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service is generally accepted as permanent, and the company, so viewing the matter, made provision accordingly in the organization of the pension department by limiting the age to 35 years.

The motive for establishing this age restriction was to provide a basis of department operation under which employes in the future, after the starting period, would be retired from the service and carried on the pension roll at age sixty-five with thirty years' service. In other words, under the present workings of the fund it will be merely a matter of a few years when the application of this age limitation feature will bring about a condition under which all pension beneficiaries will have been in the company's service for not less than thirty years previous to their retirement on pension allowance; and will, in consequence, receive not less than thirty per centum of their average wages for the ten years next preceding such retirement.

SAVING FUND.

Mature deliberation, growing out of appeals made by employés identified with the service of the different divisions and branches of the Company for saving fund advantages, resulted in the creation of the "Pennsylvania Railroad Employés' Saving Fund," as of January 2, 1888. The fund is conducted as a separate department, in charge of a superintendent, under the supervision of a board of three trustees, the members of which are directors or officers of the railroad company. Custodianship of all moneys and securities of the fund is vested in the company, which assumes responsibility for the proper return of all securities in which fund surplus may

be vested, also the return of membership deposits, together with a fixed rate of interest thereon, which at the present time is three and one-half per centum per annum. Fund regulations provide that no change shall be made in the rate of interest allowance on deposits without six months' previous notice to depositors, thus insuring against sudden fluctuations in the earnings power of saving.

Any employé of the company whose regular monthly wage compensation does not exceed $300 may become a depositor, upon making due application at any of the depositaries. No employé is, however, permitted to carry a balance in excess of $5,000, nor deposit more than $100 in any one month. Report of fund operations for year ending December 31, 1903, shows 9,494 depositors; deposits, $1,260,229.50; withdrawals, $7,961, 204.22; interest allowed depositors, at three and one-half per centum, $127,587.09, and balance of $4,010,116.88, equivalent to an average per capita credit balance of $420. On the date named there were 1,102 depositaries, located at station agencies most accessible to the employés, and of which the general clearing house is the company's treasury department.

Statistics for the period since establishment of the fund to the end of 1903 furnish the following results:

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THE RAILWAY CONDUCTOR, PUBLISHED MONTHLY AND ENTERED AS SECOND CLASS MATTER AT THE POST

OFFICE IN CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa.-Subscription $1.00 per year.

E. E. CLARK AND W. J. MAXWELL, Managers, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
W. N. GATES, Advertising Agent, Garfield Building, Cleveland, O.

E. E. CLARK, EDITOR.

C. D. KELLOGG, ASSOCIATE.

The earth is getting old.

THE NEW YEAR.
Evidences

of this are to be seen on every hand. Science may never be able to tell the age of the earth, but reasoning from what we know of its age to those features of it that are unknown is always a more or less interesting, if not fascinating occupation. We presume that making good resolutions on New Year's day, dates back to an antiquity more remote than the fossil remains of the little crusty trilobite snugly imbeded at the bottom of hundreds of feet of limestone rock. It seems as if the beginning of the year is a sort of particularly appropriate time to make some change in habits of life or start some reform in habits already acquired. Surely it is better to make such resolutions than not to make them at all, even though they are not kept. An old saying has it that "Hell is paved with good resolutions" and while neither admitting nor denying the truth of the saying, certain it is that the thoughts and feelings leading up to the point of making them are indicative of a desire to rectify existing and previous methods of wrong living, therefore we would not discourage the practice or inclination to make resolutions of reformation in habits or modes of life, at the beginning of the year. Probably there

are few people who could not with great good to themselves and to their fellowmen inaugurate reforms in their habits of life, both as to acts and thinking that would largely influence for the better those with whom they come in contact. Many little evils grow on us almost imperceptibly that soon become noticeable and disagreeable to others. Personal introspection and self criticism are looked at very differently by different people and it must be admitted, with a very large degree of bias, usually. Criticism of others, is, however, a full blown and full grown plant in the flower garden of a very, very large majority of people and it sometimes seems if it is looked after with more care-nurtured with more solicitude than any other character flora in the common possession of the

many.

