Hutchinson gazette., 1898-04-21
mentions
Totals 45,4O0
994,O3O

average injured, S9,OO5 Aggregate
annual average of killed and wounded
3s, ,463; almost equal to two battles of
Shiloh, one of the bloodiest two-days
struggles of the late war.
This is the usual carnage OF che cor
porate management of our American
railroads. Nor does it help matters TO
rehearse how many people were car,
ried without being killed for injured.
The people of this country are carry
ing perpetual burden Of eleven bill
lion dollars, which is said to have been
used in perfecting our roads that they
might be safe and satisfactory for the
purposes of travel and traffic; and, the
people are annually paying hundreds
of millions to insure their perfect safe
ty.
But what are the facts and eondi-
tions of the past and present? By COM
pairing the railway management here
with that of other countries, we find
it to be the bloodiest and least safe of
them all. The slaughter of people on
the American railways is far greater
than in England, on the continent of
Europe, in British Iudia, or, in Austria
lasia, in proportion to mileage of roads;
and, far greater, also, in proportion to
the number of persons carried.
On page SO, Interstate Commerce re-
port, 1890, are figures showing that, in
England nearly seven million pnssen-
gers are carried for each one killed;
our roads carry less than one fourth as
many for each person killed. The
English roads carry over half a million
passengers for each one that is injured;
in this country less that half as many
are carried for each person injured.
The Interstate commercial report OF
1890, page 335, says:
'"The comparative freedom from ac-
eidents on the Australasian railways
is especially worthy of attention. In
deed, for term of years the lines in
South Australia and Queensland were
wholly free from accident
The same report, on page 334, says:
The railways in Australasia, with
the exception of one or two very short
lines, belong to the various colonial
governments
The official figures show that pas
sengers are killed and injured in the
United States more than four times as
fast as they are in England. Todd's
book on railways, referring to Ger
many, Austria Hungary, British India,
aud to this country, page "A, says:
According to the summary of rail
way accidents, IL is by far more dan
gerous to travel in this country than
in any other The railways Of the
United States have killed and injured
3. 3 as many passengers and GsAs many
employees as the other three countries
combined.
President Ripley says that the great
er safety of the English roGds is be
cause of their greater perfection, and
better safeguards generally. He says
it would cost in Kansas one hundred
million dollars to perfect our railroads
and to safe-geard them as in England;
and he thinks the people would not
stand that additional burden.
In reply it may be said that Kansas
is now carrying four hundred and for
ty millions of railway capitalization on
the mileage of the state, about half Of
it, perhaps, water. Now let that heavy
burden Of water be expended on our
roads as suggested by President Ripley
and we will have the best and safest
roads in the world, with lighter rail-
way burden than we are now carrying.
Let the Santa Fe company change the
supposed water of its capitalization
into actual expenditures perfecting
and safeguarding its lines, and there
will be no need of the president going
through long and tedious 'newspa-
per controversy" to prevent "preju-
dice" against his management 1t
would be a mere act OF justice toward
the people, and would make tho Santa
Fe the safest and most popular road on
earth.
1t may be we'll, also, TO state in this
connection, that the English roads en-
ploy about four times as many men per
mile of road, as compared with ours
This keeps their men fresh, alert and
vigorous Trains are not entrusted to
men more dead than alive from over
work. This is an important fact!
However efficient our noble, brave and
capable railway employees may be, it is
unjust TO expect Of them four times