Page images
PDF
EPUB

tained between trains and no dependence placed on the maintenance of time intervals at stations.

The block signal cures faults due to mistakes in reading time, failures of time pieces, miscalculations of speed, neglect or laziness of employés, and numberless other faults familiar with those who read collision records. In addition to the cost, a final ohjection has been mentioned that unless a large

number of new stations are established trains may be delayed at stations waiting for preceding trains to clear the block section ahead. The only adequate remedy, if traffic is active, is to divide the long section in two. In some cases permissive signaling is often resorted to for delayed trains, but the general answer to this, and to all objections, is the experience of roads of all classes, doing all kinds of business, on which the block system has been intelligently applied and been in use for years past.

The great increase in the number of train accidents during the year has led to widespread discussion, and the causes assigned for various accidents have been numerous and conflicting. Among those mentioned are laxity of discipline, long hours of labor, employment of inexperienced men, overtaxing the facilities of handling business, influence of labor unions, and many others. The fact that there exists so wide a diversity of opinion on this important subject and a careful examination of the reports sent in by the railway companies covering the more serious accidents suggests that if the public is to be supplied with full and accurate information concerning the causes of such accidents the facts ought to be made the subject of impartial investigation on behalf of the Government, and various reasons for such investigation of railway accidents by the Government are set forth in the report.

SUPREME COURT DECISION IN THE JOHNSON CASE. It was very gratifying for us to read the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Johnson case, which was handed down on the 19th of December, 1904. It appeared to us that the very essence and virtue of the safety appliance act was involved in this decision.

It will be remembered that the facts in the case are that on August 5, 1900, an east-bound Southern Pacific train was so late that it was not possible to get the dining car into Ogden in time to place it in the next west-bound train, as was the usual custom, and it was therefore left on the siding at Promontory, in the State of Utah, to be attached to the westbound train when it arrived. While this dining car was standing on the side track, a conductor of a freight train was directed to take the diner to a turntable, turn it and place it back on the side track, ready for the return trip to San Francisco, it being desirable to have the kitchen of the car in the rear. The freight engine was equipped with a Jan

ney coupler and the dining car had a Miller coupler, and these two would not couple automatically by impact with each other, although they would with other Janney or Miller couplers. Johnson who was the brakeman, attempted to couple the engine and the diner with a link and pins, and in doing so got his hand caught and it had to be amputated.

Suit was brought by Johnson in the United States District Court of Utah against the Southern Pacific Co. and the court decided against him, basing its conclusions on three points-First, that the act of Congress of March 2, 1893, does not require locomotive engines to be equipped with automatic couplers; second, that the dining car was not at the time the accident occurred engaged in or being used in moving interstate traffic; third, that both engine and car were properly equipped with automatic couplers within the meaning or provisions of the act of Congress.

The United States Circuit Court of Ap

peals, on August 28th, 1902, affirmed the decision of the District Court, with Judge Thayer not concurring in the first two counts.

The railway employés, represented by the executive officers of the different Brotherhoods contended that this decision was wrong and virtually nullified the automatic coupler law. This contention in this cause was formally brought to the attention of the government in a letter written to Attorney General Knox by our Grand Chief Conductor and which was supplemented by letter from Grand Master Morrissey of the B. of R. T. With the assistance of Mr. E. A. Mosely, the case was finally brought before the U. S. Supreme Court, and in all these connections the appeal to the Supreme Court and prosecution thereof have had the most cordial and earnest assistance and encouragement at the hands of the President, Attorney General Moody, and Solicitor General Hoyt. The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the lower courts on each of the three points mentioned and orderd a new trial.

The primary idea of the law was the saving of human life, and while the railway managements of the country seemed to have been impressed with the necessity in that direction, nevertheless it must be admitted that they have lost no opportunity, nor neglected a single chance to assail its validity with all the force of every technical interpretation of the provisions of the act that astute lawyers and learned judges could bring to bear. Indeed, it seems as if the reasoning by which some of the conclusions are arrived at are altogether too refined and rarified to be of any possible practical value. In fact, Judge Thayer of the Court of Appeals says the same thing in dissenting from the majority decision.

For any one to contend that the automatic coupler act did or does not contemplate equipping engines with automatic couplers, seems to us positively silly, because as a matter of fact there is greater need of engines being thus equipped with automatic couplers than for ordinary cars, since engines are coupled more frequently than individual cars. The word "car" as used in the act is generic and may easily and well be held to mean a locomotive or any simi

lar vehicle which moves on wheels. The decision that both engine and car in this instance were equipped with automatic couplers, and therefore conformed to the provisions of the law, even though neither coupler would couple automatically with any other except one of its own kind is absurd and a general growth throughout the country of similar conditions would render worse than void the good contemplated by the law, because every railroad man knows that it is much safer to couple two old-fashioned skeleton drawbars with link and pins than to couple two automatic couplers with link and pins. The law requires that cars shall be equiped with couplers that will couple by impact. That means plainly, as recognized by the Supreme Court, that they shall so couple with other cars with which they come in contact, and a coupler that will not so couple with others with which it may be associated does not satisfy the law just because there is, somewhere else on the sea of commerce, another car equipped with couplers with which it would couple automatically by impact, if it should chance to ever meet it.

