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Dividends of
Safet
By
Carl R. Gray
PRESIDENT
UNION PACIFIC SYSTEM
Dividends of Safety
Address by
Carl R. Qray
President, Union Pacific System
Before the
Fourteenth Annual Banquet
of the
National Safety Council
Cleveland, Ohio
TDednesday Evening, September 30th, 1925
Foreword
Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen: Before beginning
the more prepared part of my talk and on account of the signifi¬
cance of the day, I want to read a little extract from the history of
railroads and the operation of the first train, just one hundred
years ago.*
The Great Beginning
"September 27, 1825, was a day of great excitement, that
date having been fixed for the running of the first passenger train.
It was drawn up at a point nine miles west of Darlington
(England), the starting point of the line, and consisted of twenty-
one wagons fitted up for passengers, and twelve loaded with coal.
A chronicler of the times gives the following description of the
memorable scene:
'Tickets had been distributed to the number of nearly 300,
but such was the pressure of the crowd that every carriage was in¬
stantly filled with passengers. The signals being given, the engine
started off with the immense train of carriages, and here the scene
became most interesting, the horsemen galloping across the fields
to accompany the engine and the people on foot at either side of
the road endeavoring to keep up with the calvacade.
'In some parts the speed was frequently twelve miles per
hour, and in one place for a short distance, fifteen miles per hour,
and it should be remembered at that time there were 450 passen¬
gers whose weight, with the coals, merchandise and carriages,
would amount to nearly ninety tons.
'After some little delay in arranging the procession, the en¬
gine with her load reached Darlington, having covered a distance
of nine miles in sixty-five minutes, exclusive of stops, averaging
about eight miles per hour.
'Six carriages loaded with coals for Darlington were then left
behind, and after obtaining a fresh supply of water and arrang¬
ing the procession to accommodate a band and passengers from
(*)From: First Spikes in Railway History in England and America. By
A. Saintsby, in Boston Transcript, July 3, 1925.
Page Four
Darlington, the engine set off again. The speed of the engine was
tried on a level stretch, and the performance excited the aston¬
ishment of all present. The engine arrived at Stockton in three
hours and seven minutes after leaving Darlington, including stops,
which was at the rate of four miles per hour.
'On approaching Stockton, numerous carts, horses and gigs
traveled along with the engine. At one time the passengers had
the pleasure of cheering passengers in a stage-coach which passed
alongside, and of observing the striking contrast exhibited by
the power of the engine and the horse, the engine with her 600
passengers and load, and the coach with four horses and only
sixteen passengers.
'Then Stockton was reached and a salute of twenty-one guns
was fired and the band played "God Save the King."
Senator Cole died in California, last year, at 1 02, and his
life at that time more than covered the entire history of trans¬
portation by rail. I am not ready for the scrap heap for several
years yet, and my own experience covers nearly forty-five per
cent of the time that rail transportation has been available to
mankind.
I told the railroad boys, when I spoke to them in Salt Lake
City a couple of years ago, that while I was deeply interested in
safety, I always hesitated to offer any advice, for the reason that
they were experts and trained experts along that line, and that I
might very readily find myself in the position of the man who
had experienced the Johnstown flood, and having reached the
celestial regions was full of his subject. He kept referring to it
and repeating the stories of that great calamity to the crowds that
he could gather. There was one little bald-headed, long-
whiskered fellow who invariably followed him around and lis¬
tened intently and then would give a loud sniff. Finally he said,
"Who is that old scout who follows me around and makes fun of
my flood story." They said, "That's Noah."
A short time ago, our special inspection train went up one
of the long meandering branches in the timber region of Idaho
where business ordinarily is very light and where the service is
confined to a mixed train. Naturally, this very large train of spe¬
cial cars attracted a good deal of attention on its arrival there
early in the morning. One of our party was standing talking to a
Page Five
local man, when his little boy rushed up in great excitement and
said, "Dad, there's a whole train down here filled with railroad
artificials." When that was told on the train there was a good
deal of laughter about it. After it was over, I said, that is just ex¬
actly what you are, every one of you, "You are artificialer than
artificial flowers," to borrow Will Carleton's phrase. Every man
on that train was an artificial railroad man. All that he knew he
had gathered by practice and association and learning from other
men.
