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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1898)
( - -t . / . Conservative. Vice President of Georgia has brought to light some old rales which governed the running of trains on the Central forty years ago. They sound strange today , even to those who are unfamiliar with the standard rules. On the old Central the practice was to run freight trains through the day only , and to stop them off at some station at night. A freight train that would leave a station after 6 o'clock would run to some point that they could reach be tween 6 and 7 o'clock , where they would remain over night , starting out again the next morning. The time card shows that they occupied the greater part of two days in running a freight train be tween Savannah and Macon , a distance of 191 miles. Following ore some of rules for engine men , taken from the time card of 1856 : ' 'The engine man will bo subject to pay the faro of any person who may ride upon his engine without proper authority. "All engines unprovided with lamps , and running at night out of time , must keep their dampers open , so as to show a light. "As a general rule , when trains meet between stations the train nearest the turnout will run back. Any dispute as to which train will retire is to be deter mined at once by the conductors , with out any interference on the part of the engine man. This rule is required to be varied in favor of the heaviest loaded engine or worst grades , if they meet near the center. In case of backing a man must be placed on the lookout so that any danger to the remotest part of the train maybe seen and the engine man at once receive notice the backing must be done cautiously. "The spark catcher or chimney of an engine getting out of order so as to en danger the safety of the train the con ductor must put the train 011 the first turnout and return his engine to Savan nah for repairs a watchman must be left with the train. "The conductor must not intrust his keys to any of the hands or suffer any person not duly authorized to enter his car , and he will in all cases be charged with freight lost or damaged while under his charge. On entering or leav ing a turnout he will see that the switches are replaced to the proper track , and he will always be certain that he arrives at a station with the same num ber of cars with which he left the last station. "All officers of this company will be required to pay freight on merchandise or produce transported over this road , except butter , eggs and fruit those articles will bo allowed to go free so far as they are required for the use of their own families. Other articles for the use of their families will be trans ported at one-half less than the usual rates. " On the South Carolina railroad time card No. 2 , June , 1855 , reads as follows : "In coses of dense fogs the down trains will run with their whistles blowing. The up trains will shut steam off the engine at every mile board and listen for the whistle of down trains. " At lanta Constitution. NATIONAL CANALS AND DEEP WATERWAYS. To the editor of THE CONSERVATIVE : Andrew Carnegie is something better and stronger than a merely rich man. In the current number of the North American he writes with characteristic clearness and force in opposition to the tendencies of our people towards terri torial expansion , and , among other things , says : "A tithe of the cost of maintaining our sway over the Philippines would improve our inter nal waterways : deepen our harbors ; construct a waterway to the ocean from the Great Lakes ; an inland canal along the Atlantic seaboard ; a canal across Florida , saving 800 miles distance between Now York and Now Orleans ; connect Lake Michigan with the Mississippi , " etc. , etc. This may remind the editor of THE CONSERVATIVE of my efforts through the late secretary of the Department of Agriculture to persuade Grover Cleveland - land to go to congress with a special message recommending the creation of a commission to examine and report upon the feasibility and importance of con structing a ship canal from broadwater on the Hudson to Lake Champlain to connect the entrance of Now York har bor with the St. Lawrence and Lake Michigan , and the Mississippi river ; and this river with the Missouri and the base of the Rocky Mountains by a deep waterway. Perhaps you may recall the plan outlined by me in a paper submit ted to the late Charles A. Dana. In stead of expending thousands of millions in war and in a vain attempt to confer -government upon races in the trop ics who are unfit for it , the truly great and beneficent way of peaceful and prosperous development is to expend a few hundred millions upon the construc tion of these ship canals and deep water ways. GEOIIGE L. MILLER. N ° W THE GOLD STAND- Evening Post of AKD FOR INDIA.Evening Saturday , Aug ust 27 , 1898 , contains interesting and instructive matter relative to the gold standard for India. Editorially The Post comments on the proposed mone tary system for that empire and ro- marlcs : "Despatches from London say that the project for establishing the gold stan dard in India is to bo carried into ef fect , or at all events to be tried. The British bimotollists have been proclaim ing with great volubility , ever since the project was first broached , that it could not bo done. They did not restrict themselves to the assertion that it would be unwise to make the attempt , but they affirmed that the thing was impossible. The India office thinks differently. Among the documents published on this subject is a brochure of fifty-five pages by Mr. H. D. MacLeod , the well-known writer on banking , credit , and currency , whose powerful essay against bimetal lism , two or three years ago , had a wide circulation in this country , both in news papers and in pamphlet form. Mr. Mac- Loed contends that it is entirely feasible ble- establish the gold standard in In- diaY He shows that there is gold enough in India now for the needs of the under- talcing , and that steps should be taken at once to utilize it. To this end he rec ommends (1) ( ) that the gold sovereign bo declared the unit of value throughout British India ; (2) ( ) that the Indian mints be authorized to coin sovereigns and half-sovereigns of exactly the weight and fineness of the British coins ; (8) ( ) that the Indian be sovereigns legal-ten der throughout the British empire , as the English and the Australian sovereigns eigns now are ; (4) ( ) that all persons bringing gold to the mints be entitled to have it coined for themselves at the , same rates as gold at the British mint in London ; (5) ( ) that the government keep the coinage of silver in its own hands exclusively ; (6) ( ) that after a fixed date silver shall be legal-tender for not more than 5 or 10 in one payment. These are tentative steps merely , but extreme ly helpful in the way of promoting the end in view. They are also absolutely free from danger except perhaps the last one , ( No. 6) ) , which can hardly bo considered essential to success. Success will bo achieved whenever the rupee circulates uninterruptedly and contin uously at par with gold at a ratio fixed by law. Mr. MacLeod favors the ratio of 16d. to the rupee , which is about the present market ratio. " It requires a good deal of boldness and a great deal of caution to make a great fortune , and when you have got it , it requires ten time's as much wit to keep it. Religion is universal , theology is ex clusive ; religion is humanitarian , theol ogy is sectarian ; religion unites man kind , theology divides it ; religion is love broad and all-comprising as God's love ; theology preaches love and prac tises bigotry ; religion looks to the moral worth of man , theology to his creed and denomination. There is a great deal that is now under the sun , to a certain class of per sons. Hero comes a newspaper called The World , printed in a town named Now York , somewhere in the East , which has heard of a startling novel regulation known as a Curfew Law be ing adopted in another settlement in that vicinity. The World looks at this innovation with suspicion , and thinks it is getting pretty near "state socialism ; " - --V IfJ