JANUARY 1956 - Milwaukee Road Archive

I'" Your Heart
by Dr. James F. DePree, Chief Surgeon, Lines West
•
This article and others on various
health to pies which will follow ai'e
offered as a service to active and reo
tired Milwaukee Road employes
and their families, However, since
the information provided is necessarily
general in nature, the reader
is advised not to undertake specific
treatment or medication on the basis
of these articles alone, but rather
to seek medical advice from his own
physician. whenever he feels such
advice is needed.
•
A RAILROAD man never forgets to keep
his watch in tip-top shape. Yet he will
sometimes neglect the very mainspring
of his own body-his heart.
The heart pumps away faithfully, billions
of times during a man's lifetime,
without having to be wound up. Too
often we take the heart for grantedforgetting
that many things can· go
wrong with it.
Frequently it takes a shock like the
sudden passing from a heart attack of a
friend or co-worker to bring a man up
short and start him thinking about the
condition of his own heart.
There are many kinds of heart disease.
This is a blanket term commonly
used to cover a multitude of heart ailments,
most of which are quite unrelated
except as they involve the heart
or blood vessels. They range from
. rheumatic heart disease, which nearly
always begins in childhood, to the vari.
10
KEENER COMPETITION
ous disabilities associated with high
blood pressure and thickening of the
coronary arteries. These are commonest
in persons from middle age onward.
Fortunately, not all "symptoms"
necessarily mean heart trouble. If your
heart on occasion palpitates or skips a
beat, don't jump to the conclusion you
have heart disease. Anxiety, overeating,
overindulgence in coffee or alcohol or
physical or emotional stress can sometimes
make an otherwise sound heart
act this way.
However, a periodic check of your
heart by a physician is a good idea.
Here are a few symptoms that call for
a date with the doctor.
Unusual shortness of breath. All of
us breathe more quickly after exertion,
but if your breath is short after only
moderate exertion, a weakened heart
muscle may be the reason.
A feeling of pain or tightness in the
chest after exertion or excitement. This
may be due to nothing more than the
pressure of gas in the stomach on the
organs in the chest. But it's smart to
play it safe and see a doctor.
Swelling of the feet or ankles. When
the heart isn't pumping with its usual
vigor, circulation may be slowed up.
This causes fluid to gather in the tissues,
and it usually shows up first in the feet
and ankles.
Unusual fatigue. If you frequently
feel very tired, even when you haven't
been active, the cause may be high
blood pressure or a deficient heart.
Statistics show an increase in the num-
As was to be expected, representatives of the truck lines are bitterly
opposing the proposal of President Eisenhower's so-called cabinet committee
to ease restrictions on the railroads. But that opposition
probably is the best reason why the public should support the administration.
It provides rather clear evidence that keener competition
between these two transportation systems can be expected if the proposal
is adopted by Congress.
-Ralph Hendershot, Financial Editor
The New York World Telegram J
ber of cases of heart disease. This may
seem alarming but actually it isn't.
More illnesses which used .to be at­
tributed to other causes are now properly
classified as heart disease. Also, many
more people are living to the age when
most coronary diseases begin to appear.
Actually, the outlook regarding heart
disease is quite encouraging. New surgical
techniques and new treatments give
the heart case of today a lot better chance
than he would have had only a few years
ago.
But early diagnosis is important.
Your "ticker" deserves at least as much
attention as you give your watch!
test your knowledge of
railroads and railroading
(Answers on page 21.)
1. Are cash transactions balanced out
on the railroad's books daily,
weekly or monthly?
2. Which of these are classed as passenger-train
cars - refrigerator
cars, mail cars, express cars, stock
cars?
3. Does a gross-ton-mile figure include
the weight of freight only,
or the weight of freight and
equipment combined?
4. What is the overall length of a
standard freight car axle-be'
tween 5' and 6 feet, between 6 and
7 feet, or between 7 and 8 feet?
5. When a shipment is waybilled on
form AD 99, is it a carload ship'
ment or an LCL shipment?
6. What is a combination rate--a
through rate made up of two local
rates separately published, or a
blanket rate for two or more com'
modities?
7. Is the current per diem charge for
freight car hire more or less than
$2.00?
8. In which of these countries is the
world's longest straight-and-level
stretch of railway track-Aus'
tralia, Russia or Argentina?
9. Under the new ICC classification
of railroads, effective Jan. 1, 1956,
is a railroad whose gross revenues
total $2,000,000 a year a Class I
or a Class II railroad?
The MIlwaukee Road Magazine