The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1913-12-19
HUMAN SAFETY
IS NEGLECTED
RAILROAD LINES WERE SEVERE
LY SCORED BY INTERSTATE
COMMERCE COMMISSION,
Report Filed With Congress Today
Gives Details of the Work Accom-
plished by the Commission.

pay loo much dtleHlloH u lHe CASH reg
lister and too little to human safety
This was the conclusion, drawn today
by the interstate commerce commits
sion in it's annual report to congress.
Laying upon human fallibility an6
negligence the blame for much of the
railroads death harvest, the l. c. c..
nevertheless, took severely to task rail
road managers, and underlings charges
with train operation.
Nearly seventy four per cent of the
total wrecks Investigated by the COM
mission were charged directly to en-
ployes' mistakes. The commission
said:
Either great majority of these de-
plorable railroad disasters are un-
avoidable or there exists widespread
| lack of intelligent and well-directed
effort to minimize the mistakes of en-
ployes in the operation of trains. 1t is
not believed that all those accidents
which are caused by the mistakes of
employees are unavoidable 1t is quite
true that man is prone to error and
upon the human element in the opera
ton of trains, accidents are bound to
occur, but until it can be shown that
all reasonable and proper measures
have been taken for its prevention no
accident can be classed as unavoidable
All the mistakes noted are violations
of simple rules which should have
been easily understood by men of suf-
ficient intelligence to be entrusted with
the operation of trains"
Then the commission turned to the
of railroad companies.
No System Of Inspection.
THE evidence" the report declared, |
'is that in many cases operating Of
ficers are cognizant of this habitual |
disregard of rules and no proper steps
are taken to correct the evil. On very
many railroads there is little or no
system of inspection or supervision of
he work of train service employees so
ar as pertains to those matters which
italy affect safety.
This lack of supervision and in
pection is unexplainable when the
areful supervision of all matters di-
ectly affecting the revenue of the
Dads is considered.
THE auditing and checking system
sed for detecting the dishonesty of !
mployes are marvels of ingenuity and
areful attention to detail, but means
of determining whether trains are
perated in accordance with require
tents of safety and in conformity with
1e rules are almost entirely lacking"
The report pointed out that railroads
eek to economize by careful inspec-
ons on oil, fuel, supplies and air.
rakes for economy, but neglect other c
which would actually r
ssult in greater savings not only in q
nances but in human life. /,
"It would seem that adequate in W
,ection and supervision of the work w
employees to insure safety in oper- T
ion would be amply justified from the e
andpoint of economy alone" the re- D
,rt declared. ia
Legislate for Safety. J'
The commissioners recommended
of operating rules by -
1eral legislation to bring about safer &c
Flagging by inexperienced men, dis 90
edience of signals and overspeeding A'
re urged as other main causes of
cidents The commission reported
favor of use of automatic train con-
i systems, when found perfect, and .-'
wider use of steel cars, found in -
, past year to be great safeguards ~
ainst a heavy loss of life.
further, it asked that congress give ~.
later power over inspection of road ~,
y and rails as a preventative meas :.
against wrecks.
vigorous enforcement of the Elkins -
| Hepbourn acts has led to a decided
rease in violations, the report con-
led, although much evasion by ship
s was noted along with failure of
roads to collect proper demurrage
rges in order to get around these 80
s.
day
Commission Wants Authority. bio
he commissioners asked that con- Bul
IS provide explicitly the right to ed
board to examine papers and books frol
led in the prosecution of it's work plo
INST railroads. the
commenting on it's fourth section wht
49, the commission held that a town nea
,ity should have the benefit of it's Lyn
Iral location but not of any undue into
erence conferred by carriers. rest
equation of the accounting sys- tain
to prevent railroads from report clar
misleading figures will soon be kill
,rtaken, the report declared. her
lder the safety appliance division, dive