The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1917-10-12

In the beginning of railroad de
. velopment in the United States, the
railroads provided a reasonably suf-
ficient number of men on trains, tC
man them with dispatch. However
in those days, the size Of cars and
length Of trains were small compared
with the present. AS transporta-
tion developed it was found neces-
sary to equip trains with automatic
couplers and air brakes, which to a
great degree made it possible for
the railroads to increase the size of
cars and length of trains
With the passage of measures re-
quiring cars to be equipped with
safety appliances, and the lengthen-
ing of the cars and trains, reduc-
tions in the number of trainmen
were followed up from time to time
with the result that the trainmen
found themselves in the position of
having what they believed to be in
sufficient men on trains to handle
them with safety and dispatch. There
fore the agitation for laws requiring
reasonable minimum number of
men on trains sprang into existence,
extending to various parts of the
country with the result that laws
requiring minimum number of
employees on trains are now in eff
feet.
The Full Grew Law is necessary
for the safety Of employees in order
that trains may be properly hand
led-thereby safeguarding life and
limb.
AS protection for the travelling
public it is necessary to have suf-
ficient men to execute the rules and |
protect travellers. 1t is not only |.
necessary that passenger trains be
manned and protected, but
that freight trains operated over the
same tracks be safely handled to
avoid possibility of collisions and |
other accidends which would cause |
disaster to passenger trains.
Such laws are necessary to facili- |
tate train movement by having q
reasonable number of men to per-
form the work. 1t is of vital i'm
portance to the public that trains be
handled with as much dispatch as
be they freight or passen-
ger. If a shipper has freight to be
shipped, it is in most instances of !
serious consequence to him that it
'e delivered promptly, The same
necessity for promptness applies to &
passenger trains. i
Referring to the contention that
nen have less work today because
# automatic couplers and air brake 7
ievices, this is a point, generally
peaking, not well understood. Before I
he introduction of these devices the
rains were comparatively small, both v
n size Of car and length of train; 6
'hereas today they have increased +
n many instances more than 500 $
er cent. 1t is just as necessary q
oday to have trains properly in
pected. With this added labor there f
) little difference in the actual h
york performed. q
The size of cars and length of s
rains has increased to such an
farming extent that on a great q
lany roads it is not unusual to q
nd instances where more than 100 :;
hrs are handled in a train. Cen
rally speaking, this retards the O
1eed while in some instances, while n
My under more favorable condi- Il,
ons, are these long trains handled d,
high rateopf speed. The public CO
thus deprived of quick serv- f,
Q. N,
AS to the employees, the conten-
on is that these long trains are h,
lngerous because of the increased o.,
lehood of breaks and resulting dis tn
tiers. When one of these long in
aims part and the air pressure "goes in
emergency" general smash up is
used, and most likely the employees
the rear end are seriously injured 70
sometimes killed. Derailments GO
e also likely to occur, including TT
oeking of parellel tracks. Serious an
cidents have occurred on these par br
el tracks as result Attention is IL,
so called to the fact that in many tn
stances from two to seven en- co
1es handle these long trains, in
any cases being handled by the
all sized train crew as on smaller lal
Inns. For these reasons the pas yo
ge of a Car Limit Law is urged. mi
AS to the alleged selfish motive FIR
which it is charged that train
N ask for and insist upon the