Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1907-04-25
RAILROADS IN A POSITION Or
PRACTICAL HELPLESSNESS
MEN FAIL IN THEIR DUTIES
Pub &c However, Place the Odiur1
Squarely Upon the Companies,
Overlooking the Lapse of Trai =
men and gnaImen-Fuiler Pub
licity Advocated.

cure Tor railroad accidents. The age |
says:
The publicity which is given TO !
railway accidents by the press and by !
the interstate commerce commission !
is The cause OF much bitter arrLign- ;
ment of railway arrangements, but is !
of little benefit to the public, to the
railway managers or to the railway
employees. Might not a different kind
of publicity maze for the great bene-
fit Of all OF these parties? AS it is
now, the principal facts which reach
the public are that so many persons
were killed and so many were injured
in a certain period The attention :, Fl
the public is not directed to the per
sons who are primarily responsible TOR
these fatalities and injuries, and its
resentment is visited upon the man
.agement, even when every preCautiou
that human foresight could devise his
been taken.
Take. for example. recent acct
dent wherein at least 20 persons were
killed and nearly 100 were more or
less injured. Here, on a piec' of
straight level track, in broad day
light, the engineer of the wrecked
train ran into an open switch when OBJ
Iservation of the target would have
shown him that the switch was SCI
against mis- train. Moreover, the III
gineer was running at high speel
through yard, in violation of the
oil Of ~
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 sig
nais has been practiced for over five
years.
The most discouraging fact con-
fronting the management in cases like
these is that such negligence is found
among the men who by tier training
and experience. should be the most
reliable of the cOmpany's employees.
The railway management, under such
circumstances, is helpless to prevent
the accident, yet it is the manage
ment 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 the manager, and could
there be aroused a public feeling
which would enforce the existing laws
to punish criminal negligence, there
could not but result an improvement
in the discipline of the railway serv-
ice
The question arises as to whether
the railways could not themselves &C
cOmplish all the good results to he
expected Ct a government board to L
tvestigate accidents, were they to puI
sue Systematically the policy of Civ
ing to the press at regular intervals
| the results Of their own Investigations
into the causes of accidents. PrObaiy
the railways could with advantage go
further and report to the public seri-
Gus acts of negligence on the part OF
employees, even though no accident re
suited
Reference to recently published
statitics from various sources shows
| % That in the five years that the
railways have made reports of acct
dents to the interstate commerce
commission over 70 per cent of the
serious collisions on American rail
ways have been due to the negligence
| of trainmen and engine men. C2j
That where serious collisions have
{ occurred on lines protected by block
| signals. "a per cent of these have
been due to negligence of trainmen
and signal men.
| Such facts as these cannot be ig
nored, and the point it is desired to
make is that good discipline and a
high moral among railway employees
are essential, if such appalling acct
dents as those fresh in the minds Of
i all our readers are to be prevented
; Discipline is dimcult to enforce in
| reDubIic. and in fact cannot be en-
! forced unless the authority admins
tering it has the sympathy and sup
port of the public. Without the sup
/ port of public opinion any statute will
soon become 2 dead letter.
How often in America is a railway
employee punished for criminal negli-
gence, even though his act may have
Icaused the deaths of scores of per-
soDs9 Scarcely an instance can be
cited. The public, as its opinion Is
expressed by the actions of iuries,
sympathizes with the cgIprit and visits
its censure upon his employer when
civil suits for damages are brought
against the company.
! "In general. the railways say as lit
tie as possible concerning accidents.
and complete statements are published
only when the accident is of a particr-
llarly serious nature. Too often the
public receives these statements with
lunbelief, regarding them as mere "a
Itempts to shift responsibility to some
subordinate employe in order to ex-
icuse his superiors.
"a policy. consistently and regular
" followed, of publishing complete ac-
lcounts of all accidents and their
lcauses, should result in giving the
general public a proper idea OF the
difficulties with which the railway
managers have to contend in matters
of discipline, and directing public