The daily sentinel., 1912-12-18
COMMERCE COMMISSION
URGES SAFETY DEVICES
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calculated to insure safety in train
operation have remained practically
unchanged.
Not Employees Fault.
TO prevent railroad collisions, ad-
equate measures must he taken
first. TO reduce the chances of human
error to minimum, and, second, to
neutraliZe the effects OF such error
when 1t occurs. Tho recommended
tions previously made by the commits
sion for legislation requiring the
Standardization of operating rules
and the use of the block system were
designed to reduce the probability of
mistakes by employees, and these rec
concentrations are once more present
ed for consideration Of the congress.
Uniformity and consistency in oper-
ating rules are necessary to secure
safety; and IL Is not Improbable that
a satisfactory code which will meet
the demands of modern operating
conditions can be. secured without
appropriate action by the federal
government
The commission points out that eX-
cessive speed has been an important
factor in many train accidents, and
that conditions of sale operation are
often ignored in the effort to bring
last trains in on time. This is bad
practice. for which the travelling pub
| lie is largely responsible, and 1t
should be discontinued. Adequate
measures should be taken to compel
low speed wherever conditions re-
quire il, whether schedules are main
tained or not.
10000 Killed.
The total number of casualties on
steam roads during the year ended
I June 80, was 1S0,l23 OF which 1U,-
/ 5S5 were persons killed and lG9. .53S
| injured. These. figures indicate an
/ Increase over the previous year of
/ lSg killed and 1899 injured or
the total number Of casualties. 400
railway employees were killed and
| 92,363 injured through industrial
accidents" s"-happenngs incident to
railroad business, but not due to the
operation of trains.
An analysis of the figures fur
nished by the steam roads shows
that. of the number OF persons killed,
3lS were passenger, 3,63b were EN-
ployes and 6,G32 were other persons
trespassing or not 'respassing, indi-
eating an increase Of 33 in the total
number of employees killed, decrease
OF 3S in the total number of passen
gers killed and an increase Of 1874
in the total number of persons killed
other than employees and passengers.
In the last class were many victims
OF grade crossings.
or the persons injured, 1886
were passengers, l42,442 employees
and 1910 persons other than pas
! S.Q MI
Elaborate details are given in the
report of the routine work of the
commission during the year. Gener-
ally, 1t shows large increase. The
number of formal complaints filed
was 1855, decrease of 1875 as COM
pared with the previous year; 17S
cases were disposed OF. an increase OF
1876. The commission conducted l.
154 hearings, as compared with 943
the previous year. and took 900
pages of testimony.
The investigation OF the rates and
practices of express companies, which
the report says sis probably the most
important single piece of work ever
done by the commission" was prac-
tically completed during the year.
"As 4 result" says the commission,
sit appeared that many of the Drac- |
tices of express companies were ut
terly ineXcusable; that their meth |
ods were archaic, and their rates dis |
criminatory and unreasonable. The
report OF the commission has worked |
a revolution and renovation in the
methods and rates of express com
panies.''
Similar investigations, ii is indi-
Gated, are in progress of Substitution
of tonnage in transit, allowances to
terminal roads, Weighing of freight,
OF passes, bills of lading, pri-
vate cars, rates on anthracite coal
and other important transportation
Indicted 83.
Through evidence furnished by the
division of inquiry, 93 indictments
were returned for offenses against
the act to regulate commerce, "a
against carriers, 81 against shippers
and carriers jointly. Sixty-one pros
ecutions were concluded, the total
amount of fines assessed being s344,-
420.
The commission, in conclusion, re-
news its recommendations for con-
gressional legislation providing for
a physical valuation OF railroads, 4
classification, more expli-
cit definition of the authority of the
over telegraph and tele-
phone lines and control over railway
The report indicates
the belief OF the commission that ad-
legislation to insure safety
Of railway travel may be Necessary;
but on that subject the commission
is not prepared yet to make a defin
lite recommendation.