Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-09-07
Steel Car
Statistics.

| are WOcluly lAChiHS III
Steel Car some respects. The
| cA-A4 general belief is that
otatlstlcs. the railroads of the
United States, in the past. have been
| asked to tell everything which there is
to be told about their business, yet. for
| some reason, up to the present time the
government has not asked for informa-
| ton about how many modern steel cars
were in operation and in the course Of
construction. In other words, no official
information has been gathered which
would indicate to traveller what chances
he had on a given railroad of safety in
| non-collapsible, ffreproof car or what dan
gerous risks he was taking in riding over
a road operating a large percentage of
the old-fashioned wooden coaches, which
crush and burn in time of wrecks.
The interstate commerce commission
expects soon to overcome this deficiency
In the annual reports of the railroads,
and on October q the members will meet
to consider a new form of report which
for the first time will provide place for
official figures for numbers and types OF
construction of all passenger cars oper-
ated on the steam roads OF the United
States. Unless special ruling is made.
however. the information to be asked for
In the new forms will not be included
until the railroads report for the year
ending June 80, 1915. Until that time the
public will have to depend upon steel car
statistics. gathered by the bureau OF
railway economics, by various railroad
committees and private organizations;
A newspaper man, early In December
Franklin X. Lane of the Department OF
the Interior, then chairman Of the inter-
state commerce commission, the polnts
wherein the present reports submitted
by railroads were deficient as relating 70
steel and wooden cars in operation ano
in the course of construction. Whether
Secretary Lane, before becoming q meH-
Der of President Wilson's cabinet, or one
of the other members Of the commission
suggested the inclusion of steel ana
wooden car information in annual reports
is uncertain. In the new form of report
soon to be adopted. it will be possible, &C
cordng to public service and railroad ex-
perts to check up instantly the rate OF
progress made by railroads in replacing
old-fashioned wooden coaches with new
steel cars.
The best available figures which have
been gathered by the bureau Of railway
economies show that the railroads OF the
country are operating more than o',OOo
passenger cars. and that of that number
approximately 6,6OO are of all-steel con-
struction. This number includes both
Pullman sleeping cars and railway
coaches. Besides the all-steel cars, the
of steel underframe construction. Al
though cars of this latter type are not
fireproof and are not as strong as the
all-steel, they are far more durable in
times of collisions than the wooden
coaches
The Pennsylvania railroad, which an
nounced in June, 1905, that all additional
car equipment would be of all-steel con-
struction. uses more cars OF this type
in it's service than any other company.
. MI 1iv9nc oil Tsct
one-half of the total all-steel equipment
in the United States.
Unofficial figures show that although
only about II per cent Of the 5000 pas
senger cars in operation on American
railroads are of all-steel construction,
the building of new wooden cars Is prac-
tically thing of the past. On January l.
last. of the new passenger cars under
| construction, q per cent were Of all
| steel construction, 16 per cent of steel
en- construction.
The majority of the steel cars now In
operation have been constructed during
the past three or four years. On January
use and today there are 5000. The ad-
vantages of the all-Steel car are SO OBJ
vious that railroad experts say that they
expect to see the construction of wood
one or two years The cost of anraH-
steel passenger coach runs from $f0,0Q
to SIS COO which is not greatly in excess
OF the cost of the better class OF wooden
day has more than $4O.OOOOOO in steel
car equipment. The heavy Pullman
sleeping cars run much higher than the
railway coaches in price, and cost ap-
proximately $4,000, equipped.
In accordance with legislation passed
by the last Congress, all cars used in
the railway postal service must be Of
all-steel or steel underframe construc-
ton after 1916. There are now six bills
in Congress requiring that wooden pas
senger cars be replaced with steel equip
ment. with time limits for installation
which run from July |, 1915. to jan
uary I, 1913 The growing frequency OF
| lieve may hasten the enactment of steel
car legislation. even If the financial
condition of some OF the weaker roads
| may make it impossible for them to put
in the costly new equipment. 1t is
thought by many people that the public
is coming to a point of demanding abso-
| lutte safety, even If it is necessary to
suffer some curtailment OF service tenn
porarily. The death rate on American
railroads is much higher than on the
lines of Europe, and men who have
given long study to the problem say that
general adoption Of steel car construc-
ton. the installation of automatic
signal and train control systems and the
proper maintenance of roadbed.
That the sanitary regeneration of the
Philippine Islands following the Ameri-
can occupation is one of
Philinnine the greatest public health
achievements of the last
OanlJatlon. half century is the belief
of Surgeon General Rupert Blue of the
United States public health service DIR.
Blue has just completed close study of
| the report of the work of sanitation in
| the Philippines. which has been written
! by Dr. Victor G. Heiser director of
health of the Philippine Islands. and also
a surgeon in the United States public
health service.
| The health service of the Philippine
| Islands under the American civil govern
ment was organized about ten years ago
! and the problems which were presented
| the governments physicians for solution
were as serious as the work faced by
| Col. Gorgas in the sanitation OF the
| Panama Canal Zone. Public health OFF,
GERS say that few people outside Of those
| who have had experience In the Philip
| pines can realize how bad the health
| conditions were in the islands when the
/ Americans took hold. DIR. Heiser in his
report on conditions as they were and
| on the accomplishments of the last ten
| years says:
! when the Philippine public health
service was organized 10000 people were
dying annually in the islands from small
pox. while the number OF deaths from
beriberi in jai1s and other public insti-
buttons was frightful. Today smallpox