Items of Interest September 26, 1914 Issue

Items of Interest

In pursuance of its retrenchment policy inaugurated earlier in the year, the Pennsylvania railroad has announced that sixty-eight trains will be discontinued on the lines east of Pittsburgh and Erie, beginning Sept. 15. This annulment is in addition to the usual reductions in the seashore schedules which are always made in the fall. Usually the changes in the general schedule are made in November. On April 1, the company annulled one hundred and eighteen passenger trains, and some weeks previous twenty-three trains were discontinued. In addition, a number of trains were discontinued on the Pennsylvania lines west, as well as in the suburban service in the vicinity of Pittsburgh. The curtailment in service made earlier in the year, it was estimated, would effect a saving to the company of two million dollars a year, provided the reductions remain in effect that long.

The eleventh annual report of the Metropolitan water board of London, England, states that the total amount of water supplied in the metropolitan district for the year 1913–14 amounted to 89,183,700,000 gallons, or a daily average of slightly over 244,000,000 gallons. The grand total volume is equivalent to 398,000,000 tons of water. The Thames furnished 59.1 per cent, the Lee 23.6 per cent, and wells, etc., the remainder. The total population supplied by the board at the close of the year was 6,721,207. The immediate construction of a reservoir at Littleton, to contain 3,500,000,000 gallons, is under contemplation by the board. This will be followed by an adjoining one of similar capacity, and by a third at Stanwell which will contain 3,300,000,000 gallons.

A national market commission, as a semiofficial body to organize states, counties, and localities for economic distribution of farm products, to meet the high cost of living, was advocated before the agriculture committee of the House of Representatives by David Lubin, director of the International Institute of Agriculture at Rome. Mr. Lubin wanted the United States to adopt the system of handling farm products used in Germany, Austria, and other countries. The United States Senate has adopted a joint resolution instructing Mr. Lubin, who is also the American delegate to the International Institute of Agriculture, to present resolutions to the 1915 session of the institute looking to the establishment of an international commission on the marketing of agricultural products, with particular reference to ocean freight rates. The resolution has already passed the House.

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