The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-04-27
:TWENTY-s|X LIVES A BAY J:
KILLED ON RAILROADS:
Sacrifice of Life Shown to Be Due
to Causes That Gould Be
Eliminated.
Interstate Commerce Commission
Has Appealed in Vain for
Power to Correct Abuses.


tied States have to say about it If the
powers at Washington sat supinely
while ten regiments Of the standing
army were marched out in a single
year and shot down." asks Charles
Warne Batting, who urges that the
apparent complacence of congress in
the face of the annual sacrifice Of
life on our railroads affords a by no
means far-fetched parallel to . this
startling supposition.> 1t is true that
law, passed about five years ago,
requires railroads to make monthly re-
ports of all railway accident, their
causes, and the number killed and in
tured, to the Interstate Commerce
Commission. But this body has "ab-
solutely no supervisory, no corrective
power" in the matter. If the commits
sion in question, Mr.. Batting maintains
was invested with powers such as
those exercised by the English Board
of Trade, it could practically do away
with state of affairs which our an
nual railroad statistics reveal as a ma
tional scandal. The statistics for the
yCdl c14uAA4S Ad1 I'll O1, 4SUO,
home to us by Mr.. Battings striking
illustrat tions, show that if the graves
of those killed on the railways during
that period were distributed along our
216,973 miles Of operated track, there
would be headstone every twenty
one miles, while a similar distribution
Of the manned would place a cripple
at every two and one-half miles,
Enormity Of Slaughter. =
The figures are 9,705 killed and 86,-
008 injured. This slaughter, argues
Mr.. Batting, is not due to mysterious
causes beyond our control, but to
causes which can be investigated and
to a great extent eliminated This
perennial sacrifice Of human life, he
asserts, lis nothing short of a nation
al degradation" while the inertia of
the federal government seems GRIM.
inal." The Interstate Commerce Com
mission, which appeals In vain for
more power to correct abuses, has to
content itself with reminding con-
gress every three months in bulletins,
and every year in a more comprehen-
sive report, that the railroads OF the
country are killing men, women and
children at the rate of twenty six q
day, and injuring s237 day. The
.gseora Ct .seollls tens alaS s1sEal l.msIats
iortne pefiqd defneu
1s,11s, ohe every ninety minutes, or
"one to every sixteen and a half mills
of track" Mr.. Battling, who's article
appears in The Van Norden Magazine,
brings out the interesting, fact that
ION the death roll of the railroads it
is the employees name that predomin-
ates." We read:
Percentage Of Deaths.
There were 3,71S employees killed in
the year ending March 3d., 1906, and
since there are 1,3s2,19e employees Of
railways in the United States, it is
seen that one out of every 3717 was
killed. During the same year 1926
employees were injured, which means
one out of every 2S This, in palmer
words, tells that the railroad service
is SO hazardous under present lack of
federal regulation that a man who en-
ters 1t stands one chance in twenty
eight Of being injured, and one chance
in 371.7 Of being killed. This risk of
mortality is almost as great as if he
barred his breast to the bullets of
modern warfare, and, indeed, if the
war with Spain be taken as an ex-
ample it is quite probable that he
would have stood better chance of
life and freedom from injury by enter
ing the army than by entering the
railroad service.
Passengers have much less danger
to fear. During the year just mention
ed there were only 1872 passengers kill
ed out of 73S,834,667, or one out of
1,501,694. 1t thus appears that the
person who buys ticket on a rail-
road in the United States and boards
train has one chance against mill
lion and a half of being killed"