Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-12-28
Dome Department.
ABOUT RAILROAD MEN.
Extract from college Grafton by John NJ.
Thomas of Port Henry, n. VI

Grover Cleveland is charged with lack
of respect and injustice to those who,
twenty-five years ago, imperilled their
lives that this nation might live. But
let us examine ourselves instead of our
President. For do we not treat with
equal carelessness class of men who
daily risk their lives that we may live,
not only as nation but as civilized
beings?
Imagine, if you can, our country with
out railroads. Possibly we could do
without the telegraph or any of our mod
ern electrical inventions, but without
railroads our modern civilization would
be impossible. Where would our cities
get their food supply, or whence would
come the thousand civilizing influences
with which we are surrounded?
Then is it exaggeraton to claim honor
for our railroad men? We believe it is
not, because, in the first place, they are
self-sacriticing. To prove our point moth
ing more is needed than merely to men,
ton some of the hardships in their every
day life. First, they are deprived of home
influences every trainman is on the road
half the time and in many cases this limit
is far exceeded then half the remaining
hours are spent at the other end of his
''run." What is left for rest at home is
often hardly enough for sleep. AS a
western brakeman pathetically put it,
''The old man." for that is the superin-
tendent's name, S'don't leave us in one
place long enough to get hitched, unless
a fellow is pretty spry."
Then they are deprived of their Sab
baths. You who think it rather cunning
to deprive yourselves of this privilege
would perhaps change your minds if COM
PEELED to work three hundred and sixty
five days in a year. / purposely include
the holidays, for there are none in rail
road mans calendar.
But by far the best reason why we
should honor these men is because of the
dangers they are compelled to undergo.
This is rather hard matter to talk about,
for your genuine railroader would as soon
call him who talks of danger glove
finger" as he would the greenhorn who
uses a coupling-stick. The Railroad Ga
zette carefully collects statistics of the
accidents and deaths of both passengers
and employees. From this source it APP
pears that twice as many employees are
injured as passengers. Nearly five hun
dred men annually meet death while in
discharge of their duties, while two thou
sand are permanently crippled. These
numbers at first seem large, but the num-
Der of men in the employ of railroads
is much greater than is ordinarily sup
posed. They number a million men,
while one-thirtieth of the population of
the United States are railroad men and
their families.
The danger incident to the life of ordi-
nary trainmen can be known only by
experience. Think of the brakeman
hurting over the tops of his numbering
cars, the next time you glide along in
your spring-wheeled passenger coach.
For him there are no springs to lessen
the roughness of the track. His path is
two narrow boards and, if he trips, death
is the penalty instead of an apology to
some offended traveller. The brakeman
has to get used to cinders that fill ones
eyes or burn ones clothing. 1t takes
genuine grit to cling to brake-lever with
a red-hot cinder down your neck.
But the most fertile source of danger is
in coupling cars. You have doubtless
all seen a brakeman step in between two
cars as they approach each other. See
how lightly he lifts the link, and, quick
as thought, when it is in place, pulls away
his hand and leaps from between. Those
huge bumpers look cruel, but are not
half so cruel as the man traps which are
now being patented at the rate of two
a day under the name of car-couplers.
Catching the foot in the frog of switch
has been the death of many. | saw a
brakeman in such trap once, with an
eighty-ton engine ard train weighing
three hundred tons not two rods distant
How long it took him to think that that
frog made capital boot-jack and to pull
his foot from out of his boot can not
tell, but | heard him say as the train
whizzed past, "There's two days work
gone up in that boot"
But, Notwithstanding his open heart
and manly courage, it must be admitted
the trainman is not without his faults.
For instance, he cannot see why it is any
worse for him, with a wife and house full
of little ones at home, to have an admir-
ing damsel in every car of his beat than
for the well-dressed and highly respected
young man, the model of our so-caled
best society. He cannot see what makes
the law-maker, who is bribed by his rail-
road pass, talk so much about selling
ones vote. And he cannot understand
why it is not a crime for the company to