Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-03-06
&erman millet, red seed Oats,
w j. Chase a. Co.,
IS2 Main. l54t
How Railroad Disasters r Avoided
in Germany

How Railroad Disasters are Avoided
in Germany.
Berlin Cor. of Cincinnati Gazette
In the Reiehstag there is a Committee
on Railroads, whose business it is to en-
act the laws by which railroad Gonna
MES are governed. State or private en-
te prises are alike subjected to the same
rules. When a private company desiyes
to build a road, the plan is submitted 20
this company, with substantial proof
that there is means sufficient to carrythe
project through. When the road is fin
ished, the work and the material used in
every bridge, every depot and every sim
gle part of the road are submitted to the
inspection of a class of men who have
spent their lives in studying and prepar-
ing themselves for this position. Every
young man who selects engiuesrinG.
architecture, or a similar study for his
pursuit in life, edueates himself with the
hspe of becoming one day a member of
these royal committees. To accomplish
this end requires an amount of study,
thoroughness of study, and a perfect
mastery of details, of which the fewest
number of our best American scholars
have the f~aintsSt conception. Indeed.
in every branch of study, the more | see
of Herman school lifet the more convinced
| am, with all our excellent public
schools, with all our nobly endowed IN
stitutions of learning, the American
school children do not understand the
first principles Of real application to
study, 1t may not be in the American
nature to plod as the Germans do, but
assure you this plodding acoomplisbes
the most magnificent results, and the
man who a invent a system Of teach Z
ing by which the natural quiekness and
brightness Of the American children can
be bound down to the thorough study Of
the Germans, will lay the foundation for
a nation of scholars such as the world
has not yet seen.
But to turn TO the arrangement of the
railroads. As soon as the road is finish
ed, a house for a Waterman is erected
every 800 or 1000 feet, whose business it
is to inspect the track up to the next
station before and after the passage of
each train. He also, through a magnetic
wire attached to a bell, announces the
train is on its way past his station. At
'he crossing of every country road, of
every street in a city, a man is placed,
whose duty it is to draws barrier across
the road or street, that no vehicle or pe-
destrian may cross the track until the
train is entirely passed. As no cattle
are permitted to run at large here it is
easy to see that such horrible accidents
as we have in America are an impossi-
bility. Even brakemen and switch-ten-
ders have to be educated men, and anv
neglect Of duty on their part is followed
by severe punishment. At the depo,s
the departure of eacht rain is signaled by
three deficient soundlngs of a bell. At
the first ringing the people commence
getting their children and bundles ready.
AT the second, cautious people take their
seats in the cars, while others stand
about on the platform saying their last
adieux. At the third sound every one
springs in, the conductor runs along his
narrow platform and closes the door of
each coupe, the superintendent gives a
shrill blast from the whistle suspended
about his neck, the train moves Of. and
you in your comfortable corner experi.
ence the same feeling of security that
you would in your easy chair at home.
On the arrival Of a train in most of the
cities the porters of the depot are
recognized by their uniform and number
their caps; you give one of them your
check for the baggage, go to the police
man who stands near the door of egress.
get a number for a drosehke, and then
wait until your porter comes from the
baggage-room, give him the number. he
calls your droschke, sees you seated.
takes his FIVE groschens, and runs back
to perform the same duty for some one
else.
Their plan for caring for the baggage
is not so convenient as ours in America;
still, when l heard the visitors at the
Centennial praising so enthusiastically
our comfortable railroad arrangements.
l could not help thinking: All, buff YOU
only knew what mines Of destruction sur
rounded you on all sides, you would have
been willingt to sacrifice some of the com
forts for the sense ofsecurity n ENJOYS
here on these slow but we'll governed
roads.