, 1922-04-22
Accident Record 1921.

The railways Of h United States
IN the year 1891 made She best acci-
dent record they have ever made In
the a. years since accident statistics
have been compiled By he interstate
oommerce commission sayx the Rail
way Are. -undoubtedly the >cccrd
vas tho best ever made. as it Is rot
probably that any better record was
made before b statistics began TO be
oompiicd
The statistics Of accidents In 1891
The commission has just made pubic
are not quite complete. but they are
near enough SO to Indicate beyond any
question what the complete statistics
viii show
The total number Of employees On
duty killed III train or train service
accidents In 1881 was 1895 This was
a reduction of 1.0l1, or As Per cent as
compared with 1890. 1t u the smallest
number Of employees on duty ever
killed In any year for which statistics
arc available The number OF passen-
gers killed was EOS. This Is a redne-
ton og "a. or lOh per cent, as com
pared with 1920 1t Is the smallest
number OF passengers e killed in
any year for which statistics are avail
able except 1895. 1886 and 1915. The
total number Of employees on duty and
passengers killed in train and train
service accidents was 1901. as com
pared with 2,35s In 1870 reduction
Of ~ per cent and the smallest ever
reported in history The total num-
Der OF NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. In en-
playes. passengers and all other per
sons having a right to be on railway
property-killed was 3,los As COM
pared with l,329 IN 1890. n reduction
Of over rs per cent
"rhe foregoing statistics do not In
ciude fatalities resulting from indus
trial and other non-train' accidents
that il. accidents occurring in shops
and other places which were not due
to the operation of trains The num-
Der Of persons killed in such accidents
In 1890 was 4s3. and in 1921. 400, q TO
durtion OF IL per cent
"The only class of parsons the fatal
accidents to which allowed an In
crease was t-rcspaasers- Tho number
of these persons killed in 1920 was-2.-
1ss. while in 1891 it was 2.4s1. an in
crease Of 14H per cent
.-rhe commissions statistics of acci-
dents for the last is years reflect an
increase In the safety Of railway oper-
alton in the United States which prob
abby has not been surpassed, n may
not have been equalled, in any other
industry In this country, or IN the
railways of any other country. The
fatalities on railroads reached their
maximum In 1907. In that the
total persons Of all classes killed was
II. $50. OF these. 4.534 were employees
and $40 passengers. The number OF
fatal accidents has fluctuated from
year TO year since then, but has shown
In generally declining tendency. In
l1s21 tho railroads handled about one
third more passenger business and
about one-half more freight than in
1907. but h number OF employees and
.passengses killed was almost exactly
Sc per cent les than In 1907.
There has been q corresponding re-
!, duction in the number of tr~espassers
ana other classes of persons killed.
Automobile accidents have seriously
interferrsd with efforts to reduce the
number Of people killed at highway
crossinEs- Nevertheless when the
complete figures for 1921 are avail
able they viii show that the total num-
Dor Of persons Of ali Glasses killed was
only about 1907. and was less than the
number killed in any year since 1889.
when it Is considered that the to-
tai number Of erson killed IN 1891
was about the same Ii In 1889. while
since then the number Of employees has
increased about 40 per cent, the pas
senger traffic handled about 225 per
cent n the freight business handled
about 400 PCT cant, some idea Of the
fncrcass In ths safety of operation
which has occurred Within the last 80
lyearu. aad especially during the last
rs ycsrn can DO FORMED
"Ths great increase in safety Of op
erusion has been largely due to I'M
provemerts In the railway plant. It
has been very much more largely due
to the education Of employees to the
need Of observing the rule Of safety
first in their work, for the great ma
jority Of accidents always has been
due to man failures rather than to
plant failures"