The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-09-08
Z . j + < d &
RAILROADS.
He SCORES OUR RY s
Englishman Finds Much to Critioise
in the Management Of Ameri-
can Lines.
Statistics Of Railway Accidents Show
Necessity Of Sweeping
Reform.

Edwin A. Pratt, the Engl1Shn1an VINO
visited the United States to make a study
has written book. Some of his COM
ments have already been printed in the
American newspapers. The book Is made
up of letters written to the London Times,
published the first five months of the
year, with additional material.
The New York Times review gives a
digest Of the volume. ,
! Mr. Pratt, it says. is not railway man.;
he is, however, intelligent traveller and OBJ
server. He travelled four months and 5000
miles in collecting his materials. and what he
had produced is not only a study Of rail-
ways but also agreeable record of travel
TO American readers the most significant parts
of this book those in which the author COM
Britain. The result of the comparison is not SO
fatterng to American vanity as some of US
might have expected. Mr.. Pratt funds our road
! beds almost invariably much inferior to those
| whole, less comfortable than those at home
tho he admits that ordinary hrstclass car
Is not to be criticized as failing to afford SUI
fcent personal privacy; finally, he does not
greatly like boosted method of checking
! baggage and would not recommend it to British
railways. 1t ought to be said for the enlighten-
ment of Mr.. Pratt and other Britons, and as a
hint to those who responsible for the defects
Of the baggage handling system in the large
cities Of the United States, that the checking
| system would be as nearly as possible ideal It
proach to doing their duty with dispatch, and
even as the matter now stands 1t is great
| comfort to be rid of all care Of baggage after
one starts upon journey. Mr.. Pratt, by the
| way, does not seem to have heard that some
| railways undertake to check baggage from
| house to house, plan that adds vastly to t be
comfort Of the travelling public.
Our hastily built and ill-equipped railways
| in remote districts impress Mr.. Pratt very I'M
| favorably. He Is also shocked at the large
number of railway companies that have gone
| into tho hon nd nf fuopo md OF oC
way In which the capital Of stockholders has
been thrown to the winds. Equally reprehen-
| sib1e he holds our grade crossings and our made
| quate protection of the public where railways
run thru populous street. Even automatic
! signals do not impress him quite the fine
| thing accustomed to think them.
| Comparing sources of income in the case OF
British and of American railways, the author
is struck with the fact that with the former pas
senger receipts bear much larger proportion
to freight receipts than with the latter. He
| learned, indeed, that some American railways
! make little profit from passengers, anC
that others maintain highly efficient passen
ger service mainly because such service at
| tracts freight. Perhaps the least agreeable
chapter for Americans in Mr.. Pratt's book |:
| that railway accidents. No can read this
chapter, with its damning statistics, without
! strong sense of the necessity of reform in ou
own railway management with a view to thu
more effective protection of life and limb. II
the United States one passenger in 2 129 1882 II
killed by accident; in the British Isles, one ii
in 12O,3s6 is injured; in the British lies, on
in AS, 627. Again, we kill one railway employ
in 400 and injure one in twenty-six, while TIN
figures for the British Isles one In 1,019 ant
one in thirty-nne. These are the statistics o
1901. Automatic couplers, by the way, impress
Mr.. Pratt as far from effective life-savers. AM
he thinks that American railway statistics 0
accidents likely to check the movement 70
the compulsory of such couplers In tn
British Isles. hs
Recent great railway combinations do no
strike Mr.. Pratt as alarming Such combina
| lions were inevitable in the United States, b
| thinks as in Great Britain He does not dis
cover that the interests Of the public have sui
fered from this policy.
Our travelepsTame to the United States expect
ing to carry home with him many valuable sua
gestions for railway managers in the BIRTHS
Isles. In his chapter of conclusions he declare
that he finds it hard to pick out single thin
} In our railway management to recommend for I'm
itation by his fellow countrymen. Not onl
, | our roadbeds and our provisions for the safet
, of employees and passengers inferior to thos
at home, but railway stations are not s
com1nodious we'll planned those Of th
British Isles. Even methods that seer
especially effective here could not with advar
tage be transferred to Great Britain He
, struck with our economies in handling coal Il
fuel in the application of electricity to variou
purposes and in the carrying OF freight.