EQUIPMENT, AND ROLLING STOCK. The overhead-trolley system is used by both companies. The trolley wires are suspended in the air by wires fastened to the houses on either side of the streets. Where there are no houses, iron posts, located perhaps 2 feet in from the curbstone, are used as supports. The tracks are laid with such exactness and precision that there is little delay or annoyance caused by the trolley arm becoming displaced. The lines have 211.57 kilometers (131.17 miles) of tracks, including those in the various car sheds, 124.51 kilometers (77.2 miles) of which belong to the larger company and 87.06 kilometers (53.97 miles) to the smaller. The former has had, for several years past, its own car shops. It has 275 motor cars and 112 closed and 30 open trailers-in all, 417 cars in use. The smaller company has 130 motor cars and 20 closed and 30 open trailers-in all, 180 cars in use. The smaller company's cars are fitted with the ordinary hand brakes, while those of the other (the Blue Line) have the latest Westinghouse air brakes attached, in addition to the hand brakes. All cars are lighted by electricity, oil lamps being sometimes placed in one corner at either end, but, strange to say, none of the cars are heated, even in the coldest days in winter. In winter the car floors are covered with straw, and strips of cheap cotton-plush cloth are hung before the windows to keep at least some of the cold air off the passengers' backs. AUTOMATIC SIGNAL BOXES. An automatic signal box was first introduced by the smaller company last year. These boxes are placed at the crossings of electric street railways to warn motormen of the approach of cars in another direction. They have been found to be very satisfactory by both companies, as they are no longer compelled to station flagmen at the crossings or to have the conductors run forward to see if the way is clear. TRAFFIC AND SERVICE. Cars are run from 5.17 o'clock in the morning until midnight, upon schedules varying from 4 to 15 minutes apart. Municipal ordinances prescribe that street cars shall not run at a higher rate of speed than 9 miles an hour in the business sections; with trailers, 7.2 miles; and in the suburbs, 15 miles, or 12 miles with trailers. Cars are not to be stopped at every corner to let passengers on or off, but at places perhaps 250 yards or less apart, marked for the guidance of the public by iron signposts placed a foot or two in from the curbstone. To each motor car there is a motorman, who is forbidden to talk with passengers, and a conductor, whose duty it is to be on the back platform every time the car stops to help passengers on or off. A municipal ordinance requires that when a trailer is attached another conductor must be carried to look after it. Trailers and motor cars are not connected by a passageway and passengers are not allowed to go from one to the other without paying an additional fare. There are 20 seats in each car and when all are taken no more passengers are allowed inside, as the aisles must be kept clear. There are a certain number of standing-room places on the front and rear platforms-perhaps 15 on an average. When these are taken and the inside is full, the conductor hangs out at the rear end of the car by the entrance a sign "Occupied," and no more stops are made to take on passengers until some are first let off. FARES. The fare for a single trip is 10 pfennigs (2.38 cents), which entitles one to a free transfer. Passengers carrying large baskets, bundles, etc., must pay a full fare for such.* The Red Line issues six tickets for 50 pfennigs (11.9 cents). Both lines issue commutation tickets good for three, six, and twelve months, respectively. Postmen and telegraph and messenger boys are carried by contract, the Imperial Government paying a yearly sum therefor. More than seven at a time, however, may not ride on the same car. All employees of the city, as well as those connected with the police department, when in uniform, are entitled to ride upon the front platform free of charge, but never more than two at a time. In addition thereto, a large number of the city officials-at the present time 560-are given "annual passes." To school children under 15 years of age are issued special cards, which are good only upon the lines running between their respective homes and the schools they attend and between certain hours of the day. Under no circumstances are these children allowed to get on or off cars while they are in motion. In the year 1902 the cars of the Grosse Leipziger Strassenbahn Gesellschaft traveled 14,399,902 kilometers (8,927,939.24 miles) and received 4,241,973.83 marks ($1,009,589.77) for carrying 45,007,637 passengers. The company's receipts were 9.4 pfennigs (2.24 cents) per passenger and 29.5 pfennigs (7.02 cents) per car kilometer. (0.621 mile). *A pernicious habit on the part of many, which may be said to have almost become a local custom, is that of feeing conductors. This is practiced by even those who are in most moderate circumstances. A passenger paying the regular 10-pfennig fare will, at the time the fare is paid, hands the conductor an additional 5 pfennigs (1.19 cents). The cars of the Leipzig Elektrische Strassenbahn Gesellschaft during the same period traveled 565,004 kilometers (350, 302.48 miles) and received 1,659,407.95 marks ($395,062.86) for carrying 18, 160,928 passengers. The receipts of this company were 9.1 pfennigs (2.16 cents) per passenger and 26.02 pfennigs (6.23 cents) per car kilometer. WAGES. The wages of a conductor is 84 marks ($20) per