Barbour County index., 1904-01-27


AS suggestive Of the fact that gov.
ernment ownership of monopoly can
not De always representative of the
pest OF everything in the administra-
ton OF that monopoly. the limited
states postal department on several
occasions has served as an illuminat-
ing example. That in one marked re-
spect at the present time it is falling
snort OF the commonest measures of
precautlon and safety with reference
10 Doth its men and it's mails is to he
seen In the operation of the railway
postal system.
twenty-five years ago the trave,ino
puDllc began to realize from the net
showing of railway wrecks and COLI
slons that considerable element of
safety lay simply in the solid mas.
slVe construction Of the sleeping car.
AS compared to the ordinary dav
coach IN head-on collision. the mas.
senger in the sleeper had manv
chances for life over the passenger in
the other vehicle. When the yesti.
Dule attachment to the sleeper was
perfected the public safety again was
contributed to in a marked degree
and finally, when it was discovered
tnat fast train. vestibuled from end
10 end, virtually could not he tele-
scoped under ordinary conditions of
wreck, the railroad companies were
quick to make every passenger coach
In the train thus immune. so that to.
day the limited trains on a railroad
virtually are made up of one coach
measuring from the baggage car back
ward.
But forward Of the baggage car?
There is the example of governmental
snortsightadness which seems econ
omlcally inexcusable. Under the or
binary conditions of making I'M
through train anywhere on the conti-
nent there is, first, the preponderating
weight OF the train in the passenger
section of solid vestibuled sleepers
trailing at the end. In front there is
mighty locomotive, built for speed
and weighing perhaps 12O tons. Be-
tween there may be two, or three. or
1our mail cars, built of the f1imsiest
pattern of wood, lacking the vestibuIe
connections that make for safety. and
rolling there between the weight of
the traln and the might of the loco
motive, ready to crash into match
wood at the impact of collision.
No class Of men in a trains crew
suHers more from the average wreck
tnan do the postal clerks No class
Oh matter carried in car may cause
greater loss and inconvenience than
tne destruction Of the first-class mail
matter of one of these through trains.
Fire as an element of danger in one
o1 these wrecked cars is always para
mount. And all because the govern
ment has not exacted of the railroads |
N their contracted service the same
economic consideration that the roads |
nave given so freely in their own
interests to the travelling public.
The railroad postal clerk is desery- |
ng OF more consideration than he is |
getting in the circumstances. The |
efficient clerk is born rather than |
made He is Of material that is not
easily picked up in a crowd. AS mere
material he deserves to be husbanded
more closely than his government is
disposed to do when it consents to
lave him placed as living buffer be- !
Ween the crushing possibilities of a
OO-ton locomotive and a train of solid
sleeping cars. This is the logical age
II steel. Give him a steel car that
will neither crush nor burn. Give him
! show for his life, even at the ex-
'ense of little more governmental
ed tape.-Chicago Tribune.