Evening star., 1914-11-20
Statistics Of Accidents.

One of the most striking of the re-
ports presented was that by c. c. Nc
Chord. member of the interstate COM
merce commission. who Is chairman Of
the associations committee on rails
and equipment.
Approaching the subject of rails and
equipment from The standpoint OF acci-
dents. the committee showed that for
the ten years from 1904 to 1913 there
were 1871 train accidents in the
United States. caused by collisions and
derailments on steam railroads.
These accidents were responsible for
s,805 deaths, the injuring OF 1852
persons and property loss of $104,-
625,S97. OF the derailments, more than
66 per cent were caused by defective
roadway and equipment. and the re-
ports show that derailments are in
creasing in number in the United
States each year.
The committee made a careful inquiry
into the cause Of rail failures, and
found that they occur mostly during
mum in February They increase in
winters of unusual severity. Car
wheels are affected in the same man.
ner. the larger number of fractures
also occurring in winter.
A statement procured by the commit
tee from the Pullman Company shows
that for the years 1910 and 1913. in
elusive, 73 persons were killed in ac-
cidents in wooden Pullman cars. while
only 6 were killed in all-steel cars. and
PAL were injured in accidents to wood
en- cars. while only II were injured in
steel cars.
The committee suggested that there
should be legislation which will pro-
vide state or federal supervision Of
material used on railroads both as to
rails and rolling stock, which it calls
equipment"
Report on Rate-Making.
The committee On rates and rate-mak-
ing Of the association. which is headel
by Emory r. Johnson of Pennsylvania
referred in its report to a bill. pending
in Congress to give the interstate
commerce commission power to ap-
prove or disapprove stock and bond Is
sues of railways and other public utili-
ties.
Formerly" this report says, 'the
relation between rates and the volume
of securities issued was regarded as an
academic question, but as matter of
fact the making of rates has often been
Influenced by the\pressure exerted upon
railway managers by the fixed charges
ut is now strongly urged by common
carriers that they cannot issue securi-
ties for capital improvements without
increasing their rates. SO that the rela-
tion of rates to securities has become a
very pressing question"
James S. Harlan, chairman of the in
terstate commerce commission, who Is
also chairman of the associations com
mittee on shippers claims, presented a
report which shows that IS per cent of
the claims received by railroads for
goods lost or damaged in transit were
adjusted during the period covered
from January l to June 80, 1914. OF
these claims, IS per cent were paid, 9s
per cent were declined and 1.6 per cent
were Withdrawn.
These percentages" says the re-
port. tend to refute to some extent
the assertion often made that carriers
purposely evade payment of a large
proportion of claims"
Electric Railway Accounts.
The report of the committee on cleo
trio railway accounts urged the impor-
tance of electric railways providing for
depreciation accounts. saying:
''It is quite evident that the people
have learned the lesson that they can
not expect to obtain adequate service
from a public utility that pays out its
entire surplus IN dlVldenQS ana re-
serves nothing to take care of the nee
essary requirements that sooner or
later will have to be made"
The report of the committee on tele-
phone and telegraph rates and service
has this to say:
'.The times demand the use of a plant
to its maximum efficiency, and public
service commissions should be by legts-
lation placed in a position to force
utilities to the maximum use OF their
plants and thereby avoid Implications
in the future.
This will have the effect Of not only
insuring reasonable rates to the public
in future and proper returns to the
owners. but will leave the capital
(ContinI,ed ON Second Pa0el