ollars.

The whole length of the railroad from starting point to terminus is
literally under the eyes of the train despatcher. By means of reports
sent in by hundreds of different operators, he knows the exact location
of all trains at all times, the number of "loads" and "empties" in each
train, the number of cars on each siding, the number of passing tracks
and their capacity, the capabilities of the different engines, the
gradients of the road, the condition of the roadbed, and, above all, he
knows the personal characteristics of every conductor and engineer on
the road. In fact if there is one man of more importance than another on
a railroad it is the train despatcher. During his trick of eight hours
he is the autocrat of the road, and his will in the running of trains is
absolute. Therefore despatchers are chosen with very special regard for
their fitness for the position. They must be expert telegraphers, quick
at figures, and above all they must be as cool as ice, have nerves of
steel, and must be capable of grasping a trying situation the minute an
emergency arises. An old despatcher once said to me: "Sooner or later a
despatcher, if he sticks to the business, will have his smash-up, and
then down goes a reputation which possibly he has been years in building
up, and his name is inscribed on the roll of 'has-beens.'"

Before the despatcher comes the operator, and the old Biblical saying,
"Many are called but few are chosen," is well illustrated by the small
number of good despatchers that are found; it is easy enough to find
excellent operators, but a first-class despatcher is a rarity among
them.

I learned telegraphy some fifteen or sixteen years ago at a school away
out in western Kansas. After I had been there three or four months, I
was the star of the class, and imagined that the spirit of Professor
Morse had been reincarnated in me. No wire was too swift for me to work,
no office too great for me to manage; in fact visions of a
superintendency of telegraph flitted before my eyes. Such institutions
as this school are very correctly named "ham factories."

During my stay at the school I formed the acquaintance of the night
operator at the depot and it was my wont to spend most of my nights
there picking up odds and ends of information. For my own benefit I used
to copy everything that came along; but the young man in charge never
left me entirely alone. Night operators at all small stations have to
tak