The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1905-08-29
rns LAND OF DISASTERS.

I
ed in railroad wrecks during the past
year. 10 say nothing OF s4i55 injured.
II is quite obvious that he United
states has earned the title. The Land
Of Disasters" given Ct By one Of the
magazines.
] II IS useless 10 point 20 other coun-
tries In the attempt TO arouse public
sentiment here. Were one 10 mention
/ England. where fatalities from wrecks
and even wrecks themselves are pTac-
ticaly unknown. the Insignificant size
OF the island as compared with the
United States would az once be sug-
gested and the assertion made that
the two nations could not properly be
/ contrastei. OF course the totals are
not 10 be put side by side but a power
/ fuI object lesson may De obtained from
a study of conditions in any given sec
tIon OF the United states which 5. the
same as England in area. or from an
. t1 a railroad mileage In this country
/ 90 railroad mileage in'his country
. equal 90 the whole OF the mileage In
the other country. In either case we
appear in most unfavoraJie light
The plain truth Of the matter is that
American railroad managers, general
. ly speaking ARE not only willing. but
apparently anxious. TO sacrifice safety
20 speed and the balance sheet. II
costs toO much 20 take the proper pre-
/ caution against accidents, or 80 inter
feres with the running Of extremely
! fast trains so long a. this spirit is
permitted TO exist, just so long will
there be an annual slaughter as bad
or worse than the bloody record OF
last year
! Nothing is TO be accomplished by
spasmodic agitation. Public sentiment
is prone TO be very much exercised
! whenever a disaster occurs, but for
/ gatfuluess comes soon and lasts until
/ the newspapers tell Of another horri-
/ ble wreck. This is about all there is
10 it. Until the people awaken TO the
/ absolute necessity Of reform, until they
see 10 IT. that congress passes the reg
ulatory legislation that is absolutely
essential the situation viii continue
20 be- as dep,orable as l' is today. The
railroads will object 20 greater outiays
Of cash for safety appliances, Of
course. They will swear that their
profits will not permit them TO take
greater precautions than they DO at
present. aud they will present any
number 4 convincing arguments 70
show that accidents will happen even
when these precautions are taken
That should make no difference. They
should not be improperly burdenad
but they certainly should be- and must
be compelled to move in such wa
as 20 render travelling safer than II
Is now II will not be sufficient 10 point
out that it is little or nothing 20 Kill
10000 people out of a total populatio,
Of S0.O0O0OO. or TO cite statistics show
ing that there is less danger In trav
cling on a railroad than in watkins
around the streets.
In one Of the most recent horrors
that near Norfolk, Va. the engineer
of the train which ran into an oper
draw claims that he had not been or
dered TO make any stops. He was max
V ing his first trip over that division
The railroad company claims that ia
orders are TO stop al all drawbridges
whether they are open or not. BY
standers swear that a lin flag which
was a signal TO slow down and stoI
was placed between the tracks few
i rods from the bridge, but that through
l long use IL had faded from red to
d dingy white. and could not. therefore
convey the proper message 10 the en-
e gineer Out Of all this contraiictor,
d mass there stands out clear and prom
y inent the fact that the wrecl
g should not have occurred. and tha
Il with the proper precautions It woul,
n not have occurred. This parucula
Il road. perhaps. will hereafter insist or
d all it's rains stopping In front OF draw
u bridges and will not send engineer
= over portions Of the road with whic
e they are not familiar The other:
T. though. will doubtless go ON the sam
old way until some reform that ar
really reforms are inauguTated-Re,
d ord
:. : :.
The proposed new state of OklahC
mn lhal Is that nortIOn now known a