Arizona republican., 1904-01-09

on the railroads of the whole ooun-
 try.
 Obviously, the prime danger Of win
 ter in eastern states IS lie snOwstorIn An engineer is likely to blinded by ths flakes, or the signal lamps may be ob- 1 structed from his view If he be tho
 right kind of man, however, he will
 carefully "feel his way" The winter brings gales of especial violence, which
 sometimes derange the operation Of the
 read. Only the other day an accident 1 occurred in the west on the Marquette railrcad. which was caused by the wird | flowing out a light in a signal lamp. l Similar accidents, however. care likely ! to occur in the summer, as the result ! of violent thunderstorms.
 1 "Bitter cold" said Frank L. Shep- ! pard. general superintendent of the | Pennsylvania railroad, "has a tendency I to deaden the faculties of the operating ] crews. A crisp air enlivens the brain, 1 but when the temperature sinks too l low the nerves become numb" ] In sudden ccld spells the metal used
 in railroad construction has 9 tenden- ! cy to become brittle and crack. At such times there is increased vigilance ir l the inspection of the track. of bridges
 and the wheels of cars. The engineer, ! before each run, in especially cold wea- i ther, tests every part Of his lOcomo- | tive with extra. sCfutiny.
 At the present time the increase of the freight business of the railroads terminating in this city increases the | danger of collisions and derailmeats to an appreciable extent. The shipment
 of grain over .theC1ew York Central, the Eric ar6 ha T.aclra vy-anro ro-r- tie height Last winter the freight Nbusi-
 ness became SC congested on the Penn sylvapia that it was impossible to
 move cars for days over certain sec tions. The worst point of congestion
 was this side of Pittsburg.
 The chief danger Of accidents in sum
 mer is from the greatly increased mum
 Der of passenger trains. Twice as many
 persons travel in warm weather as in
 cold weather, The number of commut-
 CTS also increases in and out of cities. Excursion trains are added to the regu- lar schedule and as they are generally ihroUsh trains, run at a high rate Of speed. extra precautions must be taken
 that local traffic is temporarily side tracked and that the track is kept cleer for them.
 The number e. passengers travelling in summer also fluctuates with a sud denness that often upsets the calcu- latihns Cf the most experienced rail- raod superintendents
 'SOne days ten carloads of passeng- CTS will suddenly begin to pile up in the Pennsylvania station" said MT Sheppard when we only expected two or three. Extra trains must b made up as rapidly as possible and run out in different sections All this increa ees the risk of handling the trains without ac- cidents"
 Frequently a thunderstorm fl. ths summer time demorslizes the operation of a railroad as much as a winter bliz- gard. Signals are likely to be twisted SO trct the green light of safety ie substituted fer the ped cf danger. Rocks are more likely to be 1oosered along the sides of cuts than bN a win ter storm. and the cold tends tU freeze the ground solid. Telegraph poles are more easily uprooted in q watersoak ked soil. and the electrical mecnan nisms Of safety are rendered uncertain ty the lightning.
 And yet. in spite Of all the obstacles with which the railroads have to con tend" said T. w. Lee. general passen- ger agent Cf the Lackawanno railroad. "a man is far safer travelling o7 railroad train tran in staying ct hone in New York As Q matter o6 record the man .who stays at hcre IS twenty times more likely to be killed tran the man who travels.
 "In the streets of New +Yerl, in the year 1902" continued Mir Lee. "eccc-d- ing to the police department. 365 people wera killed by cars. 4unawavs. and from other causes, which. in a pcpula- tion 0f $500 900. shows that about ona person in 10000 met with death. Tn tn, whole United States. according to the report for 1902. of the interstate com merce commission. only 345 passengers of railroad trains we're kilIed-a per oentaGe of twe2ty-two dimes smaIi=r than that of the death record cf street accidents in New York The total num- Der of the passengers carried by the railroadF -cf the United States in 1902 was 649.SFS.5O5. 90 that only about one person in 2.CO0,COO who travel on rail- roads ever met with a fatal accident" New York World