214 



CONGRESS. (SAFETY OF LIFE ON RAILROADS.) 



purpose of the Senator from Ohio in taking the 

 time of the Senate this afternoon was that he 

 might give voice officially to the fact which has 

 generally been understood through both Houses 

 of Congress that both political parties, as repre- 

 sented by the present Secretary of the Treasury 

 and the Secretary of the Treasury to be, have 

 coincided in the desire for the passage of the 

 amendment, which was to permit the Secretary 

 of the Treasury to add to the public debt of the 

 United States and to sell more bonds. 



" I think the announcement of that fact was a 

 wise announcement. 1 think it is proper for the 

 country to know that the incoming Administra- 

 tion as well as the Administration now going out 

 are in agreement upon the proposition that the 

 people should be further burdened with a public 

 debt, upon a silly proposition to sell bonds the 

 proceeds of which were to draw no interest and 

 were to go into the Treasury, and the only effect 

 of which was to make a gold scare in New York, 

 and depress the market for bonds and for se- 

 curities. 



" Beyond that point, Mr. President, I am 

 sorry the Senator from Ohio went. In the first 

 place, referring not alone to the remarks of the 

 Senator from Ohio, I think any one who at this 

 stage of the session makes an extended financial 

 speech, when everybody knows that this amend- 

 ment is to be voted out and we are only going 

 through the formality of submitting it to the 

 Senate, is not regardful of public interests and 

 the demands of public business." 



Safety of Life on Railroads. During the 

 first session of Congress the House of Repre- 

 sentatives passed a bill " to promote the safety 

 of employees and travelers upon railroads by 

 compelling common carriers engaged in in- 

 terstate commerce to equip their cars with au- 

 tomatic couplers and continuous brakes and 

 their locomotives with driving-wheel brakes." 

 In the Senate the following substitute for the 

 House bill was adopted: 



Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the 1st day 

 of January, 1898, it shall be unlawful for any com- 

 mon carrier engaged in interstate commerce by rail- 

 road to use on its line any locomotive engine in mov- 

 ing interstate traffic not equipped with a power driv- 

 ing-wheel brake and appliances for operating the 

 train-brake system, or to run any train in such traffic 

 after said date that has not a sufficient number of 

 cars in it so equipped with power or train brakes 

 that the engineer on the locomotive drawing such 

 train can control its speed without requiring brake- 

 men to use the common hand brake for that purpose. 



SEC. 2. That on and after the 1st day of January, 

 1898, it shall be unlawful for any such common car- 

 rier to haul or permit to be hauled or used on its 

 line any car used in moving interstate traffic not 

 equipped with couplers coupling automatically by 

 impact, and which can be uncoupled without the 

 necessity of men going between the ends of the cars. 



SEC. 3. That when any person, firm, company, or 

 corporation engaged in interstate commerce by rail- 

 road shall have equipped a sufficient number of its 

 cars so as to comply with the provisions of section 1 

 of this act, it may lawfully refuse to receive from 

 connecting lines of roads or shippers any cars not 

 equipped sufficiently, in accordance with the first 

 section of this act, with such power or train brakes as 

 will work and readily interchange with the brakes in 

 use on its own cars, as required by this act. 



SEC. 4. That from and after the 1st day of July, 

 1895, until otherwise ordered by the Interstate Com- 



merce Commission, it shall be unlawful for any rail- 

 road company to use any car in interstate com- 

 merce that is not provided with secure grab irons or 

 hand holds in the ends and sides of each car for 

 greater security to men in coupling and uncoupling 

 cars. 



SEC. 5. That within ninety days from the passage 

 of this act the American Kailway Association is 

 authorized hereby to designate to the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission the standard height of drawbars 

 for freight cars, measured perpendicular from the 

 level of the tops of the rails to the centers of the draw- 

 bars, for each of the several gauges of railroads in use 

 in the United States, and shall fix a maximum varia- 

 tion from such standard height to be allowed be- 

 tween the drawbars of empty and loaded cars. Upon 

 their determination being certified to the Interstate 

 Commerce Commission, said commission shall at 

 once give notice of the standard fixed upon to all 

 common carriers, owners, or lessees engaged in inter- 

 state commerce in the United States by such means 

 as the commission may deem proper. But should 

 said association fail to determine a standard as above 

 provided, it shall be the duty of the Interstate Com- 

 merce Commission to do so, before July 1, 1894, and 

 immediately to give notice thereof as aforesaid. 

 And after July 1, 1895, no cars, either loaded or un- 

 loaded, shall be used in interstate traffic which do 

 not comply with the standard above provided for. 



SEC. 6. That any such common carrier using any 

 locomotive engine, running any train, or hauling or 

 permitting to be hauled or used on its line any 

 car in violation of any of the provisions of this act, 

 shall be liable to a penalty of $100 for each and every 

 such violation, to be recovered in a suit or suits to be 

 brought by the United States district attorney in the 

 district court of the United States having jurisdiction 

 in the locality where such violation shall have been 

 committed, and it shall be the duty of such district 

 attorney to brin such suits upon duly verified infor- 

 mation being lodged with him of such violation hav- 

 ing occurred. And it shall also be the duty of the 

 Interstate Commerce Commission to lodge with the 

 proper district attorneys infonnation of any such vio- 

 lations as may come to its knowledge : Provided, 

 That nothing in this act contained shall apply to 

 trains composed of four-wheel cars or to locomotives 

 used in hauling such trains. 



SEC. 7. That the Interstate Commerce Commission 

 may from time to time upon full hearing and for 

 good cause extend the period within which any com- 

 mon carrier shall comply with the provisions of this 

 act. 



SEC. 8. That any employee of any such common 

 carrier who may be injured by any locomotive, car, 

 or train contrary to the provision of this act shall not 

 be deemed thereby to have assumed the risk thereby 

 occasioned, although continuing in the employment 

 of such carrier after the unlawful use of such loco- 

 motive, car, or train had been brought to his knowl- 

 edge. 



It passed the Senate Feb. 11, 1893, by the fol- 

 lowing vote, after an earnest discussion : 



YEAS Allison, Berry, Caffery, Call, Carey, Chan- 

 dler, Cockrell, Coke, Cullom, Davis, Dawes, Dolph, 

 Dubois, Felton, Frye, Gallinger, Gray, Hansbrough, 

 Hawley, Hoar, Jones of Nevada, Kyle, McMillan, 

 McPherson, Morrill, Palmer, Pasco, Peffer, Perkins, 

 Proctor, Pugh, Sherman, Squire, Teller, Turpie, 

 Vilas, Voorhees, Washburn, White 39. 



NAYS Blodgett, Brice, Daniel George, Gorman, 

 Harris, Morgan, Sawyer, Stewart, Vance 10. 



NOT VOTING Aldrich, Allen, Bate, Blackburn, 

 Butler, Camden, Cameron, Casey, Colquitt, Dixon, 

 Faulkner, Gibson, Gordon, Hale, Higgins, Hili, His- 

 cock, Hunton, Irby, Jones of Arkansas, Manderson, 

 Mills, Mitchell, Paddock, Pettigrew, Platt, Power, 

 Quay, Eansom, Sanders, Shoup, Stanford, Stock- 

 bridge, Vest, Walthall, Warren, Wilson, Wolcott 38. 



