other vocation outside the railroad world. Last year was a bad year in this section of the country, for a beginner especially, on account of the summer and fall drought. I hope I may be able to tell you a different story next fall, if we all live. I will soon be in clover, as the boys say, as the fishing season is fast approaching and I have fine lakes near home of my own.

I find a great deal of comfort once a month when my JOURNAL comes; but I take issue with a great many articles, though I keep still merely to show my good Brothers I am as their law decrees, dead The established laws of our Brotherhood forbid any Brother not in active service from holding or performing any official duties of the B. of L. E. Men serve out their days in the order in active service, and soon a circumstance forcés them from active service. They themselves close the doors upon them, through some selfish motive, I presume, unknown to me; hence they are dead to the Brotherhood as soon as they come in possession of honorary membership. I have no desire to be in any way sarcastic, but if I am living I intend to try to represent myself in the insurance association at our next convention. I have that right if I can establish the proof of my membership, according to the laws of Ohio, yet I have no right to represent others without credentials.

Hoping I have not offended anyone I beg to be remembered among the many well-wishers for the future prosperity of our beloved Brotherhood.

Fraternally yours,

B. A. PICKREN. Brother Pickren will certainly receive a hearty welcome from many of the older delegates who have served with him in conventions, if he puts in an appearance, as he was a vigorous representative, and made many friends among even those with whom he disagreed. EDITOR.

Montana Legislative Board.

GREAT FALLS, MONT., April 14, 1905. EDITOR JOURNAL: At the meeting of the legislature of the State of Montana we had a State Legislative Board, and

they did some work we are all proud of. There was a bill introduced that limited the hours of work for a man that was in any way connected with the movement of trains to fifteen hours. Twelve hours were considered, and after considering the bill from a general standpoint, it was decided that fifteen hours would best suit the condition of everybody concerned in the state. This bill passed the lower house and went to the senate, to be defeated. Our representative informed us that some of our Brothers who are not working on the Central are responsible for its defeat, as they said that on their road they were making runs in eight hours and that they did not need any such law. If that is true and there was a law limiting the hours of work to fifteen hours, it would not interfere with them nor the road that gives them work; but a law of that kind would help in a great many cases, as it would have a strong tendency to stop engine and train failure, as these failures on the road do not make money for the company. Such matters would be looked after more closely and I believe that both men and company would be benefited the same as they were by the power brake and automatic coupler. Who is benefited by the appliance of such a device more than the company?

What Division 504 wants is to get all railroad men awakened to the present situation; a State Legislative Board, an International Joint Legislative Board, and see if the interests of the men and the traveling public cannot be looked after, before some of us are called upon to handle 100-ton cars with a 250-ton engine on a 6-foot track. Fraternally yours,

J. V. BLASDEL, Div. 504.

Shorter Hours.

DALHART, TEX., April 27, 1905. EDITOR JOURNAL: In looking at the past history of our Brotherhood, it is not an unpleasant retrospect, for it tells of lessons learned, of victories won; but are we not prone to content ourselves by boasting of past achievements instead of working and planning for the present and the future? Let us reason together and

through the columns of our JOURNAL and in our meetings discuss and solve the problems that confront us. Let us get our bearings and locate ourselves correctly and when we do I think we will find ourselves working longer hours, getting less nights of sleep, less days of rest, less days at home, than any other class of the world's toilers.

I admit that when we reckon in cents and dollars there has been a slight increase in wages. When we take into consideration the purchasing power of a day's wages as compared with ten years ago, we will find the increase has been very slight; but when we reckon in comforts of home and days of pleasure (which I claim should be counted in the sum total of the wages of life's labor) we will find, and I think the most optimistic will be bound to admit, that wages have been decreased and woefully decreased.

It is needless for me to point out the cause of these greater hardships, as all our Brothers are familiar with the conditions which have brought them about, but will say that the present conditions and present prosperity have failed to benefit the railway trainmen or enginemen of today.

Now, while President Roosevelt may see the need of and earnestly desire shorter hours for railway men, I do not look for any strenuous and united effort on the part of railway presidents and managers until the men on their part evince an earnest desire for a short day.

Now, I would like to know of any class of laborers, either common or skilled, that put in the long hours of the railroad men, and while every other class has had its hours of toil shortened, the hours of the railway employees have beeu lengthened. Now, is there any Brother who thinks there is anything attainable more to be desired than shorter hours. If so, let us hear from him. Does any Brother think compulsory attendance at meetings or reduced representation at conventions more beneficial to our order? If so, let him hold up his hand." Let us leave the question to be decided by a vote of our Brother

hood, and then if a majority decide in favor of shorter hours, let us put forth a united, earnest and determined effort to accomplish the desired result. This can be done with profit to ourselves and with little additional cost to the railways.

Believing in a standard scale and shorter hours, I am Yours fraternally,

A. S. LONG.

The Non-Brotherhood Man.

At different times one sees in the newspapers the fact commented on that engineers who belong to the Brotherhood never refuse to work with non-Brotherhood men and their treatment of this element in their calling is always commented on very favorably and the Brotherhood praised for its very liberal spirit and its deep sense of justice, in allowing the non-Brotherhood man to be a free moral agent.

