Railroad Wrecks and Public Safety
“THE LOSS OF A HUNDRED LIVES IN THREE railroad wrecks in one week has aroused a renewed demand that American railroads be run with more regard for the lives of the passengers,” says the Literary Digest. “Nor do these disasters stand alone,” it adds. “The report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, made public the week before, shows that in the year ending June 30 last, there were 5,219 railway collisions of all kinds (about fourteen a day) in the United States, in which 321 passengers and 3,233 employees were killed, and nearly 46,000 (mostly employees) injured. The Commission remarks that this record is a disgrace to the American people.” It is the same as if there should be a great battle fought every year in this country in which fifty thousand of the people should be either killed or wounded; and this terrible yearly sacrifice is declared to be due to the lack of appropriate legislation by Congress, the enactment of which is defeated by the attorneys and agents of the railway corporations at Washington. If this be so, the situation will be remedied only when it appears that there is some force more potent than money controlling public affairs in this republic.