record of 1901 in this respect. In the matter of passengers injured, the year 1908 showed a remarkable improvement, not only over 1901 but over any other year in the history of British railways. When it comes to the totals of casualties, however, 1908 shows little variation from the average record. The following table shows the total number of persons killed and injured in the working of British railways, as reported to the Board of Trade for the calendar year 1908 as compared with 1901: As one year of traffic on American railways approximates ten years on British railways, the above totals for ten years on the latter may be compared with 8769 killed and 73,052 injured on the former last year, or with 11,839 killed and 111,016 injured in 1907, the darkest year in the annals of American railway accidents. Attention is asked to the apparently startling increase in injuries on British railways since 1905. The increase is absolutely fictitious, having resulted from "a change in the definition of a reportable accident," and not from any greater hazard in the working of British roads. This confirms the objection, expressed in the report of the British Board of Trade in 1903, to any changes in the form of tables extending over a long series of years that "admit of comparisons, which any change of form would invalidate if not destroy." It will be perceived that the mere change in the definition of what constitutes a reportable accident increased the number of injuries reported against British railways fully 50%. This justifies the writer's view that comparisons of injuries in railway accidents are of little value. Even the same injury does not affect two persons in the same degree. One "hollers" and cries for a doctor where the other whistles and goes on with his work. The inquiries of the Board of Trade into the causes of British railway accidents in 1908 confirm former findings that, exclusive of train accidents, in the case of passengers "they mostly arise from carelessness of the passengers themselves," and the same is true of the vast majority of accidents to employes. OVERWORK AND RAILWAY ACCIDENTS. At last the statistics of the British Board of Trade furnish what well nigh amounts to demonstration that long hours play very little part as an actual cause of railway accidents. Under the statute the Board requires reports of all instances of periods of duty in excess of twelve hours worked on British railways. For the month of October, 1908, the returns show 31,052 excess hours worked out of 2,773,891; and for October, 1909, 24,486 out of 2,695,036, or an excess of 1.12% in 1908 and .92% in 1909. Now, out of 861 accidents investigated in 1908, only 16, or 1.85%, occurred to men working in excess of 12 hours; and out of 804 investigated in 1909 only 9, or 1.12%. This bears out the opinion of a high English official, that experience "does not show any close connection between long hours and accidents." The following statement shows the relation of accidents to the hours the persons involved have been on duty on British railways. for a period of five years: HOURS WHEN BRITISH ACCIDENTS OCCUR. Three months to Off duty Hours on Duty when Accidents Occurred 3d 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 1st 2d d3d 4th 5th སྒྱུ༄ཧྨརྞ |རྩེ 78 61 72 92 78 69 74 65 54 64 70 86 63 81 77 81 72 70 64 59 48 68 68 60 65 63 57 68 71 61 71 66 59 48 53 62 56 41 37 8477 ∞ Year 1908. Year 1907. Year 1906. Year 1905. Five years.. 0824 ∞ 5 3 3 3 103OO 2 27 295 399 388 381 351 369 326 296 320 290 230 183 44 27 11 4 4 It will be observed that out of these 3,945 accidents investigated and reported on by British inspectors during the years 1905 to 1909, inclusive, a majority happened during the first half of the twelve hours for which the men were booked and 2.28% when they were working overtime. In no instance was the accident attributed to long hours. RAILWAY ACCIDENTS IN EUROPE. Excluding the returns of injured, for the reason that no two countries have a common definition of a reportable injury, the accidents on European railways, according to the latest reports, resulted in the following fatalities. *Train accidents only; other accidents to passengers included under "Other Persons." +Excluding suicides. Statistics cover State railways only. These figures, representing a European mileage of 182,459, may be compared with those of the United States in 1897 when it had 183,284 miles of line and an accident record of 222 fatalities to passengers, 1,693 to employes and 4,522 to other persons; or even with the American record for 1909, when with a mileage 27% greater the record stood 335 fatalities to passengers, 2,456 to employes and 5,978 to other persons. The excess of fatalities to other persons in this country is due to the notorious indifference to danger and law of all classes of citizens in using railway right of way as a common thoroughfare for adults and playground for children. Dsepite the elevation of the tracks in Chicago, the writer has seen scores of youngsters scarcely able to walk playing on those raised tracks and laughing at the locomotives as they went shrieking by. In all comparisons of accidents on American railways with those on foreign roads, it should be remembered that our excess of mileage and freight traffic more than balance their density of passenger traffic and that nowhere else on earth is railway right of way common to foolhardy pedestrians and creeping children. The Railroad Commission of Indiana is to be commended for its efforts to enlist public sentiment against tresspasing on railway tracks. XIII RAILWAY RECEIVERSHIPS IN 1909 Only five railway companies, operating 859 miles of line, went into the hands of receivers during the calendar year 1909, as compared with 24 companies, operating 8,009 miles, for the preceding year. The capitalization of these five roads was $78,095,000, against $596,359,000 for those financially involved in 1908. The following statement gives the names, mileage, funded debt and capital stock of the roads for which receivers were appointed in 1909: The number, mileage and capitalization of the railways that have failed since 1875 are as follows, the figures being from the Railroad Age Gazette: [Three figures omitted in bonds and stock column.] |