NOTES BY THE WAY by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jun 7, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 23.

NOTES BY THE WAY.

By Editor

WE left San Francisco Tuesday, May 2, by the Santa Fé Overland, and arrived in Kansas City Sabbath morning, three hours late. Never did we pass over this route, or any other transcontinental railway, more pleasantly. There was no dust to trouble us across the desert of Mohave, or the barren stretches of Arizona and New Mexico. We had more dust from Kansas City to Chicago than all the rest of the distance previously passed over, and the worst was not bad. Abundant rains have fallen in Arizona and New Mexico, and there was much more of living green in sight than usual. One gentleman told me that more rain had fallen this year than in all the eighteen years he had been in the territory.

THE plentiful rains on mountain and plain have softened the road-bed of the railway, and there have been many washouts. Of course this has necessitated slower running of trains, and during the spring they have generally been behind time. For this the railway management have been blamed when they should have been highly commended. The Santa Fé Railway company has shown that it prized life more than wealth or a fleeting reputation for great speed. While millions of dollars have been lost in property on account of washouts, the loss of life has been exceeding small, much less, we are sure, than on any other transcontinental road. And one always finds kind, courteous, generous treatment on the part of the employees of the road. A connecting road to the far East with the Santa Fé at Chicago, of which the same things can be said, is the Grand Trunk Railway.

AT Kansas City, a thriving town, a great railway center, a very busy city, we laid over a day. Here we spoke to a good regular congregation, from Zeph. 2:1-3, on the importance of seeking God for a deeper experience in spiritual things. Here also we met our branch superintendent, Brother James Cochran, at whose hospitable home we stopped while in Kansas City, and Brother Phillips, the district agent of our bookmen. The sales of religious publications in this district are excellent, the organization is good, and the future bids fare for a much greater work. The new branch office at 1109 West Twelfth Street is incomparably better in every way than the old office, and we were glad indeed to meet our brethren and workers, and many members of our SIGNS family in this city.

ONE day was spent in Chicago. The Teamster's strike was still on, and the day, as many other days,

was marked by rioting and death. Policemen abounded everywhere, and around the great commercial houses employing many teams, were cordons of bluecoats. The helmeted, gloved, and starred men were on many wagons, and on both walls and wagons were posted the warning of Mayor Dunne. Not a few lives have been sacrificed, many more persons have been crippled, and millions of dollars lost; and all this because, as one Chicago paper states, twelve men could not agree with seven men. The "sympathetic strike" seems ever to be in sympathy with strife and violence against all who may seem to think otherwise, and it ever will tend to increase hatred and enmity between man and man.

CALLING at Battle Creek, Mich., on business, between the hours of 9 P.M. and 2 A.M., we reached Niagara Falls, Wednesday morning, May 10. Having a few hours before our train for Washington, the time was employed in witnessing once more one of the great wonders of the world, Great Niagara. Here for ages the mighty cataract has poured its thundering, awful flood, which speaks to the heart of the devout observer like the voice of Almighty God. No mere cursory view at a distance gives any just idea of the great mass of water which pours over the ledges of rock, thundering on its way to the ocean. The fall is no fleecy film of waters falling in lacy folds on the rocks or into the depths beneath; but great rivers of water which neither eye nor sunshine can pierce, as one may demonstrate by looking out upon—never through—the Horseshoe Fall from the back side. This can now be done on the Canadian side by passing down to that point through a tunnel 800 feet long, cut through the solid rock. It is a living shame to permit the great power companies to draw such immense quantities of water from Niagara. Unless this shall be prevented by government, it will not be long before the great falls are perceptibly diminished.

IN the evening we left for Washington over the Pennsylvania Railway, reaching the Capital City two hours late the next morning. We arrived at Harrisburg shortly after the fearful train wreck on the main line, caused by the explosion of the locomotive boiler, and the consequent explosion of two freight cars loaded with dynamite. Of the 169 passengers more than a score were killed outright, and more than 100 were injured. The marvel is that any were saved from the fearful wreck. Some of the escapes were miraculous. The whole city was shaken, and windows were broken at great distance from the wreck.