New Britain herald., 1919-12-16
LIVES JE0PARDIzED BY RAILROAD J GREED
 ssM Little Attention Paid to Laws for
 Safety of Public BUREAU OF SAFETY REPORT


 But Few Trains Equipped With
 Proper Brakes.
 Washington, Dec. 16.-Evasion of laws to promote the safety of pas sengers and employees was charged to the railroads of the United States to- day by w. P. Borland, chief of the bureau of safety of the Interstate Com- merce Commission in his annual re- port.
 Men Work Too Long.
 In the case of the hours of service law, which prohibits train operatives from remaining on duty more than 16 hours except in extraordinary cir cumstances MT. Borland's report de- clared managing officers apparently had given their sanction to evasions ''to such an extent as to defeat the purposes of the iaw'' He charged that safety has been sacrificed to ex- pediency.
 ' Have Lack of Brakes. Railroad companies were said to have paid paratively little atten- tlOn' to the maximum requirement of the law regarding safety appliances. They were said to have contented themselves with meeting the mini mum which orders that S5 per cent. of the cars in any train shall be equip l ped with power brakes, diSregarding 1 the maximum requirement. that all 1 cars so equipped must be connected l and the, brakes in operation. Hand S0 al al cti 4N hp in use on some railroads for controlling trains on mountain grades, although the law specifics that trains must be ] controlled by power brakes. 1 Block Signals Disrcgarded I On some roads employing the man ] ual block signal system, it was said l dangerous practices are followed and l the rules violated to such an extent as to render the block signal system en- 1 tirely useless
 l Log trains which are exempted from l safety appliances regulations are be- ing operated over main lines in Geor- 1 gia and Florida. without any brak es l except on engines and cabooses, 1 which MT. Borland said was fully as l dangerous because of the necessity of 1 passing other trains, as runhjng pas ] senger trains without such safe ! guards.
 l Excuses of Railroads.
 tInvestigations disclosed" MT. Bor- | land said in regard to the 16 hour law, i''that certain carriers had published ! bulletins containing lists of causes of 1 delays winch would arbitrarily be con- l sidered an excuse for excess service l and it was apparent that the privi- l leges allowed under proviso of section
  l under ordinary circumstances and to such an extent as to defeat the pur- l poses of the law. These bulletins were issued over the signatures of managing officers for the direction 1 and guidance of subordinate officials, agents and employees and under these instructions employees were in many l cases kept on duty Ein excess of l6 1 hours until they arrived at their final l terminals, regardless of whether or not they could have been relieved prior to the expiration of the statu- tory period, or whether by the exer- l else of diligence the excess service l could have been reduced. These bull letins were apparently devised with the intention of utilizing every plaus- 1 ible pretext as legal Justification for employees to exceed the hours of serv- ice prescribed by the statute. Other Common Evasions. .. l Not only IS the maximum 1imita- ton prescribed by the hours of serv- ice act frequently considered the reg ular days work. but when it is seen that some ordinary incident may delay a train crew it has become comm on practice when occasion offers, to re- 1 lease that crew for a period of One 1 or moro hours and then to continue 1 the crew in service so as to obtain ] the maximum of 1G hours of active duty.
 The infeEance is unmistakable that 1 these relea seS are given for the pur-
 pose of breaking the continuity of
 service, thereby placing the employees 1 involved on the basis of aggregatins
 instead of continuous service, and
 permitting them to be retained or
 duty for longer period than would } otherwise be permissible under the ] law. Such practice results in sacri-
 ficing safety to expediency by re-
 uuiring men to remain duty fol
 long periods and impairing their eff
 ciencv. alertness and watchfulness.
 this bureau has disclosed several eases of employees who, although they hac had sufficient time off due to conform , to the requirements of the hours o1 f service law. had not had sufficient
 rest or rest of such character to place . them in proper physical condition tC
 perform service required by them.' l |