Every provision in an order should be held to be in force indefinitely until fulfilled or annulled, or expired by some limitation in the order or in the rules. In the orders delivered to those who are to execute them no erasures, alterations, or interlineations should be permitted. These tend to obscure the meaning and raise doubts as to accuracy. The writing should be clear and plain, the letters well formed and without flourishes. Orders must often be read in dim light or in storms, and when men are hurried, and they should not be required to decipher bad writing. Many orders have come under the author's notice which were defective in this respect. The following specimen is given, omitting names that would indicate where it was issued. The bad writing, the number of points covered by the order, the difficulty arising from these, and the flimsy character of the paper must condemn the order as utterly unfit as a reliance for the safety of life and property dependent upon its proper execution. The illustration is not wholly satisfactory, for the reproduction of the order on smooth, white paper does not adequately represent the indistinctness arising from yellow paper, thin and crumpled, on which it was written, in common with so many train orders.
Orders should be identified by consecutive numbers, as is now usual. If the regular business requires a large number it is better to begin with No. 1 each day. As a precaution against the engineman overlooking orders, and as a means for properly taking care of them, a clip should be provided for them on the engine, in a position to be readily seen by the engineman while attending to his duties. This will avoid the necessity of his putting the orders where he may forget them; and with each on a separate paper they may be arranged in proper succession and removed as executed, leaving always before the eye the next to be executed. The copies of orders retained by operators should remain in the book. These books and the copies that have been used by trainmen should be sent to headquarters for inspection. This will serve to indicate the manner in which the regulations are carried out, and the condition, as to legibility, etc., in which the orders are issued.
Forms of orders will be considered under "Forms."
THE MANIFOLD.