The railroad man of today is a product essentially of his
business. In all of my acquaintance I know of very few men who
have not worked up to every degree from the very bottom, and
so they have carried along with them and they now have in a
degree such as we have never known, the confidence and the co¬
operation of the rank and file, because they know that there is
no golden rule or no favoritism in promotion on American rail¬
roads and that the top is open to every man who will make him¬
self capable.
This spirit has exemplified itself in this Safety First Move¬
ment, and as I will say in a few minutes, while there have been
difficulties in reconciling viewpoints, there is at this time in the
railroad profession complete unanimity of effort and co-opera¬
tive work, and this has had its effect in producing what we are
glad to believe is the finest morale that we have ever had and
which has resulted in bringing about a system of nationalized
transportation more effective than we have ever known.
Those of us who were unfortunate enough to be drafted into
the government service during the war have got a great many
things that we would like to forget. We didn't get any decora¬
tions for our work there, except those that we wear under our
clothes and which are not exhibited, but in all these matters there
are some things that we recall with a great deal of pride.
In the Division of Operation, of which I had charge, among
the first things to which I turned my attention was an effort to
bring about then, for the first time, a complete safety organization
upon all American railroads. The only decoration that I was
able to carry off and in which I have taken a great deal of pride,
was an issue of mine, as Director, Division of Transportation,
Page Six
Circular No. 5, under date of May 27, 1918, the first paragraph
of which reads:
"In order to promote the safety of employees and travelers
upon railroads, establish uniformity in the important principles of
safety work, and carry out the purpose of the Director General's
Circular No. 7 of February 19, creating the Safety Section of the
Division of Transportation, Safety Committees, composed of of¬
ficers and employees, shall be organized on all railroads under
Federal control."
Out of that has grown a marvelously effective Safety Sec¬
tion of the American Railway Association, one of which we take
the greatest of pride. So my most pleasant recollection of that
trying time during the war, is the fact that I was, in an humble
way, instrumental in starting, for the first time, this organization
upon every American Railroad.
Page Seven
The Dividends of Safety
An Address before the National Safety Council Con¬
gress, at its Fourteenth Annual Banquet, September 30,
1925, at Cleveland, Ohio.
¿By Carl 7^. Gray, President,
Union Pacific System,
Omaha, Neb.
HE Safety Movement on Railroads was started, I believe,
about 1905, by the late Ralph C. Richards, General Claim
Agent of the Chicago & Northwestern Ry. Co., and past
President of the National Safety Council; but I understand that
the United States Steel Corporation started a similar movement
at the same time—neither the Chicago & Northwestern nor the
Steel Corporation knowing of the action of the other. It would be
unfair, however, to say that only within the last twenty years
have Railroads taken any important steps to obtain safety of
operation.
As far back as 1833, George Stephenson, of England, made
the suggestion of the steam whistle on the locomotive as a means
of preventing accidents. A musical instrument-maker in Leicester
was engaged to make it. The trumpet or horn, as it was called,
was about eighteen inches long and six inches across the bell, and
apparently had a weird and effective sound, as it is said that
the Reverend Sydney Smith, a witty divine, was wont to say
"Stephenson's whistle always reminded him of the squeal of a
lawyer when the devil first got hold of him."
In 1851 the first telegraphic train order was issued by
Charles Minot, General Superintendent of the Erie Railroad.
Previous rules for train operation were issued, however, and some
little time ago I saw a set of rules governing train operation on
one of the Southern Railroads, along about 1845. Trains were
differentiated as "Up-trains" and "Down-trains," the Up-train
being of superior direction. The Down-train was required to wait
at a time card meeting point for two hours and an Up-train for
one hour. After waiting for this length of time they were allowed
to proceed—Up-trains being required to whistle practically con¬
tinuously and the Down-train was required to stop at each mile
post and listen intently for the whistle of the Up-train. Where
trains met between turn-outs, the one nearest the turn-out would
Page Eight
back up—grade and weight of train to be considered, but in
reaching this latter determination, the engineman was not to be
consulted.
In 1 868 the Westinghouse airbrake was successfully applied,
and in 1 870 its adoption was begun.
In 1 883 standard time was adopted on United States rail¬
roads. Prior to this, as many as 48 standards of time were
recognized.
