OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE WESTERN RAILWAY CLUB Organized April, 1884 Incorporated March, 1897 Published monthly, except June, July and August, by the Western Railway Club, 667 Rookery Bldg. Club meets third Tuesday in each month, except June, July and August. Vol. 12-No. 2 Chicago, October, 1899 $2.00 Per Year 25c a Copy THE HE regular monthly meeting of the Western Railway Club was called to order at 2 p. m., Tuesday, October 17, 1899, in the Auditorium Hotel, Chicago. President H. G. Hetzler in the chair. Following are the names of those who registered: Kidder, S. J. Kirby, T. B. Lane, F. W. Lundquist, C. J. Pettis, C. D. THE PRESIDENT: The minutes of our last meeting, as published in the Proceedings, were sent to each member, and if there are no corrections they will stand approved as published. The minutes are approved. I will ask the Secretary to read the names of new members which have been approved by the Executive Board. The Secretary read as follows: Jas. Mylett, C., B. & Q. R. R. shops, Burlington, Iowa. C. S. Henry, Western Manager, N. Y. Air Brake Co., Chicago. W. T. Henry, Representative, N. Y. Air Brake Co., Chicago. J. W. Coneys, Trainmaster, Pennsylvania Co., Chicago. Geo. Whiting, Scully Steel & Iron Co., Chicago. W. L. Gilmore, M. M., L. S. & M. S. Ry., Elkhart, Ind. M. K. Barnum, M. M., Union Pacific Ry., Omaha, Neb. T. W. Demarest, M. M., P., C., C. & St. L. R. R., Logansport, Ind. W. H. Baldwin, Lidgerwood Mfg. Co., Chicago, Ill. M. P. Cheney, Rd. Foreman Engs., C. & W. M. Ry., Grand Rapids, Mich. C. L. Peck, Machinist, Belt R. R., Chicago, Ill. C. A. Swan, M. E., Hayden & Derby, Springfield, Ill. C. G. Brittingham, Road Supervisor Locomotives, C. & A. R. R., Bloomington, Ill. THE PRESIDENT : The next in order is new business. The Secretary will please read a communication from the New York Club, and also the report of the Executive Board. The Secretary read as follows: BROOKLYN, N. Y., October 3, 1899. Mr. F. M. Whyte, Secretary, No. 225 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill. DEAR SIR-I have been requested by our Executive Committee to call the attention of your Club to the address delivered before this club at its May meeting by Col. H. S. Haines, president Atlantic & Danville Railroad, and formerly presi dent of the American Railway Association, on the subject of getting the International Railway Congress to hold its meeting in the United States in the year 1904. An indispensable preliminary is to have our national government extend an invitation to the congress, the next meeting of which is to be held in Paris next year. The importance of this to the railway interests, including the manufacturers of railway materials, of this country, was fully explained by Colonel Haines in his address, which you will find in our May proceedings. At our September meeting the club, upon the recommendation of the executive committee, adopted the following resolution : WHEREAS, Col. H. S. Haines, at our May meeting, called the attention of this club to the desirability of having the International Railway Congress hold its meeting in this country in the year 1904, and explained that a necessary preliminary step was to obtain the sanction of our national government; and WHEREAS, This club recognizes the importance to the railway interests of this country, of holding the proposed meeting in the United States; therefore, Be it resolved, That this club requests the co-operation of other clubs and other organizations of railroad men in presenting the matter to our national government through the representatives in congress. The course which this club proposes to pursue is to use every legitimate means within its power to induce the representatives in congress from this and adjoining states, to bring the matter before congress at its coming winter session, so that the invitation may be extended through the proper government channels. If it seems wise to do so, this club will join with other clubs and associations of railway officers in sending a committee to Washington this winter. Will you kindly advise me at your early convenience whether we may expect your co-operation in bringing this about. Yours truly, W. W. WHEATLY, Secretary. THE SECRETARY : It was recommended, at the meeting of the Board of Directors held this morning, that the letter be read to the Club, and state that it is the opinion of the Board that this Club should join with all other railway organizations in recommending to congress that the necessary steps be taken to extend an invitation through the proper government channels to the International Railway Congress to hold its meeting in the United States in 1904; that a committee of five be appointed to carry out the wishes of this Club in joining with other like organizations. MR. J. F. DEEMS: I move that the action of the Board be concurred in by the meeting. Motion duly seconded, put to the house and carried. THE PRESIDENT: This matter calls for the naming of a committee of five by the chair, and I will ask that Messrs. Willard A. Smith, H. P. Robinson, F. A. Delano, J. H. McConnell and Prof. Wm. F. M. Goss serve on this committee. THE PRESIDENT : Is there any other business to be brought before the Club? If not, we will proceed to the discussion of the papers of the day, the first of which is by Dr. Arthur R. Reynolds, Commissioner of Health, Chicago, on the subject of "The Smoke Nuisance and the Abatement Thereof." This very valuable paper has been supplemented by an interesting discussion by the Chief Smoke Inspector, Mr. John C. Schubert, which, I think, can very properly be discussed in connection with Dr. Reynolds' paper. The Secretary will read the papers. The Smoke Nuisance, and the Abatement Thereof By Arthur R. Reynolds, M. D., Commissioner Believing it to be not only possible but entirely practicable to burn bituminous coal in steam-producing plants without giving offense from smoke, the City Council of Chicago passed what is known as the Smoke Ordinance. Notwithstanding all efforts covering several years, there is still a great deal of offensive smoke. I am not unmindful of the efforts put forth by the railroads and other steampower operators, nor of the results already achieved. It has been stated without contradiction that if all smoke stacks were allowed to operate, without any check to smoke, we in Chicago would rarely see the sky, and, at noonday, we would be enveloped in the blackness of a London fog. Let it be granted that there is less smoke in the city than there was fifteen years ago, although the amount of coal consumed and the power produced has doubled several times over in that time, a comparison of a chimney in Chicago's down-town district and the chimneys of those cities which have no smoke-preventing ordinance will demonstrate that only a small part of the chimneys are offending, and those only occasionally. Indeed, some of the largest buildings in the city have never given offense by smoke. What is said of the chimneys of stationary plants can also be said of locomotives. We acknowledge that the railroad companies have spent large sums of money to correct this evil, and that their efforts have not proved fruitless may be seen by observing the stack of an engine as it starts with its load from the city and again when it reaches the open country. If there are any good and valid reasons why locomotives should smoke at all, the public is entitled to know them. I do not doubt either but there is knowledge sufficient in the Western Railway Club to tell, in a succinct and scientific manner, what those reasons are, if they exist. My idea is, too, that in dealing with this subject of abating, or more properly putting it, abolishing the smoke evil, the railroad companies should treat the public fairly and frankly. There is certainly nothing to conceal, nothing connected with the whole subject matter, that should not be openly and freely discussed. As I view it, more light on the problem means less smoke. If the public thinks harshly of the companies and sometimes make severe criticism of the imperious way of corporations in general, it is largely because the corporations do not speak out in meeting. The prime reason for my appearance here today is to give the railroad companies a chance to have their say, and if their say be a frank, full and scientific exposé of the question of fuel combustion by their locomotives, we can safely promise that they will stand better in the eyes of the community than ever they stood before. I beg to suggest that the presiding officer of this club appoint a suitable committee of competent men, selected from its own members, to pass upon the whole question of fuel combustion by locomotives, and to give in their report a resumé |