HD TV 0,2 ;-NRLF SB GIFT OF GIFT NOT 17 ^* UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA BULLETIN VOL. VIII. JANUARY 1, 1914 No. 1 THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST ANNUAL INDUSTRIAL SAFETY CONFERENCE t > HELD AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA JANUARY 26 AND 27, 1914 ? 'v: PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY THE UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA RENO, NEVADA Entered in the Postoffice at Reno, Nevada, as second-class matter under the Act of Congress, July 16, 1894 FOREWORD The first State Industrial Safety Conference was held at the University of Nevada on January 26th and 27th, 1914, under the direction of the Department of Mechanical and Elec- trical Engineering of the University, co-operating with the Nevada Industrial Commission. The primary object of the meeting was to bring together men who were fundamentally interested in the problems of conservation of human life and to effect a permanent organization for the propagation of a State- wide industrial safety movement. The papers, talks and dis- cussions here presented will give some adequate idea of the splendid public spirit shown by the six hundred people who participated in the meetings. The keynote sounded was for greater co-operation and more adequate care on part of employer and employee to secure maximum safety of life and limb, and for wider and better opportunities for young men to become skilled and careful workmen. The University of Nevada hereby makes acknowledgment of the active support of the various labor organizations of the State, the management of the railroads, electric power and mining companies, the State In- dustrial Commission, and numerous individuals whose deep interest and assistance made the conference such a marked suc- cess. The University is also indebted to the Southern Pacific Company and others for the carefully prepared and comprehen- sive exhibits illustrating ^plications of the Safety First Movement. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 3 PROCEEDINGS INDUSTRIAL SAFETY CONFERENCE GENERAL MEETING JANUARY 26, 1914, 2 p. M. MR. P. E. RAYMOND President University of Nevada Engineers' Club The hour for convening the First Industrial Safety Con- ference having arrived, I take pleasure in presenting Mr. Wil- liam E. Wallace, State Industrial Commissioner, as chairman of this afternoon's meeting. THE SPIRIT OF CO-OPERATION BY WILLIAM E. WALLACE Commissioner Nevada Industrial Commission When the invitation was extended to me to preside over and to address this gathering, my first impulse was to decline, but a deeper thought made it seem to be my duty. I have learned to appreciate the fact that accident pre- vention has been brought to a high rate of perfection. Instead of arguing this question with you, I would be much more pleased to remain silent and show you by earnest co-operation that the employers and employees of this country are interested in Acci- dent Prevention and Workmen's Compensation for industrial accidents. I have believed and still believe that every fair-minded em- ployer and every fair-minded employee will work side by side, and shoulder to shoulder, in the interests of this great cause. Advocating safety devices, wherever they can be applied, is not the sole means of promoting safety. The accident pre- vention spirit is the most important factor. Without co-operation between the officers and members of an organization ; without the co-operation and harmony of your- self, your superintendents, your foremen and workmen, it is useless to attempt a campaign for safety. We may go a great way by safeguarding dangerous mach- inery, and secure results, but we must get down deeper into the hearts and minds of the employers and down deeper into the hearts and minds of the employees. The spirit of co-operation must be preached early and late ; it must become, as it were, a religion for the employer as well as the employee. 343039 4 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA For the success of this movement, neither rule nor regula- tion will be of much avail, if the spirit of prevention is not there. Whether it be an open window, or an additional light, an iron gate added, or a kindly word of warning given, it is all worth while, because life itself is being conserved. This meeting which is called to take action on Accident Prevention, is one of the greatest movements of the twentieth century, because it aims to save, human life. The Nevada Industrial Insurance Act has provided for the maimed and the dependents of those killed in the industries of this State, but no money can recall or make atonement for the life taken. Accidents will happen, but many can be prevented, and every one that is prevented means less suffering, happier homes, more able-bodied men and women, happier children, and fewer orphans to care for. With practical demonstration of one life saved, it will set an example which will be gladly imitated by others. In saving life and limb, you are inaugurating a humane measure and adopting the best business method, for no business is worth while where life and limb are not protected. Honest, broad-minded men need not agree upon every phase of religion or political problems in order to work and plan together, and I am sure that I speak for every honest and fair-minded employee, when I say that he will meet the em- ployer more than half way in Accident Prevention. Let us put trust and confidence in each other. Co-operation is impossible as long as mistrust or suspicion is not overcome. I am afraid there is a tendency on the part of both to place the blame upon the other for conditions which are largely not the fault of either. I am in hopes that some means may be devised by which employers and employees can meet more often. I firmly believe that such meetings would be the means of disposing of much of the present distrust. It is not only necessary that we learn to have confidence in each other, but we must have the confidence of the public. Public confidence can only be secured and retained by opening your minds and records to the people. You must be willing to tell not only what you know, but you must invite the public to examine your works and let them judge from your own motives and actions. Let us all co-operate in this great humane measure- Accident Prevention. I now take great pleasure in introducing Mr. J. J. Mullin, who will speak on the Safety First movement in Nevada. