The Oklahoma Farmer and Laborer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 39, Ed. 1 Friday, January 6, 1911 Page: 3 of 4
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LAYS THE TRACKS
RAILROAD ENGINEERS HAVE
MARVELOUS MACHINE.
RAILROAD MEN HAVE HEART SCIENCE IN FARMING.DEVICE FOR CORN PLANTING
V
Section Gangs Likely to Find Them-
selves Out of a Job When This
Device Is Put Into Gen-
eral Use.
Labor-saving machinery has at last
Invaded the province of the track
layer and the Job
of the section
hand is at stake.
"Bo," the rail- I
roud bulJder, en-
gineers say, is
about to be re-
tired and a mar
velously simple j
machine will do ,
his work. And,
the other work
men assert, the ■
Greek is to blame
for It.
A track-laying j
machine for the
benefit of the i
Greeks may prove
the undoing of the section hand
and the rail gang man, who for fifty
years or more have traveled from
coast to coast and laid the steel rails
that gird the country.
The origin and necessity for the
machine resulted from the Greek's
aversion to lifting. He doesn't hate
work, but he does despise heavy lift
ing In the days when the Irishman
flourished on the section and in the
rail gang eight men would take a 700-
pound rail and lift it above their
beads, and they deTlghted in such
feats of strength and skill.
But not the Greeks. Sixteeu Greeks
to a < no-pound rail are none too many,
and likely as not the; will consume
live minutes carrying the rail up a
five-fcot embankment where the Irish-
men would have had it up In a min-
ute.
Over half of the section gangs In
America are made up of Greeks, and
even a larger proportion of the rail
gangs are of Hellenic origin. A ma-
chine was necessary and the engineers
got busy in a hurry.
The new track laying apparatus,
Cm'1 (
|A ilrK
\\
At Cost of Extra Coal and Late Train*
They Place Little Girl on
the Flyer.
She was Just a plain little girl of |
seven, yet for her two great limited j
trains were sidetracked on the prai-
ries, their schedules thrown out 20
minutes, and $100 went up In loco-
motive smoke.
Homer Bull, of Hull Rrotljers, print-
ers, of Seattle, Wash., told the story.
When he was coming from W< Hat-
ches, on the Great Northern, the oth-
er day, a tiny little maid, all by her- j
self, took the seat In front of him.
"You're on the wrong train, my lit
tie girl," said the conductor, as he
looked at her ticket "Is anybody
with you?" °
"No," she said. "1 Just got on with
the rest of the people."
"But your ticket is for Spokane and
this train Is going to Seattle. The
bridge is burned behind us and there
is trouble in the mountains. There
won't be another train for 2-1 hours."
"Well, I'm going to Spokane," she
said with childish faith.
"All right, little girl; we'll see what
we can do."
Then trainmen and dispatchers got
busy. The west bound train was to
wait on a siding lor the flying Spo-
kane express to pass It. The Seattle
train rushed to the siding Miles
flashed under the wheels. Then a
flagman was Bent out to stop the J
Spokane flyer.
The west-bound train skidded past
the standing train. Then the conduc- '
tor picked up the little girl and hard- j
ed her to a brakenmn on the Spokane
train, with a word of explanation.
It made two traius late and cost
something in extra coal.
"Railroad men ! ive hearts," the
conductor explain •••'. "I've got a little 1
gal at home my - f just about the
size of that youngster."
One of Prime
Throughout- Entire Country,
Soils of Country Are Greatest Asset
Nation Has and Progress In All
Directions Depends Largely on
Their Condition.
Drops Kernels Neatly Into Rows and
Spa'de-Like Apparatus Covers Them
Necessities Over—Works Easy.
Among the many implements in-
vented" from time to time to make
the life of the farmer easier Is the
corn planter shown here and1 designed
by an Oklahoma man It will save
the farmer from many an aching back,
for where he formerly had to stoop
| Innumerable times in sowing corn and
covering up the trenches, this device
will enable him to walk along the
rows with head and shoulders erect.
