New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-11-25
ryGLISH RECKLESSNESS.


ENGLISH RECKLESSNESS
Englishmen have been harassed these many
years by American methods or railroad man
agement. The divergence OF views dates iron'
the introduction of the system In ooth couh-
tries. The English were annoyed at the OUTSET
because the Americans persisted ID caii'nsa
sbuut n switch. driver an engineer, stoKer
a fireman, and luggage baggage. Ihls seemeu
a very unnecessary way of asserting tnell II"
diyiduality. Not satisfied with having diher-
ent names for the same things, the Americans
devised characteristic methods of operating rail-
roads and introduced many devices LOT pro,
noting the comfort of passengers. lnby h"u
thsir own way of organizing companies, water
ing stock, and frequently of bankruptIng val
uable property and owing to the rapidly WIFI
which railroads were built and the beedlessness
with which they were operated, accidents were
If com mon occurrence. Englishmen have had
for thirty years a characteristic word when
they have applied to American rallro"u
methods. That word is RECKLESS" ihoy
have adhered with logged persistence TO many
inconvenience of their own system rather IMAM
EXPOSE themselves to the hazards OF American
reck;essness. They have an instructive aver
sion TO everything devised for use on American
naturalization patent brake to a brass Dag
oape check. They regard the financial collapse
If every railroad enterprise in the Unloeu
States as merely u question OF time' anu are
convinced that accidents and explosions are Vi
hourly occurrence and are 90 generally uls'ii-
buted and so nicely timed that the newspapers
in every section of the country are never a'
loss for local sensations"
ItwA snot strange, therefore, that the hist
American Pullman car introduced in England
was received with extreme disfavor, anu IL was
the most natural thing in the world that the
managers of the Midland should be sternly held
70 account by the British public when one of
these cars suddenly caught fire and an unwary
traveller was burned to death. An ontcry was
at once raised against foreign Innovations ana
the recklessness of American railroad contriv-
ances. For once, however, the EngIlsh
crackers we're wrong in their facts. Now that
q thorough investigation has been held, 1t Is
admitted on all sides that the fire was not
caused by an overheated stove hut by an Eng
j.b reading-lamp, which one of the passengers
insisted upon using in his berth. Dr. johnson
had taken a candle to bed with him for years
and cad himself to sleep, slngeing his eye
brows occasionally In like manner the Eng
lish traveller read newspaper III his D'rth
until midnight, but the curtains caught hre
from the lamp, and ScOtchman, who had been
smoking a cigar in his OWE section and was
upder the influence of liquor, was burned to
crisp after stumbling into another berth.
When the car was found to be IN oiaze the
passengers signalled to the engineer to stop the
train. and although he noticed that the cord
had been pulled he could not heed the warning
without violating the rules of the company {;
and it was not until he had been sgualled
from station. where the flames had attracted
attention. that he felt at liberty to stop the
train.
American railroad officials win read the de-
tails Of this accident with grim smile. They
have been censured so often by English critics
for the recklessness of their methods that they
will derive consolation from this exhibition OF
incapacity and carelessneSs. Passengers in
American sleeping-cars arc not allowed to
smoke in their berths, whether they are drunk
or sober. nor can they take their reading lamps
to bed with them; and if an engineer receives
warning that something is wrong and that the
train must be stopped instantaneously, he is
DOt DItNcUltu ny blIc iitN" "ii'''ho " WV
company from saving the lives of the passen
gers. Obviously it is Unnecessary for the Mid
land dire ctors to condemn the Pullman cars out
of hand as a dangerous American innovation
nor will they be required to determine 10y
formal investigation whether it will he possible
to retain them by increasing the number OF at
tendants, lighting them by electricity, or heat
ing them by steam. These sleeping cars are
not more dangerous tEan any other cars so long
as they are opera ted on the American plan. 1t
is the recklessness of English management that
rem ders them unsafe.