The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-05-03

Wllnout Dlillne, Wule Tile comp"hy
had to shoulder the whole respon-
sibility SO far as public opinoin
was concerned.
The railroads in the light of
recent developments have come TO
have greater respect for public
opinion than they have had in pre-
vious years.
A very foacible editorial on this
subject appears in a recent Issue
of The Railway Age, the leading
railroad publication of the country,
The Age says:
"The publicity which is given TO
railway accidents by the press and
by the interstate Commerce Com
mission is the cause Of much bitter
arraionmen. of railway manage
ments, but is of little benefit to the
public or to railway managers or to
the railway employees. Night not a
different kind OF publicity make
for the great benefit Of all OF
these parties? AS it is now, the
principal facts which reach the
public are that so many persons
we're killed and so many We're in
jured in certain period. The at
tention of the public is not direct
ed to the person who are primarily
responsible for these fatalities and
injuries. and its resentment is VS.
tied upon the management, even
when every precaution that human
foresight could devise has been
taken.
Take, for example, recent ac-
cident wherein at least 20 persons
were killed and nearly 100 others
were more on less injured. Here.
on piece Of straight, level track
IN broad daylight, the engineer of
the wrecked train ran into an open
switch when observation of the tar
get would have shown him that
the switch was set against his
train. Moreover, the engineer was
running at high speed through a
yard, IN violation Of the general
rules and also of special bulletin
recently issued. The switch itself
was left open by a switching crew,
in violation of the general rule that
all main line switches must be
kept closed. On this line surprise
checking as a means Of educating
train men IN the observance of
signals has been praeticed for over
five years.
1.-The most discouraging fact con.
fronting the management i'm eases
like these is that such negligence is
found among the men who, by their
training and experience, should be
the most reliable Of the company's
employees. The railway management
under such circumstances, is help
less to prevent the accident, vet il
Is the management which has to
bear the odium of the unnecessary
killing and manning of its patrons
Could the censure of the public be
directed TO the employe instead of
to the manager, and could there be
aroused public feeling which
would enforce the existing laws TO
punish criminal negligence, there
could not but result an improve.
ment in the discipline of the rail
way service.
1.-THE question arises as to wheth.
er the railways could not themselves
accomplish all the good results TO
be expected of government board
To- investigate accidents, were they
TO pursue Systematically the policy
OF giving to the press at regular
intervals the results Of their own
Investigations into the cause of
accidents. Probably the RAILWAYS
could with advantage 60 further
aud report to the public serious
acts of negligence on the part of
employees, even though no accident
resulted.
reference to recently published
statistics from various sources
shows: 1) That in the five years
that the railways have made re-
ports of accidents to the Interstate
Commerce Commission over 20 per
cent. of the serious collisions on
American railways have been due
to the negligence of trainmen and
engine men. (2) That where serious
collisions have occurred on lines
protected by block signals, "a per
cent OF these have been due TO neg.
igence of train men and signal |
men.
Such facts as these cannot he
and the point it is desired
o make is that good discipline and
high morale among railway en-
Dloyes are essential, if such appal-
ng accidents as those fresh in the
minds of all our readers are to he
prevented. Discipline is difficult to
enforce in a republic, and in faci
'annot be enforced unless tbe
authority administering lit has tbe
and support Of the pub |
ic. Without the support of nnhlic