The Red Cloud chief., 1910-12-15

ly compared unfa-
vorably with that of European coun.
tries, n has been explained by
many conflicting theories.
A new light has been thrown Oh the
situation by w. l.. Park, general
superintendent OF the Union Pacific
railroad, whose views naturally carry
unusual weight.
one human being is killed every
hour and one injured every ten min.
utes, said Mr.. Park in explaining the
situation. There is a steady grinding
n crunching Of human flesh and
bone under the juggernaut Of modern
car wheels. 1t is the price we pay
Tor progress. for our great Industrial
conquest of the country.
Our railroads, nevertheless, on.
stitute to-day the safest and most mag.
nificent highway in the world. No
where are the great problems of safe
guarding life and property being
studied so i~ntelligently and earnestly
as in America.
1t is a common r%eproach that they
do these things better abroad. But
consider at what a rate we have been
building railroads. In 1880 there we're
but Is miles of railroads i'm America.
In 1887 there were less than 10000
miles. The next 30 years witnessed
the most marvellous growth of it's
KIND in all history, when 1S5. 600 miles
OF railroad were laid. Then between
1880 and 1890 some 10000 more miles
were added.
We have not yet slowed down
enough to realize what is best for
safety. A careful investigation of the
subject shows that IS per cent. OF all
accidents are due to negligence on the
part of railroad employees, and the re.
suit of carelessness both by passen-
gers and employees. Faulty equipment,
therefore, plays a far less important
part in this death and accident rate
than is commonly supposed. Never
theless, the railroads are attacking
this problem with surprising energy
The principal causes of accidents so
far as the regular equipment is con.
cerned were given by Mr.. Park in the
following order:
To lessen h death rate" said Mr..
Park, " II is important hat We have
light grades and that all curves should
be avoided. Valley lines should be
built above the high water mark. EN-
bankments should be of liberal width,
II all tracks should be properly bal
lasted. Bridges and openings in EN-
bankments should be of a permanent
nature. The view of the tracks at sta
tons should be kept open. If a sta
ton stands on a curve it should be
on the outside, Buildings, such as
pumphouses or water tanks, should be
set well back. All fences should be
permanent, preferably of concrete con-
struction. There should be no grade
crossings and no crossing of tracks at
| grade"
The number of safety devices in
actual operation IN our railroads will
come as a surprise to the average lay
man.
Our lives are ~safeguarded today
by electrical devices which would
have seemed magical to the railroad
man of a generation since" Mr.. Park
continued. There is the electrically
locked switch, the i%nterlocking of
crossings and functions, the alarm
bell at railroad crossings, the auto
matte washout and landslide warn
ings, the telephone train dispatching,
and many other automatic electric sig.
nails, all of which are being installed
rapidly, The total mileage of auto
matte signals on all railroads in the
United States on January I, 1909, was
1890"