Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1908-04-17
British and American Railway Ac-
cidents.

1t is not generally known that the
British railroads carry far larger mum.
Der of passengers in single year than dc
those of the United States; and this in
spite of the fact that the aggregate mil
cage in Great Britain is about $1,000 as
against over 200, 900 miles in the United
States. A comparison of the statistics
for the year 1906, as published in the re.
ports of our Interstate Commerce Com
mission and of the British Board of
Trade, show that during the year 1905,
799, zoo, 900 passengers were carried on all
the railroads of the United States and
l ,24O, 900 900 passengers on the railroads of
Great Britain. Now, the carrying of a
billion and quarter passengers on q. 900
miles of road means very much denser
traffic than the carrying of 800, 10000
passengers on over 200, 600 miles of rail
road. Furthermore, it will be admitted
that the risks of accident are proportional
to the density of the traffic, and that, on
two equally well-managed railroad sys
TENS, we naturally expect to find that
the greater number of accidents happen
on the road with the denser traffic, or the
one carrying the larger number of pas
sengers per mile of track.
A comparison of the statistics for 1906,
States and Great Britain are concerned,
the system with the denser traffic shows
by far the smaller number of casualties.
1t is probably safe to say that the sur
est test of safe railway operation is the
number of collisions and derailments /;
and we find that during the year named
there were 239 such accidents in Great
Britain as against IL. 455 in the United
States. In these accidents 80 passengers
were killed and 631 injured in Great
Britain, as against 146 killed and 6,053
injured in the United States. The mum.
Der of employees killed and injured in
Great Britain in train accidents was re-
spectively 10 and 140, as against $40
killed and Z ,483 injured in the United
States. The number of employees killed
by coupling accidents, falling from cars,
ETC., in Great Britain was 425, and in the
United States 1888, and the number of
employees injured in the year was ,225 in
Great Britain as against 80, 564 in the
United States. The astonishing disparity
between the records of the two countries
is further established by the records for
the year 1904, when only six passengers
were killed and 534 injured in Great
Britain as against 262 killed and 1921 in
jured in this country.
AitnouRn tne superior Sa1ety OF BRUSH
railroad operation is due in large meas
ure. no doubt, to the higher average of
excellence of the roadbed and rolling
stock-a considerable portion of our rail.
road system being even yet of the pioneer
type-the true secret of the difference is
to be found in certain fundamental traits
of national character. The smooth and
safe working of the British railroad is
chiefly due to the inbred cautiousness of
the employees; to their natural inclina-
ton to remain for many years in the
same position, thereby acquiring
thorough familiarity with the conditions;
and, lastly, and chiefly, to the excellence
of the railroad discipline. There can be
no doubt that the prevalence of railway
accidents in America is due in large
measure to the fiuctuating, migratory
character of the labor. A census of rail-
way employees at any given time would
show that considerable percentage of
them are either new to their positions, or
are contemplating change in the near
future. No amount of natural intelli-
gence and alertness can give the Ameri.