Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-12-30
TOLL OF RAILROADS
IS 10000 PER YEAR
Maximum Legal Indemnity
Would Be $101,15O,0 900
If Collected.

demnity of 10000 for each life they
took during the year ending jun 30
last they would disburse $l01, $50, 600 to
widows, orphans and other dependents
of the victims.
The report of railway accidents for
the last fiscal year now being prepared
by the Interstate Commerce commits
sion diSclOses "a death roll of 10. $50 per-
sons. the greater number OF whom
We're employees. During the same period
1870, 600 persons were injured in railroad
accidents.
Confronted by this graphic evidence
Of the deadlincss Of the American rail
road the commission has decided that
radical steps must be taken to achieve
~ greater measure of safety for en-
plOyes and for the travelling public. Al
though the efforts OF the commission
SO far have resulted in some progress
in the direction of safety first the
shown by the official figures to be
slight. For the lasi I.scai year this
number killed was only S14 less than
for the previous year.
Kill 100000 in 25 Years.
During the last % years more than
100000 persons have been killed on
American railroads and more than q
000. 1000 injured. The property, loss due
to wrecks since 1907 totals $50. 900 900.
THE ravages of var pale into i'm
Significance before these silent indica-
AIOHS ~ u Cnc ucSLTiiclIoll OI human u
accompanying the peaceful operations
of our railroads." said an official OF
the commission. discussing the forth
coming report.
THE causes of death and injury are
legion. They include derailments. coll
~1isions, boiler explosions. miscellaneous
train accidents. and industrial acct
dents to employees.
There is II drcary monotony i'm the
sameness of the reported cases of these
accidents" says a report OF the com
mission. Year after year dera:lments
and collisions due to identical causes
are reported
Most Victims Employees.
Under the present law. railroads are
required to report by telegraph to the
commission all accidents i'm which
human life is lost. There are more en-
ployes killed than passengers, many
employees losing their lives in the OPP
Grafton of trains in railroad yards. In
wrecks moro passengers than employees
are killed. There are II surprisingly
large number of trespassers killed on
American railroads.. This class includes
persons not employed nor passengers.
The Interstate MINER commission
is doing all it can under present laws
to prevent accidents. 1T prescribes
safety appliances and enforces the law
which limits the hours of service of
train employees and telegraph opera
tors. This law was passed by con-
yress when it was shown that many
wrecks We're due to the over working of
train crews.
Great speed has been developed on
American railroads during the last dec
AIDE, and this speed seems to be i'm
Difference to public demand. The
weight of trains has increased tn such
an extent that it has caused terrific
wear on steel rails. Notwithstanding
the Increase In the weight and size OF
the rails. Ton years ago rails of less
than 100 pounds We're largely used on
American roads
Now the prevailing rail weighs 100
pounds to every 36 inches and on the
large systems the main line rail weighs
ITO pounds to the yard. In the recent
hearing before the Interstate Com
merce commission. Samue Rea, presi-
dent of the Pennsylvania system,
stated that the Pennsylvania is max
Ing plans for laying 125-pound rails on
it's main lines.
The high speed of trains has devel-
oped n defect in rails that is danger
ouS, particularly as the defect can-
not he detected under present meth
DDS In the making of the rail or after
1T is completed. A heavy train running
at a high speed develops the defect end
ultimately a derailment takes place
that causes loss of life n injury to
many persons. This defect is what is
known as transverse fissure. It's elm
nation calls tor better mill practice.
the experts Of the commission say, and
they are now engaged on a series of
tests that may result in revolutioniz-
ing the making of rails in the United
States.
whenever a wreck is reported to the
commission which involves the loss OF
life. an investigation Is made by in
spectors If possible and a report pub
lished. This ends the matter so far as
the federal government is concerned.
o.,hl;>:&v Mn& e...L
Something besides publicity. the COM
mission a found by experience. is
necessary to effect a reform. 1t has
to supervise to a large extent the phy-
steal operation of railroads. This au-
thority would include the prescribing
Of signals and equipment, the character
of rails. compulsory use Of steel
coaches. and a variety of other pre-
CautiOnaTy measures, including tn reg
ulation of speed.
The New Haven investigation showed
that two wrecks in which a couple of
scores of lives were lost were caused by
precisely identical conditions tina had
Aused wrecks on the same line a. few
months previous. To make the matter
worse and to accentuate the TACT that
these wrecks could have been pre-
vented Il vas shown that the commits
sion In the case OF the earlier wrecks
had made recommendations which the
railroad had deliberately ignored. The
commissions experts think there Is q
Vital need for g compulsory use of the
block system and for the use of auto
matte stops In certain situations, and
also for uniform code of signals and
Train Order System Bad2
IL - stated that the Inherent weak
neGs Of the train order system is dis