. The Railway library . hat something should be done to stop the practice. Thereis the added necessity of increasing in every possible way the safetyof the traveling public. If trespassing on our railways were reducedto a minimum, it would, to that extent, reduce an element that veryoften, temporarily at least, must tend to decrease the efficiency ofsome locomotive engineer by producing a disturbing effect on hismental and nervous system due to an accident, or even a threatenedone, in which his engine and a trespasser are involved. What can be done to put an end to this evil which is growing w
. The Railway library . hat something should be done to stop the practice. Thereis the added necessity of increasing in every possible way the safetyof the traveling public. If trespassing on our railways were reducedto a minimum, it would, to that extent, reduce an element that veryoften, temporarily at least, must tend to decrease the efficiency ofsome locomotive engineer by producing a disturbing effect on hismental and nervous system due to an accident, or even a threatenedone, in which his engine and a trespasser are involved. What can be done to put an end to this evil which is growing withalarming and steady strides? Can it be checked, or is it possible toeliminate it entirely or nearly so? Undoubtedly, if handled as a Na-tional problem. In a statement issued by the Special Committee in Relations ofRailway Operation to Legislation (composed of the operating headsof several of the large railways); it appears that for the years 1901 to1910, inclusive, there were 103,452 trespassers killed and injured in. THE RAILWAY TRACKS AS A PUBLIC HIGHWAY It is the absence of laws and of judicial and public interest that leads the average citizen to use the railway tracks 210 The Railway Library the United States, while for the same period in Great Britain andIreland there were but 5,754 trespassers killed and injured. Thesecomparisons may be largely affected by a greater mileage on Americanrailways, but it is nevertheless true that the British railways traversea more densely populated and congested territory than most of ourAmerican railways. But the laws do not permit trespassing uponEuropean railways, and therein lies the greatest factor in consideringthe comparisons. There are two things that will be great factors in stamping outthe trespass evil in the United States, when that powerful but nowsleeping giant, the American public, awakens to the seriousness ofthis problem. These two things are: Education — Legislation. The first step should be toward education, and sho
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