The Congress which enacted the coupler law and those who urged its passage, were confronted with the fact that there were several different makes of couplers in use and it was therefore necessary for them not to specify any particular kind. The vertical plane type was chosen by the railway companies and the representatives of the railways agreed upon certain contour lines to be used by all coupler manufacturers so that the several makes would couple by impact with all others with which they might be used.

The rulings by both the District and Appellate Courts in the Johnson case were not logical deductions from the central principle of the safety appliance law. Since the decision of the Appellate Court additional legislation has been enacted in exact line with the Supreme Court decision so that differences of opinion on two of the vital points involved in the Johnson case are no longer possible. The third point, that of whether or not the car in question was employed in inter-state commerce is decided affirmatively by the Supreme Court.

PENDING LEGISLATION BEFORE CONGRESS.

A BILL-Relating to liability of common carriers by railroads in the District of Columbia and Territories and common carriers by railroads engaged in commerce between the States and between the States and foreign nations to their employes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every common carrier by railroad engaged in trade or commerce in the District of Columbia, or in any Territory of the United States, or between the several States, or between any Territory and another, or between any Territory or Territories and any State or States, or the District of Columbia, or with foreign nations, or between the District of Columbia and any State or States or foreign nations, shall be liable to any of its employes, or, in the case of his death, to his heirs at law, for all damages which may result from the negligence or mismanagement of any of its officers, agents, or employes, or by reason of any defect or insufficiency in its cars, engines, appliances, machinery, track, roadbed, ways, or work.

Sec. 2. That in all actions hereafter brought against any such common carriers by railroad to recover damages for personal injuries to an employe, or where such injuries have resulted in his death, the fact that the employe may have been guilty of contributory negligence shall not bar a recovery where his contributory negligence was slight in comparison to that of the employer.

Sec. 3. That no contract of employment, insurance, relief benefit, or indemnity for injury or death entered into by or on behalf of any employe, nor the acceptance of any such insurance, relief benefit, or indemnity by the person entitled thereto shall constitute any bar or defense to any action brought to recover damages for personal injuries to ог death of such employe: Provided, however, That upon the trial of such action against any such common carrier by

railroad the defendant may set off
therein. any
sum it has contributed
toward any such insurance, relief, bene-
fit, or indemnity that may have been
paid to the injured employe, or, in
case of his death, to his heirs at law.

Sec. 4. That nothing in this act shall he held to limit the duty of common carriers by railroads or impair the rights of their employes under the safetyappliance Act of March second, eighteen hundred and ninety-three, as amended April first, eighteen hundred and ninetysix, and March second, nineteen hundred and three."

We call attention to the above bill, in the hope that members and Divisions will use their influence with their Senators and Representatives in having them assist in passing it. The good to be accomplished by the passage of the bill will appeal to railroad men at a glance.

Section two seeks to rectify conditions which have become too common and wherein the employing companies escape liability for personal injuries to their employes, by pleading fellow servant liability, or contributory negligence. It has mattered not how slight the con tributory negligence of the employe was, in comparison to that of the employing company, the employe has had to stand the entire loss.

As for instance, an operator sends an order to a train many miles away, and through some error in it, and during its execution, the fireman of the train is injured. The company pleads that the operator is a fellow servant of the fireman and gets a verdict in its favor, no account being taken of the fact that the occupation of the operator and fireman are as distinct as two occupations could well be and that in the performance of their duties neither comes in contact with the other; nor do orders pass directly from one of them to the other. Instances of this character are not rare and the manifest injustice of them calls for remedial legis

lation.

Section three of the bill seeks to

remedy evils which have grown up in the operation of insurance or relief benefit schemes in vogue on some of the roads, membership in which, acts as a bar to recovery of damages for personal injuries.

If membership in these relief departments carried with it nothing more than the requirement that certain reasonable sums be paid periodically as a condition of being entitled to certain specified sick, disability or death benefits, there would be no reasonable objection to them. If the relief department simply undertook to require men, through mutual or co-operative means, to provide some financial assistance for themselves and their families in the hour of sickness, injury or death, and did not attach conditions to the acceptance of the benefit, for which the employe has, in fact, paid practically full value, which conditions operate wholly in the interest of the employing company and against the injured employe, there would not be such general distrust of, nor opposition to, these undertakings. Neither would there be such broad and justifiable ground for criticism, and opposition to, the relief department as now presents itself, and which this bill will rectify if passed.

The applicant for membership in a relief department is required to execute a contract that, in the event of his being injured in the performance of his duties, and of his accepting the benefits provided in the department for such cases, he thereby releases the employing corporation from all liability under the statutory or common law. This means that if a member of such department is injured through neglect of the company or its agents and, believing that no permanent disability will ensue, he accepts the first month's benefits provided by the relief department and tendered by the company, and, later finds that he is disabled for life, or his

death ensues, all efforts to recover damages from the company are frustrated by the company pleading the contract which the employe signed when becoming a member of the relief department.

