TOTAL RAILWAY EMPLOYEES AND NUMBER KILLED AND INJURED IN THE UNITED STATES, YEARS ENDING JUNE 30, 1889 TO 1899.

Killed. Injured. Killed. Injured. Killed. Injured. Killed. Injured.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES FOR EACH ONE KILLED OR INJURED BY RAILWAY ACCIDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES, YEARS ENDING JUNE 30, 1889 TO 1899.

Year ending June 30

Trainmen.

Switchmen, flagmen, and watchmen.

Other employees.

All employees.

Killed. Injured. Killed. Injured. Killed. Injured. Killed. Injured.

The movement of accidents, as shown by these tables, must, on the whole, be considered fairly satisfactory. In the Milan paper it was necessary to call attention to the fact that no tendency toward a diminution in the number or proportional frequency of accidents could be traced. In the six years that have since elapsed, however, a notable improvement has taken place. This change, it will be seen, is coincident with the going into effect of the Federal law requiring railroads to equip their rolling stock with safety appliances.

The change for the better can best be traced in the record of deaths due to accidents, as there is no variation possible in the practice of reporting fatalities. The year 1889 should be disregarded in making comparisons, as the system of reporting accidents had just been inaugurated, and it is probable that complete returns were not obtained. During the years 1890, 1891, 1892, and 1893 the total number of employees killed each year was 2,451, 2,660, 2,554, and 2,727. 1894 the number killed dropped to 1,823, and since then has never equaled the number in any one of the four years just mentioned. The increase in fatalities in 1898 and 1899 was due to exceptional causes and is no evidence that the tendency toward a reduction in the frequency of accidents is being arrested. In those years there was a

In

large increase in the amount of railway traffic. This necessitated working the employees harder, bringing into the service a large number of new men unskilled in railroading and thus more liable to accidents, and the increased use of inferior equipment, which but for the demand would have been put out of service.

A more emphatic showing of the extent to which railroad work has been made more secure as the result of wise legislation and the greater care of the railroad managers is that given by the second table. While 1 for each 105 trainmen employed was killed during the year 1890, only 1 for each 165 was killed in 1897, and 1 for each 155 in 1899. Among switchmen, flagmen, and watchmen the improvement was from 1 for each 161 in 1890 to 1 for each 218 in 1897, and 1 for each 178 in 1899. For all employees the change was from 1 for each 306 in 1890 to 1 for each 486 in 1897, and 1 for each 420 in 1899.

These

The most important information concerning accidents, next to their
number, is that of the causes responsible for their occurrence.
are brought out in the two tables that follow:

RAILWAY EMPLOYEES KILLED IN THE UNITED STATES, BY CAUSES, YEARS ENDING
JUNE 30, 1889 TO 1899.

Causes.

1889. 1890. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895. 1896. 1897. 1898. 1899.

RAILWAY EMPLOYEES KILLED IN THE UNITED STATES, BY CAUSES, YEARS ENDING JUNE 30, 1889 TO 1899-Concluded.

Causes.

1889. 1890. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895. 1896. 1897. 1898. 1899.

RAILWAY EMPLOYEES INJURED IN THE UNITED STATES, BY CAUSES, YEARS ENDING

JUNE 30, 1889 TO 1899.

1889. 1890. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. | 1895., 1896. 1897. 1898. 1899.

(2))

6,073 7,155 7,766 8,753 5,539 6,077 6,457 4,698 5,290 5,055 1,528 2,014 2,252 2,290 1,492 1,826 1,686 1,325. 1,480 1,533 241 232 301 231 209 231 SH 260 212, 177 6,757 7,842 9, 431 10, 319 11,277 7,240 8,137 8,457′ 6,283′ 6,988, 6,765

Total....

2,011 2,363, 3, 191 3,244 3,780 2,869 3,297 3,828 3,627 3,859: 3,970

RAILWAY EMPLOYEES INJURED IN THE UNITED STATES, BY CAUSES, YEARS ENDING JUNE 30, 1889 TO 1899-Concluded.

Causes.

1889. 1890. 1891. 1892. 1893. 1894. 1895. 1896. 1897. 1898. 1899.

Total

Total injured..

7,729 8,484 8, 41 10, 289 11,919 9,748 10, 389 13, 433 13, $47 16,219 18, 854 20, 028 22, 396 26, 140 28, 267 31, 729 23, 422 25, 696 29, 969 27, 667 31, 76) 34, 923

a Not reported.

From the first of these tables it will be seen that, though the number of employees was nearly 180,000 greater in 1899 than in 1890, the number of deaths due to accidents in coupling and uncoupling was 109 less in the later year, those caused by falling from trains 102 less, and those from overhead obstructions 44 less. These are the classes of accidents that the Federal law concerning safety appliances was intended to remove, and no more effective vindication for its enactment can be given than the figures that have been reproduced.

No attempt has been made to analyze the statistics of nonfatal accidents, because not only is there less certainty regarding the uniformity with which they have been returned, but no attempt has been made by the statistician of the commission to classify them according to their severity, or in such a way as to show how many of them have resulted in permanent and temporary total incapacity for labor and permanent. and temporary partial incapacity.

COAL MINING.

The conditions under which coal-mining operations must be conducted are so peculiar and offer such unusual dangers that most countries have found it desirable to enact special laws regulating the manner in which this industry shall be prosecuted. In the United States coal is mined in only a portion of the States. It will be found that of the 45 States and 3 organized Territories, 20, or nearly onehalf, do not possess any special laws relating to coal mining. Of the remaining States and Territories a number in which there is but little mining done have only a few scattering laws relating to particular

features of mining. Disregarding these, there remain 23 StatesAlabama, California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming-that have elaborated a more or less detailed code of mining regulations.

An examination of the laws of these States shows that a very general agreement has been reached by the different legislatures in regard to the character of the regulations that should be provided. The laws of all are strikingly similar. The same provisions and the same phraseology are found repeated in the statutes of State after State. The differences that exist are mainly in the extent to which regulation is attempted and the efficiency of the system that is provided for its enforcement. It is quite feasible, therefore, to study the legislation of the States as a whole.

If these mining codes are examined analytically it will be seen that their purposes may be grouped in six distinct classes: (1) The formulation of a set of rules and regulations setting forth more or less specifically the manner in which the mining operations must be conducted in order that accidents may be prevented; (2) the insuring that competent men will be employed to fill responsible positions, which is largely done through a system of State examinations and the granting of certificates of competency; (3) the requirement that all fatal and serious accidents must be reported and investigated; (4) the regulation of the employment of women and children, and in rare cases male adults; (5) the protection of the rights of miners through regulating the manner of weighing or measuring the quantity of coal mined and the frequency and character of wage payment, and (6) the provision of an inspection service for the purpose of insuring that the laws relating to mining are duly enforced.

Of these classes the first three relate directly to the prevention of accidents, and the last is more concerned with that subject than any other. The greater part of the mining laws, in fact, is devoted to this subject. It is manifestly impracticable to attempt here to describe separately the exact character of the legislation of each State; fortunately even the desirability of doing so does not exist, the same provisions being found, with but little variation, in the laws of the different States. It is, of course, understood that the laws of some States are much more comprehensive than those of others. Following is a recapitulation of the essential provisions of the mining laws of all the States. The laws of a few, notably Pennsylvania, cover all of the points here enumerated, while others merely include the most important.

The mining code of an American State in its most developed form therefore provides (1) that every owner, operator, or superintendent of a coal mine employing over a certain number of persons, usually 10,