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN THE SAFETY FIRST MOVEMENT IN NEVADA BY JOHN J. MULLIN, Secretary Nevada Industrial Commission The Safety First movement in Nevada as an organized, concerted, state-wide movement, is to-day but a subject for dis- cussion and consideration. It is a movement of and for the future, and its destinies are in the keeping of you gentlemen here assembled. Your decision, your verdict, concerns the lives and happiness of many of our people in the years to follow. The importance and value of Safety First has been practic- ally demonstrated in our State by individual efforts. Of the pioneer work of the Southern Pacific Company, the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company, and others, you will be informed by gentlemen far more competent than I, who will follow. Mr. Abbott will tell you of the work on the Oregon Short Line, Mr. Ingram will speak of Safety First on the Southern Pacific, and Mr. Lindsay Duncan will tell of the splendid work of the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company in accident prevention. Permit me to preface a discussion of the subject assigned to me by this statement that for this paper no orginality is claimed, nor should original thought be credited to it. The ideas herein expressed are the result of the labors and experi- ence of the high-minded, noble-hearted, red-blooded pioneers, who have blazed the trail through the wilderness of industrial bloodshed, with its toll of suffering, distress, sorrow and desti- tution, to the life-saving haven on the heights of Safety First. Inasmuch as this gathering is an industrial conference, what- ever is said in this paper will refer only to industrial safety, as distinguished from public safety, and only to that part of indus- trial safety that has to do with accident prevention. Sanita- tion and hygiene will not be discussed at this time. Safety First is a movement to conserve human life by re- ducing the number of industrial accidents ; a movement dealing with dangers that are real, and needs that are vital ; a movement aiming to secure the active, individual co-operation of every em- ployee with the employer in the prevention of accidents ; a move- ment which realizes and seeks to awaken all to the realization that the safety and protection of human life is of far greater importance and value than the conservation of mere inanimate things. Perhaps a few facts will illuminate and emphasize the importance and necessity of this movement. Statistics are at the best dry reading. Statistics dealing with death and suffering are gruesome, but if we are to deal with our subject intelligently, however distressing these statis- tics may be, they must be considered. 6 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA The President of the National Association of Manufactur- ers states the loss of life in the United States by industrial acci- dents to be 40,000, and the injuries to be one million yearly. The population of our State of Nevada is estimated to be 85,000. In other words, the yearly loss of life by industrial accidents in the United States is equivalent to almost one-half of the population of this State. Considering the importance of the mining industry in Ne- vada, a study of the report of the Bureau of Mines for the year 1912 is interesting. The Metal Mine Accident Report of the Bureau of Mines for the year 1912 shows the following fatalities : Number Total No. per 1,000 Employed Number Killed of Employed Metal Mines 169,199 661 3.91 Coal Mines 722,622 2,360 3.27 Quarries 113,105 213 1.88 Total 1912 1,004,926 3,234 3.22 Total 1911 1,005,281 3,602 3.58 During the year 1912, thirty-four men were killed in the metal mines of Nevada. The average number of fatalities per one thousand in mining in this State (coal mining not included) , based on an average of 300 working days per year, was 4.58. The fatalities in Nevada for 1912 were as follows: Copper mines 18 Gold, silver and miscellaneous 16 Total : 34 These thirty-four are subdivided as follows: Underground 14 Shaft 2 Surface 18 Nevada shows a decrease of 16 in the year 1912, as com- pared with the year 1911, fifty men having been killed in the year 1911. The Nevada Industrial Insurance Act became effective July 1, 1913. The first six months' experience of the Nevada Indus- trial Commission, ending December 31, 1913, is as follows: Accidents reported 698 Accidents incapacitating injured persons less than two weeks 391 Accidents incapacitating injured persons more than two weeks 223 Fatalities 18 Accidents reported, but files incomplete 66 Total 698 INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 7 In addition to the fatal cases shown, there is one case of permanent, complete disability; and one case of permanent dis- ability, the extent of which is not as yet determined. An examination of the eighteen fatalities reported shows as follows: Preventable 12 Not preventable 3 Questionable 3 Total 18 Such are the conditions that face us. The question natur- ally follows Can these conditions be improved and, if so, by what means? In answer to this question, I quote from Accident Preven- tion and Relief, by Messrs. Schwedtman and Emery: "That from a humane viewpoint accident prevention is not only desirable but absolutely necessary requires no argument; that it pays as a business proposition can be demonstrated from German statistics * * * * *. "Recognizing that it is