they desired to pursue such a course. The railroads need and want every first-class man in the service. And when a man loses his place it is safe for him and his friends to understand there is some good reason for it. Competent, unobjectionable men are a scarce commodity, and instead of such men losing their jobs they are being looked for, not only by railroads, but by men in every department of business. The fact that a man loses a position does not necessarily reflect upon him. Some men who are honest, industrious and conscientious in the discharge of their duty are not prepared to continue in their positions and for reasons satisfactory to their employers they are removed. In such cases the public does not know and is not entitled to know all of the inside facts, and a newspaper that interferes in matters of this sort is clearly, in our judgment, out of its sphere of legitimate work. We call to mind some years ago, when several employes of a certain railroad lost their positions under rather unusual circumstances. A great hue and cry was raised by the newspapers; protests and even threats of boycotting the road were freely indulged in by the friends of the men who had lost their places. But when the facts become known the railroad officials were fully sustained, even by those who had been positive in their criticisms. It will turn out this way nine times out of ten. Nobody loses his position who is meeting all the demands of the situation.

Pennsylvania Relief Department.-The December report of the voluntary relief department of the Pennsylvania Lines West gives benefits for the Pennsylvania Company as fol lows: Four accidental deaths, $3,250; 11 natural deaths, $4,500; 453 cases of accidents, $7,894; 530 cases of sickness, $6,809.20, making total benefits of $22,453.20. Benefits for the Pittsburg Cincinnati Chicago & St. Louis were as follows: Six accidental deaths, $4,500; 4 natural deaths, $3,000; 436 cases of accident, $6,292.25; 436 cases of sickness, $5,279.20, making total benefits $19,071.45. On the Grand Rapids &

Indiana benefits were paid as follows: Two natural deaths, $500; 2 cases of accident, $250.75; 65 cases of sickness, $572, making a total of $1,322.75. Benefits on the seven remaining companies were as follows: One accidental death, $1,250; 1 natural death, $500; 48 cases of accident, $809; 48 cases of sickness, $708.40, making a total of $3,267.40. The total of benefits for all companies was $46,114.80.