at its heartstrings like a canker, let the Happy New Year' make light the burden. If confiding love has been unrequited, and beneath the mask of a smile you carry the image of a broken idol, let the 'Happy New Year' cheer you to the hopeful reward its future days may bring!" Time works wonders and heals many wounds. The salutation on a New Year's morning is a soothing balm to the heart laden with sorrow; it fills the soul with renewed hope and expectation—that after the darkest night the dawn of morn may bring forth the day of promised reward. Experience with the world has taught us that the saying of an anonymous writer is true: "We often create our own misfortune by our mistakes." We are often led by impulse to do and say the things we have cause to regret. The word once spoken is like an escaped bird that cannot be recaptured. It falls harshly upon the ears of friend or foe alike, and like the ripple made by the pebble thrown in the lake, its waves spread and spread until they reach the furthermost shore. "If the world seems cold to you, Let their comfort hide from view "If the world's a wilderness, "If the world's a vale of tears, Of your gladness lend a gleam Unto souls that shiver, Show them how dark Sorrow's stream Blends with Hope's bright river!" As we are entering upon our duties of the new year, let us resolve, and make a special effort, to guard against saying or doing the things we may so soon have cause to regret. Let us but accomplish this and our happiness and success for the coming year are assured, and our record will show that we have endeavored to speak only kind words and perform only kind deeds to our brotherhood of men. As the last spadeful of earth falls on the dead year's grave-1904-let us bury with it all jealousies, unkind words, rash acts and animosities of the past, and begin the year 1905 with our hearts joined in one grand chorus, ringing with the joyous salutation, Happy New Year to All! "Farewell, old year, the rustle of whose garments, Fragrant with memory, I can still hear, For all thy tender kindness and thy bounty I drop my thankful tribute on thy bier." Yours fraternally, J. PUFFENBERGER. Too Many Lukewarm Members. ROCHESTER, N. Y., Dec. 8, 1904. EDITOR JOURNAL: In the December JOURNAL, page 914, Shandy Maguire tells what happened to him some years ago when he wrote an article for the JOURNAL, which reminded me of a similar case which happened to myself. I was not one of the "heavy-weights" nor one of "those who stood in with the Editor," consequently my letter, one written in reply to a "roast," was returned marked "rejected." I got back at him by sending the article to another journal, just as it was returned to me, and it was printed in full with an explanation of why it was published in that journal, instead of the B. of L. E. JOURNAL. "Skinney," page 915, struck the nail squarely on the head when he said, "Ninetenths of our members are so slow about anything pertaining to the B. of L. E." And let me add to his statement, that those same members who never attend meetings, and who want the G. C. of A. to straighten out their snarls, are the ones to kick against paying the G. C. of A. assessments and put off paying them, regardless of how steady they have been working, until they are threatened with expulsion. There are too many lukewarm members in the Order. The work is (in most Divisions) left to a very small percentage of the members to do, and those who do not attend meetings complain of what is done and what is not done by those who do try to keep the Division alive. The result of the referendum vote lately submitted to the members at large will fairly illustrate how many take interest actively in the Brotherhood affairs. Those who voted on the questions represent those who attend meetings and take an active interest in the affairs of the B. of L. E. To those active members is due the credit of keeping and making the B. of L. E. what it is today. Long may they live! Those who would not vote on these questions represent those "who forget what evening their Division meets." Even on the appeals to the legislative bodies to enact laws requiring every man placed in charge of a locomotive as an engineer to have actually served an apprenticeship of three years as a locomotive fireman, laws which would have the effect of preventing inexperienced men from being placed in charge of engines pulling passenger trains, some of our members refused to sign. Why, no one knows, they can give no reasonable excuse themselves. In reply to J. J. Conrad, page 918, on subject of printing Division Addresses in every issue of the JOURNAL, I wish to say for one, I am am opposed to the printing of the addresses in each issue. It is expensive and unnecessary. I have for a long time thought it poor policy. With the addresses published once in six months there is no good reason why every Brother cannot have a list of Division Addresses. But few changes in officers of Divisions occur between elections, and with elections once in two years it looks to me like a poor business proposition to pay about $500 per month for the one thing to be published over and over again. I think the Convention did a wise act in doing away with publishing the addresses in every issue, when every member can have a list of addresses always handy by simply preserving the copy of the JOURNAL containing the list. A very small minority of the members ever consult the list of addresses, and a much larger percentage than many think never read the JOURNAL. I am opposed to rejecting advertisements for the purpose of making room for the list of addresses. Brother Conrad says: "It is more than a little annoying to be deprived of the one privilege we could boast of prior to this action." I fail to see where we have been deprived of any privilege. The fact that Brother Conrad has been addressed as F. A. E. of Div. 209, and he never was, nor is now, F. A. E. of any Division, shows of how little use it is to print the list of addresses in every issue. Whose fault is it if not that of the party addressing? Could he not have preserved one copy of the JOURNAL containing the list? He certainly knew that the addresses would only appear once in six months, unless he belonged to the class who do not read the JOURNAL. Brother Conrad says, "In my opinion, the few are not justified in passing such laws for the many who are in duty bound to submit." Does Brother Conrad want the whole membership of the B. of L. E. to assemble in Convention to make laws? The few always make the laws to govern the many. If certain laws are wanted, or not