Comment. 121 



controlled, since their prosperity depends largely on the well- 

 being of the country through which they operate. To arbitrarily 

 state, however, that the Adirondack^ Division of the New York 

 Central Railroad, for instance, should not use coal for fuel, is 

 going beyond the limits of practical good sense. The use of crude 

 oil as a fuel has not been found possible by any Eastern railroad, 

 while to electrify such a mountain division would involve en- 

 gineering problems and necessitate an expense which certainly 

 are not justified without the most careful investigation. In the 

 matter of protecting forest lands from fire, several Eastern rail- 

 roads are doing everything which could reasonably be expected. 

 The Pennsylvania, for example, makes every effort to keep the 

 spark arresters in good condition, burns strips along the right 

 of way where there is liable to be danger from fire, and its track- 

 men are active in extinguishing all fires which start along or 

 near the tracks. The thanks they receive for this are to find that 

 certain landowners look forward to a steady source of income 

 from damage claims against the railroads from fires which 

 they set themselves on their own land; one farmer went so far 

 as to sue the company for damages from a fire which started 

 one-fourth of a mile from the tracks, and which the trackmen, as 

 a matter of kindness, helped to extinguish. As a matter of fur- 

 ther encouragement, the Pennsylvania legislature at one time at- 

 tempted to pass a bill making the railroads responsible on prima 

 facie evidence for all fires which started on or near the right of 

 way, thus making the railroads liable for fires started by tramps 

 and other trespassers. 