month for the first year's service; the same amount is paid a motorman for the first six weeks he works. After their respective apprentice terms have expired they are paid from 90 marks ($21.42) to 120 marks ($28.52) per month, the amount being fixed by the length of time they have been employed. The men are given one day off in every six, seven, or eight, depending upon the number of hours each one is compelled to work daily. A working-day is usually from ten to twelve hours. CLEANING AND REPAIRING STREETS. In the expenses are included the cost of new materials, repairs, and cleaning and repairing the streets. As to this last mentioned, it should be said that the streets are cleaned and sprinkled by the city government, for which services the railway companies are charged as follows: For sprinkling and cleaning streets paved with asphaltum, granite blocks, macadam, and wood blocks, 3 pfennigs (0.7 cent), 23 pfennigs (0.6 cent), five-sixths of a pfennig (o. 2 cent), and 3 pfennigs (0.7 cent) per square meter (10.7 square feet) per month, respectively, and, in addition thereto, 5 per cent for supervising the work. Last year the Blue Line paid 76,416.95 marks ($18,187.25) and the Red Line 48,663.76 marks ($11,581.97) for this purpose. Street paving and repairing is done by contract. The city, however, superintends the work, to see that it is properly done, and for this service charges 5 per cent of the contract price. Last year the Blue Line paid 239,502.15 marks ($57,001.51) for this purpose, and the Red Line 138, 267.21 marks ($32,907.60). In winter when the snow falls the street-car companies must keep their respective tracks clear, and for this purpose snow plows are used. The Blue Line has 15 such plows and the Red Line 6. The snow is piled on either side of the tracks and carted away by the city, which charges the street-car companies from 1.80 marks (43 cents) to 2.75 marks (65 cents) per wagonload containing about 2 cubic meters (71 cubic feet), the price depending upon the length of the haul. Last year the Blue Line paid 9,723.85 marks ($2,314.28) for having snowed cleared away. INSURANCE OF EMPLOYEES. For the benefit of those employees whose wages do not exceed 2,000 marks ($476) per annum, sick, accident, life-insurance, and assurity funds are established. These are also charged to the expense accounts, as is also the cost of the employees' uniforms, each man being provided with at least one uniform, two caps, an overcoat, etc., per annum, except, however, those who are working for the first year, from whose wages 10 pfennigs per day is deducted to pay for the uniforms. Under taxes are included the 2 per cent of the total receipts, which were mentioned in the paragraph entitled "Concessions," taxes upon real estate, revenue stamps, etc. FINANCIAL STATEMENT. The condition of the two railway companies at the end of the calendar year 1902 is shown in the following statement: FLOUR AND WHEAT IN AUSTRALIA. The imports of wheat and flour into Australia from January 1 to June 30, 1903, are equivalent to 10,276,349 bushels, or 275,259 tons, of wheat. This total consists of 7,399,421 bushels of wheat and 59,936 tons of flour. The following summary shows the quantities (reduced to the equivalent in wheat) received at Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle, and other places: The total to all ports as stated above is equivalent to 275, 259 tons of wheat. Adding about 51,750 tons to arrive from the Argentine Republic, and about 5,800 tons to arrive from the Pacific coast, the total quantity already provided for is equivalent to about 332,800 tons, or 12,424,500 bushels. MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, July 6, 1903. JOHN P. BRAY, Consul-General. FOOD ADULTERATION IN EUROPE. An article on the adulteration of food products is going the rounds of the German press. It is stated, for instance, that an ordinary liver patty is made into fine "Strassburger" paté de foie gras (a goose-liver patty) by means of borax or salicylic acid and of finely chopped and cleverly distributed pieces of black silk, representing truffles. Cosmos, a German paper, guarantees the fact that under the label of canned lobsters the soft parts of the cuttlefish and crabs are sold. In Paris snails are of late very popular, and the adulterators mix them with lungs of cattle and horses. Even entirely artificial snails are manufactured. The shells, recoated with fat and slime, are filled with lung and then sold as "Burgundy" snails. Lovers of fresh rooster combs are imposed upon by a substitute cut out of hogs' intestines. Chopped artificial truffles are made of black rubber, silk, or softened leather, and even whole truffles are made out of roasted potatoes, which are given a peculiar flavor by adding ether. They are said to sell well. Fish spoiled in spite of ice and borax is treated with salts of zinc, aluminum, and other metals. Rubbing the fish with vaseline to give it a fresh look and coloring the gills with fresh blood or eosina coal-tar color-is resorted to. The latter is also used to intensify the red color of inferior crabs. Imparting a greenish color to oysters is another adulteration. An oyster requires about one month in the beds to acquire the greenish color. As this is too long a time, the dealers help them along with an artificial color. The chemists in the Paris municipal laboratories have shown that tomato jelly is adulterated with turnips, and powdered pepper. contains a large admixture of powdered hard-tack. FRANKFORT, GERMANY, July 7, 1903. RICHARD GUENTHER, |