Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1909-12-24
The Battle
By
Cleveland Moffett
Copyright. 1909. by G. W.
Dillingham; Co.

husband. That's the truth, MI. nag
gleton. You may ask why dwell on
railroad accidents when our problem
is poverty. Because there is terri
BILE relation between the two. You
speak contemporary Of those who
have failed in life. You like to think
that the million or more in this city
who are in poverty are there by their
own fault. wait you to know that
thousands Of them are there because
you railway kings have failed to do
your duty
Hagg eton made al angry gesture.
Gentle lifted his hand.
LET me finish. In the past year
over $4,000 persons were injured by
railway accidents in the United States.
and most of them poor people, four
fifths Of them your own employees.
Think of that-S0.000 crippled and
MANNED in one of your enter
prises! There is part Of your magnate
handiwork. You take these working
men into your service, these passen-
gers into your trains. you accept their
toll or their money. and then. instead
Of protecting them by safety appli-
ances that are perfectly we'll known
and in constant use abroad. you tor
ture them IN criminal wrecks. you
burn them, you scald them. you tear
Off their hands or feet. you crush t.l'!r
legs or arms. you wrench thrir ba"h*,
Won fraornra THAR ekrLs Van ll.A ti.is
to little children, to loving mothers, to
young men; you do it every day OF the
year to over 200 of your countrymen:'
Haggleton was silent.
why is it that in a given number OF
railway employees America kills near
~ three times as many as England and
Injuries FIVE times as many?" asked
Gentle.
America is bigger country, with
ten miles Of railroad where England
has one miie."
Gentle shook his head.
81 made allowances for that. said
we killed more in proportion"
"Our people are in hurry. They in
sist on going fast, and that increases
the danger"
Pardon me-" replied Gentle, "the
fastest trains In the world are In Eu-
rope"
You talk like child!' retorted Hag-
gleton You know nothing about con-
ditions"
NO? know this-that for years
you magnates fought against air brakes
and automatic couplers, although you
knew they would save thousands Of
lives. Now you're fighting the system
of block signals that Is used every
where in England and that would save
thousands Of lives more
I'VE have block signals on some rail,
roads," insisted Haggleton.
"On very few, and where you have
them you don't use them half the
time. Your own engineers have ad-
united that when forced to testify
about accidents"
''If we had to run freight trains un.
der strict block signals we'd never get
our business done" snorted the old
man. Think of the freight pilng up
lions of dollars worth, far beyond what
the roads can handle and much Of it
perishable We've promised to move
1t, and we've got to move it, haven't
we?"
"No, sir!'' flashed Philip. Not if it
means destroying lives"
Besides" resumed Gentle, Its not
only In railroading that you slaughter
people It's the same in mining and
building and manufacturing. Here's
an artlcle"-he turned to another page
THAT estimates at over half mil
lion q year our casualties in various
industries largely controlled by your
trusts. Half a million killed and in
jured every year and the greater part
needlessly! How? By dangerous ma.
chinery in your factories that might
be protected. by wheels and saws and
flying belts that might be covered, by
poisonous fumes and deadly dust that
might be guarded against, by eXplo-
sions in your mines that might be
avoided, by falls. by fires, by inSidious
disease, by hundred perils that beset
your toilers, all Of which might be
lessened or removed. but for one
thing"
whats that" asked Haggleton.
Gentle seemed not to hear. His
kind. thoughtful eyes were fixed on
Philip as if speaking to the boys soul.
Half a million killed md injured
every year," he went on sadly. Mine
times the total loss in the battle of
Waterloo! Nearly all Of them work
ingmen in the prime Of life, wage
earners whose injury means distress
or ruin to a family. Think of the
poor wives, the helpless children
more recruits for poverty. more tene-
ment misery, more wrecks! And the
greater part Of this immense harm
might be averted but for one thing"
"YesT' said Philip eagerly. What
is that?"
Gentle looked steadily at Haggleton.
You know what | mean"
"No."
Then slowly and impressively the old
diver SPOKE.
II have studied this question. |
have lived it. and | tell you, sir. you
are defending a bad cause. You know
that three fourths Of these accidents
might be avoided and all this wretch
edness and pain be spared US and this
enormous waste of human energy pre-
vented if you great captains of indus
try had not made up your minds that
it's cheaper to kill men than to protect
them"