TEE SMOKE NUISANCE 159 



wants the railroads to experiment witli. The head of the Illinois Cen- 

 tralj however, J. T. Harahan, seems to think otherwise and in a long 

 letter urges first that the art of electrification is in its infancy, and, 

 secondly, that the experiments in the east have developed many 

 difficulties. 



Possibly if Illinois had a public utilities commission, like that of 

 New York, President Harahan might take a somewhat different view 

 of the situation, one more like that of the New York Central, al- 

 though the economic argument ought to appeal to President Harahan 

 and he ought not to allow the Pennsylvania Eailroad to outdo him in 

 the race for dividends or compliance with reasonable public demands. 

 As one commentator on his position put it, " The financial question has 

 two sides to it. The cost of electrification will be heavy. The cost of 

 the smoke and noise nuisance to the community is a hundred fold 

 heavier," and it could have pointed out that whatever makes for the 

 prosperity and uplift of a community eventually makes for the benefit 

 of the railroad. 



According to Smoke Inspector Krause, of Cleveland, the smoke 

 from railroads in that city has, within the past few years, been greatly 

 reduced through the care that has been taken by the railroad officials. 

 The inspector has one man who gives his entire time to this side of 

 the work. Their records are sent to the offices of the officials and the 

 crews are called in and reprimanded if the records show that they have 

 been at fault. Some of the men have been discharged for rrot exercis- 

 ing proper care in this respect. The New York, New Haven and 

 Hartford Eailroad assumes a similar attitude. Eecently it caused to 

 be published this discipline bulletin: 



An engineman and fireman have been disciplined for permitting their 

 engine to emit black smoke while standing in a passenger terminal some thirty- 

 minutes before leaving time, in violation of the rules of ordinary intelligence 

 as well as those of the railroad company, and in disobedience of chapter 983 

 of the public laws of the state of Rhode Island, — J. A. Dodge, Superintendent. 



Z. A. Willard, already several times quoted, declares as a result of 

 his investigation that the use of coke will entirely eliminate the smoke 

 evil, as it is free of smoke, soot and dust, and can be used on locomo- 

 tives as at present constituted. The Boston and Maine Eailroad is 

 daily using seven hundred tons of Otto coke (produced by the gas 

 works at Everett, Massachusetts) on all their short lines, and pro- 

 nounces it perfectly satisfactory both to patrons of the road and resi- 

 dents along the lines, in avoiding smoke. 



Some of the western roads use petroleum. For instance, the Mexi- 

 can Central burns 4,000 barrels a day, at a cost of $1.10 a barrel. The 

 Southern Pacific is also introducing oil-burning engines, especially for 

 the switch engines. Hard coal is also used on the roads, which have 



