that the mills furnish rails with a composition as near between the
two limits as possible. The mills, however, in order to meet the
prescribed drop tests with the least difficulty, keep both the
carbon and manganese as nearly as possible to the lower limits,
with the corresponding result that a generally poor-wearing rail is
furnished.

"Some roads have prescribed the limits of deflection to be allowed
under the drop test. With our present knowledge, we believe that we
should fix a minimum deflection to eliminate brittle rails and to
secure greater uniformity of product; also maximum deflection to
eliminate soft rails. We are not able at the present time to fix
these limits, but our ultimate object will be to determine and fix
such limits for the specifications.

"With reference to the amount of discard, time of holding in ladle,
size of nozzles, and other such details of manufacture or
machinery, we are of the opinion that the physical and chemical
tests required should be prescribed, and that we should see that
the material submitted for acceptance meets the prescribed tests.
We should not dictate to the manufacturers the amount of crop which
shall be removed from the top of the ingot, as this should vary
with the care and time consumed at the various mills. The railroads
should not be asked to take anything but sound material in their
rails. The mills can furnish such sound material if the proper care
and sufficient time are taken in the making of the ingots.
Information derived from the tests being made at the Watertown
Arsenal shows definitely that sound rails cannot be made from
unsound ingots, and that, therefore, the prime requisite in
securing a sound rail is to first secure the sound ingot.