The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-07-16

/ York amount and the Asheville
amount. in proportion TO the number
| of miles of the road involved, is less
| than per cent of the amount dock
| eted against the great railroad sys-
TENS of the country, for a similar pro-
| portion of the mileage, for petty dam
age suits.-from the killing of dog
to killing of a man, from the firing
of rotten fence rail by spark from
| the engine, to the burning of the dry
grass from a broom-sage meadow.
1t is said that there are men formed
| into a society TO get hurt on purpose
to get damage suits against the rail-
road; this may or may not be true, but
when one thinks of the endless cost
to handle the list of cases for damage
suits, covering the court dockets of our
country. and the immense expense to
keep the machinery of the law courts
in operation, the great bulk of which
is paid not by the litigants, but by
the taxes collected from the people.
For the average suit. involving over
81 900 for damage against the railroad,
drags in the court from three to five
years, until the loss of time To the
court. to the witnesses, TO the jury,
and TO the officers of the court, and
general expense for the litigants of
both sides, nearly il not equals as
much as the total amount first in
volved, and the loss has been paid out
by the State and county for the direct
court loss, from the pockets of those
without penny involved in the Iitiga-
ton. The railroad is bound To defend
itself or be wrecked by fraudulent
suits, and as matters stand today, the
man who is damaged. whether it is
real or imaginary. is bound TO go 70
court to collect il. A remedy for all
this can be had by legislative acts that
will protect both the railroad, and the
travelling public equally from having
a law suit for bodily mutilation or in
| jury. So close have accident insur-
ance companies figured the risk that
men take on railroads. that for s33 a
year they will insure any mans life
for $4,000. against being killed by ac-
cident; not only against death by rail-
road accident, but against any acci-
dent independent of the railroad that
humanity is subject to- and for the
same $50 insure them against almost
any character of illness or disease to
which humankind is subject. So If
one thus insured gets d scratch or
hurt by the railroad, though he be
blind drunk, the railroad must pay
heavy damage or a heavy court eX-
pense almost equals the damage claim,
whether the railroad wins or loses.
These court expenses, for the railroads,
for the people, and the court itself,
are growing heavier and heavier every
year. and unless the railroads as we'll
as the people get some relief, it will
soon be found that 70 per cent of the
cost to maintain the civil courts Of
the country, will be found TO be rail-
road suits. After careful study of the
statistics on railroad accidents. and
on sickness and death by the~nunef-
Gus diseases to which mankind is sub
ject. Strong, sound accident compa-
nieS have been formed, number OF
them carrying all the risks, over which
the courts of the country are con-
Stunning millions of dollars. Of time
and expense. for $35 year to pay
10000 if life is lost and sched-
ules rate per day. for time lost, for
sprains and bruises and hurts. and a
fixed price from a finger to a leg or
arm. or both legs or arms, or one
eye. one or both hands, or one or both
feet, and the amount is considered
reasonable, otherwise these companies
could not get risks and premiums
enough to run their office, much less
pay the losses Why should the rail-
road, the greatest public benefactor
TO the civilized world, have any mare
to pay than the insurance company
does? The average intelligent business
man agrees with the insurance COM
pany that the amount involved in the
policy is fair for accident protection.
So a law can be made. State and Ma
,ional. that all railroad tickets should
be contract, and an accident insur-
ance policy all in one. The back of
the ticket it shoeld have the same
schedule of the accident risk set out
as on the accident policy, and the
amount TO be paid by the railroad and
payable under the same evidence as
10 the insurance company, requisite
TO establish the fact of the death or
injury, devoid of any court proceedings
in the matter. The identity Of the
person could be easily determin ed.
from the fact that he Will have signed
his ticket, and every railroad ticket
is numbered. 1t would save thous-
ands of dollars TO the railroad, and
TO the people who get hurt. And more
10 the taxpayers 0esS expensive
courts) than ii would to both the rail
roads and the damaged one, and en-
courage more travel from the fact that
thousands of people will not travel be-
cause of the fear of accidents, and no
protection to those whom they leave
behind When you take up the docket
or the whole system of the courts of
the nation. and add the cost of railroad
suits alone, it Will seem that the tax
payers of the nation could save money
by establishing universal Railroad
Accident Insurance Company. to save
court expenses. A law like this would
be just in its operation, and put the
poor man who travels on tile same
footing for his hurts and injuries. as
the rich man. If the rich mans hand
or foot is considered worth $1,000 by
the insurance company, and by the
courts. so should the poor mans hand
or foot be worth $1,000. One class
of men would say. and not without
good reason. a man earning $40 a
day is worth more to his family and
the country. than the man that only
earns $1.00 a day. and for argument
sake let US admit this, and have some
one offer a schedule or remedy to
equalize the difference. But let US
remember, in the first place, no Chris
tian man would go before a court or
a jury and say. if two men had been
killed by murderer, and one was rich
and the other poor. that the criminal
should be any less severely punished
because he had killed the rich man
than if he had killed only the poor
man. The law of humanity as laid
down by the American statute on mu-
tiiating or killing a human being
knows of no scale of commercial meas