Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-10-26
CAUSES OF THE ACCIDENTS.
What Railroad Men Say About the
Recent Disasters.

Public attention has been startled by the
extraordinary number OF railroad accidents
during the last few months. They have
been chiefly In the west, and recently, es-
pecially to trains going to or from the
worlds fair.
The loss Of life has been great Between
September 10 and October 20 a. persons
were killed outright in these accidents and
1Si injured. many of them fatally.
In almost every case inefficiency of en-
ployes-either as to intelligence or numbers
has been the cause. says a New York
special. When the reports of decreased earn
ings of the railways first began to come in
AS a result of the general depression-an-
nouncement was made by many of the roads
of large curtailment of operating expenses
Most of them declared that this was effected
not SO much by cutting down the force of
men employed as by reducing the time of
service. In this way the men when en-
ployed were always kept busy, even with
the diminished business, while the pay rolls
were kept down in proportion to its less
ening volume.
How far this plan was carried out or
found to be practicable cannot be easily as
certained, railway officers are not COM
municative of details. But instances Of
fatal economy indicate that on some roads
at least expenses have been confined by
method Of laying off, hands and taking
chances of consequences.
Local railway officers maintain that there
has been no reduction of forces, and are
disposed to attribute the increase in the num-
Der Of accidents to the increase in the num-
Der of passengers and trains on account of
the fair. They do not say there has been any
addition of employees to meet this extra
business. Such a neglect would of course
have the same effect as a reduction of force
for normal business
E. b. Thomas, first vice president of the
New York. Lake Erie and Western railway,
when questioned on these points. said that
the volume Of traffic had expanded so sud-
denly in the early fall that IL had severely
taxed the ability of the companies to handle
it, He did not think that any of the roads
had been unduly economical
Railroad men," added Mr. Thomas, give
their first thoughts to safety. / venture to
say that there is not a man in the country
at the head of the operating department
OF road who does not give the first consid-
Grafton to the lives of the passengers
cannot explain the unusual number Of acct
dents just now, because there are so many
complications. The worlds fair has brought
into use all the rolling stock on the western
roads, and the train dispatchers' duties Fave
thereby become very much more exacting
The block system Is not in general use, ex-
cept on the trunk lines and electrical sig
mailing is still in the experimental stage
Employees are only human, and while
do not for a moment suppose that they
have been allowed to grow careless. I say
that eternal vigilance is the price of safety
in railroadng, as much as it is Of liberty in
government.
1T is said that some of the roads have
dispensed with what is called the forward
brakeman that is a mistake. 1t is the duty
of the firemen to protect the front of the
train and the brakeman the rear. 1t is the
duty Of the latter to go back half mile and
place torpedoes on the track when IL is
known a train is behind.
when the volume Of travel this fall is
taken into consideration, / do not think
the number of accidents will be found to be
larger than usual
S. NJ. Williams. second vice president of
the Central railway of New Jersey, thought
the accident was due to the increased traf-
fic to the fair. In order to accommodate
the railroads had to call on their freight
crews to work on the passenger trains.
H. Walker Webb, third vice president of
the New York Central railroad said: Rail-
road accidents are like epidemics they can
no more be foretold or arrested. Most of
the accidents in the past month have oc-
CURED on single tracks. The only road
west of Buffalo that has double tracks is
the West Shore. We have carried more
passengers this year than at any time in
the history of the company, yet we have not
had an accident.
When a train is on a louble-tracke1
road the danger is reduced, / may say, 100
per cent, and the dispatchers' duty is plain.
But with only one track, and the trains
moving each way, he must have a very
clear head to keep things straight, particu-
larly IL the number of trains is larger than
usual Some of the accidents are attribut-
that is a source Of danger that will never
be removed. One thing is certain. a good
man is never discharged to make room for
an inexperienced one"