New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-03-22
THE BRoCKToy DISASTER.

The boiler explosion in Brockton shoe fac
tory on Monday was one of class of acct
dents which. happily, are growing comparative
" uncommon. Steam is used more than ever
to generate power for driving machinery to
be sure. but the restrictions ON carelessness,
recklessness and defective construction which
the insurance companies and the statutes i'm
pose have increased still more rapidly. Self
interest and the law have led to inspections
which tend To minimize the danger; and the
proportion of the whole number of boilers in
service which explode is smaller now than it
was thirty or forty years ago. Disasters of
this class have not been completely averted.
however, and the horrors which accompanied
the latest one to go record will make 1t
memorable in the industrial history of New
England. The number of operatives who lost
their lives is known to exceed fifty and may
possibly be more than a hundred. and the man
ner in which they met their death was shock
ing in the extreme. AT least fifty of the sur
vivors, too were badly injured.
The boiler which blew up had been put to
use for the first time in several months it is
said, on the day Of the accident, and it burst
only an hour two after a fire had been start
ed under it. Moreover, it was something like
eighteen or twenty years old. Neither of these
circumstances fully explains the accident If
as has been asserted, an insurance inspector
pounds, one is left to choose between two pos
sibilities. His examination might not have
been recent, or the prescribed limit might have
been exceeded Which hypothesis affords the
true explanation will probably never be known
The engineer of the shoe factory doubtless the
only person who could decide the question, has
disappeared, and is believed to have been
Killed
In the interest of safety users Of petroleum
for fuel in big cities are often required to store
the fluid outside of the building in which it is
consumed. Similar rules apply to the arrange
ment or apparatus for generating Illuminating
gas from calcium carbide. Such removal of
steam plant beyond the walls within which
its work is to be done would certainly be
good thing, and the practice may come into
vogue without any compusion whatever If
power were supplied to a score of manufacturers
in a single community, as it is at Niagara, in
the form Of electricity, distance from its source
would not be Objectionable. 1t would not be
necessary to limit the system to cities that had
waterfalls at their disposal. Coal and steam
engines would still be available, the only change
being the concentration Of many plants in one
central station like two or three which op-
crate electric railways in this city-each of
them having a capacity of from $4,000 to SO-
900 horsepower-would be altogether practical
bic for such industrial centres as Brockton and
Lynn, Lowell and Fall River
The plan would be not only feasible, but it
would be accompanied by economies which are
not attainable in any other way. These ma
terial advantages would appeal more strongly
perhaps. to the minds and hearts OF business
men than considerations of humanity but an
incidental feature of the innovation would be
the prevention Of such scenes as were wit
messed in Brockton last Monday