News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1908-06-03
RAILROAD SLAUGHTER CHECKED

SION UNDER ITS INCREASED POWERS
FREQUENCY OF ACCIDENTS LES.
sENED AND GREATER SAFETY OF
TRAVEL ASSURED.
1t is pretty we'll known that at the
last session OF the legi -lature addi-
tional powers were given the rail
road commission, but to what ex.
tent such provision has operated
toward making travel by rail in
Vermont more safe, or how far the
convenences of such travel have been
made to conform to therequire,nents
of health and the reasonable speed of
journeying, the public has not here
tofore been informed. That such is
the case is not due to any disposition
OF the Railroad Commission to with
hold from the public, knowledge
properly belonging to it, butrather to
the tact that great and important
work has been so quietly and so
easily done that public attention has
not been called to the matter in
specific cases. Indeed, the power, OF
the Commission have been made so
ample that railroads as q rule have
needed the requests of The Commits
sion rather than await its orders.
Had the Commission been obliged tc
apply its power as court, and it is
court under existing law, in the
numerous cases wherein its rexues
has been sufficient. the public would
be fully aware of its activities.
In its relations to the railroads
the travelling public is most of all in
terested in the safety Of railroad
travel. In the not far distant past,
the frequency of accidents upon one
OF Vermont's principal railroads be-
came a matter of caustic comment if |
not one of actual anxiety and alarm.
While none of those accidents reached |
the dimensions of a railway hor-
ror,' the most of them approached
to the very line where a so-called
'lucky-accident" ends and an APP
oalino destruction of human life be-
gins. This state of affairs will be
remembered by everybody who had
occasion to travel by that railroad
inc, and during the period, if no dis
aster entaillng a large death list re.
suited, it certainly was not due to
he roau's heaviest and best passen-
,>r trains not frequently leaving the
ails or that the running service was
It all times free from carelessness in
consistent with the safety of travel.
At a time Immediately folio wing
| succession of accidents, it was OBJ
erved that high officials of the rail
DAD here referred TO, accompanied
" the roads most important legal {
dvisers, descended upon Montpelier
rom the directors car of the road !
nd had a private conference with :
he Railroad Commission at the lat $
er's room in the state house. 1t )
hen leaked out that the conference
elated to the conditions that occa-
Toned such frequent accidents and, S
Though just what transpired at '
he meeting has never been made
ublic, the infrequency Of accidents +
nee that time leads to very definite a
exclusions. Had the commission S
cen made up of weak men no doubt a
1e dangerous neglect could have is
cen continued even in the existence Ct
the Commissions ample powers. h
ut, apparently, the railroad knew E
18th whom it had to deal and :,
asted no time in sitting up and Ell
liking notice. The apparent re P
Hts have been as follows: a
The railroad very soon settled a -.
oublesome strike that had long ex- er
ted in its mechanical department, tu
rtain changes were made in respon-
bic heads in that department, and ca
better average service in its tele- it
'aphic operating force at many sta al
Ons was effected. The result of Sc
csc changes due to the unequivocal er
titude of the Commission has been G,
at trains have been run approx w
atelynear to the time-tab BILE and that m
relessness in the handling Of trains III
I'm every point of responsibility he
IS been i'll large measure eliminated, fo
it'll the consequence that accidents all
that line have been of no menac- We
g import for the better part of a Fc
ar. These facts argue but one vi,
ing and that is thatrailroad travel m,
Vermont has become safer, that a
ere is better protection of life and
1b guaranteed the travelling public, gu
cause of an existing authority be- an
re whose mandates the railroads 10,
1st bow. m,
Can the state afford any course IN
at in any way can weaken this tn
zee to which the powerful railroad tn
operations must yield? Should sol
by any misunderstood action rel
ace in the executive ofice-the on
ice that holds the appointing Pa
wer in all the states commissions Pa
my man for whose elevation the :
leo Jc IL Sbo,,IJ