Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-10-14
RAIL WRECKS.
A Serious Problem Now
Actively Discussed.
A List of Causes of Railroad
Wrecks.
Most Frequent Cause is Negligence OF
Employees.

Il pause, and make careful persons
think twice before tnbarking OH Il
long journey, especially in those parts
oi tnt country Where accidents most
n Itttntly occur. What is the under
| lying cause Of this destruction of life
| on the rails, by comparison with the
records abroad? What can be done to
stop IL? These questions are actively
discussed in all eli. les here, but es-
y, ci;,!ly among Stu'NntS OF the railroad
: problem. a powerful agitation by the
press, ii IS felt. should be the first step
in awakening the public to the appall-
| ing Nature OF the situation.
Ey far the most prolific cause Of ac-
| cident is one OF which it seems almost
un%racious to speak and that is the
| negligence OF the employees. In the
/ recent ACCIDENT on the Southern Rail-
/ way N Tennessee, the trains had been
| running Tor some years on an undiS-
/ turbed schedule; their operatives were
accustomed to meet at certain points
| on the road. according to direction. On
| this particular day, the engineer and
| the conductor each had orders to meet
| at d certain point, and the written in
structions We're that evening found on
the dead body of the engineer, after he
had run by the point where they di-
rected him to stop. More than that, a
hackman who was waiting for the OPP
posing train, asked this very engineer
as he walked from the despatchers
| office to his locomotive where the
trains We're to meet and the engineer in
reply gave the station which his orders
| ipI cd CHI hot no ha
them intelligently. and yet he ran by
| WHY, he carried the secret with him.
In the Missouri Pacific accident
| Monday, a passenger train left Wichita
| at night with a great crowd for the St
| Louis fair, in two sections. Just at
dawn in rounding a sharp curve, the
second section ran against a freight
| train going in the opposite direction
| which had received orders to wait on
siding further back for the two sec
tions, but the freight operatives for
got" the second one.
| The circumstances in the terrible ac-
cident last year on the Reading, near
| Plainfied, n. j., are familiar. The
| train ahead of the one in question was
| stopped; it had sent back a fagman,
| the signals We're set and the track was
straight, and yet the engineer ignored
everything. 1t was testified in an in
vestigatOn following an accident on
another road that an engineer habitu-
ally dsregarded the signal set against
him at a certain block. to the extent of
| running into water tank in the ex-
pectatiOn that while he was filling the
tender the signal would be lifted
These illustrations might be multiplied
many fold. Railroad orders are usu-
ally correct. but the employee in too
many cases interprets them as he
plaases.
Several tendencies Of the day help to
bring this result to pass. Persons in
all branches of business have frequent
occasion to note the inability of young
people, fresh from school, to carry out
instructions, no matter how carefully
given. The kindergarten idea may be
responsible for a lack Of ability to lis
ten with a concentration of attention.
but at all events the military idea of
obeying orders, for their own sake,
finds little place in American life.
Trades uniOnism among employees un-
doubtedly contributes its part to the
looseness with which orders are ac-
cepted. In operation it has levelling
effect. among employees, by cutting
out the special incentives to superior
talent, and dwelling up to a general
average the interiors. Employees
naturally look to the organization to
secure their promotions and increased
pay, rather than to an advance in their
own attachments. With the sacrifice
Of individuality comes an inevitable
weakening in the loyalty Of the en-
pioyee toward the railroad manage
ment. and with that a necessary re-
taxation of discipline.
Huge railroad consultations perhaps
contribute in the same direction. The
old esprit du corps of the small lines is
weakened as the personal relations
between employee and employer be-
come more distant. There comes to
be great body of employees on one
side, and of managers on the other:
the individual is lost sight of; he does
not feel that he has the same chance
of recognition that his carefulness and
success will receive that same notice
from his superiors, and so ne natural
: ly seeks whatever advantage may ac-
: crue to him through the efforts Of the
|
people, whatever their good qualities.
are not pre-eminent in their respect
for law and authority At the time of
strike. the labor union thinks moth
ing Of taking the law into its own
hands. and expects the ordinary
agencies of administration to step aside.
The lynching practice, which has come
quite far North in proportion to the
colored population. is another example
of Wholesale disrespect for law. Few
passengers on a transatlantic steamer
arriving at American ports are inn
pressed by the obligation which they
owe to the law Of the land. because it
is the law. whether they think it wise
or not: their interest is rather to put
into execution whit they think the law
ought to be, as applied to their own
cases. The lightness with which the
mandate of authority rests upon the