The Washington herald., 1911-01-22
REDUCING ACCIDENTS.
Few Block Signal Systems Used on
American Railways.

Few Block Signal Systems Used on
American Railways.
Chicago Jan. 2l.-SafeSuarding the
public in train operation means great in
oreascs of net earnings for the railroads
Of the country. according TO n bulletin
OF the League for Public Safety. The
aggregate wreck waste of the steam
roads amounts to over 60 per cent of the
total expense of operation says the
bulletin According to figures of the In
terstate 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 81 per cent of its mileage sig
nailed in 1905 had wreck losses of SIS, I'll
90. while another with Il per cent
equipped had losses of $4,000. total
mileage being about the same. Taken as
Il whole. however. the American railroads
have as yet expended little money in
h'ock-siSnal equipment. Out of the total
OF c.0,0OO miles of main lines. only 1856
have automatic block signals and only
1886 the manual block equipment. This
leaves over 10000 miles. or So per cent
yet To be protected. However, expense
of installation would he many times and
soon repaid. regardless of the lives saved,
in the reduction of wreck waste. In one
case the cost of installation and upkeep
was repaid in the first year by the reduc-
tion of wreck losses. However, il is
hoped that the block signal and train
control board of the Interstate Commerce
Commission soon can report the dis
cCvery of practical equipment it is seek
ing. to improve on visual signals,
whether automatic or visual. and to stop
trains running toward danger by some
simple automatic means. Human falli-
bility must be eliminated says the Sec
rctary of a state railroad commission, in
writing to the league. las long as the
people are dependent upon the human
factor in the operation of trains. just so
long will there be serious accidents re-
sUlting in death and injury. recent
case of this kind occurred in this State.
in which two men, both motorman and
conductor, within eighteen minutes after
having received positive orders to meet Il
train at certain station, willfully or
willingly. disobeyed this instruction,
passed the meeting point met the pass
ing car. with the result that the lives of
thirty-SiX passengers were instantly
snuffed out of existence and a number of
others seriously injured. 1t is hard to de-
termine just what was passing in the
minds of these two men to willfully viO-
late positive instructions within eighteen
minutes after having received them, so
that I believe that the 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 of this
kind. The device. whatever it might be-
should be one which would err upon the
side of Safety-that is. should there be a
failure in the mechanism. ii 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 circumstances"
Money in Poultry for Workers.
San Antonio. Tex. Jan. 2l.-Josh Bill
ings once said that man who is willing
to work at all is usually too busy to de-
vote any Of his time to the welfare Of a
fussy old hen. But when the results are
known. it will be impossible to convince
T. p. Sjolander, of Harris County, that
Billings had very much information about
the real commercial Importance of the
hen. Sjolander began one year ago with
sixty-five brown Leghorns and a dozen
barred Plymouth Rocks. From the first
of January to the first of September last
year he sold $3.50 worth of chickens and
eggs. In securing these results but
small part Of his time was devoted to his
poultry, but the work that was done was
Of the kind that counts in the matter Of
giving cash returns. The success of Mr..
Sjolander is in line with that of others
who have gone into the poultry business
in a common sense way.
Terra Gotta Railroad Stations.
Six terra Gotta railroad stations built
recently by the Lehigh Valley Railroad
Company represent a new departure in
station construction. The basic mate
rial is the hollow terra Gotta block. which
has passed through a heat Of 1000 degrees
Fahrenheit in process Of manufacture.
and is absolutely freproof. The surfaces