Solid Air. While it is known that air can be made solid as well as liquid, up to the present comparatively few experiments have been made in this direction. A scientist recently converted a certain quantity of liquid air into a small solid mass, and on examining it found it was as transparent as clear ice and as elastic as rubber. To test its elasticity he struck it with a hammer, and the latter immediately rebounded. That solid air may prove to be of commercial value is the opinion of some scientists in Germany,

of adding more facilities and extensions of the three and four-track system.-Railway and Engineering Review.

A Run Under Trying Conditions. - Another instance of devotion to duty displayed by the railroad employe is furnished in a recent newspaper dispatch from Peru, Ind., which states that Edward Irish, an engineman of the Wabash road, ran the engine drawing the "Continental Limited" train, from Lafayette, Ind., to Dan

but it is admitted that many more experiments will have to be made before any certainty on this point can be arrived at.-Compressed Air.

Inspection by Train Dispatchers.-The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad has announced a new rule by which it is expected to render the train dispatching. of the road more satisfactory. Each dispatcher is required to spend some time of each month traveling over the division, familiarizing himself with every fact that enters into the movement of trains. Such points as the exact location and length of sidings, the grades, crossings, etc., each dispatcher is supposed to know as well as the trainThe need of the system locally is due to the constant changes in the way

men.

ville, Ill., with hands and feet frozen. At the former point he went under the locomotive to make some temporary repairs, and when the same had been finished his extremities were found frozen to such an extent that amputation may be necessary, but be completed the run, making up thirty minutes of lost time.-Railway and Engineering Review.

Wireless Telegraphy.-The British Postoffice Department has recognized the commercial value of Marconi's system of wireless telegraphy, and has removed the restriction preventing its application for commercial purposes within three miles of the shores of Great Britain and Ireland.

The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co.

announces that it has concluded contracts for a daily service of etheric news telegrams to a British mail steamship sailing from Liverpool for New York at the end of the current month. The vessel will be equipped with a complete staff and plant, which will enable the publication of a daily newspaper on board during the voyage.

Marconi at a recent dinner said that it would not surprise him to see the rates reduced to one cent a word for wireless messages transmitted across the Atlantic ocean, although his contract calls for a rate of ten cents per word at present. Mr. Marconi stated that the cost of establishing a trans-Atlantic wireless telegraph plant was less than $200,000, against $4,000,000 to lay a cable.

An idea of the extraordinary power that is used at Marconi's Table Head station for transmitting messages across the Atlantic by space telegraphy is given by Dr. Parkin, who sent to the London Times the first complete message a few days ago. He says the apparatus is of such remarkable power that the sound, as each letter is transmitted, is so great in volume that it is necessary to use cotton as a protection for the ear-drums. He compares the sending of a message to a miniature thunderstorm. A spark, fully half an inch in width, is shot out upon the air when the key is pressed.-Telegraph Age.

Salaries of Railway Presidents.-One railroad president, A. J. Cassatt, of the Pennsylvania, is generally credited with receiving $75,000 a year. The presidents who receive $50,000 a year, or near it, are few in number. Some of the younger men brought East within the last few years are among these, and are paid about this amount for the hard work they have shown themselves capable of. When Frederick D. Underwood was talked of for president of the Erie, James J. Hill, it is said, told J. P. Morgan that he would like to place Mr. Underwood at the head of the latter road. Mr. Underwood, who had strengthened the new Baltimore & Ohio road as general manager under the reorganization, made two inspections of the Erie last year, and, according to report, was called to Mr. Morgan's office one day and asked what he had found. It is understood that he said that with free sway he could save 20 per cent. of the cost of operating the Erie road, and put it on a par with the other

trunk lines. He said that it would take the hardest work of his life, and that he would stake his reputation on it for $50,000 a year. His terms were accepted. William H. Truesdale was wanted by the Lackawanna Railroad early in 1899. He had become so valuable to the Rock Island as first vice-president and general manager that the directors bid to retain his services. The Lackawanna, however, outbid the Western road and Mr. Truesdale came here with a corps of Western lieutenants to direct affairs of one of the greatest coal roads, and to make it also a great passenger system, at a salary around $50,000 a year.

Samuel Spencer, president of the Southern Railway, which has spent millions in developing the South, received $50,000 a year. E. P. Ripley, president of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, since its reorganization, whose policy has practically built up the system to its present strength from Chicago to San Francisco, receives $50,000 a year, it is understood generally. Marvin Hughitt, president of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway since 1887, receives $50,000 a year, and A. J. Earling, president of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, receives near that figure. William H. Newman, president of the New York Central, probably receives $50,000 since he succeeded S. R. Callaway, who received $40,000, it was understood, and accepted a much larger sum, said to be $100,000 a year, to become the head of the American Locomotive Company. President Burt, of the Union Pacific, was offered a flattering salary to leave the Northwestern, and is understood to receive about $35,000 a year, while no estimate can be placed upon the several salaries of E. H. Harriman in his official capacities in Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Systems.

