to prevent accidents. Such appliances will not entirely stop accidents, because in the last analysis the human equation is the test, and not until public opinion holds to a rigid account railroad officers and employees who are unfaithful to their duty will accidents be minimized, in spite of all the appliances that modern science may adopt. Statistics show that about one twelfth of the accidents on the American railroads are due to causes that can be remedied by mechanical appliances for the protection of trains; the other eleven twelfths come from causes that are common to all classes of business.
Much has been said about accidents in this country, as if we were very far behind other countries in this respect. Look at the figures for a moment:—
In Europe, on 206,987 miles in 1910 there were killed 554 passengers, 2607 employees, and 4465 other persons, or a total of 7626. In the United States on 248,888 miles reported in 1912, there were killed 318 passengers, 3235 employees, and 6632 other persons, or a
