The Cairo bulletin., 1907-03-06
RAIL WAY ACT AID
TO PUBLIC SAFETY
BILL LIMITING HOURS OF SER.
VICE OF EMPLOYEES TO PRE-
VENT ACCIDENTS.
EFFECTIVE IN A YEAR
viii Be Law lnsurino Greater Care
in Handling OF Tralns--Inexper.
fenced to Be Barred-Roose.
veIt Aids Passage.

Washington d. c.. March 5.-A4 Il
result of the enactment by congros.
OF the bill hitting tho hours OF gan
vice of railroad employees. more Ell
cient train service will be secured lnd
there viii be a lars reduction IN the
lumber of raitoad accidents ami caS
ua,ties caused thereby. The bin tro
vdcs, briefly:
That railroad employees Shall net
work more than sixteen hours IN AIRY
tw, ntv-feur, that abroad employees
shall have eighi or ten hours eOntin-
uuus rest in any tweuty-four. that
train dispatchers shall not work more
t!an nine hours in any twenty -four;
! that in day and night offices telegraph
, ,ncrators shall not work more than
/ nine hours in any twentyfoar, and
wher day offices only are maintained
met more than thirteen, that every
violation of law shall be punished hy
a fine not exceeding $500; that the
law shah take effect March 4, 1908
Thus this statute will preveut The
oyerwo,ling of all employees connect
ed with railroads aud insure gsaa er
cars in connection with the dispatch-
ing of trains use of block signals. and
other safety appliances, and in general
al rtness on the part OF every one hay
ing anything to do with the move
ment Of trains II also will compel
railroads to Increase Their force of en-.
ginees, Norkmen and tlegraph opera.
tors.
Care to Bar inexperienced.
In framing the law care was taken
to prevent as far as possible the ex-
tension of the telephone for the L le
graph, for this might result in the
employment Of young and ineXper-
fenced persons as operators. II 81
recognized that one thing TO be feared
is that increased demand f.. employ.
ment viii tend TO dcteriorate the char
acter of employees aud perhaps re-
suit even In the use OF child labor
10 greater or less ext Mt. II is q |
matter of regret that the new statute |
does not contain requirement regard |
ing age, character and experience |
This is an omission which probably |
will be brought before future con.
gresscs
1t was not until the closing hours of
he session this morning that an
agreement finally was reached by the
wo hous' regarding disputed proyis
ons of the act Railroad men have
,een divided as to the adyisability of
laving a legal limitation placed upon
heir right to labor as long as they /.
,lease The railroads wer opposed
O legislation because OF their apprc-
.iatiou of the increase in the cost Of
'peration which It's cnforc met
would entail.
Roosevelt lnsstent on Action
President Roosevelt, however. was
nsistcnt that congress should act. in
,art bccac SO Of his belief that some
hing must be done 10 prevent train
olIisiCns and con'qucnt loss OF life.
nd in part becaus he desired that
he Republican party should keep it's
ledge TO tho people which he express
d in a letter written last fan 10 Rcpr.
cntatve aWtson Of Indiana Many Of
be leading Republicans Of The horsc
ycrc aversc 10 lcgisia ion a8d m
resident found il necessary To write ,
omo exceedingly harp letters 20
hem TO fore The committee on inter
tate an If reign commerce 10 report ,
he bin and 10 secure its adoption by I
he house In this campaign the pres a
lent has been Er auly assisted by Ed .
ard A. Mosclv. secretary of the in v
nrsta @ commerce commis- on and %
ral originator of the legislation. t
The eff ct of The law" said Mr.
loselv today. undoubtedly viii lc
cncfcial. far more than the public n
salizc. The Investigations The iuicr "
tate comm rec commission has made O.
ave shown that on @ large number s.
{ railroads. employees have tccu o.. E
1ired to Fomain AZ work for am iu- #
red Die number of hours Many of 1
lc accid MS which have occurred uu. ID
fe~jiousbly were the rcs Dr. of .N- IS
ANS ion Of employee The av VIII
'ryc as "a patent mca-s to eliminate r
Ii- caus of accidents p
Senate Measure Not Satisfactory. "
"As the biil passed tbe senate it was %
ono of the great OBJ g.,
PC ions ;o the measure was that g p
It a sap between federal and sta.e I'
lntro' iu other words if did rot GO
! far as fede.ai power extends For
stance there was recently ar acc.-
snt on the Baltimore and Ohio az
ezra Gotta 30 the DistFic. OF Colum- +
a in which some forty people were f
.lied. The engineer OF The train 2
ID been on dnfy for forty-eight hours it
Ith only a total rest Of foHr hours g
be- senate bill would not have ap- y
L.