City, 56 miles. Tom took my train into Calumet, 13 miles, five minutes late. I could see from the word go, that Tom had a touch of faint-heartedness, although generally he was courageous and daring, yet I could see that the terrible storm was too much for Tom's nerves and had taken the wind out of his sails. He pulled the train into Michigan City twenty-five minutes late, rather to my disgust. There we changed engines. I anxiously went forward to ascertain what engine would take my train from Michigan City to Marshall, 118 miles, I was agreeably suprised to find that Dick Tompkins with the Trade Wind, a six-foot Manchester, all cocked and trimmed ready to hitch on the train. "Well, Dick, how is the old girl tonight," I asked, "Oh! She has a hundred and enough". "How came you in here 25 minutes behind time? Is Tom King troubled with cold feet, or did he see spooks in this little blow?" "A little of both," I answered. "Well, if the old wild cat holds together I'll change the deal, "remarked Dick. When I swung the light for Dick to pull out, he gave the Trade Wind the full tib, gave her sand. The fire flew from the rails and the sparks from the old fashioned smoke stack as large as hens' eggs. I could see that Dick meant business. Our first stop was Miles, 35 miles, As I passed through my train I encountered an old man poorly clad; asking him for his ticket, he pulled out an old wallet to pay his fare. "I'm going to New Buffalo, how much?" "We don't stop at New Buffalo, you will be obliged to go to Miles and return in the morning on a train that stops at New Buffalo. I will give you a return slip." The under lip of the poor "My old man dropped, he turned pale. God" said he, "I've walked from New Buffalo to Michigan City to get medicine for my boy, he is dying of pneumonia, he will be dead before I can get to him". "Put up your money, old man, you shall stop at New Buffalo, don't worry." When Dick whistled for New Buffalo, I pulled the bell cord on him, which I knew would make him as mad as a wet hen. I took the old man to the platform of the car ready to help him

off and not bring the train to a full stop. As soon as I was sure that he had his footing on the slippery platform, I swung It so the light for Dick to go ahead. happened that two men had the taken chances of the train stopping at New Buffalo and they boarded the train. Dick took the train out of the station flying. I was in the first coach taking the fare of the two men who had boarded the train. We had passed the last switch and were just getting under headway when whack! a crash, and timbers and glass were flying. I was carried to the other end of the car amid broken seats and half a dozen passengers on top of me. We were in total darkness, the lights had all been extinguished. The cries and groans of the injured passengers were terrible. I knew we had met another train head on. I managed to pull myself out of the mess and made my way to the platform of the car. I found the first coach was on top of the second class car which was telescoped into the baggage car with that on top of the express car and that on top of the tender of the engine. My first thought was of the engineer and fireman. I groped my way forward in the darkness to the engine. I found the Trade Wind on top of the Brown Bear, the freight engine with 30 cars of stock behind her. I expected to find my engineer and fireman under the wreck. I called for Dick. "I'm hunting for my fireman," he growled, "he's under this wood pile." Dick had stuck to his engine and had reversed her before we came together. He had a broken ankle and was pretty well shook up. The fireman was throwing wood into the fire-box when we came together. It was a short curve and The didn't give them time to think. fireman was caught by the wood falling on him from the tender. He was dug out with both legs broken and badly scalded by the steam from the freight engine under our engine. He lived, but was crippled for life.

The storm was still raging in all its fury. The night was terrible, with the cries and groans of the wounded passengers, in the impenetrable darkness, made the wreck extremely grewsome.

A fire was soon started near the wreck which enabled us to work and extricate the injured passengers from their confinement. Two men and a woman were taken out of the second-class car, dead, together with eight with broken legs and arms and otherwise injured. I sent a messenger with a hand car to Michigan City for assistance. A relief train was sent which conveyed the dead and injured to hospitals in the city

The wreck was caused by the stock train running off its time. The conductor, Barnes, had mistaken the meeting place. As is generally the case, the passengers were furious about the mishap and they were anxious for a victim to hang up or to tar and feather. Anticipating this, I had advised Barnes, the conductor of the stock train, and his engineer to skip-"Vamoose," to save their necks, which they were quick to heed. Although the wreck was a very serious one yet it was rather a fortunate one in some respects. Had I not stopped the train at New Buffalo to allow the poor old man to reach his home in time to save his child, which he did, the two trains would have met on a high embankment on a curve, down grade, half a mile from where the wreck occurred. We would have been running as fast as the Trade Wind could have turned her wheels. Nothing in the world could have saved us from a terrible wreck and loss of many lives. To my mind it was a case of predestination. "God moves in mysterious ways.' When the passengers ascertained the fact that many lives had been saved by the fortunate occurrence of stopping for the old man to attend his sick child,

a number of them visited the home of the old man, and contributed very generously to the comfort and welfare of the family who were in straitened circumstances. Quite a large purse was made up for them. Thus a kindly act saved many lives and relieved a suffering and worthy family from want, as well as, perhaps, saving the life of the poor man's child.

