Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-04-10
GOING UP IN sAFETY-By Frederic j. Haskin

WY ASHlNGTON, ID. u, April 5.-Danger
Nv in elevator travel will be practically
w eliminated for this city, and an ex-
ample set for other parts of the country, if
bill now in congress becomes law
We ride in elevators so freely and frequent
y that we seldom realize either the hazards
or convenience of vertical transportation.
Passenger elevators are far safer now than
when they were first introduced, but still it
is estimated that about 1900 persons are
killed or injured in them every year in this
country. This may not seem an alarming
number of casualties, but it should be taken
into account that most elevator accidents are
fatal or result in serious disabilities.
At least eighty per cent of the accidents
are caused by people stepping into open shaft
ways, or by the car starting before the passen-
ger is safely in or out. This eighty per cent
of the accidents is unnecessary, elevator ex-
perts say, as devices are on the market which
prevent a car from moving until both car and
shaft doors are locked. Once the elevator
starts on trip, the doors cannot be opened
until it reaches a landing.
The safety devices are not altogether new
and Washington is not the first city to pro-
pose compulsory use of them Heretofore,
however, many experts have held that to de-
pend on mechanical or electric safety appa-
ratus would put premium on carelessness on
the part of the operator. Efficiency in man
aging the car they believed to be the best pre-
caution against accidents. But in time the
safety devices W6I6 lHpIOVSu, pOOp1O OoA-
tinued to get killed in unprotected elevators,
and inspectors gave up hope of more careful
operators.
Mr. w. J. Evans, chief inspector of eleva-
tors in Washington, was one of those who for
a long time had visions of the perfect elevator
chaueffeur.
Lately he says, 81 have come to see that
we can never have much better service than
we get now, because no one can pay operators
enough to insure it. Before the war, $50 a
month was the average pay for operators
Now it is around SIS. In big office buildings
OF course, $500 or more is sometimes paid
But there is chance for advancement, and
men take up the work only because it is easy
or temporarily, while they fit themselves fo1
something else. Operators usually prefer to
work in office buildings as they can some.
times ingratiate themselves in some business
mans favor and be given a chance in his
Office"
Women, according to Mr.. Evans, are more
satisfactory operators than men, as they take
the work more seriously. In the war days
women ran seventy per cent of the elevators
in Washington. Now this percentage is cut
almost in half, not by lack of women willing
to work, but because the men returned to
their old jobs. Women like elevator work
Mr.. Evans says. because it is less irksome and
more interesting than domestic service. If
there is any difference in the number of acct
dents, there are fewer with women employees
The elevator safety bill is expected to be
passed with little opposition. Such bills have
failed before, but this year the memory of a
tragedy that shocked Washington is still fresh
in the minds of most congressman. This acct
dent occurred several months ago, when a
woman prominent in official society stumbled
as she entered an apartment house elevator
She clutched at the operator and the brake
was accidentally shifted, SO that the car start
ed up. The woman was crushed and died ten
minutes later. This sort Of thing-a typical
elevator accident-would be impossible in a
car that could start only when the doors were
locked.
The pending bill is similar to ordinances in
some other cities. The owner of an elevator
must install some safety locking device
(Which will cost about $50 f1oor) and have
it approved by the elevator inspectors. II he
fails to comply with the law by certain date,
he must pay a fine of SIS for every day the
car is run without the attachment.
Washington residences contain more auto
matte cars than those of any other city in the
United States in proportion to population
There are certain sections where scarcely
home is without an elevator system, some
even having separate cars for servants.