CHAPTER I. A CENTURY OF RAILROAD BUILDING The United States as we know it today is largely the result of mechanical inventions, and in particular of agricultural machinery and the railroad. One transformed millions of acres of uncultivated land into fertile farms, while the other furnished the transportation which carried the crops to distant markets. Before these inventions appeared, it is true,... more...

ELECTRICITY AND MATTER My Dear Son: You are interested in radio-telephony and want me to explain it to you. I’ll do so in the shortest and easiest way which I can devise. The explanation will be the simplest which I can give and still make it possible for you to build and operate your own set and to understand the operation of the large commercial sets to which you will listen. I’ll write you a... more...

CHAPTER I THE NIGHT RUN “Ralph Fairbanks.” “On hand, sir.” “You are to relieve Fireman Cooper on the Dover slow freight.” “All right, sir.” Ralph Fairbanks arose from the bench on which he was seated in the roundhouse at Stanley Junction. Over a dozen men had been his companions for the past hour. There were engineers waiting for their runs, firemen resting after getting their... more...

IN preparing maps showing the geographic distribution of North American lagomorphs, some conflicting statements in the literature have led us to examine the pertinent specimens of the Florida cottontail and the Audubon cottontail with results as given below. The study here reported upon was aided by a contract between the Office of Naval Research, Department of the Navy, and the University of Kansas... more...

CHAPTER I An Inaugural Banquet Raffles had vanished from the face of the town, and even I had no conception of his whereabouts until he cabled to me to meet the 7.31 at Charing Cross next night. That was on the Tuesday before the 'Varsity match, or a full fortnight after his mysterious disappearance. The telegram was from Carlsbad, of all places for Raffles of all men! Of course there was only one... more...

When in 1810, Henry Raeburn, then at the height of his powers, proposed to settle in London, Lawrence dissuaded him. It is unnecessary, as it would be unjust, to insinuate that the future President of the Royal Academy had ulterior and personal motives in urging him to rest content with his supremacy in the North. Raeburn was fifty-five at the time, and, after his undisputed reign at home, even his... more...

“Go it, Rod! You’ve got to go! One more spurt and you’ll have him! There you are over the line! On time! On railroad time! Three cheers for Railroad Blake, fellows! ’Rah, ’rah, ’rah, and a tigah! Good for you, Rod Blake! the cup is yours. It was the prettiest race ever seen on the Euston track, and ‘Cider’ got so badly left that he cut off and went to the dressing-room without... more...

ANNOUNCER In the year 1661 Connecticut received from the hand of Charles the Second a very liberal charter granting to the people of the colony almost complete self-government and to the colony an enormous stretch of territory extending westward to the Pacific Ocean. For fifteen years the colony prospered under the generous charter. Then in 1676 trouble arose with the Governor of New York, Sir Edmund... more...

PREFACE The people of the United States are engaged in the solution of the railroad problem. The main question to be determined is: Shall the railroads be owned and operated as public or as private property? Shall these great arteries of commerce be owned and controlled by a few persons for their own private use and gain, or shall they be made highways to be kept under strict government control and to... more...

CHAPTER ONE THE DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTRICITY The phenomenon which Thales had observed and recorded five centuries before the birth of Christ aroused the interest of many scientists through the ages. They made various practical experiments in their efforts to identify the elusive force which Thales had likened to a 'soul' and which we now know to have been static electricity. Of all forms of... more...