The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-12-13
Commerce Beard Asks for Con.
troll of Road capitalization.
Commission Desires Appropri-
ate and Adequate Laws.
APPEAL is MADE TO CONGRESS
Unsafe Operating Methods and
Rule Fractures Too Many.
Report Tells of Property Sur
vey; Rock Island Data Jan. /.

i Washington, Dec 13.=Early en-
I largement of the membership of the
I interstate commerce commission, with
statutory power to act through sub
I divisions, and appropriate and ade-
quate" legislation for control over
railway capitalization were among the
! important recommendations made to
congress in the commissions annual
1 report
| The commission suggested that it
should have express authority of law
to have access to the letter files of car
riers; that the use of steel cars in pas
senSer trains be required, and that the
! use in passenger trains of wooden cars
between or in front of steel cars be
prohibited 1t was recommended that
the minimum penalty for violations of
the hours of service act be fixed at
fine OF S10O and that provision be
made that all actions relating to trans
! portation charges should be brought
within three years.
For the fiscal year which ended
June 80, last, the commission spent
3,933,925, including $2.131.925 for
physical valuation work Its estimates
for the year which begins July 1, next,
already have been submitted to con-
gress
The report is largely devoted TO pre-
senlng the commissions work for the
year Under physical valuation work
it reports that since June there have
been twelve roadway and track parties
in the field in each OF five districts
in which the country has been divided
and that their total average has been
about 1000 miles a month. By Janu-
airy 1. the report says, surveys of near
ly $4,000 miles of railroad will vir
tualIy be completed The total rail-
road mileage of the country is put at
250, 900 and the report says the 20O.-
600 miles left at the beginning of the
year should be surveyed in the four
following years. under the present ar
rangement.
No Faster Work Probable.
1T is doubtful" it adds, IF under
the present organization, work can be
prosecuted more rapidly than it is
now proceeding.
The report says the survey of 1900
miles of the Chicago, Rock Island &
Pacific will be completed by January
l. with the exception of a few hundred
miles in the south Surveys of the
Boston & Maine also will be completed
this year. Before applying the test of
actual cost to roads however. the re-
port declares that much more infor-
nation must be obtained and has de-
1ernined to defer the applica ton. OF
prices ana the final stateFne nt IN dol
lars of the cost of reproduction anew
TT should be noted the report ex-
plains that this will not involve de-
lay in the final completion of the
work since as soon as the applica ton
of prises can be properly begun the
work can be speedily brought up
The commission expresses gratihca-
ton at the decrease in the mum Der
of collisions, but says that individual
instances of unsafe operating meth
DDS and violation of rules are still
too numerous" 1t suggests a stand
ardizatioE of operating rules to assure
safety of railway travel, to be OBJ
tanned through federal legislation 1t
shows that deraiIments have been on
the increase and that in 1915 there
were 1888 collisions and 6,s49 derail-
ments, compared with 5.042 collisions
and 3,633 derailments in 1902
Human Life Still Endangered.
Track conditions which are unsafe
for the operation of trains at the rate
of speed permitted are too common"
SAYS the report In several of the /
deraiI4nents investigated, the track
conditions were found to be so bad I
as to be actually unsafe for the pas /
sag e of trains even at moderate speed, I
yet no special speed restrictions were I
in force, and 1t was common prac-
tice for trains to be operated at IN /
safe speeC over such track
The commission suggests the need 1
of definite Information as to the ply /
steal properties of wheels. rails and /
other materials used in track and (
equipment and the strains and stresses /
they are required to sustain in serv- I
ice Derailrnents caused by malicious 1
tampering with track or switches are 4
reported to be on the increase and /
present a problem difficult to solve. 4
better policing of tracks and a rigid 4
enforcement of trespass laws being /
as remedies.
Up to June 80 plans for AIS auto /
matte train control devices had been |
presented to the com mission for ex-
animation, of which 342 had been ex-
AHMED and PSI found irnpracticable
and crude and 25 found possessed of I
nE .ftorious features. but required fur
her development before being entf-
led to consideration The block sys-
-em OF operation is declared to have
proven its superiority over any other
The report contains report of the
m portant court decisions affecting
findings of the commission