Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1913-04-05

Comparisons of statistics regarding
accidents occurring under widely diff
fering conditions may not be highly
instructive, but they may not be
without significance. Accidents on
railways excepting those of trespass-
ers, are largely due to shortcomings
of the arrangements or employees.
Those occurring in city streets are due
directly to the carelessness or reck-
lessness of those suffering or causing
them, and indirectly to inefficient
government. Some interesting COM
parisons can be made between the
fatalities caused by accidents in the
streets of New York City in the
calendar year 1912, and those occur
ing on the entire railway system of
thesUnited States in the year ending
June 80, 1912. The number of pas
sengers killed in all train accidents
was 139; the number of people killed
by automobiles in New York City
was 221. The number of railway
passengers killed from all causes was
318; the number of persons killed by
automobiles and street in New York
City was 325. The number of pas
sengers and railway employees on
duty killed was 3,23S: the number of
persons killed by automobiles, trolleys
and wagons in New York City was
532 or 16 per cent as large. The total
number of passengers and employees
killed, including employees not ON
duty, was 5,151. In other words, al
though the railways hauled one
billion passengers a total of about 35
billion miles, they killed fewer pas
sengers in train accidents than were
killed by automobiles in New York
City and fewer altogether than were
killed by automobiles and trolley cars
in New York City: and although
they had working for them 1,70O, 900
men, there were los per cent as
many people killed in the streets of
New York City alone as there were
killed of both passengers and en-
ployees in the entire country. 1t may
not be amisS to add in this connec-
tion that while the railways killed an
average of % people day, Is of those
killed each day were tresspassers
whose deaths were due to the failure
of the governments of this country to
make and enforce proper laws. 1t
may not be amiss to add farther that
while the railways are killing an
average of % persons day, only IA
of those deaths can possibly be attri-
buted to their fault or that of their
employees, there were being commit
ted in the entire country over 5000
homicides, or an average of 25 a day,
all of which, like the deaths of the
tresSpassers, were due to inefficient
government. When the number of
people killed in the streets of single
city exceeds the total number of
passengers killed on PAS, 200 miles of
railway; when the number of trespass-
ers killed on railways exceeds the
total number of all other persons
killed on railways; when the number
of homicides in the country is 80 per
cent greater than the number of
fatalities that can, on any construc-
tion of the facts, be attributed to
the fault of railways and their en-
ployees, it would seem that the
governments of this country might
well devote a little more time to
regulating their own shortcomings
and little less time to regulating
the shortcomings of the railways.
But that would not help to sskeep
the bunk in buQkum RAILWAY pe