Employes. EQUIPMENT. The following table will show the increase in equipment during The number of persons employed and salaries paid by the companies in Wisconsin, are shown in the following table: The first three companies are estimated according to mileage, but the rest are actual returns. This number only includes employes of railroads in active operation. During the activity in railroad building of the past year, 50 per cent. added to the above number of employes making the total about 19,000, is perhaps, not far out of the way, as the whole number engaged in Accidents. operation and construction of railroads in this state. At least 80,000 people in this state look to railway enterprise for daily subsistence. ACCIDENTS. Seven successive years have passed and the railroads report during that time no passenger killed in this state from causes beyond his control. The casualties during the year have been quite numerous, and several train accidents and collisions of trains have resulted in loss of life, but fortunately the passenger trains have escaped. While the showing as to passengers is remarkable for the paucity of accidents, the frequent injuries sustained by persons in the employ of the roads cannot be viewed but with alarm. A fruitful source of accident to employes is the present mode of coupling cars, and until some automatic coupler is adopted, relieving employes from the necessity of passing between moving cars, any great reduction of accidents from this source cannot be hoped for. As cars of each company pass over the roads cf every other corporation in the state, and of many outside of it, the difficulty of making a change in appliances which would at once be universal and uniform suggests itself. The total number of all acci. dents reported is 489. Sixty-eight per cent. of the whole number is reported by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul. The report of accidents by that company is very complete, but upon its perusal it will be noticed that many of them are of a trivial nature, so much so that the other companies do not report them at all, and others occurred in the shops of the company and are not strictly chargeable to railroad operation. The following comparative statement of accidents illustrates as well the degree of safety enjoyed by passengers as the exposure to danger to which employes are subjected. Passengers killed from causes beyond their control... Passengers killed by their own misconduct or want of caution. Total number killed The numerous accidents to trespassers illustrates, that the law making trespassing or walking upon railroad tracks a misdemeanor, is insufficient or fails of enforcement. COLLISIONS. The alarming frequency of train collisions cannot but awaken serious consideration. And, however fortunate it is, that passenger trains have so far escaped, this class of accidents is as liable to befall them as freights. Appropriate legislation would, in my opinion, lessen the danger in this regard. That somebody is in default when two trains are permitted to meet between stations without notice of each others proximity, thus making loss of life and human holocausts imminent, is clear. A strict accountability to criminal prosecution would tend to remove indifference to orders, as well as increase care in issuing them; and persons in responsible positions, where want of the utmost vigilance may result in disaster and death, must submit to being held to rigorous account for the manner in which they perform their duties. There is in this state no law which makes criminal negligence punishable as a crime, and I would suggest that a law similar to that of Massachusetts be enacted in that regard. It should include superintendents, train dispatchers, switchmen and all persons in control of trains or responsible for their movements. Railway Construction in 1882. A subject worthy of consideration in this connection is the length of time engineers, and men in charge of trains, are allowed, if not requested, to be on duty. It happens not infrequently that engineers of freight trains work from 30 to 48 hours without needed rest. The answer to this is made that no employe is compelled to work beyond regular hours. While this is true the inducement of extra compensation is held out to him if he does work; and in the laudable desire to earn the greatest possible wages, in the least possible time, the engineer, or whoever he may be, frequently forgets or disregards his duty to the public and remains at bis post until sleep overtakes him, or drowsiness incapacitates him for vigilant service. While emergencies may arise when it is absolutely necessary that extra labor should be rendered, as a rule persons in charge of trains should not be allowed to start on runs on extra time. No sentinel on guard has a more delicate duty to perform than they, or is more directly responsible for the lives entrusted to his constant care, and they ought to bring to the discharge of those duties a clear and active mind and bodily vigor. RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION IN 1882. The railway net of the United States has been increased during the calendar year just closed by the addition of 10,800 (in round numbers) miles of new track. The Railway Age in summarizing the work for the year, gives the following interesting statements: The above cannot, however, be taken as an absolutely correct statement of the mileage built, as it was published while it was still impossible that complete returns could have been obtained. But it, perhaps, approximates pretty closely the exact figures. The journal from which the above table is taken, goes on to say: "These figures place 1882 far ahead of any other year in respect to railway building, the increase over 1881, hitherto the year of most extraordinary construction, being about 1,500 miles, or more than 16 per cent. Comparative railway mileage for ten years in the United States. |