Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-15
STILL INVESTIGATING
TERRA GOTTA WRECK
Testimony Before the Inter-
state Commerce Commission.
INTERESTING INFORMATION
Brought Out by Witnesses Dur
ing the Day.
THIRD VICE PRESIDENT POTTER
Questioned at Length on the Block
System and It's Value as
Safeguard.
THIRD VICE PRESIDENT POTTER

With the interstate commerce commits
slon's investigation of the Terra Gotta
wreck drawing to a close, one thing stands
out very clearly. The inquiry has demon-
strated that the block system is all right,
but there has been awful laxity on the part
of the men in following it and the
part OF the railroad in enforcing it.
Commissioner Clark took w the matter
this afternoon during the examination of
George l.. Potter, third vice president of
the road. He stated his own opinion that
nothing short of a positive block was
safe one to use; that when train found
signal set at red against it the train
should be compelled to wait five minutes,
and then flag through the block to
certain whether the signal was out of Or
der or whether there something else in
the block. This, he said, would be posi-
tive guard against rear-end collisions on
a double-track road, and was the only abso-
lutte safeguard He asked Mr.. Potter if
this not correct. Mr.. Potter replied:
II know 1t would add to the safety. but
Is there enough in it to warrant it?'
The question was left unanswered.
Interesting Information.
There a good deal of interesting in
teresting Information brought out in the
course of the day. j. W. Williams, the
toned about the hours and pay on the line.
He had been in the service of the road four
teen years altogether. He said that he
was getting $3.50 from the company as
agent and operator, with a 10 per cent rake
off on the express business of the office.
The operators, he said used to get $50 at
Boyds, but after the eight-hour law went
Into effect the company had to put on more
men, so 1t cut down the pay. This did not
prevent his working fourteen hours a day.
He had to get there about $50 In to look
after the mail. He acted station agent
until S, when he went on as an operator
until pm, and after that he was station
agent again until I pm. They used to
have two days month off before the eight
hour law went into effect, but now that had
been taken away and they worked 800 days
a year, but only had to work about ten
hours Sunday. If they took any time
Off they had to lose it out of their pay.
He said he handled about fifteen to seven
teen trains a day and was kept pretty busy.
He had had some trouble with engineers
running past his red target. but usually
they did not go far He remembered re-
porting one man who went half a mile,
and he supposed the man was disciplined
by the road, as he missed him off his run
for about ten days.
w A. Moore, the old operator at Ken
sngton, who had warned the train crew of
No. Is against trusting that kid Dutrow''
at Silver Spring. was called and furnished
good deal of amusement. He was an old
gray-haired man who said he had been an
operator on the road for twenty-five years.
He did not have much opinion of boys
In the service. anyhow. He would not
place time limit their ceasng to be
boys. but he thought as general rule
they were "wuthiess" He could not point
out any specific error that Dutrow had ever
made in train reporting. but he was salts
fed on general principles that he was no
good. Just like all boys"
Williams ard J. \. Feeney and others of
the operators on the road. said they had
: found DutrOw reasonably good and ca
plant TO make of him.
Vice President Potter.
Vice President Potter was questioned at
length on the block system. He said there
was the manual block about 1C0 miles of
the system. and the automatic block on
100 miles of II. The automatic now extended
from Philadelphia TO the Reay, and the
company had sanctioned its extension to
Washington. He said that there was little
to choose be.ween the two systems, but
that neither was infall,b,e. Attorney Wal
ter and Commissioner Clark both ques-
TONED him. and he said that the trouble
with the automatic was not so much that
the mechanism broke down that the en-
gineers would run past the signals.
Commissioner Clark asked II he did not
think the disregard of the company's rules
as TO loafers. hangers-on and visitors in
the operators rooms at the block stations
had a very bad effect
Mr.. Potter admitted that il was a had
thing, and said the railroad was going TO
take vigorous steps to prohibit it, lie said
that the rules as they stood were the result
Of CONSULTATION and COmpa riSon by the hest
men in the railroad business ali over the
country, and that If they were followed ac-
rideuts could not happen.
Commissioner Clements asked: Does II
not open the door To confusion to have some
stations in the block system open only half
Inc time, to have some >closng at G:3O and
some at =, so that an engineer is not abso-
going 70 find a signal or not?"
Mr.. Potter intimatcd that the coun,,,, f.,
tended to abolish the half-time offices
He said in reply to Commissioner CI,rL
that the surprise check system was NOT
In use on the road that Judging from
the newspaper accounts" it was a great
success elsewhere. but that the comnanv
was considering adopting it.
~ conc iudlnG his examination Mr. Wal
terS asked Mr.. Potter if he thought the
railroad company got desirable class of
operators by paying forty to fifty dollars n
month.
Mr.. Potter replied with some asperity
that he did not think they paid as low as
forty.
Attorney Weller admitted that perhaps
he had placed the limit too low and said
that he only had heard testimony as to
SAT a month being paid. But he suggested
that this was not much more than track
man would make and reiterated his be-
lief that the railroad did not pay enough
for the responsible duties they expected the
men TO perform.
Long Hours of Train Crews.
The most vital point brought out in the
hearing yesterday afternoon was that some
of the train crews on the Baltimore and
Ohio worked long hours. from sixteen to
twenty hours at a stretch and that this
strain was kept up sometimes for much
as week. Attorney Walter had J. w.
Kelly the assistant trainmaster of the
Baltimore division. on the stand, and pre-
scented him with list of time slips show
ing the hours worked by several of the
>elips. and questioned on them for the sake