The general shape of this apparatus
la shown In the cut Below the handle
FOR SAFETY ON RAILROADS
Eiyht Men Would Take a 100-Pound
Rail and Lift it Above Their Heads.
now in use on the Illinois divisions of
the Wabash, is no fancy affair; sim-
ply a handcar with a derrick of the
lever type mounted upon it. It is op-
erated I \ four men, who affix the rail
tongs to the rail, then swing the lever
and up the 700 pound strip of steel
*• It is primitive, but saves so
much time that railroads are contem-
plating its general use.
"The sawing to be effected through
the general use of a track-la; Ing ma-
chine cannot be accurately estimated
at present," said an official. "It is cer-
tain though, that its scope will not be
limited to any local division of the
Wabash. Gradually, ar Improvements
r< made. It wi I be supplied to all sec-
tion foremen, and, of course, one or
more will be a part of the regular ma-
chinery of the track-laving gang.
"The Greeks say they like to work
with it. They do not realize, perhaps,
that it may mean work for only a few.
it will be difficult to divide them into
mi: gai gs The Greek is clannish.
He likes to be with his fellows. To
•< ■;•• • them in small crews of three
=111(1 four g< ncrally means trouble."
If the track-laying machinery comes
into general use it will mean no work
for one railway official who is but lit-
tle known to the traveling public
which rides over the rails which he
r<\ y caused to be laid. The "scout,"
ar employment agent, who works night
and day attempting to fill the ranks of
the section gangs and railroad build-
ers, will be out of a job If the ma-
chines cut down the number employed
to one-fourth of their present numeri-
cal strength.
Commerce Commlesion Orders Uni-
form Equipment at Enormous
Cost to the Lines.
Uniform standards for the equip-
ment of railroad cars nnd locomotives
with safety appliances were pre-
scribed by an order issued by the
interstate commerce commission. The
order Is the result of a long continued
agitation for uniformity. All the ap
Hlances covered by the commission's
order are now used, except that two
additional ladders are required on
certain classes of cars and two addi-
tional si'l steps are required on all.
Although the railroads contended
that the changes would immediately
cost approximately $">0,000,000, the
commission is of oplulon that "com-
pliance with the order will not cause
any undue expense to the railroads,
as the order applies entirely to new
equipment and is immediately effec-
tive only with respect to new cars."
Sufficient time will be granted to the
railroads properly to equip their old
cars with the new standards.
Edward A. Moseley, secretary of
the commission, who has devoted
nearly a third of a century to the
work of obtaining these standards
and to securing the enactment by
congress of safety appliance and em-
ployers' liability legislation, collapsed
from an attack of heart disease on
the day the agreement as to the
standards was reached. His condition
is regarded as serious, and he may
never be able to resume active work.
James Wilson, secretary of agricul-
ture, in a recent address delivered in
Chicago, told of the necessity of bet-
ter farming throughout the entire
country. In the course of his remarks
he said:
To stop a growing decrease in the
yield of the average acre, the govern-
ment has made provision for the es-
tablishment of agricultural colleges
and.experimental stations. Within the
last few years the acre has been re-
sponding better and the yield is in-
creasing. Conservation of natural re-
sources has had a great deal of at- j
tent ion lately. I think broad-minded !
men will have no dilllculty in reach- j
ing the conclusion that the soils of
the country are the greatest asset the
nation has, that progress in all direc- j
tions depends upon the condition of
the soil, and that there is no material
inquiry of such great value as what
pertains to the soils of the United |
States. The notion is not worth be-
ing entertained that any of our soils
are beyond redemption.
The people of the older nations of
the world took care of fertility of the
soil as a matter of prime necessity,
and long ago ascertained the proper is a lever, which can easily be operat-
suecession of crops and their relation ed by the same hand that carries the
to the soil, the food of man, and the implement. This lever controls u
food of animals. hinged lip at the tapering bottom of
They knew the soil must be fed, the receptacle, which, of course, holds
that proper physical conditions must the corn kernels, and when it is press-
be maintained, and they learned from ed th« lip opens a crack and lets the
experience how to do it. They learned kernels Alter through. When the
that the decaying plant returned to pressure on the lever is removed the
the soil is the best food the growing lip doses by means of a spring. The
plant can have. They became aware little spadelike arrangement at the
that the removal of the crops from bottom, also controlled by the lever.
