RECENT RAILROAD DISASTERS. 315 



Who that recalls the railroad conditions of forty years ago 

 does not remember the constant succession of misfortunes charge- 

 able to the single track, the imperfect bed, to broken rails and 

 wheels, and a hundred other imperfections in machinery and the 

 necessary appliances ? 



All these mishaps and catastrophes were a part of the new 

 conditions men were seeking to master. 



Not only was the whole scheme new to mankind, but the 

 burden at once thrown upon it was utterly beyond its design or 

 its capabilities. No one was more keenly alive to the inadequacy 

 of these first plans to meet the public want, than were the railroad 

 men themselves. But an enterprise involving millions of dollars 

 in a definite, precalculated system is not like a garment that can 

 be thrown aside and replaced by another at pleasure. 



However desirable, the abandonment of existing conditions 

 and the adoption of others must necessarily be slow in enter- 

 prises of such magnitude and expenditure. 



Nevertheless, during those forty years, such was the mastery 

 of general principles and detail in the construction of the road 

 and the rolling stock, and such the perfect adaptation of part to 

 part, that to-day failure i. e., so-called accidents pertaining to 

 either of these particulars is rare. 



During these years experience met each weakness as it became 

 apparent, until now a first-class road runs thrice the weight at 

 thrice the speed with almost entire immunity from casualty from 

 these causes. The " accidents " of the earlier years have been well- 

 nigh eliminated from our modern train. 



But "accidents" yet remain no less frequent than in those 

 days of inexperience. This undreamed-of accession of power and 

 speed has also brought a larger range of liability, new conditions, 

 and new perils. 



In the earlier mishaps the fault was found to exist mainly in 

 our want of knowledge of the innate strength of the materials 

 used a fault inseparable from our inexperience. In our later 

 " accidents " the fault has not been found in the material nor in 

 the structure. Quite otherwise. 



In that frightful Yonkers calamity the fault was found to be 

 in " the man." In the two Long Island wrecks, in the Dedham, 

 the Chester Bridge, in the Wabash, the Germantown, and so on 

 almost without variation, the fault has been in " the man," not in 

 the road. 



That is, in the development of these immense steam forces we 

 appear to have reached a point where the brain force undertaking 

 the guidance and control has become the fault-bearing element and 

 the more fruitful cause of calamity. And so manifest has this pre- 

 ponderance become, that it calls for the most serious consideration. 



