The Osceola times., 1877-04-07
THE MAN AT THE THROTTLE.
Confidential Talk with n Ioromottss 4
Engineer No Law Against Incom ape.
tent or Drunken Engine Drivers.

railroad car how absolutely and complete.
ly your life was in The hands of one man ?
Has ii ever occurred to you as you re-
clincd in a soft-cushioned seat in appa-
rent security. with hundreds of Others on
the train, how every one of you might
be sent to an instant death by the slight
est blunder or neglect on the part of one
weak human being? And did you ever
find yourself wondering II .he man at
the throttle understood his duties and
was able to do them promptly and prop
erly, apprcciating the enormous RESPONSE
bilites resting upon fallible human ma.
ture, and knowing what awful conse-
quences might result from a single mis-
take on his part?
Your correspondent confessed that
since the recent railroad engineers
strikes these dangers have oc-
CURED to him, and the readers of the
Herald would understand the reason
could they have heard the other day a
brief conversation in the cab of locomo-
tive. which an unusually intelligent and
trustworthy member of the guild of en-
gineers recounted little of the true in
wardness Of his calling.
WHERE IGNORANCE Is BLISS.
at is as WELL" said he, smiling
thoughtiully, "that the travelling public
don't know how the majority of railroads
are managed and what risks the passen-
gers often run. Why, to save little
money they often fail to employ more
than one-half the number of engineers
absolutely needed for safety. Many a
time have come in from long trip so
tired and sleepy as 10 be scarcely able to
stand, and been ordered Immediately
out again without an hours rest. l have
been worked twenty-four hours at a
stretch when | have been 20 worn out
that no power on earth could keep me
awake, and, standing with my hand on
the lever, have gone sound asleep. If
you had fired OF a cannon at my ears !
could not have helped it. have many
a time brought my engine into some
town at thirty miles an hour while
asleep, until the fireman or somebody
would wake me up.
Dangerous? Well, rather 80 for if
there is any post in the world where a
man should be excessively wide awake,
vigilant, incessantly watching ahead of
him with an unfaltering steadiness and
with good eyes, too, with his hand al
ways on the lever, prepared to check the
flying speed with which he is flying
along, it when he is in the cab of loco
motiveengine.l don't know any work that
requires a man TO know what he is about
and to see what he is about so much as
running the engine of an express train.
The engineer not only must watch his
engine and keen her up to her work, but
he must watch the steam gauge, watch
the time, watch the signals, watch the
track, watch the crossings and watch his
surroundings. To sum up in one word,
an engineer must be alertness personifed.
Dangerous? You might as well ask if
it would be dangerous for a man to fall
asleep sitting on keg of powder with a
lighted slowmatch attached to it.
BULI~DozING THE ENGINEERS.
1T is common thing for an engineer,
after having come in frem long trip, to
be ordered out again Immediately, al
though he knowsand the company knows
that he is not fit for further work with
out q rest, and that to fall asleep at his
post is to endanger the lives of hun
dred, of persons. Yet he dare not refuse
or he will lose Misplace. Suppose, under
such circumstances, al accident occurs
Isn't the company relieved from all re-
sponsibility in the eyes of the newspaper
and the public if they show that the en-
gneer failed to see signal? Who is to
know that the reason that the engine
driver failed to see the signal or the
switch was because he fell asleep from
overwork, and that he was compelled to
run while physically unable to do so in
safety?
A STARTLING STATEMENT.
"This is the cause of good many
railroad accidents, but can tell you of
n still more frequent ole. il is the en-
ployment by certain railroad managers
of hal-tsught botches a. engineers, or
men who are nst of sober habits and can
not get into the brotherhood of engi-
neers tour trade society, and who will,
therefore, work very cheaply."
"Why is this permitted"
Il will tell YOU. In every state in
the union, so far as | know, there is a
law compelling the engineers who attend
to stationary boilers to pass an examina-
tion, at which they must show them.
selves qualified, and receive license be
fore they are permitted to work. You
would be liable TO severe punishment il
you employed an unlicensed engineer TO
run the boiler of your printing Office.
This law il, OF course, an emincntly
proper one, and in New York city, for
instance, there is bureau of police de-
partment whose exclusive duties are to
see its enforcement. A similar United
States statute compels the engineers OF
marine or steamboat engines to pass a
still stricier examination. But no such
law il on the statute books of any state
in the union as regards locomotive engi.
neers, whose duties are even more deli.
cate and dangerous than their brethren
who run factory or other stationary en-
gues. Whenever any bill requiring the
railroad companies IA employ only COM
petent men has been likely 10 pass leg
i,lature, the railroad lobbyists have de-
feated il. You will find no statute in
this country to prevent the railroads from
putting in charge of the train you in
trust your life to the veriest botch or
dfunkard that can be found. If the
newspapers want to do a good work, let
them demand and secure the passage n
such statute a. will oblige the compa-
nies to employ at least this simple req,l,
site 10 s9fety." NV
d DO not the best mana SE
find it pays best to ensS,s