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Washington, March, 1891, fully realizing the gravity of the question, and wishing to obtain the views not only of the railroad organizations themselves, but of the presidents of all the railroads throughout the United States, appointed a committee on safety appliances, the members of which together with its functions are mentioned in Appendix F.

The committee thus appointed has the matter still under advisement, it having sought the opinions of both the railroad presidents and employés, the former through circulars sent them requesting their views as to the best means of bringing about uniformity in safety appliances, the latter by a hearing which was held in New York City on November 10, where the accredited representatives of the different organizations of railroad employés and others were heard. The result of the investigations thus made shows that uniformity in safety appliances is favored by all; the opinion as to the best means of bringing about such uniformity differs, but that it is necessary and desirable has not been questioned.

The fact, as shown by the last report of the statistician, of the use of thirty-seven different styles of coupler reported to the commission, must indicate the great need for uniformity. The means for bringing about such a result should be carefully considered, in justice to the employés and the railroads themselves. Many of the railroads have shown themselves willing and anxious to use all appliances which will insure greater safety to their employés, while others have made but very few steps in that direction, and it is only by national legislation that such an end can be reached.

The justice of the demands of the railroad employés for uniformity in safety appliances, more particularly in car couplers, can not be questioned and can better be appreciated when the difficulties, which the trainmen encounter daily and hourly in coupling and uncoupling cars, is understood. Under existing conditions when there are so many couplers in use it is impossible for men to know before going between the cars whether they have the ordinary links and pins to couple together, or two different types of the large variety of couplers now in use. No matter what coupler is used, no matter how perfect its mechanism and working, if it does not couple as well and as freely with every other coupler now in use as it will with another coupler of its own make, it is to that extent, a death trap. What the railroad employés of the country demand is uniformity. They want all couplers alike, and they are the men whose lives and persons are at stake, for with about a million freight cars in use the change to any particular coupler must cause a great injury to their number, and loss of life in bringing it about. This great element of uncertainty, coupled with the danger to life and limb in consequence of such uncertainty should be remedied so that trainmen when coupling and uncoupling cars may know that the couplers will be of the same type.

The expenditure of such large sums of money as this would involve upon the railroad companies should be fully considered in determining what is a reasonable time in which to bring about this needed change, and, on the other hand, the just demands of the railroad employés for their own protection and safety and for the protection of their wives and families who are dependent upon them should also be borne in mind.

A very large majority of freight cars are now equipped and are daily being equipped with the old link and pin coupling. A serious question is the adoption of some type as a standard, which, during the

transition period from the present chaotic condition of couplings to the state of substantial similarity which safety demands, shall most easily couple with the link and pin.

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With whatever care and judgment this type be selected, it must inevitably result that many a poor fellow will lose life or limb before uniformity is finally attained. A necessary sacrifice to secure greater safety to those who shall come after. But this sacrifice should surely be by every reasonable effort minimized to the utmost possible extent.

EDWARD A. MOSELEY,

Secretary.

HEATING OF PASSENGER CARS.

There is no longer room to doubt that the heating of passenger cars by steam, or some device other than the common stove (productive in the past of so many fatalities), has made such headway that the oldtime method is certain of abandonment at no distant day on all American railroads.

As corroborative of this statement the following language was used in the report of the committee on steam heating and ventilating of passenger cars before the Master Car Builders' Association, in convention at Cape May, last June:

As steam heat has come to stay, and will not down at our bidding, but rather is pushed forward by public sentiment and the strong hand of law, it behooves this body to create and combine such devices as will insure both safety and economy in car heating.

It is evident from this report, formulated by experts, that the new system is no longer an experiment.

The growth of sentiment has not been altogether so rapid as the friends of progress in this direction may have desired, but encouragement is afforded by the fact that nine States of the Union, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont, have enacted laws which either empower the State railroad commissioners to enforce such orders relative to heating and lighting cars as may be required by public safety, or which absolutely prohibit steam railroads from heating passenger trains by stoves or furnaces kept inside the car, except in certain cases of accident or emergency.

These statutes are hereinafter given in detail.

