Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-15

tina. several of the local crews had worked
sixteen hours a day for a week at Tune,
with no interval of rest, and one ere" nau
put in an average of twenty hours uay
for five or six days. Kelly saio ina. til.s
meant they did with at most thiee io"i'
sleep at night ,
Mr. Walter asked if he did not think
keeping men on such a strain as TINS was
dangerous to the travelling pubic, 10 Say
nothing of the men themselves
Mr.. Kelly replied that the crews men
toned had been picked out as extreme ex-
amp,es and that they were men on lrelsn.s
this Mr.. Walter replied that it might be
true but the crews were using the same
tracks as the passenger trains the Sd ne
cross-overs and the like, and slip on the
part o. freight crew wouia pe Jus go a
fatal to a passenger though it had been
the passenger engineer himself VINO was
at fault The trainmaster sd he dld not
think so.
Men Wanted Extra Work.
Mr. Walter asked If it was the policy or
the road to work men in this fashion ana
Kelly replied no; that the men were at I'D
erty to claim rest whenever t thought
they needed it. but that they always maze
as much time as they could. beng paid ior
all the overtime they made. He thought
the best check on the number or hours lie
men worked was the opinion of the men
tried to get as much extra time as they
could in November. anyhow.
In return Mr.. Walter pointed out that
some of the worst cases OF oVerWorh "
Cured in October. one man having been
shown to be on duty for thirty-slX hours
on a stretch in that month. ana ne silu
that if the men felt they had to put In such
excessive hours there ought TO be some way
that the road could protect them ana the
travelling public from their own avarlce:
The first witness of the afternoon session
was Miss Margaret Harrinstoh' enc enc s reg
she got $40 month She had worried on
the Illinois Central and seemed to knoW
more about the rules of the system than
any of the other operators who nave been
on the stand. She had no complaint to
make as to the hours the operators worked
and said she had been forced to 'douple
up only twice since she mad peen on llie
road once because a fellow-operator was
i'll. She did not know what was me trouoie
in the other case
Automatic and Manual Systems.
T. Fitzgerald, the general manager of the
road, was examined at length on the block
system and the differences in effectiveness
between the automatic and the manual
block He said that the automatic cost
more to INSTALL but that the cost on the
capital invested including the pay or the
manual block operators made the paiance
slightly in favor of the automatic me
u,
automatic installed from Philadelphia TO
the Relay but he thought. all things con-
sidered. he felt safer about the section OF
the road where the manual block was IN
opera ton He thought it was the better so
long as the operators attended 10 their
business
In regard to general safety and auto
matte appliances, he thought the road had
tested everything of value on the market
There was no special board to consider
devices of this sort. but the matter was
left to F. P. ]. Patenall the signal engineer
of the road. He said he was more or less
familiar with the automatic stop device OF
the New York subway, but he doubted If 1t
would work satisfactorily in the open. ex-
posed as the outside railroad was TO sleet,
snow and ice.
Exceeded the Legal Limit.
Mr.. Fitzgerald said that the road would
do all it could to safeguard the passengers
and employees, but that it was impossible
to have an eye on all of the men all the
time.
Mr.. Walter asked if it were not true that
the operators on the block system worked
over the eight-hour limit set by the Mary
land law.
Mr.. Fitzgerald replied that they in some
cases worked eight hours as operators and
four more as station agents. He also ad-
mitted that many of the men worked for
the commercial telegraph companies out
Size their railroad hours for the sake of
the extra money.
Mr.. Walter suggested that if the railroad
paid them a little more for their services
they might not feel that they had to work
day and night to make ends meet.
On the question of outside work. Mr..
Fitzgerald said it was hard to control the
men, and added, smiling, that he was sorry
to say that one man he knew worked in his
off hours as a bartender, and finally mar
ried the woman who owned the saloon.