The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-10
| rIN ARE ON THE ROADS.
~smENT OF THE A, II. AND S. f.
na1TES ABOUT ACCIDENTS.

pasSengers Are Killed Plentf-
statements of President
,ey Wake 1t Seem Strange That
,.,dents Are Not More Frequent.
rolls of Some of the Troubles
Al RailrOading.
dents on American Railways forms
,,ansting matter of a Letter written
M E. P Ripley, president of the
4son Topeka and Sante Fe Railroad.
n, Ripley says;
.7be sacrifice of one human life is a
-ibls thing. On this point at least we
eli in harmony; viz, that, excepting
..rb and honor, human life is the most
.ous thing In the world, and there is
..sing that any one of us can do that it
not his bare duty to save the life of
slother.
Of have before me the latest statistical
,,ort of the Interstate Commerce Com
r.jon the advance sheets of which have
as8 sent out during the last two weeks.
rf statistics on the subject of railway
.,dents and casualties are very full.
Tie persons killed by the railways are di-
r9ej into the three classes of 'passen-
cons" employees and "other persons"
DDgrng the year 1896 there were killed
nj passeneeFs on the railways of the
YfJtd States. This is deplorable beyond
pl'ls But lei us stop and consider what
means During the year the number of
ps,stngers carried on the railways of the
emuy was 81, 772, 737-nearly $4,000 900
The number of passengers carried a dis
rtte Of I mile was 1903, OO7, 233-over thir-
md thousand million. The number of pas
sreers carried, says the report, for one
ps&enger killed during the year was D.
Gdi one writer has already summar-
Id these figures, in words which l will
oq5 as follows:
Last year on American railways one
passenger was killed in accidents out of
tey 2 ST. Az passengers carried That is
nay that you can take train 2,S27, 474
tines before, on The law of averages, your
uan comes to be killed. You will have to
tsgal 72099963 miles on the cars before
6st turn comes, and Ash, 945 miles before
you are injured. If you travel twenty
ns every day for 800 days in the year,
!ol can keep on at it for 75S years before
your turn comes to be hurt. If there had
hen railways when our Saviour was
hn. and you had begun to travel on the
aEt day of the year A. d. l, and had
mreIed 100 miles in every day of every
month of every year since then, you
you'd still have ION Jan l, 1898 nearly
a ;lQg1 miles yet to travel before your
un come to be killed"
The railways of the country carry near
$4,000 people (they carry the whole
N ppualion of the slate of Kansas two and
half times over before one passenger is
j Killed.. Surprising that each individual
"A na7eIed only one mile, the entire popula-
q lion Of Kansas (by the census of 1890
Y could gel on the cars and travel that one
mile sixty-four times, before any one of
Aem-man, woman or child-was killed.
4 IT IS terrible that one of them should
eer be killed. But when the railways
carry nearly 100000 persons (2,S27, 474)
before they Kill one-when one passenger
can travel 100000 miles before he is
hied-when we remember all the contin-
g7Dces Qandslides and Washouts and
hoods and human weakness) which have
10 be guarded against-does it really seem
as If the railways were negligent? 1t is
commonly said, and 1 presume it is true,
laat more people are killed annually by
Ealing out of windows of houses than are
liied when riding on railway trains.
lam not seeking to minimize the awful
hess Of taking one human life; butt ask
WIENER these figures show any lack of
rare on the part of tine NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
Inc railways deserve credit or blame for
'a'!lng lS,0OOO0O people every year
QUE mile before they lose one life?
Iae number of employees of the rail-
WAYS Killed last year was 1861. 1t is a
dreadful total. That is just about one life
country -
one life for every 100 miles of road
Flaled! Suppose several gentlemen were
Oulld a railroad 100 miles long, employ
ns ABOUT $50 men (Which is the correct
a'ssase), would they feel sure that they
oliu operate that road for the whole year
o1nu, day and night, rain or shine. heat
Toid' through thunderstirm and biz
-9'u ana frost, without the loss of the life
que employee? Remember what the con-
e.t s.ous are-trains continually in motion in
- - uirectlon-some express passenger
tus numbering on at sixty miles an
h. ~ soine ponderous freight trains, back
s17. 'iu heaving onto sidetracks and over
rhtIeS-olinding storms obscuring signal
|foat "e and snow numbing hands and
|e,ro..-s N~I VI the TallS ana bridges
aipIng an the summer sun and con-
o,' '"s IN the winter cold, making ioin,s
ma ana close, straining bolts and spikes
~ S'leWs-invislble defects inside the
n,,. VI wheel tire or an axle that
SAY. 0'ash at any time, undiscovered Bile OBJ
cf sa1s, perhaps 20 more than a few grains
sor,@ mat may choke the operation of
no.io Pdl OF an engine and cause ex-
|ran,'-'' ana behind it all common human
NM, which, inexplicably once in a
ke makes the finger On the telegraph
oat message wrong or the ears
h -,I ''arS II TAIL TO read il right-that
rg yardman, his thoughts wander
ro,ae moment, signal wrongly or
bta r.b me best engineer, perhaps, hest
o-d.u "Heh hesitation is fatal, or forget an
han ne should remember, or fail TO look
6.,f 'Snai the missing of which means
M W himself and others.
"oi51. we come to the last category. of
esrs Persons'-not employees or passen-
os VINO were killed during the year
kre5 "'Se there were 4,s6 persons
hst ~ the United States
r.,. ear- more than twice as many as
CONT NIIed of employees and passengers
lt u..,'ypI' w no are these "otl1er persons?"
M "ou'd be impossible to enumerate all
srs 81. cues of ways in which their lives
f,-,S5 put a great majority of them fall
ar- iI INTO four classes, viz: Those who
g,.tDt' l'd at stations, trying to board or
rom train when tits moving. by
NNg.9.. e. -