Dick Tompkins remained on the M. C. until 1860, when he went to the Louisville & Nashville road and ran an engine on that road until 1864. During the month of December 1864, while on my way to Alabama, I was corralled at Bowling Green, Kentucky, by the Federal officials there. My baggage was seized and I was placed under arrest as a Confederate Agent. A very serious charge in those days, during the Civil War. There I met Dick Tompkins who was at the station with his locomotive ready to pull out with his train. Dick was in touch with the Federal commandant of the post. Through his influence I was released with my baggage, which was very valuable and allowed to proceed on my journey

About six months after that occurrence while Dick's engine was standing at the station ready to pull out with his train, he disconnected the engine from the train, mounted her, pulled the throttle wide open and met a freight train coming in about half a mile from the station. The result was that Dick's engine was reduced to scrap iron and Dick's mangled body was found in the wreck. The result of a crazy man's crazy freak.

To describe all of the reforms inaugurated by organized labor would require several editions of the CONDUCTOR. To give an idea of some of the labor legislation first thought out in unions and then forced through stupid or corrupt legislatures, the following instances may be

mentioned: Fire-escapes on Factories, Inspectors of Factories, Abolition of Child Labor, Shorter Workday, Ventilation in Workshops, Weekly Payment of Wages, Two Outlets to Mines, Protected Wages of Wives from Attachment, Abolished Truck Stores,

Guaranteed Workers Wages by Lien, Safety Appliances, and others. Many of these are not in force in all the states, but the unions are steadily working to make them universal. Thus, the story of organized labor shows that again and again the unions undertake some task which the community as a whole should do; and in spite of opposition they persevere in the good work until the government or the middle class take up the matter, complete the long-delayed work, and receive all the credit. About 75 years ago some of the labor papers said, "Vote yourself a farm." They were scoffed at by the press, the colleges and business men's clubs. The labor papers refused to be "scoffed" into silence, and today unanimous public opinion declares they were right. The Homestead Law, enacted in 1862, has been called "one of the most beneficient and successful laws ever passed." By its provisions any present or prospective citizen can get a farm of 80 or 160 acres for the payment of five or ten dollars, receiving a title after five years occupation, It has been the means of settling millions of acres in the western states. It was the unions that discovered the outrageous fact lately that 30,000 little children are working in the mills of the south. And when Alabama at the dictation of the mill owners, repealed its child-labor law, and put many hundreds of little tots into their unhealthy mills, it was a union, not the Foreign Missionary Boards or what not, that sent a special woman organizer, at the union's expense up and down the state, to have the law re-enacted.

The Safety Appliance Laws have saved countless limbs and hundreds of lives of railroad men. These are only a few of the good acts of unions that have been done for this country. They have always stood for the rights of the many against the unjust privileges of the few.

So long as any individual is allowed to hire other individuals, and make a profit from their labor, just so long will there be strikes and labor troubles. Indeed, under any form of the government of the means of production, there would

ful Grand Officer, Chairman or agent, is he who obtains better conditions for his members without the necessity of a strike or even a strike vote. The right to strike is God-given and as essential as the right of free speech or suffrage. Hear what Abraham Lincoln had to say on this point, "Thank God we have a system of labor where there can be a strike, whatever the pressure, there is a point where the working man may stop." The man who has not got the courage to strike and sits down when his work is increased or wages reduced and calmly says," Thank God it is no worse," and "I think we better leave well enough alone," is a barnacle on the "ship of progress," and should be made to emigrate to Siam, or some other country which has not been liberated by the courage and devotion of a host of patriots. But (with a big B) there is no more connection between a strike and a

strike-riot than there is between

a river and a drowning accident. Νο one wants the river drained dry because some unskilled boatman met with a mishap. The incalculable national benefit that has been derived from unions and strikes dwarfs the few occasional breakages and sore heads into insignificance. No leader (union) ever advocates violence. If he did, he could and should be held responsible for every brick thrown by a boy. In the arrests of rioters made during a strike, it is seldom that a union man is convicted. College students do more rioting every year than all the unionists combined. The representatives of the law have often been the first and most serious lawbreakers during a strike. Take Albany, where the militia shot dead two wellknown citizens during the street car strike; Hazelton, where the Sheriff and

a gang of toughs shot and killed 24 unarmed coal miners. In neither case did the workers retaliate, or the law punish the guilty The very best way to prevent strikes is to get every last man into the union, to pound the principles of the union into their heads, to get a half million dollars into the treasury and elect the most level-headed men as officers,

and to pass and (see that it is carried out) the following:

RESOLVED, That we hold it as a sacred principle that union men above all others, should set a good example as good and faithful workmen, performing their duties to their employer with honor and credit to themselves and their organization.

At first glance this looks like a dead subject, but under the powerful microscope of honest research marvelous powers of life are revealed, wrapped up, in it are great wrongs, great needs and great opportunities for loving effort.

