The railways have not escaped the advance in their cost of living due to the increased price of fuel any more than the public at large, and so far they have not been able to shift any portion of that cost, as manufacturers and shippers have done.
[XII]
THE SAFETY OF AMERICAN RAILWAYS
Never before in the history of railways has such a record for comparative safety been made as that recorded of American railways during the year ending June 30, 1909. Following its custom the Interstate Commerce Commission has published the report of accidents. It remains to set forth here the more remarkable record of safety.
Of the 368 companies reporting to this Bureau, no less than 347, operating 159,657 miles of line and carrying 570,617,563 passengers, went through the year without a single fatality to a passenger in a train accident.
Of the remaining 21 companies, no less than 10, operating 27,681 miles and carrying 185,447,507 passengers, only missed such perfect immunity by a single fatality each in accidents to trains. This leaves 11 roads whose misfortune it was to bear the burden of train accident fatalities to passengers during the year.
The invariable rule of the Bureau precludes the publication of the honor roll of safety. And it is well so, for it would lead to invidious comparisons, where, in such matters as accidents, all comparisons are as irrelevant as they are invidious.
But it may be stated that the roll of immunity includes roads in every section of the union, from Maine to California, several great systems operating over 7,000 miles of line each, as well as little branch lines of below ten miles of single track; lines operated with all the safety appliances known to twentieth century progress and lines operated under as primitive conditions as prevailed on this continent more than half a century ago.
This record of complete immunity, stretching over 159,657 miles of operated line, represents a mileage nearly seven times that of all British roads, and equals the aggregate of all Europe, excluding Russia but including the British Isles.