I have given some time to finding out what kind of men composed this element and for the sake of brevity I will put them in three classes: The first of these is composed of men who have been rejected by the B. of L. E., but have become fixtures on the road upon which they work before their method of life was found out. Many of this class have at some time belonged to the Brotherhood, but on account of their evil habits have been expelled.

The second class is made up of men who seek official favor by staying out of the Brotherhood. They always go to great pains to let the officials know that they do not belong and imagine that when they prostitute their manhood, their way will be smooth and promotion sure. If they would only reason the thing out right they could readily see why they miss in their calculations.

The average railroad official is an American or strongly imbued with the American spirit of independence and has no use for the man who has a dishrag for a backbone and they do respect a man who is fair, honorable, and just; one who only wants what is right and is willing to fight for it if necessary.

The third class are those with mercenary spirit, who do not get the right con

ception of their natural duty, or men who are willing to take anything they can get without paying for it. They see the result of the constant work of their fellow engineers, see the improvement brought about by the good work of the Brotherhood and they accept everything but pay for nothing.

He

I will relate a couple of cases that came to my knowledge, engineers who thought they did not need the Brotherhood. One of them is the case of an engineer who had run an engine for a number of years and had been fairly successful. He had been asked several times if he did not think that he would need the Brotherhood at some time. always offered some excuse and put the matter off from day to day. His death was very sudden; he left a wife and several children wholly unprovided for. At the time of his death I went to his home and found them without means to bury him and not enough money in the house to send telegrams to distant relatives and I had to guarantee the undertaker that his bill would be paid before he would take charge of the funeral. The suffering that this family had to endure on account of his indifference and carelessness I do not care to tell here for it makes one's heart ache to think about it.

The other case was that of an engineer who from dissolute habits broke down and for more than two years was a helpless invalid taken care of by those that he should have protected. He always claimed that he did not believe in the Brotherhood-that it did not do any good. He changed his mind in his last days, when too late. In this case the Brotherhood cared for him as a charity patient and laid him away in the best possible shape so that he did not sleep his last sleep in Potter's Field.

These are fair samples of the men running engines who can get along without the Brotherhood. I have only touched on their cases; to have told all about them would have sounded like a story from Dante. Our Brotherhood stands for the betterment of man. Its constant aim is to make men better, to improve their

condition in life in every way possible. The man who runs an engine and is not helping to do this is a burden to his fellow man and I think as much of him as I do of the man whose hand I find in my pocket and not one bit more. B.

Long Hours.

LITTLETOWN, PA., April 9, 1905. EDITOR JOURNAL.. I am reminded in your own kind way of my lack of composition for the past year. I have also been asked by my Brothers of 104 why articles do not appear more frequently signed Loughrea. One Brother whom I had not met for a long while, on meeting me, exclaimed, "Hello, I thought you were dead," which was almost true, as I am now on a run hard enough to kill a dog. Even now while I am penning these lines, I am off duty to recuperate. Imagine an engineer rising from his bed at 4:30 A. M. every day except Sunday, and going to bed at 10:30 P. M., without having a place during the whole day where he could catch the two hours' nap he don't get at home.

The trend of the railroad companies of late appears to me to get all the hours and miles out of the men they can for a day. What has become of the old agreement that one hundred miles constitutes a day's work or that ten or twelve hours away from home means an honest day rendered? True, the freight men on the great P. R. R. get overtime after a certain number of hours, but how about the passenger men? Each answers, not a penny. The hardship is felt most on the branch roads or layovers where there are no mechanics to do work that may be needed, this duty naturally falling to the lot of the overwearied engineer, which at times keeps him out of bed one or two hours more. After all this lack of rest the traveling public insists on having an eagle-eyed engineer at the throttle, and if this engineer complains to the bosses, they appear to be paid for nothing else but to inform said engineer that he has a soft snap. We have some Brothers here who make 100, 170 and 190 miles per day, and away from home 14 and 16

hours, other Brothers who make but 70 and 75 miles per day and away from home 8 and 10 hours, which is not a good showing for the officers who arrange the runs.

Now, my Brothers, reflect on the above and then ask Loughrea if he is dead. However, we are promised better times after the spring change, when I will endeavor to do better.

LOUGHREA, Div. 104.
Oslerized.

EDITOR JOURNAL: Dr. Osler's statement regarding the age limit of a man has attracted considerable comment.

Personally, I consider that the remarks of this distinguished professor do mankind at large an immense amount of harm; I do not believe, I cannot believe, his remarks will improve the general standing of a single individual of this country.

There has been for some time a disposition on the part of the employers of labor to discriminate against men who have reached the age of 40 or 45 years: we have seen the practice gradually develop and we know its consequences; Brotherhood suffers today for this blight put upon the lives of the "breadwinners."

Our

It seems hardly credible in the face of history that a man of the reputed intelligence of Dr. Osler would tell the world that a man at the age of 40 had reached the apex of his usefulness, and that from the age of 40 until 60 he should rest and then be disposed of; his meaning may not be correctly interpreted, or understood, but it will add harm and a greater burden to great numbers of our brother laborers, and more mothers and babes will have cause to mourn.

