The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-02-15
Railroad Accidents
 Quadrupled h France
Appalling Increase Since PreWar Days Due Defective Rolling Stoch, Deterioration of Employees and Care
 lessness Engendered by Four Years of War
By c. v. MAILER.


 Paris. January Especial )-Railwsy accidents in France were comparatively rare in the happy days before the war If trains did not always travel with the lightning speed of expresses in other countries, thel passenger was fairly sure Of reaching his destination uninjured, and with his luggage intact.
 This is no longer true Since August 1914. the number of accidents on French railways has risen gradually, until today il is four times as large as in pre-war Rays. Besides big catastrophes result ing in g number of killed and seriously injured. there are a multitude of small accidents of almost daily occurrence es- yecially on the Paris suburban lines. When the train pulls up suddenly between stations, the passengers crNwd to the window, as they fear another train is coming up behind. As trainmen have managed to save most of the passengers in several recent accidents by getting them out of the train in the few critical seconds between the time when they real ized that a collision was inevitable and the actual smash, everyone gets ready to jump. The French were always quick thinkers: the war has made them light ring actors
 Frequently an automatic brake ceases to act Those seated in the coach are rattled against the sides of the com partments like peas in a pod, they sex- changes guesses as to whether the train will run off the track. On reaching sta- tons, it is rare that train pulls up with its full length abreast the platform Sometimes passengers have to alght on the tracks, sometimes in field. which has it's inconvenience, of a dark night. This is sometimes the fault of the engine driver, comparatively new to the job, but more frequently it Is because the engine is too powerful for the train. The most skiIlful driver in the world can only do his best under these circumstances, ana phe power of the brakes on the dlt1erenl coaches often varying with the make or car there is a tremendous jerk, at every |stop and every start
 One of the reasons given by railway ex- perts Cor the remarkable increase in ac- cidents is the quality of the coal. Fires fled with coal dust and mIne refuse do |not give the same heat as vslrnaces with |their full allowance of high-class coal |Hence delays and accidents
 The sight of the trains, too, puffing pain |fully along, belching forth great clouds of thick, griny smoke, as, they make their |way at snaiPs pace from station to sta- |tion, is sufficient proof of the diftlcul- |tles under which they are laboring in the |way of improper fuel.
 It is truly in lamentable state. Loco motives and cars have in many cases |been under fire, and no one has any ex- act Idea of the damage they have sus- |tained Large numbers of new locomo- Lives have been ordered. but> meanwhile the old cnes are being made to do. z French trains consist of all sorts and varieties of cars. corridor cars, of the lat est model, are coupled to kind of Putt man. used for important officials, and the .rhole is hitched on to set of third -1~ e,,,Arged from a railway museum where they had posed as the first train in his- tory.'
 Freight trains are still less homogen- Icons Cavalry mobilization coaches, marked s'rnen and horses,'' are mingled