Bisbee daily review., 1911-01-21
SAFETY DEVICES ON RAILROADS
 SAVE MONEY

CHICAGO, Jan. 20.-(Speciai.l- safeguarding the public in train op- erations means great increases of net earnings for the railroads of the country, according to bulletin of the League for Public Safety ''The aggregate wreck waste of the steam roads amounts to over 90 per cent of the total expense Of operation, says th bulletin. According to fig ures of the Interstate Commerce Commission reports the roads which have done the most to safeguard their lines. are the ones with the lowest ratio of wreck losses. One which has g per cent Of its mne- age signalled in 1908 had wreck loss es of s13,72l ,00O while another with 54 per cent equipped had losses Of S7,200,0o0. total mileage being about the same. Taken as a whole. how ever. the American railroads have as yet expended little money in block signal equipment. Out of the total ef 23e.e miles of main lines only 17,365 have automatic block signals and only 51,966 the manual block equipment. This leaves over 10000 miles or 65 per cent yet to be pro teeted However. expense of installa- tiOn would he many times and soon repaid, regardless of the lives saved. in the reduction of wreck waste. Tn one ease the cost of installation and uPkeep was repaid in the first year by the reduction of wreck lasses. However it is hoped that the block signal an dtrain control board of the Interstate Commerce Commission soon can report the discovery of practical equipment it is seeking. to improve on visual signals, whether automatic or visual, and to stop trims running toward danger by ssne simple automatic means. 'Hu- man fallibility must be eliminated. says the secretary of a state rail road commission in writing to the League: As long as the people are dependent uLCn the human factor iR the operation of trains. just SO lsEg will there be serious accidents resulting in death and injury. re- cent case of this kind occurred in this state, in which two men. both HotormaH and conductor within eighteen minutes after having re. ceiVea positive orders to meet a train at certain station willfulIy. CT willingly disobeyed this instruc. tiSF, passed the meeting Eoint. met the HassiHs car with the result that
 1e lives of thirty-six passengers we're instantly snnffed out of exist esee and a number of others serious- ly injured It is hard to determine just what was passing in the minds Of these two men to willfulIy vio- late positive instructions within eighteen minutes after having re- oeived them, so that l believe that tse only remedy for conditions of this kind is that the human factor be entirely removed and that an automatic device be installed which will absolutely prevent occurrences ef this kind. The device, whatever 1t might be, should there be a fail ure would err upon the side of safety, that is. should there be q failure in the mechanism it would result in showing a danger signal and would lead to the repairing of the plant. This. of course, in this day of high speed might result in unnecessary delays, but to my mind the delay that might occur from causes of this kind would be of very little consequence as against the loss of life under other circum. stances"