The man who is ripe, the man who has learned every detail of his profession, the man who is thoroughly practical in every sense of the word, is being turned down to make way for the younger man, and the people like lambs are being led to slaughter without a protest that could consistently be called by that name.

Not long since a man reputed to be one

of the best mechanical engineers in the state of Illinois committed suicide in Chicago because he had been refused employment on account of his age, which was something over 50.

If intelligent men with good mental and physical health, having good sight and hearing, must be turned adrift, then the quicker that the chloroforming process is brought into vogue the better it will be at least for those who want to die bad enough to take their own lives.

We have in our city an institution called the Grand Rapids Medical College-pardon this advertisement. The president of this college, a physician of some repute locally, made an address before the Bible class of one of our prominent churches on a recent Sabbath; his "spouting" was in defense of the belief of Dr. Osler; I will quote some extracts from the speech of our local professor:

"I am glad Dr. Osler spoke as he did, he has declared a truth which has been repeated for ages. Dr. Osler desired to impress upon his class of college graduates the results of wasting their youth, for it is a fact that if a man fail to distinguish himself before the age of 40, he will fail to do so afterwards."

"Every man at birth is endowed with a certain amount of energy and if he wastes this energy in the morning of his existence, the closing of his days will be fruitless and useless."

“We see men about us who have passed their prime and who have lost all interest in life outside some narrow line of work, men who look forward to nothing but the daily grind of business; these men are degenerates and we are almost justified in saying that it would be better if they were out of the way so that their places might be filled by those who have learned how to live."

What do you think of that? What do you think of the president of a "doctor foundry" calling the faithful old mechanics and other workmen degenerates? and that he feels almost justified in saying that it would be better if they were out of the way to make room for the men who have learned how to live. I will

quote further: "fortunately nature often removes such men at an opportune time and thus saves society the disagreeable task of becoming public executioners."

I will agree with this so-called professor in his claim that men have not learned how to live in the sense of taking proper care of themselves. Not long since I heard one of the brightest physicians in the state of Michigan make the remark, "If the people knew how to take care of their health, knew how to eat, when to eat and what to eat, knew how to breathe, and in other ways obeyed the laws of nature, fully one-half of the doctors of this country would be compelled to go into other business or starve to death."

If people knew how to live, moss and creeping vine would soon cover the walks and encircle the door knobs of the Grand Rapids Medical College. If men knew how to live and the public became executioners, they could find all kinds of socalled M. D.'s to practice upon.

We have another disciple of the pill box and knife who wanted a little free advertising and wrote an article for one of our daily papers, the title of which was "Man grows old when he ceases to develop " Among other things that this doctor said was, "the majority of men do reach the age limit at 40 and 45, and then they keep declining until 60 finds them very useless." This doctor says that the three greatest enemies of mankind are "ignorance, false beliefs and prejudice." I suppose he means by ignorance that men do not know how to live: neither of these men would dare to tell mankind how to live; both M. D.'s know well what would prevent disease to a large extent, and they know that to prevent degeneration in early life the laws of health must not be violated; they do not tell the people how to live, if they did so they would "cut off the hand that feeds them," and some of these 66 one hoss" doctor foundries would have to go out of business

It seems to me that the doctors should be the very last of that class called professional men to advocate such ideas as

are inculcated in the sayings of Dr. Osler and the two learned professors from whom I have quoted. It would cut off an immense revenue to have the aged disposed of and if the men of 40 or 45 must be relegated to a life of idleness it would not be long until some of the parties relegated would not be able to buy a cubic foot of the smell in a doctor's office, if the price for the perfume was only three cents per cubic yard.

Grand Rapids has a population of about 85,000 and the city supports nearly 250 physicians, together with various kinds of healers, trained nurses, etc. I figure that the doctors, nurses, hospitals, drug stores and patent medicine venders take from the pockets of the people of this city anywhere from $800,000 to $1,000,000 a year, which foots up an annual tax of over $10 for every man, woman and child in the city; inasmuch as we hardly ever see sickness in more than 10 per cent of the homes at any one time it does not take much of a mathematician to figure out what the citizen has to pay who is unfortunate enough to have any serious sickness in his family.

I agree with Brother Hansen, of Div. 344, that the charges of the doctors should be governed by law

The man who tries to raise a family and has much sickness won't have much trouble figuring out where his money has gone; this agitation against age comes with poor grace from the class who bleed us good and proper when they have the chance. When the "grimy-handed sons of toil" like an old horse are turned out to die, it may be a pastime for them to figure out how much of an interest they own in the fine turnout or automobile within which their doctor skips by.

J. W READING, Div 286.

Are We Not Attempting a Blind Siding?

HOQUIAM, WASH., Feb. 26, 1905. EDITOR JOURNAL: Since my former articles advocating a special assessment to create a fund for endowment work, etc., I have had the advantage of the views of an acknowledged master mind " upon such themes, and the force of his argu