Instances of this kind have not been rare and a sufficient number of them, accompanied by distressing conditions. and surrounded by facts which clearly demonstrated the injustices involved, occurred in the state of Iowa to lead the legislature to place upon the statute books of that state a law which specifically provides that such contract is, and shall be, null and void.

The fact that the company insists upon such a contract is sufficient eviddence that the relief from legal liability thus afford to it is one of the strongest reasons for its interest in the relief department. The fact that the department is thus made a shield against liability which would otherwise attach to the company leads one's thoughts away from the idea that the company's interest is purely philanthropic.

It will not do to plead in extenuation or justification of the relief department idea, that the man can either sign the application or not just as he chooses, because we know that the one who does not sign the application does not get a position. And, also, there are men who do sign the application who do not realize that such contract and the acceptance of benefits under its provisions will act as a bar to the recovery of damages in case of permanent injury while in the employ of such company.

In recommending the passage of the above bill we do not, therefore, feel that we are urging upon Congress legislation which would injure or abridge the reasonable rights of the employing companies. It would define and make plain the liability of employers toward employes.

LADIES

This department is intended to serve the same purpose among the wives, mothers, daughters and sisters of our members that the Fraternal Department serves among our members. The rules at head of Fraternal Department will also apply to this one.

Editor Railway Conductor:

I must not forget the duty I owe to my Division. I will endeavor to give all the news that will be of any interest, and complete my year with best wishes to my successor.

I hope the year of 1905 will not begin with the dreadful disasters that the past year did. This has been a year that will never be forgotten by people from all over the world. So, let us hope, as the new year comes in, clothed in nature's beauty, that it may be a year of peace, safety and contentment; that we may enter the new year with new thought and new life; that we may be charitable toward all, truthful in all we may think or say; that we may guard our thoughts. For in so doing we guard our lips. Let us form a circle so strong that nothing but the hand of God can break the links that bind us together.

Our Division is still growing, but we have also had several of our good Sisters move away from the city. Sister Riley, who was always ready to do anything for the good of the order, left us last spring. Sister Riggs, our past Secretary for three years and who served us well, has gone to Missouri. And Sister Long, one of our old members, whose smiling face we all miss so much, has gone where it is cooler than Chicago. Sisters, I know you think of us on meeting day, and we certainly think of you and miss you.

Sister Krog invited the Division to her home for a social. There were about 35 or 40 who attended.

Ev

Our school of instruction opened October 27th at 10:30 a. m., with a very large attendance. ery Division in Sister Sewell's jurisdiction was well represented. Sister Moore, our Grand President, called the school to order and in her able way delivered a very beautiful address of welcome to each and every member, and hoped that each would take an active part and do everything to make the school a success, and I do not think there was a sister who did not do it. Officers of Division 66 of Bloomington, with Sister Partridge as President, opened the school in the afternoon. The work was well done, and as the Senior Sister approached the altar for prayer, the pianist played the beautiful old hymn, "Rock of Ages." Division 97 of Aurora took the chair, with Sister Johnston as President, and we received some very fine instructions in regard to balloting. Division

154 of Freeport then took charge, with Sister Greene as President, and initiation was taken up. They were assisted by Logansport Division, who did the link work. Every officer did well. Sister Riser, the Junior Sister, being the one who was on the floor and could be criticised most, certainly did her work well. Division 154 then vacated and Division 141 of Blue Island, with Sister Buckley as President, closed the school in a very able manner, making us all feel that our day had been well spent, and we had learned so much and had received so much good. Each one had tried to do what she could to make the day interesting. By 8:30 p. m. the drill hall in the Masonic Temple was full almost to overflowing. At 9 p. m. the drill was given by the team of White City Division 100, and we will leave that for some one else to say what we did. But I can tell you what our President would Can't you guess? Sister Krog and Eagy escorted Sister Forsythe to the east of hall where Sister Moore was inspecting the drill, and presented her with a cut glass water bottle from White City Division. Sister Moore, with a few well chosen remarks, thanked the Division. And then for a jolly good time dancing up to 12 o'clock.

say.

Sisters accept thanks from White City Division for your presence and ti.e interest each and every one took in making our school a success.

Some of our Sisters went out to West Chicago to Sister Gokey's home to see Sister Winebrener, one of our past vice-presidents, who has been ill for the past year. We would be so glad to see her sweet, smiling face in our Division room again.

December 8th is our annual election of officers again, so we will say farewell to the old and welcome the new. I will lay down my pen to my successor and hope she will prove more interesting than your humble servant. MRS. L. N. TURPIN. Chicago, Ill.

Editor Railway Conductor:

After a silence of many months, Division 4 will make its bow to the fraternal world and extend to the Sister Divisions for "Auld Lang Syue" the season's greetings.

Andrews Division has just closed a very successful year, having added to her number fourteen new members, and is still looking for more. This makes our membership a total of thirty-five

« PreviousContinue »