wanted, by a majority of each or any Division, the delegate from such Division or Divisions should be sent to the Convention instructed how to vote on such questions. I have never attended a Convention as delegate, but will venture to say that the delegates, by a large majority, go to the Convention uninstructed. Usually, the delegates are men in whom the members of the Division sending them have confidence, and are satisfied their delegate will assist in passing such laws as seem best. Do you instruct your state and national representative what laws to pass? The few there make the laws for the many. When it comes to referring a question to the membership at large to signify whether they want or do not want certain laws enacted, just refer back to the results of referendum vote and see how small a percentage of our members know whether they do or do not want certain laws. There are too many who "do not know what they do want." There are many who, if asked to express an opinion as to what action should be taken on certain questions by the Convention, will reply, "Oh! I don't know, I will leave that to our delegate." Everyone has a right to his own opinion and if Brother Conrad, or any other Brother, thinks it better to have the addresses in every issue, they have just as good a right to think so as I have to think my way. Let it be according to the wishes of the majority and for the good of all. Fraternally yours, B. Blame the Organizations. PORTSMOUTH, O., Nov. 28, 1904. EDITOR JOURNAL: The recent report of the Interstate Commerce Commission showing the number of railway accidents may be appalling and astonishing to many who are not versed in railway matters. The press, ever on the alert for news and information, has made inquiries as to the cause of railway accidents. Some railway officials have expressed themselves, attributing the cause to human error, incompetency and negligence of employees, due to the influence of labor organizations, and directly blaming the organizations to a greater or less degree. Also a number of other causes have been advanced, but I have yet to learn where any have made mention of the principal cause of accidents, the majority of which can be charged to this cause. I venture to state that if an impartial investigation of all railway accidents where engineers are concerned were made by competent judges, who would endeavor to learn the motive or incentive which leads to accident, they would discover that where the engineer or conductor has been blamed the incentive in a majority of cases is due to an effort to make "time." From my experience, I am convinced that time" is the principal cause. The railroads have rules sufficient to insure the protection and safety of the traveling public and the safe movement of their trains if the rules are conformed to. The violation of rules in which rearend collisions occur, overlooking slow orders, approaching block and order sig nals, stations and railroad crossings, especially when heavy fogs prevail, with train not under full control, are all violations, which in many instances are due to the effort of the engineer to make a certain showing to represent schedules for which no time allowance is made. Why do the people who ride on railroads, either as passengers or employees, wish to rush through life or to accomplish so much in the shortest space of time when they are aware of the risk they run, if we are to accept some of the reasons as advanced by railway officials as to the cause of accidents? To the above question I would like to hear the opinion of some of our Brothers expressed in the columns of the JOURNAL. I consider it a very serious question, and one worthy of thought and effort. Some railway officials condemn the labor organizations, giving reasons that seem to me very flimsy, claiming that the officers are compelled to keep in their employ men whom the company would be much better off with them out of the service than in it, but that these men are maintained due to the influence exerted by the union. My opinion of a man, especially a railway official, who would make an assertion like that to the public is that he is too narrow-minded, impractical, and utterly unfit to hold a responsible position as an officer of a railway, one of whose principal duties is the training and government of men, fitting them for the service and making them reliable and trustworthy, as the railways of this country require. A competent, practical and experienced official systematizes his road, having a system for every movement, and sees that it is maintained, knowing that a perfect and practical system gives a sure result and makes reliable and trustworthy Where a perfect system is employees. maintained there is no excuse for violation of rules or failure to perform a duty; and when such violations occur or failure to perform a duty, it is due to negligence or incompetency, and it is up to the official and not to the labor organization to settle the matter; and if common-sense judgment is impartially rendered and justifiable discipline properly administered, the organizations have no ground for interference. But railroads that have rules for the government of employees and the movement of trains and fail to enforce them according to their meaning, but have practices and methods relative to the same rules which give altogether a different result, are bound to have accidents, for they cannot systemize a road with a set of rules where the practices are so widely at variance with the rules; and where rules mean one thing and practices another, confusion and disorder reign and the opportunity to educate and train men to a standard of reliability is lost. The two principal qualities which are essential to the successful railway employer are perception and comprehension. All employers are not largely gifted with these talents, and when not endowed by nature with them it is necessary to develop them by training, and this can only be done by a perfect system and the value placed upon their situations by the employees. If the officers have endeavored to make the situations of the employees as appreciable as they can, this would be a great incentive to employees to make the greatest effort to qualify themselves to give a satisfactory service. Again, a road with such a reputation would have the advantage of selecting from those who made application for positions the highest types of the applicants-those who are of the higher order of intelligence and have the ability to become trustworthy. This element would certainly appear if the proper disposition towards