NO AHA'rEMI-:NT OF TRESPASSING EVIL 



273 



tr\'. The dog was everywhere held re- 

 sponsible for the decline of the sheej) 

 industry. 



No Abatement of Trespassing Evil. 



Records of the New York, New Ha- 

 ven and Hartford Railroad Company 

 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1916, 

 disclose no abatement of the trespass- 

 ing evil, despite the earnest and exten- 

 sive efforts of the Company to warn 

 the public of the dangers incident to 

 the use of the railway right of way as 

 a public highway. During the past 

 fiscal year, according to the New Ha- 

 ven records, 172 persons were killed 

 while trespassing on New Haven prop- 

 erty. This compares with 139 during 

 the fiscal year ending June 30, 1915, 

 and is an increase over that year of 

 33 persons. The total number killed 

 and injured last year was 346, as com- 

 pared with 270 the previous year, an 

 increase of 76 persons. 



During the year in which these acci- 

 dents occurred the New Haven Rail- 

 road waged an active compaign against 

 the trespassing evil. The Company 

 tried in a most persistent way to bring 

 to the attention of the public the perils 

 of trespassing on railway property. In 

 this campaign the co-operation of 

 school superintendents has been enlist- 

 ed and children have been warned to 

 keep away from railroad property. 

 Factories and mercantile houses have 

 assisted by posting signs supplied by 

 the Railroad pointing out the danger 

 of trespassing. Efiforts have been made 

 to obtain the active co-operation of 

 towns and municipalities, and particu- 

 larly of magistrates and prosecuting 

 officials. 



In addition to its direct educational 

 campaign, the New Haven has given 

 as much publicity to the campaign as 

 possible. In all 180,000 posters have 

 been prepared. These have been post- 

 ed where they may attract attention 

 and the Company is continuing the dis- 

 tribution of them at regular intervals. 

 The posters are placed in factories, 

 schools, stations, freight houses, ca- 

 booses, crossing cabins, section houses, 

 work trains, shops, car inspection cab- 

 ins, interlocking towers, telegraph 

 poles and various other places. These 



posters are also being prepared in for- 

 eign languages in order that they may 

 be read by the large foreign born pop- 

 ulation in southern New England. 

 They are being printed in Italian, 

 Greek, Polish and Hungarian. The 

 newspapers throughout New England 

 have also aided materially in bringing 

 to the attention of the public the dead- 

 ly peril of trespassing. 



Despite this campaign and the pub- 

 licity given to it, 33 more persons were 

 killed last year than in the previous 

 year. 



It is the belief of experts who have 

 made a special study of this problem 

 that there can be no material lessening 

 of the evil imtil stringent laws are 

 passed and strictly enforced. This be- 

 lief is based somewhat upon the ex- 

 periences of other countries where 

 trespassing is a serious ofifence and is 

 punished accordingly. In the United 

 States there are 35 states in which 

 there are no laws regarding trespass- 

 ing on railway property. In most of 

 those states that have laws convictions 

 are difficult to obtain and often after 

 a conviction has been obtained sen- 

 tence is suspended. Despite the fact 

 that over 5,000 persons are needlessly 

 killed each year in this country, it 

 seems difficult to make any headway 

 in the campaign the railways have car- 

 ried on owing to the indifference of the 

 public and to the lack of law or en- 

 forcement of existing laws about tres- 

 passing. 



The Barometer in Diagnosis! 



A Swedish farmer who lived on his 

 wheat farm in Minnesota, was taken 

 ill and his wife telephoned the doctor. 



'Tf you have a thermometer," an- 

 swered the physician, "take his tem- 

 perature. I will be out and see him 

 presently." 



An hour or so later when the doctor 

 drove up, the woman met him at the 

 door. 



"How is he?" asked the doctor. 



"Veil," said she, "I bane put the 

 barometer on him like you tell me, and 

 it ?av 'Very dry,' so I give him a pitch- 

 er of water to drink, and now he ban 

 gone back to vork." — Philadelphia 

 Record. 