A fearful instance of the sacrifice of human life was the collision in Fourth avenue tunnel in New York City, on the 20th of January, 1891, an accident rendered still more horrifying by the fact that the wreck caught fire and, beyond a doubt, of the 6 persons killed several lost their lives in the flames. It is not positively known whether the holocaust was due to the stove or heater, or to the breakage of the kerosene lamps which were used on the ill-fated train. The latter are almost as great a source of danger as the former, and if there is any feasible way of providing a substitute for kerosene, railroad companies should be quick to make the change.

The mechanical difficulties in the way of supplying heat from the engine to the cars so as to make them comfortable in the coldest weather seem to have been fully overcome. The minor problems of overheating and unequal distribution of heat in the different parts of the car are still engaging attention. The matter of a perfect steam coupling between the cars which shall neither leak, freeze up, burst, or cause delay in coupling or uncoupling, nor wear out rapidly, has developed much inventive talent, and it is claimed on more than one side that all these requirements have been met. In view of what has already been accomplished, though perfection is still in the future, car-builders and railway managers are bound to concede that the employment of fire in

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passenger cars is gradually but surely to be superseded by some method of using the heat generated in the boiler of the locomotive.

The following table, showing the car-heating equipment of a large percentage of the roads of the United States and Canada, is taken from the Railway Review:

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Some passenger equipment cars are not heated at all, which explains why the above given percentages fall short of 100.

The same publication gives additional tables showing what individual roads have done, and also group results by geographical division. The effect of legislation is clearly perceived in Table No. 1, the high percentage of New York lines standing out in marked contrast to the slender figures of systems west of Chicago, where no legal requirements have operated to hasten the adoption of steam-heating apparatus.

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The figures given above are of more than ordinary interest, as they show a larger proportion of the passenger equipment to be heated by steam than is generally believed. The common stove is hereby shown to be employed in less than half of the passenger cars of the country.

The importance of improved and safer methods of heating has also been recognized in Europe. An appropriation of 80,000 marks has been made to introduce steam-heating on the state railroads of Wurtemberg, Germany, and the Swiss Government has formulated a code of rules providing that passenger cars must be heated from the 1st of October till the close of April should the outside temperature fall lower than 41° F. By the legislative act of July 1, 1889, that Government also decreed that all cars must be heated by steam within five years from that date.

On the 23d of June, 1891, a circular letter was addressed to the chairman of the various State railroad commissions, asking whether any recent legislation on the subject of heating cars by steam or the lighting thereof has been had, and if there was any special public interest displayed that might lead to such legislation. Only a few of those addressed failed to respond.

It must not be forgotten that in certain portions of the country, the Southern States in particular, the climatic conditions are such that the heating of trains is considered a minor matter, and it is not to be expected that railroad companies in those States will be as quick to do away with the old style of heating as in northern latitudes, where the winters are longer and more severe. This accounts for the negative answers received from every Southern State. The secretary of the State of Arkansas writes "that no legislation of this character has been had in our State, nor is there much public interest in the subject, simply because the climate is genial, and not very much in the way of heating is necessary to keep cars comfortable." The secretary of the Territory of Arizona also writes that the "climatic conditions are such here as to remove the interest in such matters."

In the last Illinois legislature several bills bearing on improved methods of passenger car heating and lighting were introduced, but failed to pass. Recommendations in regard to the utility and importance of safety appliances will be made to the next legislature by the commission of that State.

In Ohio, Commissioner Norton writes that his department strongly urged on the legislature the enactment of a law touching on the heating and lighting of passenger trains. Nothing was done, though great interest was manifested at the time.

Commissioner Anthony, of Kansas, replies that there has been no legislation in that State; that the public rests confident in the wisdom of the companies to protect passengers without resort to legislation.

In none of the other States, with the exception of those that have enacted laws, does there appear to be any movement, outside of a sporadic press opinion, looking to reformation of prevailing devices.

STATUTES OF VARIOUS STATES RELATING TO THE HEATING OF PASSENGER CARS BY STEAM.

Connecticut.-Section 3569 of the statutes respecting railroads reads

as follows:

The railroad commissioners may make any and all orders which shall seem to them to be required by public safety and prudence relative to heating and lighting passenger cars, and shall report any neglect by any railroad companies to comply with such orders to the general assembly at its next regular session.

New York. The act of 1887 to regulate heating of steam passenger cars provides:

It shall not be lawful for any steam railroad doing business in this State, after the first day of November, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, to heat its passenger cars, on

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