George B. Harris, president of the Burlington road, is understood to receive $35,000 a year, and C. S. Mellen, of the Northern Pacific, a similar sum. James J. Hill, who is president of the Northern Securities Company, is understood to draw $50,000 a year, and a nominal salary as president of the Great Northern Railway. A. B. Stickney, who heads the Chicago & Great Western, probably draws a salary of $35,000 a year. He is the father of his own road, as few other railway presidents are in the country. B. F. Yoakum, president of the St. Louis & San Francisco System, which has been branching out so widely the past year, is understood to receive $35,000 a year. Sir

William Van Horn, the head of the Canadian Pacific, probably receives a salary of $35,000 a year since becoming chairman of the board. Charles M. Hays, vice-president and general manager of the Grand Trunk road, was reported to have been offered $40,000 a year to return to that system when he left the Southern Pacific. Joseph Ramsey, Jr., president of the Wabash road, is credited with drawing a salary of $40,000 a year. George Gould is president of many roads, and through his control and that of the Gould family, probably draws many salaries, which aggregate a very large sum, chiefly made up of his salary as president of the Missouri Pacific road.

Many presidents of large systems draw smaller salaries, also, from occupying the nominal positions of presidents of several controlled, or subsidiary, companies. This adds to their income, and in the case of an officer like E. P. Ripley, for example, is a consideration of keeping a man of great ability at the head of a system at a salary smaller than he might be able to obtain somewhere else. Probably several railway presidents receive combined salaries as great as President Cassatt's

in this way. Smaller roads pay from $10,000 a year upward, according to the importance of the line, its mileage, territory, and whether it is established or requires a master mind to develop its resources and the territory which it serves. Many presidents' positions are actually nominal or merely executive, the policy of their roads being directed from higher up.

In the great "one-man" power system which prevails generally on the railways of America, and in the great systems here, the number of very large salaried of ficers is comparatively small, so small, indeed, that, with an expenditure for labor by the railways last year of $610,000,000, the 9,700 officers, including all officers of the railways, received an average pay of $8.26 per day (45,300 engineers getting an average of $3.78 per day, the highest average next to "officers"), or only about 3.6 per cent. of the pay-roll of the railways. New York Evening Post.

Can't Change the Map.-American railway builders may not substitute their own names for the time-honored appellations of places in Mexico, for the government will not tolerate it. The president of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway some time ago changed the name of the port of Topolobampo to Port Stilwell,

in the plans, maps and literature of that enterprise, but the company has for the second time been warned and admonished by the Mexican government that this renaming will not be sanctioned and that "it must abstain from giving another name to the said Port of Topolobampo, inasmuch as it had no power to change the name of localities in the republic officially recognized." Things generally go in Mexico very much as the authorities want to have them, and it looks as if Port Stilwell would have to go into desuetude.-Railway Age.

In the Hands of the Trust.-The Standard

Oil Company has secured control of the

Beaumont oil field in Texas and the Jen

nings oil region in Louisiana.

There are only a few small companies remaining outside, and they cut very little figure in the marketing of fuel oil.

The price of fuel oil has been advanced to $1 a barrel, and the indications are that the quotations will go still higher.Associated Press Dispatch.

A Great Country.-A member of Lodge 593 contributes from Edmonton, Alberta, the following "boomer" verses, descriptive of the great Canadian West. The G. P. A. of the Canadian Northern should hunt

up this enthusiast, who is authority for the statement that you "can read a newspaper by daylight from 2 a. m. to 11 p. m., in the month of June"-which would make it very inconvenient for lovers. It will be noted that the first letters of the lines of the verses form the words Canadian Northern :

Come out of the crowded centers

And breathe the pure air of the West. Now is the chance of a lifetime, Are you looking for a place to invest? Don't waste your youth in the city,

If you only venture you'll own A land of sunshine, in Alberta;

Not a storm like a blizzard is known.

'Neath the sands of the Saskatchewan River,

Of gold a quantity is found. Rolling prairie for farming and grazing To satisfy all does abound. Here you dig coal from the banks of the river;

Everywhere in abundance it lies. Rare is this beauteous country

'Neath the bluest of all the blue skies.

Railroad Conductor Law Unconstitutional. From the Columbus (Ohio) Citizen, of January 12, 1903, it is learned that the court of that circuit has overruled a decision of the common pleas court in a case wherein the State of Ohio was plaintiff and the C., C., C. & S. R. R. was defendant. It says:

"The common pleas court had awarded a verdict of $500 against the road under a law which provides that a conductor of a road must have had at least two years' experience. The law also provided

The man brought suit against the company in the sum of $25 for nondelivery and consequent damage.

The claim case in due course came into the possession of the superintendent of telegraph who understands the characteristics of the Mississippi citizen.

