Arizona republican., 1906-10-02
SAFETY IN TRAVEL
 MORE DANCER AFOOT
Abstract Of Figures from Interstate
 Commerce Commission Report.

! v member of congress, every agent of a | casualty company. every shipper, every stockhOlder, every banker, all poli- ticians, and William J. Bryan. should read. first the abstract of the statis- ticaI report of the interstate commerce commission for 1905 and then the full report. The abstract is just out and your correspondent returns thanks to the commission which sent a messenger , hot-foOted to his office to bear the glad l intelligence. Without knowing who compiled it, testimony should be borne to the fact that it is one of the most comprehensive, interesting and lucid and important abstracts that ever found its way from a government bu-
 reau to this office and is well worth anybody's reading. Examination leads
 to the conclusion that there is some thing about the railroads that needs
 the attention of congress and prompt
 and harsh action, and that is the
 slaughter of the public. We are apt to
 be so dazzled by the multitude of stat
 istics as to the army of employees, the
 dividends, invested capital. locomotives.
 miles of track and freight carried. as
 to overlook the frightful loss of life at
 tending the rapid movement of passen-
 7NAS anu II NA6AAt. AL III SL BAdilCc IL
 seems this loss of life is comparatively
 insignificant
 There were 4O.713 passenger cars in
 service in 1905. Imagine all these cars
 in one gigantic train five hundred miles
 in length with thirty-four passengers
 in each car. Let that train proceed
 from one place to another, it matters
 little where, and, according to the com
 missions statistics. one person out of the 1875, ,S56 carried will get killed. while
 one out of every 70.655 will get injured.
 The chances of being killed on a train are therefore infnitesimal while the chance Of being injured is less really
 than V hile walking about the streets. This explains how casualty companies can afford to double your insurance if you are injured on a train. But i'm agine. if you please, q train sufficiently long to accommodate the 73S, ,S34, ,667 pas sengers carried in the fiscal year of 1905. This train would travel thirty two miles, for the total passenger mile age was 23,SOO,149, ,436 miles. While it was travelling thirty-two miles, Al passengers would be killed and 9111 injured. Of these 34I would be killed and 6O53 injured because of collisions and derailments. This monster train would be manned by 54,S17 engineers, 57 892 firemen, 4. 061 conductors and III, ,405 other trainmen. Of these, while this train was progressing thirty-Jwo miles, 1890 would be killed and z, ,S53 injured. Along it's route would be sta tiOned 45.53 switch tenders, crossing tenders and watchmen. In it's progress the train would kill 136 and mangle SS3. Of other employees if would slaughter 1235. Of the trainmen 4O7 would get killed falling off cars or engines while in motion, 119 while jumping on or off trains and 579 in collisions or derau- ments In coupling cars 23O would lose their lives. On the whole. this train would leave along it's track a grand total of 97OS dead and 0S,OOS injured. Tn other words enough people are killed or injured every year by the railroads to populate a town Of 100000 inhabi- tants. Imagine the horror of every person in a town of that size meeting a violent death or a serious injury within a year. And as most of those killed or injured in railroad accidents are adult males the matter is even more serious from the standpoint of popula- ton. At the ratio of 1905 one out of every All employees, including those in offices and on construction work, can expect to be killed during the year. If he is a trainman he has one chance out of 133 to be killed. Out of every twenty-One employees of all kinds, one will meet with an accident, while one out of every nine trainmen can reason ] ably expect to be injured.
 The casualties to passengers increase ! at an alarming rate. In 1895 2,9S4. .832 i passengers were carried for every one killed and 213651 for each one injured. | In hoI -Tv that one passenger was killed for every | ], ,622, 267 carried, and one was injured l out of every 7S,523. In 1905 we find a | further shrinkage so that one was killed for 1875, ,S56 and one injured for l each TO- 655 carried. In other words, | where one passenger was injured and | three killed eleven years ago.. three | were hurt last year and five killed.
 We may take some consolation in this | fact however, that paradOxical as it 1 may seem, it appears to be safer to | ride on a train as passenger than not | to, for whereas there was one passen- | ger killed or injured for every 67,430 | transported, there were S4,717 persons other than passengers killed or injured 1 or at a slightly higher rate than one for every thousand of the population. In any event it is doubtful if we can
 
 or injured in a years time by our rail- roads. More people were thus killed and injured than are in the standing army of the United States; the number is almost half that under our flag in the Cuban war It is almost a tenth of the number of pensioners when the United States pension roll was at its top figures.
 Horticultural societies and associa- tiOns of farmers throughout the coun- try. are adopting resolutions condemn ing the congressional free seed distrI- button, and forwarding them to Wash ingtOn to be presented to congress next session. The Tarrytown, New York, society says:
 Whereas, The appropriation for many years of public money by congress for the free distribution bV the government l