employees was displayed, a disposition to treat them fairly and impartially upon business principles, appreciating the faithful performance of duty well done. The idea of railway organizations inter fering with railway officials in conducting a road is preposterous. Any road on which an officer's time is so much taken up by committees in an effort to adjust grievances can be safely set down as a road whose officers are not as practical as they should be, a road that has not a perfect system, and consequently the employees are more or less imposed upon or unjustly dealt with; and an organization that would not resent an imposition or unjust treatment at the hands of an impracticable person or persons would not deserve the title that the B. of L. E. has earned. Hoping to hear from some of the Brothers upon this question, I remain, REUBEN. Not a Good Place for Lung Troubles, but a Good Place to Live. LOS ANGELES, CAL., Dec. 7, 1904. EDITOR JOURNAL: If you will kindly allow me space I would like to express my views to the many friends and Brothers who read our valuable JOURNAL, on the inconsistency of people afflicted with that dread disease, consumption, leaving their homes and friends to come to the Pacific Coast, especially Southern California, expecting to effect a cure, or even to prolong their lives, for after several months of careful study, noting the condition of poor unfortunate beings who have left their eastern homes on a long journey to the land of flowers, some of them presumably by advice of their physicians, who know that they were past help and not wanting them to die on their hands. No doubt some of them have disposed of their belongings either by sale or mortgage for a nominal sum, only to meet disappointment and find themselves homeless, money gone and dependent on the charity of those whom they have no claim upon, sooner or later to pass away and be laid in the potter's field with no friend or relative to keep the grass green over their graves, or even follow them to their last resting place. It is no uncommon thing to see a funeral procession composed of the hearse, and one carriage containing the pallbearers, winding its way to some place of burial with some unfortunate who has passed away without friend or relative to offer a word of consolation in his last moments. The secret organizations of this city certainly do honor to themselves whenever a member passes away, let him be from home or abroad. That also is getting to become a burden, but they continue to fulfill their obligation to a Brother with becoming fortitude. My Brothers, those of you who have not had the opportunity to study the situation in person can hardly realize the condition of affair in this land of sunshine and flowers. There are great opportunities on this coast for healthy people who have a little capital to invest, outside of living in, I believe, one of the most congenial climates in our broad land. Consumptives should seek a climate where the air is light and dry; it is full of damp on this coast. As I said before, there are good opportunities here for healthy energetic people. With the opening of the Salt Lake Railroad and the Panama Canal this coast is going to see a revolution that will be a surprise to the most fastidious, up-to-date business man, and the young man that gets in on the ground floor will be able to pass his declining years in peace and luxury where all kinds of fruit and flowers are a continuous luxury. To my Brothers and Sisters in the north and east, I know full well how to sympathize with you for the next few months, hugging the stove and paying coal bills, while I hug (not the girls) but the shady side of the street. If any of you should happen to get off the track and fetch up at Los Angeles, don't slight me, but call at the Hotel Palms, one of the pleasantest homes in the city I won't promise to spread a banquet for you, but will try to make your stay pleasant. Having retired from railroad service after a varied career of thirty-seven years, I have no railroad news to impart, only that I called on a certain master mechanic near San Francisco and asked him for a job. He looked at me a few moments and said, 66 You are too dd old for any use." turned on his heel for the roundhouse, and the engines were so thick and high I lost sight of him; the Brother that introduced me stood five minutes, more or less, then said (leaving out the strong language), "What do you think of that ?" I said, Maybe the next Congress will pass a law to kill us after we get gray or worn out in the service. I think I had better call a halt before the Editor kicks. Fraternally yours, C. R. GURNEY, Div. 419. Engine Driver Snobbery. HOBOKEN, N. J., Nov. 17, 1904 EDITOR JOURNAL; In this month's number of the JOURNAL is a letter from Mr. J. S. Bell protesting against the use of the words "engine driver" by two New York papers. If Mr. Bell will pause a moment and think, he will remember that the New York Herald is so "decidedly English, you know," that it invariably speaks of our engine crews as the "driver" and "stoker." The New York Sun never hesitates to throw a slur on labor, particularly organized labor. Moreover, if Mr. Bell and I have in mind the same "prominent railway journal" which also attempts the use of the same misnomer, I want to remind him that the editor is a canny Scot," who really can't see anything very good on this side of the pond, except the good American dollars. Yours truly, 66 Often when the night has been black and boisterous with angry storms, or cold and desolate in midwinter, we have lain down in our snug berths listening to the clatter of the swiftly moving train, with a sense of security because we knew there were two noble men standing in the cab watching with vigilant eyes against danger. There they are, gazing along the track, conscious that hundreds of lives are entrusted to their care, that these hundreds of sleeping passengers are resting calmly in the conviction that they will not fail to do their duty. They are all strangers to them. At the stations while the train waits for the passengers to take their meals, none of them think it worth while to speak to these knights of the rail. They are going somewhere they are-who knows even their names? The conductor, brakeman and porter are brought more or less in contact with them and they know something of each other; there is a little mutual fellowship at least. But the engineer and fireman stand apart, their faces are begrimed with soot, their clothes soiled, and their hands are hard and unseemly. On the road, after a long night of |