In 1885 the first test of the automatic coupler was conducted
under the auspices of the Master Car Builders' Association.
In 1893 there was passed a Federal Safety Appliance Law,
requiring power brakes, automatic couplers, side and end hand
holds, "for greater security to men in coupling and uncoupling
«I
cars.
In 1903 the first steel passenger car was constructed.
The first signaling was before the Christian era—the Bible
says: "When Moses held up his right hand, Israel prevailed."
The earliest form of block signaling was operated in Eng¬
land long before the telegraph was invented. At each station
was erected a high meist on which a huge ball could be raised and
lowered. When a train left a station the ball at that station was
raised to the top of the mast. In this way, the trains were author¬
ized to proceed from one station to the next; and this is where
the term "High Ball" (not a beverage) used in present day rail¬
road parlance originated.
From this system was later (about 1863 or 1864) de¬
veloped the manual controlled block system, by which spacing
was accomplished by telegraphic signals between contiguous
stations and entirely independent of any other method of protec¬
tion. The controlled manual system variously known as the Staff,
Tablet, and Lock and Block, was first used in England in 1874
and in this country on the New York Central Railroad in 1882.
The first automatic signal system using electric track circuit
and a disc type of signal, was patented in 1870 by Dr. Wm.
Robinson, an American, and installed for the first time in 1872
at Kinzua, Penn., on what is now the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Thus it will be seen that, despite the absence of any organ¬
ized Safety movement, railroad officers, locomotive and car
builders and railway supply manufacturers were continually ex-
Page Nine
perimenting to discover things which would make for safety of
operation.
When railroads were new, it was the passenger, and the
passenger alone, for whose safety any fear was expressed. Dis¬
cussing a projected railway between London and Woolwich in
1829, whereby it was proposed to shorten the time by stage
coach one-half, the Conservative Quarterly Review declared:
"We would as soon expect the people of Woolwich to suffer
themselves to be fired off on one of Congreave's rockets as to
trust themselves to the mercy of a machine going at such a rate."
Today, the situation is just reversed. So safe has railway
travel become that a railway passenger is considered to be in a
safer place than in his own home, and many times safer than at
a busy street crossing of a modern city. Our greatest problem is
that of protecting from injury, not the passenger nor the train
employe, but the occupant of an automobile at a highway grade
crossing.
It seems that on railroads the Safety Movement, as such, has
directed its attention more to industrial accidents in shops, sta¬
tions, roundhouses and tie treating plants, than to matters of
collisions, derailments, fires, and explosions, these questions be¬
ing the subjects of inquiry and research before the birth of the
Safety organizations. I am mindful of the fact that our Safety
officers on railroads do concern themselves with these matters
now, but they were not subjects initiated by them. The collateral
matters of hygiene and sanitation are also covered by many
safety organizations.
When the Safety Movement was started it had to overcome
a great deal of prejudice. Not only many of the employes, but
some of the higher officers said that the whole thing looked to
them like a huge joke. Slosson, in his "Creative Chemistry,"
says:
"In all ages ridicule has been the chief weapon of
conservatism. If you want to know what line human
progress will take in the future, read the funny papers
of today and see what they are fighting. The satire of
every century from Aristophanes to the latest vaude¬
ville has been directed against those who are trying to
make the world wiser or better, against the teacher and
the preacher, the scientist, and the reformer."
The opposition to the Safety Movement was based largely
on the following assumptions:
Page Ten
( 1 ) That its primary purpose was to decrease payments
for deaths and injuries.
(2) That accidents were as much a part of railroads as
was noise to a wagon, and that freedom from injury was largely
a matter of luck.
(3) That everything practicable was then being done to
make operation safe. One large railroad declined originally to
join the Safety Movement, pointing to its good record in the mat¬
ter of train accidents as proof that it did not need any further
lines of effort to insure safety.
(4) That Safety committeemen would be meddlers who
would make a nuisance of themselves.
(5) That the movement had too much of the "Hurrah
Boys" atmosphere and that it would leave bad after-effects.
