Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1907 — FACTS ARE IN DEMAND [ARTICLE]

FACTS ARE IN DEMAND

State Railway Board Asks Questions About the Rail Horror at Woodville. WANTS TO GET AT THE CAUSE What It Was Told, by Some Railway Men Two-Cent Fare Bill Passes the Senate. Indianapolis, Feb. 1. The Indiana state railroad commission opened its Investigation into the cause of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad wreck at Woodville, Ind., last November, in which a large number of lives was lost. C. E. Schaff, first vice president of the Big Four railroad; G. L. Peck, general manager of the Pennsylvania lines west Qf Pittsburg, and J. C. Sullivan, superintendent of the Peru division of the Wabash railroad, gave expert testimony. Several employes of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad and representatives of the railroad brotherhoods also testified. Views of Schaff and Peck. C. E. Schaff spoke in a general way of what the railroad officials try to do to have the rules of a road carried out by the employes. He said that it Is such a common practice for trains to carry signals and for signals to be blown by whistles that the importance of obeying these rules is not impressed on enginemen every day. After the wreck at Woodville, he said, many railroads issued bulletins calling attention to the wreck, and Impressing on all employes the importance of obeying therules relative to flagging trains. G.. L. Peck said that in his opinion nothing could be gained by modifying or widening .the scope of the present rules, as they were the result of long ye'ars of experience. Labor fjeader’s Explanation. J. C. Sullivan said that his company used a system of discipline with its men, giving them demerits for violations of rules and credits for observance, sixty demerit marks being a cause for dismissal. Seniority he said was recognized in the line promotion. J. J Dermody, fourth vice president of the Order of Railway Telegraphers, declared that the telegraph systems on various railroads are inefficient because of the fact that they employ young men of 15 to 20 years of age as operators. He asserted that the wages kept competent men out of the trade. What a Working Engineer Said. C E. Gallaton, an engineer on the Baltimore and Ohio, was called to testify as a representative of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. In his testimony he gave evidence tending to show that the engineers of the railroad do not live up to all the rules.