The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-13

|XUHpEn0Us RAILROAD SPEED. Several horrible accidents on railrosds In different sections of the country of lsts have been the means of starting anew the discussion of the question of some pro vision which will ensure the safety of the travelling public. A more careful inspec- ton of tracks is suggested by one. better systems of signalling by another. the adoption of the block system by another
 and SO on- Many remedies are proposed and many suggestions made for the pro
 tection of the public, some of them prac-
 tical and possibly effective and others
 useless.
 In our judgment the one remedy which has not been proposed is the only one which can be made effective. and that is to limit the speed of trains. especially on all single track roads, and make schedules to correspond A study of the serious accidents which have occurred lately will show that in almost every instance the accident was caused by running the trains at a high speed. On the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad heavily loaded passenger tran dashing around q curve In the dark ness at sixty miles an hour ran into an and almost . hundred lives were lost. Not long ago on q railroad in Virginia, we believe it was. . train run by an engineer who was going over the road for the first time. went down a grade at speed of ninety miles an hour and fearful catastrophe was the re- sult.
 Instances of the same nature might be multiplied, but it is unnecessary to specify. There are accidents which arc unavoidable, but those caused by very high speeds are not so. Schedules are so arranged that each passenger train must reach . certain town at the precise time laid down. If from any cause train is lost time without regard to consequences. or be censured. Without regard to the lives of passenger he dashes on, ten, twenty or thirty miles an hour beyond the limit of safety, collision or run-off occurs and many lives are lost. If there is an investigation the engineer gets the blame and suffers the consequences. if not killed in the accident.
 Is 1t right that the lives of human be- ings should constantly be placed in jeopardy in order that a train may make a high record, or that passengers should gain q few minutes of time? The con stant tendency Is toward heavier engines and higher speeds, and the natural and inevitable results arc more disasters and more lives lost. No perfection of tracks and rolling stock, no skill of engineers and no human foresight will avail to prevent accidents unless more time is given. and schedules arranged so that trains will not be required to run from sixty to ninety miles an hour to make connections.
 This Is the only safeguard that we see.
 If public opinion will not bring about the remedy the law should do it. If pas sengers are killed because trains are driven at an excessively high speed let
 the owners and managers of the road be held and punished for murder. For It is murder when people are killed under the circumstances attending some of the
 recent Accidents. These enormous speeds are not necessary. The world will get along just as we'll, human progress will not be stopped nor human happiness be
 barred if we never travel faster than
 thirty or forty miles an hour. Speed is
 not the greatest good of life. V"
 It will be argued that in Europe, Eng
 land for example. a high rate of speed is maintained on their railroads. and thai accidents are much less frequent than
 with us. Perhaps that is true. but il does not alter the case. They have
 shorter lines and better systems than we
 have. That they have fewer accidents
 has nothing to do with us over here.
 The fact remains that we rush across the country. night and day. at lightning speed, killing our thousands under cir
 cumstances which constitute 1t murder morally and ought to make 1t legally so Limit speed or convict the InurderArs