Perhaps these things appeal more particularly to us on account of being members of a band of men united in a business and social Brotherhood apart from, and in addition to, a more general or universal Brotherhood. If we could all write the faults we see in others, in the sands of the ocean beach at midnight at low tide, what a glorious achievement of large and perfect Brotherhood it would be. If this should be done in a literal

sense it might crowd the beach at times, but metaphorically we can all do it if we try. It will of course come much easier to some than others, but a large degree of this metaphorical sand writing can be attained by constant and earnest practice. Each successful effort will make the next one come easier, until finally a contrary desire will be as foreign as the other one formerly was. So that in the coming year let us all resolve to be very kind to the faults of others and dwell with special pride upon their virtues. There is often much charity in silence.

As an Order, also, it is well for us to look back on the year just passed and note what we have accomplished and what we have avoided. We can reflect with satisfaction, that our Order has had a steady and healthy increase, which augurs well for the future.

Our in

crease shows no mushroom growth but a steady, substantial one which gives us the best kind of hope and expectation for future usefulness and standing in the labor world. Our numerical increase is perhaps not as large a feature of our prosperity as is the increased estimation of our Order in the business and commercial world. It is evident we have pushed our endeavors along right business lines and that careful observance of the same policies in the future will lead to continued successful upbuilding of the Order as an Order and also as a business institution.

We are glad to be able to say, also, that the Ladies Auxiliary to our Order has enjoyed a steady healthy growth. Taking into consideration the ener

getic and pushing president and other officers they have, it is little wonder that we are able to chronicle their large measure of success. We sometimes think the Brothers do not give their wives enough encouragement in their work, but hope we are mistaken in this view.

And now while we look with pleasure with gratification and with satisfaction at our success in the past year we are also mindful of those whose good council and example have been taken from us and left us richer in those basic qualities of Brotherhood that make continually for the upbuilding of humanity. We feel it but just to pay to them a loving tribute of respect and keep green the memory of their devotion to the duties of home, citizenship and the Order. The memory of their faithfulness and truth should induce us to consecrate ourselves anew to the noble work they held uppermost in their daily routine of life.

We look with a good deal of hope to the New Year, because of the fact that the last one has been so successful and for the further fact that this is the year for the meeting of our Grand Division. These meetings are in the nature of milestones in our life as an organization, because they take up and into account any new feature or features of progress that have been the outgrowth of new policies or conditions that have come with the lapse of time.

We congratulate every member of the Order upon the progress made during the past year and earnestly urge you to go forward with renewed determination, faith and vigor.

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE TO THE THIRD SESSION OF THE FIFTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS.

The message is unusually long, containing about 18,000 words, and it seems to us that the criticisms and recommendations are only such as are entirely proper to the President of so mighty a nation.

In fact criticism and recommendation form the key-note of the message,

and they extend from the Tsar's and Sultan's treatment of their subjects and the behavior of the South American Republics, to labor unions, trusts, railroads, Washington tenements, child labor, immigration evils, political corruption, the law's delays, unrighteous peace, and

anti-imperialists'

"intrigues."

These are some of the subjects the President brings out in bold relief, and some of the subjects that he does not touch on are, thereby brought quite prominently before the country. That is to say, the omissions are significant. The salient features of the message may be summarized as follows:

The President expresses his belief that the organization of labor is "often necessary" and "often wise" and "among the most effective agents in working for good citizenship"; but he adds that when labor-unions seek "improper ends," or use "improper means," all good citizens and public servants "must oppose the wrongdoing as resolutely as they would oppose the wrongdoing of any great corporation," and "of course, any violence, brutality, or corruption should not for one moment be tolerated." He recommends an employers' liability law and urges the grant of medals of honor to heroes in industrial life. The loss of life in railway wrecks is deplored, and legislation prevent it by requiring the block-signal system and regulating the employés' hours of work is suggested. Efforts by unions of government employés to extort higher salaries by threatening Congressmen with defeat are rebuked, and Congress is asked to pass remedial legislation. A report from the Bureau of Labor on the Colorado mining strike is promised, and the desirability of investigations of child labor, labor laws, etc., by the bureau is dwelt upon.

to

Turning from labor to capital, the President says that "it is an absurdity to expect to eliminate the abuses in great corporations by state action," and declares that "the national Government alone can deal adequately" with them. "To try to deal with them in an intemperate, destructive, or demagogic spirit" would be futile or worse; the people must continue to show moderation, "and yet the quiet determination to proceed, step by step, without halt and without hurry, in eliminating, or, at least, in minimizing, whatever of mischief or of evil there is to interstate commerce in the conduct of great corporations." "More import

ant than any legislation," however, "is the gradual growth of a feeling of responsibility and forbearance among capitalists and wage-workers alike." The Bureau of Corporations, Congress is informed, has been busy with investigations, and "will make a special report on the beef industry." The President explains that the bureau's policy is one of “coöperation, not antagonism," and says that it makes "constructive legislation, not destructive prosecution, the immediate object of its inquiries." Congress is promised "all facts except such as would give to another corporation information which would injure the legitimate business of a competitor and destroy the incentive for individual superiority and thrift." The President suggests that the power of the bureau be extended to cover interstate transactions in insurance. Railroad rebates are denounced, and Congress is asked to give the Interstate Commerce Commission more power over the regulation of rates.