A Corn-Planting Device.
is used to scrape the dirt into the
trench as the corn is sowed.
MACHINE FOR CIGAR SMOKING
ment of Agriculture to Teet
Quality of Tobacco.
The curious apparatus here Illus-
trated is a cigar smoking device used
at the Department of Agriculture at
Washington to test the burning quali-
ties of cigars. The smoking is accom-
plished by allowing the water in the
glass vessel at the left to escape
gradually through tubes. This move
ment of water creates a vacuum, and
Size Settles Question of Fare.
"Curious," said an old railroad con-
ductor to a New York Sun man, "how
parents' memories lapse sometimes
about the age of their children. Hut
up at Bronx Park, in running the
electric launches that ply from the
boathouse there on the Bronx river,
they have a fare system that avoids
all such mistakes and does away with
any necessity of remembering on the
part of parents whatever. On these
boats the fare for adults and children
oyer four feet in height Is ten cents,
for children under four feet in height,
five cents. There's a system that
seems to be simplicity lts lf, don't
you think? You never have to ask
how old a child is, you go by the
child's height, regardless of age, and I
don't know but what that system
might be applied to advantage on
railroads. You could just have a four-
foot mark on the jamb of the door
through which passengers passed,
nnd Just back the child up against
that mark. It would take far less
time than the talk now necessary in
arguing about the child's age."
the farm resulted in soil deterioration
unless the equivalent was returned
from some source. They had discov-
ered the value of the legume in farm
management long before Hellriegel
discovered its office in fixing nitrogen
In the soil.
The southern states are making
great progress in agriculture, and in-
stances of production, indicating what
the soil can be made to do, might be
cited. Boys under sixteen years of
age in South Carolina grew 228 bush-
els of corn to an acre. Even In the
gieat corn belt nothing of that kind
has ever been done. The average in
the corn belt Is quite low; that aver-
ag > might be greatly increased.
Each of 46,400 boys under sixteen
years of age has grown corn or pota-
toes or tobacco or some other crop
during the season lust passed. What-
ever the boy is doing interests the
mature man. The southern states are
offering prizes to boys who have or-
ganized themselves into clubs for the
purpose of bringing up to full activity
the productive powers of the southern
EOll.
That might be done in other sec
tions of the country with great profit.
The boy of 16 who has grown two or
three times the average amount of
corn grown on an acre in his state,
begets an interest in the farm. He
sees the profit resulting from good
management. He learns his first les-
son with regard to fertilizing and with
regard to cultivation, the proper selec-
tion of seed, and all that; and he also as the air Is sucked Jnto the vacant
learns the most valuable lessons he part of the vessel the suction causes
will ever get in his life. a pull on the cigars, four of which are
Work similar to this need not be smoked at a time. The action is ex-
confined to corn, tobacco and pota- actly the same as when a smoker
toes, but might also be done with re draws air through a cigar by puffing,
gard to all other larm Interests.
TROLLEY TO MOUflT.VERNON
No Longer Necessary to Sail Down
the Potomac to Reach the
Home of Washington.
In these days of trolley cars and
Interurban connections it is no longer
necessary to sail down the Potomac
to reach Mount Vernon, although that
is always a pleasant trip. The Wash
ington, Alexandria and Mount Vernon
trolley cars carry passengers along
the river's wooded shores, pass
through quaint old Alexandria and on
to an entrance of the estate leading
to the rear of the mansion house. The
train crosses a bridge* which has re
placed the famous old long bridge
over which the Union army marched
in the '60s, a privilege denied tin* con
' federate troops.
' As soon as the Virginia side is
reached the conductor hangs up cards
one In the front of the car with the
I significant word "White," and one in
the back which indicates that back
, scats are for colored passengers. This
j means that in obedience to the laws
; of Virginia you must, if a white pas
, sengt r, move from the back seat you
may have legally taken in Washing
| ton and leave it for the occupancy of
the n gro passengers, who are forbid
I d fn to sit in front. At Arlington
Junction, where passengers change
t ins !or Arlington National cemetery,
there is a small frame station with two
rooms Over the door of one Is print-
Mi, "For White Passengers." Over
the other is the notice, "For Colored
Passengers."