The superintendent's endorsement ran something like this: "I recommend that the amount claimed be paid in full; when a man in Mississippi telegraphs for ten gallons of whiskey, and the message is not delivered, he has full and sufficient

that it should not apply to men holding positions as conductors at the time the law was passed. The conductor in question was one Timothy Creamer. The law provided for a penalty of $1,000.

"The circuit court reversed the decision on the ground that the law was unconstitutional. The contention was that the law did not operate equally. A man with twenty-three months' experience would not be eligible, whereas a conductor with one month's experience would be eligible if he was in service at the time the law was passed."

Meant to be Funny.-A man in Mississippi telegraphed for ten gallons of whiskey and the telegraph company failed to deliver the message.

grounds for a Mental Anguish suit."Telegraph Age.

Pension Schemes.-The following is taken from exchanges:

At a meeting of the directors of the Reading Railroad held in December last, a pension plan was adopted. This plan is said to be similar to that in force on the Pennsylvania Railroad. The age limit on the Reading Railroad, except in special cases, is said to be thirty-five years.

The statistics of the pension department of the Pennsylvania Railroad at the close of its third year of existence, December 31, 1903, show a total of $864,713.27 disbursed in pension allowances during that time. During the same period 1,851 employes were retired on pensions,

381 of whom died during the three years. Of all retired, 359 were of the 65 to 69 year class, of whom 261 were retired upon their own request.

Railroad Accidents. - Exchanges report wrecks to have occurred recently as follows:

On January 14, 1903, a passenger train and a freight train on the Great Northern Railroad collided in the yards at Barnesville, Minn. The engineer and fireman of the freight train were both injured, the former losing a leg and the latter a foot and received injuries about the face.

Through what is said to have been a mistake of a yard employe a switch was left open in the Chicago yards of the Chicago and Grand Trunk Railroad, permitting a fast freight to crash into a switch engine which was standing on a siding. The fireman of the switch engine was caught beneath the engine and the escaping steam from the boiler scalded him to death.

On January 21, 1903, a snow train on the Phillips and Rangeley Railroad, consisting of three engines, a snow plow and flange digger, was wrecked two miles south of Dead River station during the night. Good headway was being made when the leading engine broke away from the train, mounted the frozen snow and water and overturned on the bank of the river. The engineer, fireman and the conductor, who was riding on the engine, were badly scalded by steam and hot water.

Early in the morning of February 2, 1903, the second section of a stock train ran into the rear of the first section at Cloverdale, Ill., on the Illinois Central Railroad during a dense fog. A number of stockmen were in the caboose of the first section, some of whom were killed and injured.

The engineer was killed, and the fireman, conductor and brakeman were severely injured in a collision between two freight trains on the Illinois Central Railroad at Vera, Ill.

The Southwestern Limited on the Big Four Railroad, while running as a double-header between Columbus and London one morning recently, had a narrow escape from a serious accident. The train was running at a good speed when a driving rod on the second engine broke and caused the engine to leave the track, throwing the engineer from his seat and severely bruising his back. The fact that the front engine kept the track averted

what might have been a very serious wreck.

On the night of January 26, 1903, through the misunderstanding of a semaphore signal in the Burlington yards at Kansas City, a passenger train and a switch engine collided. The fireman of the passenger train received a fracture to one of his legs by jumping. No one else was injured.

In a wreck caused by a washout on the Oregon Railway, near Bingham Springs, January 25, 1903, the engineer and fireman were killed and several passengers were injured.

In a rear end collision in the Belt yards at East Toledo, Ohio, January 23, 1903, the engineer of a Wheeling and Lake Erie engine in attempting to jump out of the cab window was caught and crushed by the tender and his back was broken.

By the breaking of a side rod of a Northwestern passenger engine January 22, 1903, the engineer was injured and the fireman was seriously hurt.

On the morning of January 23, 1903, the New Orleans Special of the Illinois Central Railroad ran into an open switch near Memphis, Tenn., fatally injuring the engineer, fireman and baggagemaster, and seriously injuring two mail clerks.

On January 21, 1903, the engine of a passenger train on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, while running at a good rate of speed, broke a side rod and disarranged the air brake so that the engineer could not stop the train, and it had to be stopped by means of the hand brakes. The fireman was thrown from his seat, and his face and back received terrible injuries. The engineer had both legs mashed, and both men were burned by escaping steam.

On January 22, 1903, a passenger train on the Chicago and Great Western Railroad was wrecked at South Freeport by a broken frog, resulting in the death of the engineer and fireman and the injury of about twenty passengers.

On the night of January 20, 1903, an extra train ran into a rotary snow plow on the Great Northern Railroad near Chiwaukum, killing or injuring about twentyfive workmen.

On January 16, 1903, while a freight train on the Cotton Belt Railroad was ascending a grade east of Texarkana, Tex., it broke in two and the rear portion ran back down the grade and crashed into another freight train which was following, killing the engineer and dangerously wounding the fireman and head brake

man.