The great and good Gladstone said that the greatest nation was the one that made it easy to do right and hard to do wrong. When there are so many organizations for doing good, there seems to be no excuse for one however busy, but little opportunities seized will prove, God's hand is leading. The Bureau of Reform on Maryland Avenue in Washington with the Rev. Wilber Crafts at the head is a marvel of power through co-operation. Associated with him is the great worker for reformMargaret Dye Ellis. As a representative of the W. C. T. U. probably no woman is doing greater work in legislative halls. The Bureau requires that we keep the billboards clean by the assistance of the Mayor, also that we rid places of gambling slot machines. Suppression of the crying of the" Sunday papers"; the uniting of the people in placing the curfew law on the statute books of our city will go far towards protecting the young who are yet undeveloped in crime. All corrupt reading

whether in newsrooms or elsewhere we may help to abolish. Fathers and mothers must not let social engagements interfere with the moral training of their children. A servant rightly trained "shall become a son at length." The

late Mrs. Hunt who secured Scientific Temperance laws in the schools of nearly every country of the world said;-"The star of hope for the temperance reform stands over the school house." This might be said in reference to all reforms. "The child is father of man." One writer said that the best work along temperance lines is the Medal contest, or prize speaking work among the young people of schools. Even rumsellers have been influenced by this. This work was planned by Jennes Demorest of New York, and is more and more a working power for good. The great cloud hanging over the world to-day every thoughtful person knows is intemperance. A writer in one of our leading magazines said several years ago: "The twin scourges of our land are licentiousness and drunkenness," but there is hope. Christian forces are everywhere uniting, and Mr. Craft suggests the first united gathering be at the primaries and the ballot box, and in this connection there is no more powerful agent than the mail box. Не recommends that the Y. M. C. A. and the W. C. T. U. unite, but could not this be said of all Christian forces. "One shall chase a thousand and two shall put ten thousand to flight",-is fact, as shown in history.

By the awful destruction of "the beautiful city" of San Francisco is brought to mind the Bible history of the destruction of the wonderful city of Babylon, of Sodom and Gormorrah

and later of the licentious city of Pompeii. It is said the officials of San Francisco did not know of the awful conditions and wickedness of Chinatown. Well, why didn't they? Isn't it the business of such men in authority to know the condition of their city? San Francisco has been called the "wicked city"-a name which might never have been applied had the people co-operated with the God of nations for its purification. In Isaiah we read: "I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place in the wrath of the Lord of hosts. In co-operation with the Women's Christian Association and their societies, Margaret Sangster has done a wonderful work in saving girls from lives of shame at the hands of designing men and women. Posters were scattered throughout the country warning young women at the time of the World's Fair and Expositions. Christian women were secured to meet every incoming train and give the help, and direct these girls as the need required. The appalling revelations made at the Paris congress in August 1902 show an organized traffic in girls almost beyond belief. It has its bureaus of distribution, exchanges, agents and price-lists. Italy serves these agents. Some 1200 victims are sent from Genoa to South America every year. These girls who are preparing to join relatives are persuaded on shipboard to land at Montevideo when their destination is Argentine, or the reverse. Thus they are in the power of the agent. The Baroness of Montenach spoke to 2200 of these victims in Buenos Ayres. The thoroughfares where these girls are imprisoned are called "the streets of blood and tears." A Berlin paper said, after the congress,-"The measures of one nation only are powerless. International action, by means of which the authorities of the various countries may co-operate, cannot fail to attain the end desired. In 21 months 41 victories were gained in the line of reform, because there was organized effort enough at Washington to push these reforms.

President Roosevelt as well as the W. C. T. U. and kindred societies greatly favor the sending of letters to representatives and senators. He declares, there lies a mighty power. Are we as individuals feeling our power on this line? Aroused by the appeals of the W. C. T. U. through its Legislative Superintendent, Mrs. Margaret Ellis of Washington, the President vetoed the official certification of prostitutes practiced in the Phillippines. The overruling of the license system in Fertuila came through Christian agitation. The church should not be so busy with doctrines that it cannot give largely of its time to organized effort for the improvement of the masses in every direction, such as the closing of Sunday theatres. The churches can aid materially in Social Settlement work as they have already done by supplying good reading which is distributed through the cities; by sending needed clothing, fruits, vegetables, and so on. English and Swedish ladies of Worcester unite socially for advancing Christian work. Governor Washburne's daughter started the girls' club or social settlement in a Massachusetts town. It was first held in the Congregational Church, and is now located on the Main Street. Some have said it is doing more good than the churches, yet it is to be remembered that Christianity is the mother of all reform. The secretary, a former Northfield student, now has a call to a larger field in Chicago: and all the result of co-operation.

In the book entitled, "The Burden of the City", the author tells in a most forceful way of her work in co-operation with different societies. A girl, the daughter of a drunken father was put to work in a mill. The Christian worker found this a case to take to the office having the sign, "Factory Inspection," for although the girl was under 12 when she wanted to go on a picnic among the fresh air children, she claimed to be 14 at the factory. A girl was found picking up coal when she should be in school. This was a case to bring before the Compulsory Education Committee, and have the truant officer look after her. The Woman's Protective Agency, The Board