More And Better Protection For Human Life Demanded

The terrible railroad accident on the Grand Trunk in Canada during this festal season emphasizes the fact that additional precautions are necessary to properly insure human lives intrusted to the care of railroads. Of course accidents will continue to happen when human thoughtfulness and effort have done all possible to prevent them. But the points to be considered now are: What yet remains to be done to insure the greatest degree of safety possible? Heavier cars is one thing which can be resorted to to lessen the danger. It is generally found in an accident like the one of last week that the heavy Pullmans are not nearly so badly damaged as the lighter day coaches. The greatest number of deaths in such accidents are always to be found in the lighter cars. The Pullmans are always constructed and coupled in the way to do away with as much of the jar and bumping as possible and they seem to work pretty true to this idea of their construction and connections. Then the block system of signaling in general use would probably prevent some accidents. A double track wherever practicable would be another lifesaver. These and any other devices calculated to protect human life should be insisted upon by the government just as rapidly as it is possible to secure them. Protection to life should be the first consideration.