Mount Vernon, with its century-old
ites, its formal English gardens, Its
hedges of boxwood, Its deer park, its
sun dial, Its old-fashioned barn, its
outbuildings for the servants—the
kitchen, the butler's house, the laun
j dry, the spinning house—Its kitchen
| fireplace, big enough to hold several
nit ti in standing posture, its rolling
| acres of velvety lawn—is so reminis-
cent of the estate of an English gen
Heman that It makes the democracy
of the man who held it the more re-
markable It is not strange that after
i he had done his work he was content
j to remain here and look after his
j broad acres The Mount Vernon
Indies' association, which through its
| state regents holds and cares for the
i property, has forever removed from
I the nation the fear that the first pres
Curious Apparatus Used by Depart- ident's house would fall into neglect
and decay
Cigar Smoklng Machine.
Railroad High Up in Alps.
The highest railroad in the Alps la
now working. It is that of the Col
de la Berlina, between the Engladine
and Valterllne, from St. Morltz and
Putresna to Tirono. It is a narrow
line and rises to 2,380 meters, or near-
ly 7,340 feet. The railroad is worked0
by electricity, and the declivity is 70
In 100. There are only three small
Lunr. *ls so the excursionists enjoy the
:-cesery to the full.
Sport.
"Little boy, the reason I called you
away from that crowd of wicked ladB
who are tossing for pennies is that I
was afraid you would get cold feet
from standing there in the snow
watching theiu."
"Don't worry, leddy. I don't look
Pullmans for Invalids.
Invalid railroad travelers in Switz-
erland will soon be able to enjoy all
the comforts of a well equipped sick
room. The Swiss federal railroads
have Just ordered four Pullman
coaches specially fitted for the trans-
fort of Invalids.
Each car, costing $12,000, will be di-
vided into seven compartments, the
center compartment being for the pa-
tients. There is to be an operating
room for urgent cases requiring imme-
diate surgical treatmdent and Another
compartment will be equipped as a
pharmacy. Electric bed warmers and
bath heaters will be provided. The
other compartments will be set apart
for doctors, nurses and friends of
the patients.
PLOW FOR RECLAIMED SWAMP
Peculiar Character of Louisiana Soil
Causes Development of Unusual
Mechanical Device.
The peculiar character of the soil In
the reclaimed swamps of Louisiana
has caused the development of an un-
usual mechanical device, known tech-
nically as (he "caterpillar."
When the water is drained away
from the swamp lands the soil at first
is so soggy that a horse cannot walk
on it. For some time this sponglness
makes It impossible to do anything to-
ward development.
The necessity of plowing the land,
and also rolling It, caused makers
| of traction engines to put broad
wheels on light machines. These
wheels are connected by a belt of
j heavy wood that forms a roadway
j wherever the machine goes. The mov-
able sidewalk under the machine is
broad enough so that the engine does
not become mired. When the soil has
been rolled and plowed In this man
ner It quickly becomes firm enough for
ordinary farming.
Strong Demand for Horses.
Proml cuous cross breeding never
leads to desirable results.
If you have alfalfa hay give the
brood sows a feed of daily.
If you have colts to break, do not
try to teach them too much at once.
Exercise will help make the streak
of lean and streak of fat that is de-
sired.
Bright oat straw makes very good
roughage for horses not working hard
during the winter months.
Ho the pig* squeal because they are
hungry or cold? Find out; there is
no profit In either condition.
Cold pressed cottonseed cake
should be fed at the rate of about one
pound to nine pounds of corn.
There is a growing demand for
rood bacon. Rangy breeds, with ten-
der. lean. Juicy meat are the ones to
bring profit.
The large Pekln ducks are profit-
able .to raise. The small common
ducks do not weigh enough to make
them profitable
Farm manure always han been and
probably always will be the most im-
portant and most abundant material
HOW CROP REPORTS ARE MADE
Some Details of the Comprehensive
System Employed by the Depart-
ment of Agriculture.
