The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-12

sa i5f+ t@ --I I N l.
 sg::s:sss M ss sss :
 During the year, the .con,mIssion has sslapnshed ;tsnerel, fegulati2ns cover presss confpAn similar. 5 insofsr ss possible. ito Lthpse, already established in respect Of railroad taf5ffs f5F
 ( neefwey Aeesaents.
 there sa,ss s oif asGs an the number of casuaities to both pas sengers and employees, due to some extent .to diminished traffic or. rait- fshsaiis Sisl.hea sssssss sTs'G sh number of passengsrs Killed In train accidents was tsb in is0G as compared with 4fo in the lpreviouss year. There isS of 1 ss The snumber of employees. killed iu coupling accidents shows; asreductiou of 20 per cent from the previous year
 Astsption. is called to the neeessis, of lesfsiitIon authorizing an. investi, sation.r under direction of. the Com mission, ' of train { accidents. for {, the eSsPHss sDtoo of osSsnsy sh tes fS ''H By the terms Of an act y approved May 30. 1908, 1t Is madet unlawful fot 3, any z, .oommsn. carrier snssseS 'in. Inter.
 
 tc use any lecomotive In moving. inter state or foreign traffic that is not squipped with. an ash pan which can ss dun dumpta .s. or smpsied and elss a,nss med Eoing under such locomotive. on and after. the list day, of January. 1910. and the sCommission is, charged with the duty of enforcing the provisions of thls caicolateJ to solve the difficulty in. volyed in obtaining an efficient device applicable to ali types of f--iocouiotives hae been presented to the. Commission signal and train control board for ex- animation and report. It has been the view Of the Commission that devices of this character come within the terms sion Of the present Congress, being de- vised to promote the safetygof railroad operation.s s.E .t.f. .f &..S .-. ett5 t3 gs,1 j. Safety, Appliances. .: ls..,s,'
 With: the possible exception, ot power brakes the condition of safety appli- ances is steadily improying. r It iss not nance of the brakes does not keep pace with proEress of .improvement of other details of equipm6nt, but it Is probably attributable to the following present law in regard to power brakes is. that, no train subject to the present act shall contain less than 7b per cent of cars equipped with power brakes ceedfng, 20 per cent of the total in the train may have tifeir brake equipment .cut out of the, connection. and mo liability gensues to the tcarrier # the remaining brakes are sufficient to. con an imperative need for regulation goy- erning cars that, are equipped with both hand and power brakes. .operat- 'E Ioofia ssSn Gthf ns will be of great. and lasting value fin promoting the safety of lives. limbs
 The Heading court decisions : of the ance law are .discuased at length, and the conclusion is drawn that the law Is now so we'll established that it is confidently. believed that 1t will result the fullest extent inc views of Goa Rress in its1 enactment. Each decision has tended the more. strongly to fortt- fy the Commission ink dts, efforts for the;g present year there have been tfanSrnitted to the various United states attorneys 27s cases, Involving l. IT distinct violations fof the safety tiofs reported during ,the past twelve months Is only about half of the~nnm- Der reported during the preceding year.. ' ' s.st ;, ..t, ,..; t Ae : The Hours of Service.
 The Federal hours of service law. which was approved. March A. 1897 be- cems ss MsFGs s 4 prcr .ied te ts formal petitions. si asisias the Com misslop to exercise the disSretiSn con. 9Ts date of the act in respect of telegraph and telephone operators. but such tap- paications failed to establish the. gcod cause. prerequisite lto the extensione destfed. and the petitions were In all instances. denied. = va A. number of questions have arisen as to the proper interpretation of the act, and. with q view to explaining In so act which might; be claimed to be am biguous. the Commission. has issued several administrative rulings.
 of Vthis act. the Commission. adopted the method of requiring railroads uIl- der oath to report every instance in
 snsr peRsSs tsan tSoss S1 y stribed by the statutes. Eleven car riers have instituted proceedings to restrain this effort of the Commission ; stsIaI aa6 fTsin ConarSl Board.
 The annual report of this Board to, the Gomnisson Etil appsar as an ap- The Board has devoted it's time mainly to the subject of automatic stops, be- cause that Is one on which knowledge is, desired, whereas block signals are well-known. and in dealing with au- steps, new and untried devices have afforded the most extensive field for the reason that those which are in, use are either mot adapted for use on roads carrying miscellaneous trafic or have not been offered to the Board for consIde deration. The Board has ex- anJined descriptions of 37t inventions and alleged inventions, and has com pie ted it's report on ab out half of these. Very few of these proposed devices have been actually constructed, and only twelve plans. devices. or pro-, cesses have been found by the Board to- be of suficient merit to warrant 1t in giving them any encouragement. Of these four have been Installed, or soon will be installed for tests As the behavior of the. apparatus under main points on which information Is apparatus; actually installed can be made until next spring.; This Board has indorsed the Commission's recon: Inendation that legislation be enacted looking to the compulsory use of the hlock system. gFf 7, Uniform BslIS Of sLadihG. Y
 During the current year, as result of proceedings which have been pend- ing before the Commission since 1904, the Commission n'recomn1end~d the addp. ton by all carriers in the United States a bllI of Iading Wh tch had been