In urging better housing and better school laws for the District of Columbia, the President is led to remark at considerable length upon the necessity of providing for the welfare of the working classes and of discouraging industrial tendencies that are hostile to the home. The good works of the Department of Agriculture are related, the progress in irrigation and forestry is reviewed, and the Indian, the postal service, and the consular service are considered.

The retirement of the greenbacks is suggested, and elasticity is mentioned as a desirable quality for our currency. "Every silver dollar should be made by law redeemable in gold at the option of the holder."

"Encouragement of Our merchant marine by appropriate legislation" is recommended to the "immediate attention" of Congress.

The President opposes the admission of immigrants "whose personal customs and habits are such that they tend to lower the level of the American wageworker;" and he criticises present naturalization methods and urges "a comprehensive revision of the naturalization laws."

"A law directed against bribery and corruption in federal elections" is recommended, which shall also contain "provisions for the publication not only of the expenditures for nominations and elections of all candidates, but also of all contributions received and expenditures made by political committees."

The President deplores the delays in criminal prosecutions, and criticises “a system of procedure which has grown up in the federal courts and which amounts in effect to making the law easy of enforcement against the man who has no money, and difficult of enforcement, even to the point of sometimes securing immunity, as regards the man who has money."

Appropriate legislation for the needs of Alaska is recommended.

In treating of our foreign policy, President Roosevelt repeats his plea that the United States should be, in effect, the "just man armed," and notifies Congress that he is negotiating arbitration treaties and will call another Hague peace conference.

He denies "that the

United States feels any land hunger or entertains any projects as regards the other nations of the Western Hemisphere save such as are for their welfare;" but the adds that "chronic wrongdoing" or "impotence" may "ultimately require intervention "

After remarking that "ordinarily" it is better to concern ourselves with ills at home than with those abroad, the President declares that "nevertheless there are occasional crimes committed on so vast a scale and of such peculiar horror as to make us doubt whether it is not our manifest duty to endeavor at least to show our disapproval of the deed and our sympathy with those who have suffered by it." As instances, he cites the massacre of the Jews in Kishineff and the outrages in Armenia. As for lynch

ing in this country, he says, it is never more than sporadic, so that individuals and not classes, are molested in their fundamental rights." He complains that "it has proved very difficult to secure from Russia the right for our Jewish fellow citizens to receive passports and travel through Russian territory," and

remarks that "such conduct is not only unjust and irritating toward us, but it is difficult to see its wisdom from Russia's standpoint."

The President "most earnestly" recommends that there be no halt in the work of upbuilding the American navy;" and points out that the army has been reduced to a minimum.

The Filipinos, he says, are at present "utterly incapable of existing in independence at all or of building up a civilization of their own;" but he believes that we can help them, and, he declares, "I most earnestly hope that in the end they will be able to stand, if not entirely alone, yet in some such relation to the United States as Cuba now stands." He remarks that now it is better to give them schools, good roads, railroads, courts, etc., than political power.

Quite a large amount of space in the message is devoted to labor, which is, of course, gratifying to the labor organizations, and shows that the rights of the laborer are bound to be looked after in the future, and we feel sure the utterances of the President on labor will do much to restore industrial peace in all directions.

uttermost

The President's declaration regarding the regulation of railroad rates will cause the biggest amount of comment of any one of his recommendations. Naturally, the railroads will resent and resist to the any governmental control over their rates and it will not be surprising to see the President and Senate lock horns very emphatically on the rate question. It seems, also, quite evident that the President has touched on a very common and sore evil and the large majority of people will very likely side with him in his endeavor to root it out.

It seems to us that the President's treatment of the Philippines is in accordance with the best ideal of Americanism, and we hope and strongly believe that his declarations will come to be considered the settled doctrine of our people in dealing with the people of those far-off islands. It seems as if the anti-imperialists will from this on be practically without a job.

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