The Jersey City news., 1906-07-07
SATURDAY. JULY Z. 1906.

of the London and Southeastern Expire 70
which was carrying forty three American
pass. ng,r rs of the steamship New York
froli iynlouth TO London, is alleged to
have be. one of the most slaughtering
accidents in the history of British rail-
roaG.ug. says the Newark Evening
News Twenty-three passengers and
four tan hands were killed, and NUM-
Der were seriously wounded. some of
WHOM Nil probably have died before
these words are printed. Had not the
New York been belated in her arrival at
Plymouth the casualty list would have
been n.nth swollen on account of the
create. tarong who would have taken
the tram. among whom are Mayor and
Mr.. 4. +. Mcclellan, of New York.
Several Newark people were on the
train hut they escaped injury.
The main cause of the accident is, iR'
sone measure, attributed to the desire TO
make record speed as against a rival line
on the total run of 246 miles, the pace
for i : iast twelve miles of level stretch
tefo=, @.istr.ng Salisbury having been so
ferr.te as to rock the cars like chips on
an oceen s,trge. With the English broad
gauge of track. however. this in itself
would scarcely have caused disaster.
Tra:ia. IN treat Britain are driven at
much higher speed as a rule than is the
American practise, the long distance runs
averaging upward of fifty miles an hour.
Yet IN the general the accident record
there is a bagatele as compared with
our own.
A few year sago the annual record
as made up for the preceding years was
free Ii the whole British aggregate from
a sirg,c less of passenger life. 1t may
be eo7Aacatly stated that the number
of ase.aSe railroad casualties, either
loss cf l:.c or mere bodily injury, will
compare with our own in ratio of not
more .:s;i one t6 thirty. estimating rela-
lively G. he basis of passengers carried,
NOT r. ss:..ielS mileage, which is sometimes
made he criterion. This ratio does not
aprl,y 20 train hands, though in this re-
spec. tsere is an enormous disproportion
in flyeT q Great Britain.
HID .his disaster occurred in the
United States, beyond the documentary
shocl.. which comes to the most callous,
it wn;...d have passed with shrug and
pre- baby a, whitewashing investigation.
Over there it has produced a national
sensation 1t will surely be scrutinized
with the sharpest research into cause
and responsibility. That is the habit of
our British cousins, just as the railroad
laws themselves are more drastic and the
provisions of railroad administration
more definite and exacting. Broad guage,
heavy metals, perfect balasting permit,
as has been intimated, much higher
safety limit if speed, other things being
equal. And the aother things do gen
orally. in Great Britain. permit the
equation to be fulfilled.
The special reasons for multiplicity of
accidents, ranging from the single doom
to the death or crippling of hundred
or more in the United States, aside from
the more reckless American tempera-
msnt. are pretty well known. Single
tracks extending sometimes for long dis
tances, badly Quilt and equipped track,
grade crossings, inadequate switching fa-
rilities, cheaply planned bridges and cul-
Verts. the complication and intersection
IF 50 many of the lines it is truv
these defects are being gradually recti6ed
pr guarded against-still mark very
s-~sa nartion of our mileage American