El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-15
A6IN' THE BILL
Opposition Developing To the Pas
sage Of the Double Header
Measure

WedSuIC.
The chances for the passage of the
double header bill seem not so good.
The following taken from the Houston
Post, gives the arguments advanced 0y
opponents of the bill.
There is an active lobby at Austin
insisting on = law to prohibit the en-
ployment Of double headers in railway
service. The trainrnsn say that the
practice OF drawing heavy trains with
Ewo engines at tandem is extra haZar-
dous and results in their crews being
overtaxed and worked overtime.
Tue proposition as presented by the
trainmen naturally hes d great many
friends and at first looked as II 1t
would receive leg islaJive favor. But
IN this as in other thin - the legislator
has shown disposition to investig gate
before committing him finally and
il now looks as,if the aGti-double-heao-
e. movement might meet with fatal
collision.
A prominent member of the house,
who has "a decided leaning towards
railway trsinmen, said that statistics,
SO far as obssinable from accident
companies carrying risks on employees
engaged in operating double headers,
wherever in vogue, did not support the
statement thai there wasin them any
element or reason for extra hazard. On
tistics how clearly that the percen tage
of hazard is reduced in the ratio of de-
creased trains and decreased opera
Jives. When asked as to the train
mems argument that dou oie-headers
resulted in overtime and OverwOrk to
tn cir crows this same mem Der answer
ed: IL regret for the friends of this
ansi-dou ble-he ader~ crusade that their
position even in that respect is not
thaSn hundred
mile run of ten hours is trainman's
day; II he makes that hundred
miles in any numoer of hours less
than ten his compensu ion remains the
same.
1T by accident or delays at meeting
points he is laid out over the limit
of ten hours, for every hour thereafter
he is credited with q run of ten miles
or one-tenth of a teu-hour day, So
tha al every hour of overtime is worth
just as much as any one day of ten
hours would be 81. to the total of ten.
Overtime Is, therefore, profitable to
trainmen and almost without ex.
cepti1n they would rather have it than
not"
Thinking that this member was too
technical and knew too much, the
correspondent hunted up an old men,
Der from the rural .stricts and asked
him whst he knew about 'double-head-
ers. He said be couldn't see that it
was any more OF the legislatures bust
ness to say that railroad should not
pull big load with two engines than
TO say TO q teamster thailhe should not
use two mules to pull heavy load in
order I'd dispense with one driver. He |
said further that if the railroads were
denied the right to pull freight trains |
with two engines, thereby dispen-
sing with two brakemeu and one con-
duosQr, he could not ses why the le-l
gislsture should not permit railroad
employees to say to their managers that
they should have q t. ain crew to every
fifteen cars, or for any mum Der, they
might decide upon.
If the railroads reduced the expense
of operstion by reducing employees
without injury to the public service and
vithou. increasing accidents it became
a question of economic management on
the part of the railroads OF which the
pu bile "ouid become the beneficiary
and ore that ought to be taken out of
politics and encouraged, declared still
another mem Der.
Meantime the trainme en- light against
: statistics on their proposition of extra
hazard from the double-header prac-
sice and strenuously deny that they do
not oppose the double-header because
il cuts three of their number off the |
paw roll.
Both sides claim the vantage ground
In the field of argument, but where 1t
will end nobody knows.