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About The courier. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1894-1903 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 1903)
THE COURIER fn tbe Workshop of a QipJIctountmt If the average citizen of Lincoln -was asked what the duties of a railroad car account? r. -were he -would probably scratch 'nil head In perplexity and tell you that bt did not have the leasl idea in the vrorlH how to answer the question. For the !af ormation of those who desire some llaht on the subject it might be pertinent n the part of the Courier to -tell whct'iiese duties are. The car ac countant was primarily the bookkeep er of tap car system. He dealt with numbers and initials, rather than with figures md totals that represented money, rhich belong to the financial nd of fie road. But of late years his duties have been greatly extended until lie hang.es matters of much statistical value. ji addition to the original work ut oat for him, concerning the move ments f cars and the figuring of mile age on foreign cars that are utilized on his system, has had his responsibilities greatly increased by a vast amount of statistical work, making it Imperative that a much larger force must be em ployed to handle the enhanced business. The evolution of the office of the Bur lington car accountant has been a revel ation to those who have been in a posi tion to keep in touch with Its progress onward and upward. The increase in the car accountant's force, due to the extension and addition of different classes of work, much of it being of a statistical kind, Is of the most surprising nature. Twelve years ago, only nine men were on the office roll, and only five years back but thirteen. But witness the phenomenal increase in the force! Seventy-five people are now in the employ of the ofllce, sixty-seven be ing men and eight women. The greatest per cent of growth has been in the last two or three years, since James J. Hill and his associates gained a controlling interest in the Burlington, and the for mer Introduced the scientific method of keeping tab on all classes of work on the system, the same as has been In vogue on the Great Northern for many years. Thirteen years ago, the labor of the office was confined to the keeping of the records of the movements of the cars on the system west of the river, the whereabouts of those belonging to the B. & M. proper, and the figuring of mile age of the foreign cars that were tem porarily in use on the road indicated. But the advent of Hill on the scene changed the character of the work in a marvellous manner. He wanted the rec ord of every engine carefully recorded, the amount of tonnage It hauled, how much it earned, what it cost for repairs, and the number of miles it made. This step made It necessary to take Into ac count 420 engines, causing a large in crease In the labor of the office. In ad dition to this, besides keeping a record of the movements of the cars as related before, each one of them is charged with all repairs made, the number of pounds of freight It carries in a given time, the mileage traveled, and the amount of money that it earns for the corporation. Other work has been added that helps to occupy the time of the large and growing force of clerks. Six typewriters 'are employed constantly in answering correspondence, and making out state ments of a statistical nature. Recently 300 stations not covered by the car ser vice associations, have been added to the business of the office and reports are received daily from this source, which take the time and energies of several clerks. Then comes the per diem system.which is an agreement between the different roads whereby one Is charged twenty cents a day for the detention of a car for twenty-four hours by another, and an account must be kept of the number of days that a foreign car is held, and credit given to the road that owns or controls the car. When a car is sent out on the road, the records will show Its every movement, and It Is possible for the car accountant to place his hand" on a particular car at any time. When one leaves the B. & jr. territory, this also Is made a matter of record. If the foreign road that receives the car delivers It to another. It reports It to the owner, and MARCONI WIRES TO CIRCLE THE WORLD. tMT2Zf QTJWRSef 23ZTGJIZGV? HbHIHtoSBBmBstoBBH IsbHUsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsS VsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbIsbB .-i- B K ppppppppppppppppppppV -lsmJ..lslslslslslsHssssssssssH;' M "JBBSBBSBBSBBSBBSBBSBBSBmSBBSBBSBBSBBSBBSBBSBBSBBSBBSV .. bbbbbV., bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbY JbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbmBBbbVJIm LaH?.BpppppM lippppppTTBJItl isbbbbYS"? B VBBBBBl BBBBBP"'- BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBl v i -- - bw - 1 Within a short time communication by wireless telegraphy will be established throughout the entire commercial world Marconi is now working on plans Xo achieve this wonderful feat. Within a very short time overland communication between New York and San Francisco will be effected. Transpacific communi cation will also be established and the erection of other stations at various points will rapidly follow. Above is published the very first authentic snap shot of the Marconi system at Wellfleet. Also the first group photograph of the great inventor and liis assistants. jG.omezzp. jzosccssr thus the car is traced from the point It started from to some place perhaps a thousand or more miles away. In addition to the main office of the car accountant that has desk room for fifty people, there is a smaller office that houses twenty-five more clerks. While the lloor space for the accommodation of the seventy-five clerks has increased five fold per cent in the last few years, it Is yet totally Inadequate for the com fort and convenience of the large and growing force. The small room referred to Is so crowded that It resembles a bee hive. More space is promised by the removal of the telegraph bateriea In the room adjoining, which may be util ized soon, but even then It will not bring permanent relief, as the number of employes Is Increasing all the time. The force will probably be augmented in the near future by the addition of twenty five men. The head of this great body of clerks Is Frank M. Lucore, who has spent many years In the work. He be gan as a clerk and stenographer, and step by step, by sheer force of ability, and fidelity, he has reached the top of the ladder. He has become familiar by long experience with all branches of the work, and every department of the big office moves with the ease and precision of a well regulated clock. Notwithstand ing he has spent something like fourteen years In the service of the company, he is still a young man, on the sunny side of forty. When he was appointed to the responsible position of car accountant of the B. &. M. five years ago, he was, In nil probability, the youngest official In this department of railroad work In the entire country. During the time he has had charge of the office, he has Intro duced a number of Important improve ments in facilitating the movement of the business of the department over which he presides. George W. Covert, the chief clerk. Is one of the old guard, and entered the office more than fifteen years back. He has the details of the work down to a fine point, and has proven an able assistant In the proper transaction of business in the office. Orlan O. Ogden and George J. Brown are also old employes and are at present in charge of departments. The late Dr. S. was obliged to resign from the Maritime Synod with a pension on account of his increasing age. But he was not reconciled. A friend tried to comfort him. "You ought to take a rea sonable view of the matter, doctor. There Is no use flying in the face of Provi dence." "Providence!" echoed the doc tor. "Hoot, mon! Providence had naeth Ing ava to do wi it. 'Twas the Mac Curdys. the Archibalds and the de'll!" $V f& & She So your cousin has been elected sheriff in the west? How dreadful! I suppose his duty will be to hang men? He No; they manage things different out there. His duty will be to prevent other men from hanging them. t& & fV Teacher Bessie, name one bird that Is now extinct. Little Bessie Dick. Teacher Dick? What sort of a bird Is that? Little Bessie Our canary the cat ex tincted him! Puck. r AN AMERICAN LORENZ. ! bbbbbbb' Ibbbbbbbbbbb I ; Ky Jgy I bBVbbBVbbbV y,ssttQjTWjCSBW I max assgruSE&sKKX methods for the past thirty years, he has successfully used the Lorenz comes forward with the claim that Henry Hermann of Buffalo, N. T., for cure of hip trouble. Professor famous bloodless surgical methods Amid the sensation of Dr. Lorenz's J V.