RAILROAD JOURNAL AND MECHANICS' MAGAZINE. VOL. VIII.-NEW SERIES, OR VOL. XIV. New York: 118 NASSAU-ST. The commencement of another half yearly volume gives us the privilege which we assume only on such occasions of speaking of ourselves, our labors for the time that is past, and our hopes and fears for the future. In doing this, we shall speak in plain terms, and relying upon the good sense of our subscribers, we trust we shall not be accused of egotism. At the commencement of the past volume, our readers will remember that our Journal was much behind its regular time of pub lication. The cause of this delay was solely want of means. Matter was not, and never is wanting, but without money, we can never get on,-paper must be purchased, the printing must be paid for, and last, but not least, is our rent. If we were behindhand in fulfilling our engagements, our subscribers were still more so ;~ if we had not wherewithal to pay the actual expenses of publication, to say nothing of recompense for our own labor, how could we be expected punctually to perform our appointed duty. In the face of all this discouragement, we made the effort, and by the punctu ality of some of our subscribers, we made the effort to satisfy all. The volume has been completed, and the latter numbers appearing at the proper time, we are able punctually to commence the new volume. It will be seen on reference to the pages of the volume completed, that nearly one half is composed of new and original, and we hope, interesting matter. It must be recollected that the information thus embodied, is prepared at no small cost of time and labor, and contains, generally speaking, the result of experience |