Omaha daily bee., 1907-02-05
PARK TRUSTS IN CONGRESS-
superintendent Of Union Pacific Satisfied
COMMITTEES viii Act Fairly.
BILL TO LIMIT HOURS OF TRAINnIN
Mr. Park Returns from Washington,
where he Has Been interest
ing Himself I'm the
Proposed Law.

II have just returned from Washington, |
where l have been interesting myself IN
the proposed bill limiting hours Of labor of
train employees" said Superintendent Park
of the Union Pacific. THE bill IL now in the
hands of the house committee on interstate
and foreign affairs, Of which Mr.. Hepburn
Is chairman. The committee is disposed to
be very fair and desires to formulate bill
which will be practicable and at the same
time work as little hardship as possible on
the employees and the railroads, 1t is Its
purpose to give sufficient time to change
the present terminals. which will be abso-
luteiy necessary.
Under the provisions of the law they will
undoubtedly be located at regular distances
without regard TO the location OF existing
towns. This, OF course. will infiict great
loss on the property owners of towns where
! such terminals are now located and on en-
ployes who own property IN such towns.
when the government takes over such mat
tiers, of course, all private interests are
| laid aside.
"Apropos of the universal agitation of
cause of railroad accidents the Quarterly
Bulletin of the Interstate Commerce Com
mission, which has been issued since oc-
tober /, 1901, to January 30. 1906 inclusive,
Indicates a remarkable misconeeption as to
the cause of accidents.
Class A Train Accidents.
I'm class train accidents. which the
| commission defines as those In which dam
age Is reported at $4,000 or over, notable
cases In which passengers are killed and
those doing damage less than $4,000 and
down to 5000 wherever the circumstances
or the cause may be of particular interest
I'm the collisions which were caused by
| the negligence of trainmen and enginemen
there are Sl7 accidents, involving damage
| to engines, cars and roadway of $685. 965
and resulting in the death Of 904 persons
and the injury of 1893 others. Stated In
percentages the collisions due to the negli-
gence of trainsnen and enginemen COM
prised 7O.7 per cent of the number of acct
dents and resulted in 20 per cent of the
money damage. SOL per cent of the deaths
and ISL per cent of the personal injuries.
I'm the reports of the Interstate Com
merce Commission showing train accidents
! In which the men who are charged with
J responsibility have been 'on duty more
than sixteen hours preceding the occur
renee and classed themselves under the
head, When working excessive hours was
| co-incident,' not necessarily. meaning that
the accident was caused by overwork, the
total number of excessive hours collisions
| was twenty-four, resulting in property
! loss OF SlS6.115 and the death of twenty
persons and injury of eighty-five others
The percentage of the total number of In
Juries to. persons covered by these statis-
tics was "a per cent, property damage 20
per cent number Of deaths is per cent
and number of personal injuries IL per
cent OF the respective totals
Two Per Cent Fault of system.
"Of the eighteen accidents which oc-
CURED In automatic block signal systems
only per cent of the total number was
the fault of the system; negligence of EN-
ployes being responsibIue for seventeen ae-
cidents, or S.s per cent of the total number
Of serious collisions There were thirty
one accidents In nonautomatic block sig
nails only two of which were caused by
failure of the system, or less than O4 per
cent OF the total number under considera-
ton; "a per cent Of the accidents and over
IS per cent of the loss of life in block sig
nal limits was caused by negligence of en-
} ployes and not by inefficient signal sys-
TENS.
ut would appear from the above figures
that the great percentage Of ordinary train
accidents throughout the United States are
through the negligence of train and en-
, ginemen, indicating a lack Of moral respon-
sibllity on their part.
What. in our opinion IS needed at this
} time. is a proper placing OF the blame for
accidents on railroads; 1t should be appre-
ciated by the public in order that their CO;
operation may be secured in placing this
responsibility where It belongs.
Railroad men are paid high salaries
compared with those Of equal capabilities
in other vacations; it is their duty to take
| he iua nxtar he &.
duty they owe not only to their employers,
: but to the public at large.
No CriticiHm of EmpIOye.
Heretofore, in the agitation OF this sub
jeot railroads have been very freely CEN
sured. at the same time should it appear
} that the employe was grossly or even
criminally nesAgcnt. It has been utterly
impossible to excite any adverse public
criticism towards the employee
Lately. the investigations of some OF
the most serious accidents, such as the
one on the Southern, Baltimore & Ohio and
Big Four. with the subsequent thorough
Investigations. has opened the eyes Of the
public to some extent and there is now
more OF disposition 10 demand from the
railroad employees better service.
THE reports show an extremely small
number Of accidents wherein II has beer
, | SiSnh NiAdh th0 ciilpiOycb CONCERNED mac
been working an excessive number OF
hours. and even smaller number OF fatal.
: ties and personal injuries. which resulted
from these few accidents.
4 Public sentiment is all powerful. II It once
crystallizes In the direction of censiIre con.
tempt. or possibly punishment for the grossly
criminal element In the personnel Of the
train forces. holding the individual at fault
up to the public gaze in the full odium
OF his weakness. II win greatly strengthen
. the discipline OF railroads and 90 a Iona
ways towards lessening the fatalities and
property damage on American railroads.
The public has been too charitable
along these lines. The Investigations OF
accidents both by congress and the local
authorities Is an indication OF that tendency
In this direction. and II behooves the EN-.
ployes to think about these things and
J prepare themselves for a careful. judicia
and unbiased investigation. which WIFI
: eventually require them to assume theil
share Of the responsibilities Individually