While traveling through Georgia I
came across one of the township cor
respondents, appointed by the agricul
tural department of Washington, who
send in monthly reports regarding the
; crop conditions in their counties, says
a writer in National Magazine. The
details of the comprehnesive system
employed by the department In gath-
ering crop information from all over
the country are Interesting. There are
30,000 township correspondents neat
tered all over the Union, whose duty
It Is to go carefully over the territory
and submit each month concrete In
formation as to the condition of all
kinds of crops. In addition to this
branch 3,000 "county correspondents"
semi in separate reports from those
of the township men. A state agent
makes a further report direct from
his agents, and an organization in di-
rect communication with the depart
ment comprising 17 traveling fi <l
agents," go about the country and
make separate reports for gro ips of
states Special cotton correspondents
are also employed to furnish accurate
information concerning the cotton
yield. Five different reports are sent
to Washington each month, by five
different sets of correspondents. This
safeguards the government crop re-
ports for accuracy in local crop re-
portr., and keeps the great crop ac
count and cost estimates for the mil-
lions of American farmers. These
records are sent to the agricultural de-
partment. Mr. Olmstead of the bureau
of statistics, and Mr. Murray, his as
"Don't do It!" cried the man on the
settee.
"Haven't you got any sense at all?**
asked the man who was hunting some-
thing In the bookcase0
"I'm amazed at your stupidity," of-
fered the third man.
Young Dabbs appeared irritated.
"Are you all crazy?" he inquired "I
merely said I was going to pay my
dinner call at the Buckmans'. Wlfy
this row?"
"Don't you see," said the man on
the settee, patiently, "that If you pay
your call they'll ask you again?"
"Don't you know," asked the man at
the bookcase, "that the easiest way to
escape social stunts Is to be brutally
rude?"
"Still, sometimes they call rudeness
engaging eccentricity," said the third
man, pessimistically. "Yet In the long
run It helps some."
"It can't possibly be," went on the
man on the settee, who had been re-
garding the perplexed face of young
Dabbs, 'that you enjoy the society
act? I know you are young, Dabbs.
but you aren't young enough for that!
You must be twenty seven and there-
fore old enough to know better! In
the kindness of your heart you say:
'Here are these good people going to
all sorts of trouble getting up dinners
and card parties and dances and teas
and the least I can do as a perfect
gentleman Is to Immolate myself on
the altar of friendship and accept
their invitation.' Thus you go on en-
couraging them In the mistaken ideas
and piling up trouble for yourself and
everybody else Instead of having the
courage of your convictions and throw-
ing their cards into your waste basket!
They'd thank you in the end! You
don't suppose people enjoy giving par-
ties, do you?"
"I never suppose anything about
it.! "said young Dabbs. "They enter
tain their friends because they want
to.'*
The man at the bookcase groaned
and, sitting down, regardod young
Dabbs seriously.
"My boy," he said, "you are even
younger than I thought! Do you sup-
pose for a minute that old Buckman
wouldn't infinitely have preferred hunt-
ing out his pipe and the last maga-
zine and hunching up In nn easv chair
in the don hv himself for ing
to climbing into a spike t t and
choky collar nnd a necktie that
wouldn't tie and listening to Mrs dit-
ties relate for the fifteenth time how
her parrot accidentally hanged itself?
Do you, in your wildest dreams, think
Mrs. Buckman was entranced with
spending the day telephoning caterers
and arguing with a cook who threat
ened to leave at the eleventh hour and
spoil everything? Don't you suppose
when the last one of you disappear
down the front steps she said: 'Thank
i goodness, that's over?' "
"For ten years," put In the third
man. "I've obediently trailed around to
parties with my wife and only today
have I tasted the sweets of rebellion!
There was a card party tonight and
this morning I firmly said I wouldn't
go! I told Isabel she could take my
nephew In my place. He's young and
an easy mark. He's having a good
time and so am I and why under cre-
ation I haven't done It before I don't
know!"
"I knew a man once," said the man
on the settee, "who was so gruff and
1 impolite and inconsiderate that peo-
. plo really quit asking him to places!
j It sounds too good to be true, hut it's
so. He led the most peaceful, un-
annoyed life and never had to bother
1 thinking up excuses! It does seem
! a shame that Dabbs here should let
himself sink In so deep, because when
he does come out of his trance he'll
have the dickens of a time breaking
away! Actually paying a dinner call!
