Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-11-15

uoesahee Bosa1os - DouDe - a. Hnearn
seggess That ssaetAsag lsuse n Dooe.
A majority If tho 70 called accident,
On orr railroads IN the last three or for
months have not been caused BY tho fail.
ure Of rolling stock. bridges q roadbsa
70 stand the strain put upon them, but 10
The terrible carelessness Of enployees n
places Of great responsibility. The COL
ksion in Michigan was caused BIZ The
reckless disobedience Of plain orders On
he part Of the oG3cezs in charge Of oue
Of the trains. Apparently these o(iceu
readily took the risk Of continuing be-
yond the point where they bad been d.
rected to stop. knowing that It any time
they might meet another fast train On
the same track. It will be noted that
they We're able to escape by jumping OF
just before the collision that killed =
passengers.
The collision in Illinois few hours
earlier between limited express and a
train of coal cars could not have taken
place IT those in charge Of the freight
train lad exercised ordinary care and
observed the fundamental rules Of the
service. These are the latest additions
to an appalling list Of blunders and in
stances of reckless disobedience which
have caused great loss of life since the
BEGINNING of last summer, and this latest
collision, followed by fire that left only
the charred bodies Of many victims who
could not be Identified, is the worst Of
all.
tits true t;,st in the .last few months
many railroad lines have been overta1ed
by sudden and exceptional growth Of
passenger traffic which has found them
poorly equipped both as to the safe
guards which are needed and the EN-
p'oyees required for the work. It is prob
able also that ca some roads employees
who were Trustworthy under old condi-
fions have become untrustworthy and
even reckless under the strain of over
work. But, while the people generally
laay be interested in discussion of the
underlying causes Of such series Of
dreadful events, they are, more deeply
interested III suggestions rs to the action
which can be- taken TO prevent such
carelessness a;,;, disregard for the safety
Va fs-'s'' ,'aS. eS usiNc Seeu SHOWN luis
year.
Are the PENALTIES which a company
may suffer heavy enough: The loss OF
property in IA collision is not an impor-
tant loss for a great corporation. The
conviction; Of II conductor, or an engineer,
or q train dispatcher on acharge of man
slaughter can ,-:aTcise very little re-
straiaing !ii!uence upon the company
that employed: him. But il it were pos
sibie to collect through the courts large
sans i'll damages foT the lives that are
lost the companies would be much more
careful beth III the supervision of their
employees and il, the establishment of
block signals and other safeguards.
For the &c lives sacrificed in Michigan
the relatives of the victims can recover
from the company almost $3.50, 600, OF
$1,000 for each life. If this limit, which
is imposed by the laws in most of the
states, were removed. such terrible
slaughter as this would be SO expensive
to company that the establishment of
approved safeguards would not be neg
lected. and every possible effort to insure
the efficiency of train officers and the
preservation of passengers lives would
be made. Under present conditions q
railroad company commonly suffers q
much smaller loss in money when q pas
senger is killed than when one is Grip
pled.-New York Times.