Taking these up, one by one:
( 1 ) The primary purpose of the movement is to save lives,
limbs and health. How much those savings amount to is, of
course, conjectural, for no one can say how many injuries have
been prevented, although a comparison of the deaths and in¬
juries before and after the Safety Movement is a fair yardstick
in estimating the results achieved. But we would be well satisfied
with the Dividends of Safety in the form of homes kept intact,
hearts unbroken, children prevented from facing the world with¬
out the birthright of a father's guidance, even if there were not a
dollar of saving in claim payments.
(2) Accidents do not happen: they are caused I I believe
the entire elimination of avoidable accidents on railroads is pos¬
sible; but it will not come about by knocking on wood.
(3) As I have indicated, a great many constructive safety
measures were adopted before the inception of the Safety Move¬
ment, such as automatic airbrakes, automatic coupler, block sig¬
nals, and standard time, which had universal application; but
there yet remained a wide and fruitful field for the prevention of
personal injuries, as was shown by the reports. There were sta¬
tionary machines inadequately guarded, men were working
around flying chips and sparks without wearing goggles, buildings
were so close to tracks as not to clear a man riding on the side of
a car. Then there were hazardous practices in train service, such
as men kicking over couplers while cars were in motion, and rid-
Page Eleven
ing on pilots of locomotives. A list of all the conditions and prac¬
tices to be rectified would run into the thousands. And it might
not be amiss to say that a vast majority of the suggestions made
by employes for preventing injury have been favorably acted
upon at an expense which would aggregate millions.
(4) The fear that Safety committeemen would prove to be
busybodies, interfering with the orderly processes of business,
making impractical suggestions, and evincing a lack of poise, has
not been borne out by experience. The committeemen have
shown commendable reserve in their investigations, and the fact
that a large per cent of their recommendations have been
adopted, is proof of the thoroughness with which their inspec¬
tions have been conducted.
(5) Nor has the movement had any of the aspects of some
religious revivals, followed by backsliding. The interest has been
maintained at a high level, and in the banner contests, even at
fever heat. The work has been insistent and persistent, and the
employes have come to realize that the movement is here to stay.
Progress of Union Pacific
To be specific as to the Dividends of Safety we could take
the progress made on the Union Pacific alone since the termina¬
tion of Federal control. Securing our figures from the reports
of the Interstate Commerce Commission, the following is the
number of reportable accidents in each year, with the rate, and
reduced to the million man-hour basis:
Union Pacific System
Casualties to Employes on Duty per Million Man-Hours,
for years 1920 to 1924, inclusive, and first seven
months, 1925.
Casualty
Year Casualties Man-Hours Rate
1920 3120 134,653,000 23.17
1921 1650 127,566,000 12.93
1922 1394 132,210,000 10.46
1923 1 135 144,183,000 7.87
1924 785 132,516,000 5.92
1925 271 69,642,167 3.89
If the 1920 casualty rate of 23.17 had applied throughout
the year 1924, the number of casualties would have numbered
3,070, or 2,285 more than the actual. Also if the 1920 casualty
Page Twelve
rate of 23.17 had applied throughout the seven months period
of 1925 shown by the tabulation, casualties would have totaled
1,614, or 1,343 more than actually occurred.
To fully appreciate these figures it is necessary to contem¬
plate the fact that by intensive and co-operative Safety activities
on the part of the officers and men in common, in the year 1924
and the first seven months of 1925, 3,628 employes have been
saved from more or less serious injury, or possible death. Their
families have been saved from personal bereavement and finan¬
cial loss and privation. They themselves were saved the loss of
working time and wages consequent upon personal injury cases.
The railroad company has benefited through the increased
efficiency of the men themselves and their co-workers; and
finally, society has been saved the economic loss attendant upon
idleness, reduced efficiency, either temporary or permanent, or
actual loss of life.
As I see it, there is no more important question before the,
American public today than the prevention of accident and in¬
jury.
In the proceedings of your 1923 meeting I notice a table of
"estimated fatal accidents in continental United States in 1922
and prior years," which shows that between 1911 and 1922 the
deaths in railroad accidents decreased from 12,179 to 6,883,
whereas the deaths in automobile accidents increased from 2,061
to 1 3,875. I recognize, of course, that there was a large increase
in the number of automobiles. I believe, too, that the average
automobile driver is careful, nevertheless the figures constitute a
challenge to the best thought of the National Safety Council and
of every patriotic citizen.