: Lunacy!"
I "Oh, you fellows make me tired!'*
said Dabbs. "You like to go to places
as well as the next one!"
"Nonsense!*' they told him em-
Blatant and a board go over all the phatlcally.
five reports from five distinct groups "Well, anyhow, I suppose you'll all
of correspondents, and from all the to the Bettles' supper and theater
figures a crop report estimate Is dis-
tributed to 70,000 post offices through-
out the county every month.
Young Woman's Long Ride.
Miss Marion Oliver, daughter of
Gen. Robert Shaw Oliver, assistant
secretary of war. recently completed
a ride thnt would wear out four-
fifths of the men who undertook It.
She rode 153 miles over the ragged
Indian trails of Arizona and New Mex-
ico with her father, who was on a
tour of inspection of southwestern
posts and garrisons. Anyone who
has ever seen that country knows
how broken it is and how difficult a
feat Miss Oliver performed. The trip
was made in less than four weeks.
Mrs. Herbert Wadsworth accompa-
nied General Oliver and his daughter
Mrs. Wadsworth had herself just com
pleted a ride of 212 miles in 20 con-
secutive hours, which is a record so
far as any woman equestrian has
| party next week." Dabbs insisted.
"The Bettles?" asked the man at the
| bookcase, straightening up. "What
night Is it? I hadn't heard. Funny
! they'd leave me out!"
j "Queer I hadn't heard of It," com-
plained the man on the settee. "I
I wouldn't have thought it of Bettles!"
| "Funny they forgot me!" said the
third man. "They never did it be-
fore! When did you get an Invitation,
j Dabbs?"
Young Dabbs grinned. "I didn't get
I one," he replied. ' They aren't giving
1 any party. I Just wanted to see If
you fellows meant what you said about
hating social stunts. And now I'll go
and make that call on tne Buckmans!"
There have been more three and for soll improvement.
four yeftr old horses sold on the Chi p0 noj always be fussing with the
cago market during the past few pitting hens. Feed and water them
years than ever before 'I his means rpgniarly and Bust twice a week with been recorded.
that there are not enough horses on |n(,eot powder, but otherwise let them *
"'The proper time to begin milking Llable to Arre,t and Flne'
heifer jr any other cow) Is when j The practise °f writing on newspa
Could Not Do Otherwise.
"She praised your complexion to the
skies."
"So she Bhould, she borrowed tnjr
the market to supply the normal city
demand; otherwise these good young
horses would not be bought for use
upon the streets Notwithstanding
tho inroads that automobile trucks
and drays have made In the street
transportation, there Is still a greater
demand for horses than there lias
ever been before. There never was
n time that promised better returns
to the breeder of sound, heavy draft
the udder becomes painfully distend- j Pprs and packages—Imparting some ,
ed with milk, and no 111 effects should Information to relatives and friends | 1? fireproof."
follow from such milking. | on papers and parcels mailed them—
Some men have cleared 100 per has become so common with thought-
cent. on their money In sheep for ' '"Ha am' 'Knorant people that (he J10
years; but tneRe are the real shep penalty of the past has been made
herds Not every man has the skep- | *100 ^ the lM)8lal department, and
herd Instinct: but we may all do bet hereafter offenders will have to stand
Had No Chance.
j "But," protested the aged suitor.
; "do you not think you could learn to
! love me In time?" "In a long time,
i perhaps," replied the fair maid. "But
your time will be entirely too short."
His Somber Reflection.
"Some people," observed the dldao-
j do boarder, "seem to think morality
Is a kind of spiritual asbestos; but
I havo my doubts akout Its being real-
Bad for Buttons.
"Five hundred thousand people ftt
In and out of New York every day."
"Think of the buttons they must
lose every morning and night In the
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The Oklahoma Farmer and Laborer (Guthrie, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 39, Ed. 1 Friday, January 6, 1911, newspaper, January 6, 1911; Guthrie, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc101713/m1/3/: accessed April 19, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.