The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1907-03-20
THE RAILROAD SLAUGHTER.

THE RAILROAD SLAUGHTER.
What would the people Of the United
States have to say about it 1t the pow
ers at Washington sat supinely while
ten regiments of the standing army
were marched out in a single year and
shot down? asks Charles Warne Bat
ting, who urges that the apparent
complacence of congress in the face OF
the annual sacrifice of life on our rail-
roads affords by no means far.fetched
parallel to this startling supposition.
It is true that a law. passed about five
years ago, requires railroads to make
monthly reports Of all railway acci-
dents, their causes and the number OF
killed and injured, to the interstate
commerce commission. But this body
has "absolutely nc supervisory, no
corrective power" in the matter. II
the commission in question, Mr.. Bat
ting maintains, was invested with
powers such as those exercised by the
English board Of trade, it could prac-
tically do away with a state of affairs
which our annual railroad statistics
reveal as a national scand al.
The statistics for the year ending
March 81, 1906, brought home to us
by Mr.. Batting's striking %illustra-
tions, show that ii the graves of those
killed on the railways during that
period were distributed along our
PIG, 973 miles Of operated track, there
would be a head stone every Fl miles,
while q similar distribution of the
manned would place cripple at every
two and one.half miles. The figures
are O., 7O3 killed and Sc, zoos injured.
This slaughter, argues Mr.. Batting, Is
not due to mysterious causes beyond
our control, but to cause which can
be Investigated and to a great extent
eliminated. This perennial sacrifice
Of human life, he asserts, "is nothing
short OF national degradation while
the inertia of the federal government
"seems criminal The interstate
commerce commission, which appeals
in vain for more power to correct
abuses, has to content itself with ire
minding congress every three months
in bulletins, and every year in a more
comprehensive report, that h rail-
roads of the country are killing men,
women and children at the rate of 26 a
day and iniuring 237 a day. The
record of collisions and derailments
for the period defined gives q total Of
1918, one every 80 minutes, or zone
to every l6t miles of track Mr..
Batting, whose article appears in the
Nan Norden Magazine, brings out the
interesting fact that son the death
roll of the railroads it is the en-
ployes' name that predominates.' We
read:
'"There are 3, us employees killed in
the year ending March 81, 1906, and
since there are 1852, 1856 employees OF
railways in the United States. it Is
seen that one out of every 37l.7 was
killed. During the same year -. 26d
employees were injured, which means
one out of every %. This, in palmer
words, tells that the railroad service
is so hazardous under present lack OF
federal legislation that Il nun who en-
ters it stands one chance in % of be-
ing injured, and one chance in 31.7
of being killed. This risk of mortal
ity is almost as great as If he barred
his breast to the bullets Of modern
warfare, and, indeed, If the war witt
Spain be taken as an example it ii
quite probable that he would have
stood a better chance of life and free
dom from injury by entering the arm!
than by entering the railroad service
"Passengers have much less danger
to fear. During the year just men
toned there we're only 492 passenger
killed out of 73S, 1874 ,667, or one out Q
1901, 964. 1t thus appears that tn
person who buys y ticket on a rail
road in the United States and board
train has one chance against q mil
lion aud a half of being killed"