An authority on the subject says: "The total of American
casualties in the World War, 1917-1918, were 317,387; our
total automobile casualties in the same period were 427,000;
leaving to the credit of the automobile as the destroyer of life
and limb 109,613."
Is this not an astounding situation? Obviously it behooves
us to declare war on King Accident, and to employ all the forces
at our command to destroy him and all his works.
The railroads are vitally interested in automobile accidents
at grade crossings, not only because of the injury and death to
occupants of the automobiles, but because of the very real danger
• Page Thirteen
that some of these accidents may derail our trains and put in
jeopardy the lives of our passengers and trainmen. A number of
such accidents have taken place. One which comes to mind is a
collision at Cranford, N. J., between a train and an automobile,
which derailed the train and killed one or more trainmen.
Another feature which merits consideration is the nervous
strain on the engineer in cases where automobiles barely escape
being hit. Automobile drivers should not race trains nor drive
rapidly up to a crossing and then stop, but should slacken speed
some distance back and indicate plainly to the engineer that they
do not intend to try to cross ahead of the train. Some veteran
engineers of high speed passenger trains running through densely
populated sections, lay off on Sunday rather than take the risk
of shattering their nerves over these hairbreadth escapes of Sun¬
day motorists.
Automobilists should stop, look, and listen, even at cross¬
ings protected by bells. Especially is this necessary where there
is more than one track. We had a deplorable accident last
month, in which the driver of an automobile darted around the
caboose of a freight train to be struck by a fast passenger train,
causing the instant death of the driver, his wife, and six children.
A wig-wag signal was ringing and waving at the time. Universal
observance of this fundamental "Stop! Look! and Listen!" rule
would immeasurably reduce these grade crossing accidents.
Wholesale separation of grades is not practicable for sev¬
eral reasons: first, the cost has been estimated to equal the entire
^valuation of all the railroads. There are approximately 260,000
grade crossings. A conservative estimate of $75,000 each, pro¬
duces the staggering total of nineteen billion five hundred million
dollars. Second, if the railroads had the money and the states,
counties and municipalities were in position to contribute their
share of the cost, the work could not be completed for many
years. Meantime the accidents would continue. It is significant
that last year in spite of an active grade crossing elimination pro¬
gram, more new crossings were opened than were eliminated.
Co-operation between the railroads and the counties and
municipalities in relocating highways to close up hazardous or un¬
necessary grade crossings, is helping to solve the problem. Ob¬
structions to the view such as billboards, trees, banks, and
Jbuildings can be removed, and this is going on all the time.
Page Fourteen
Advance warning signs are being placed back of crossings,
either in the form of upright posts, or the letters "R. R." painted
on the roadway to notify auto drivers that they are approaching
a railroad grade crossing.
Engineers are being trained to blow their whistles and ring
the bells in a way to reach the ears of auto drivers most effec¬
tively. But some drivers are oblivious to all warnings. Every day,
hundreds of crossing gates lowered momentarily to allow trains
to pass are broken, even though they are vividly painted alter¬
nate stripes of black and white.
A large proportion of our grade crossing accidents are
caused by drivers running into the sides of our trains; one last
week struck the eleventh car of a slowly moving freight train.
Automobiles pass over crossings where wig-wag signals are
waving and ringing.
The "Cross Crossings Cautiously" campaigns of the Ameri¬
can Railway Association have been effective in preventing acci¬
dents. Automobile manufacturers, auto clubs, and the public
generally have responded in gratifying fashion to the appeals of
these campaigns. We are hopeful of even greater co-operation
in the future.
The Safety Movement has justified itself many times over
in its twenty years of existence. The future lies largely in the
hands of such constructive agencies as this National Safety Coun¬
cil, whose humanitarian purposes are given direction and practi¬
cal effect by its members and their employes.
What could be nobler than to save a lifel Have you ever
stood beside one who had been killed as the result of an avoid¬
able accident? I have. Have you ever had the widow and chil¬
dren come to you and tell you of the grief and heartache, poverty
and misery that followed in the wake of the father's careless or
thoughtless act? I have. And it was to prevent these dreadful
conditions that the Safety Movement was established. Lives
saved, limbs saved, homes saved—these are the Dividends of Safely.
SAFETY DEPARTMENT,
U. P. R. R. Co.
Page Fifteen