Show AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES Capt Johnstonc acting president of tho Railroad Board of Egypt says that body has been criticised In England locomotives from tho for ordering United States He says the company has bought locomotives In America because built af cause tho firms offer engines j ter their own standard designs at lower prices and In less time than European builders who tender bids only on designs de-signs offered by tho Egyptian hoard will deliver them The Sun explains the nature of the advantage It says a number of influential bodies like the Railroad Master Mechanics association associa-tion and others In this country long I certain conditions of ago agreed upon manufacture with a view to preserving so far as practicable uniformity In the I main structural details and a high standard as to quality of materials These general conditions are accepted by all our locomotive builders as 31 basis ba-sis from wMlch they evolve their own standards nnd types of machines The result Is that our railroad companion though they have various needs and I Ideas as to what they want seldom submit designs of their own but very often find that the standards offered I by this or that builder fully meet their I requirements English railroad companies I com-panies will not accept the designs of home manufacturers They expect I that an order for locomotives will be accompanied by full plans and sflceifl I cations of the machines desired Thin is what Capt Johnstone means when I he refers to our stnnTard designs that I lessen the cost and expedite the delivery deliv-ery of locomotives for the European roads Within the past I few months eightyone American engines have been I placed on the TransSiberian railroad twenty oirijwcdlsh ten on French fifteen fif-teen on Egyptian and thirty on the Midland railroad of England In 1S9C this country sold abroad 312 locomotives locomo-tives In 1S97 3S1 in 1S9S 530 and in the nine months ending in March last more than 51000000 worth of locomotives locomo-tives Twelve firms in this country have a capacity to produce three thousand thou-sand engines a year I and the average life of a locomotive Is about twenty years The average demand of our railroads rail-roads Is a little over 1SOO engines a year so if necessary our shops can give to foreigners about 1200 engines a year |