Second Edition AMERICAN RAILWAYS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 70, 18 March 1912, Page 6

Second Edition AMERICAN RAILWAYS.

NOTORIOUS FOH AC 01 DEBTS. America has long been notorious for its railway accidents. During the year ended June 30tli, 1911, no fewer than 10,396 persons were killed on tligi United States railroads and 150,159 injured. Because every hour of every day of the 3G5 days in the year someone was killed on the railroads, and 85 per cent of them were railroad men,” said Mr 11. C. Richards, the' chief claim agent of the Chicago and NorthWestern Railway, “and because every live minutes somebody was injured on the railroads,” the manager of the North-Western (says the “World’s Work”) decided to start a safety campaign. “We began the work last summer by holding meetings of the division officers and men to explain to them the fearful and unnecessary waste* of human life, and to get their co-operation.” After holding these meetings on all seventeen divisions of the system, “safety committees,” composed of men and officers, wore appointed on each division, and in the shops, roundhouses, yards, and larger stations. Tnese committees meet once a montJi, the company paying them for their time, the men serving not less than six months nor mere than twelve months. The men have “safety-first” buttons to designate their office and authority. When these committees discover defective conditions, customs, or careless practices, they are expected to see that the necessary improvement or remedy is brought about. Although the system has been in effect for only ten • mouths (in full .effect only five months), it has already brought about much better conditions. Iff April the personal injuries reported showed a decrease from 809 eases to -120. Afore remarkable still, among the employees who have hazardous occupations, such as trainmen, the decrease that month was C2 per cent, and during that month neither a passenger, nor a trainman, nor a snitchman, nor a station man, nor a bridgeman, nor a car-repairer, nor an inspector was killed. In less than eleven months the North-Western had 54 fewer deaths and 1559 fewer injuries than it had during the same period a year ago—a decrease of 1613 cases.