of prime importance to prevent in- jury, since compensation will never replace a father who has been killed or make up for lost limbs, State officials and officers of employers' associations have concentrated their combined energies upon prevention, and wonderful has been the result. Scientific accident prevention is now recognized as a special and important branch of technical engineering * * * *. "All of which points to this conclusion: Accident preven- tion is not only possible, it is absolutely necessary, but it is a slow process. Whosoever approaches it with the belief that the problem can be solved in the United States in a few years, or without systematic, intelligent, national movement which must have the co-operation of all interested forces and espec- ially the full backing of progressive legislators and employers- is over-confident to say the least." Doctor William H. Tolman, Director of the American Museum of Safety, speaking of the safety movement in America says: "When the safety idea was first brought to this country by the present Director of the Museum, it met with a discouraging lack of response and enthusiasm on the part of American em- ployers. It was felt that this attitude was due solely to a want of information on the subject of safety, especially its economic aspects * * * *." I think I can understand Doctor Tolman's reference to a "discouraging lack of response" by an experience of a few days ago. I asked a gentleman to attend the Conference, explaining the purpose of the Safety First movement. He listened cour- teously, even patiently. After I had finished my plea, he said : "Possibly your plan is theoretically sound, but it is too fine, too altruistic, too goody-goody for the hurly-burly of the struggle 8 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA of business to-day. You advocate ideal conditions the ulti- mate. We may some time reach such conditions, but not in your time or mine, it can't be done." My reply was, "My dear sir, it has been done, it is being done and it will contiue to be done. We may be apathetic our- selves, but others will go forward while we hesitate. As one writer says, 'Things are moving so fast now-a-days that people who say "It cannot be done" are interrupted by some one doing it'. " It gives me sincere pleasure to add that the gentleman referred to is present at this Conference. Regarding co-operation and the mutuality of the relations of employer and employee, I quote from an address delivered by Honorable George B. Cortelyou: "The inevitable tendency of the future is toward closer and closer relations between the corporate employer and em- ployee, wherein the principle of their community of interest will be recognized and brought to its full development. If these re- lations continue on right lines, there will be none of the bitter feeling that is engendered by a patronizing superiority on the one hand and of sullen aloofness on the other ; but there will be a mutual recognition of the fact that the welfare of each is bound up, for good or ill, with that of the other. The employer will perceive that the highest efficiency of the employee is attain- ed only when he is amply remunerated for his labor, when the conditions under which the labor is performed are safe, sani- tary and wholesome, and when the mind of the employee is freed as far as possible from apprehension as to what will happen to his family in case of his death. The employee will perceive that it is his duty to give his employer the best service of which he is capable and to promote his interests loyally and faithfully as long as the employment lasts. When this relationship has been fully established, when there is this frank and sympathetic un- derstanding between employer and employee, then we shall have not only a greatly improved social order, but we shall have what is becoming more and more a necessity under the stress of modern business competition a greatly increased efficiency of labor. This very competition is making for such a result; and there can devolve upon us no more important duty than to hasten the coming of the day when such relations shall obtain." Mr. C. W. Price, Assistant to the Wisconsin Industrial Commission, speaks in regard to the necessity of co-operation as follows : " Every man who works in a factory, in the midst of dan- gers, will be interested in the following facts: 1. Some one hundred factories in the United States have reduced the number of men who have been seriously injured and killed, over one-half (in some plants two-thirds) during the past ten years. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 9 2. The experience of these plants has demonstrated the fact that only one-third of the reductions which were made were accomplished by the use of safeguards, while two-thirds of the reductions were made possible by the co-operation of the workmen. 3. This statement is borne out by the experience of 5,000 plants in Wisconsin, in which 7,900 were injured by accident during thirteen months, and lost over seven days of time. The reports of these accidents sent to the Industrial Commission show that 2,500 of these accidents were caused by machines and machine parts. Many of these accidents could have been pre- vened by safeguards. But 5,400 accidents happened in ways where it was largely impossible to use guards, but where the carefulness of the men alone could have saved them. " These are cold, stubborn facts, and every man should face them and realize that a large percentage of the accidents are beyond the boss to prevent beyond the power of money to cover it's up to the man." Safety First is not only a humane movement, but a busi- ness proposition and a question of efficiency. It is Good Busi- ness. I do not mean by this a mere lower cost of compensation insurance, but Good Business in that it means the saving of the lives of men our greatest asset as a Nation. If saving of equipment and economy in the use of material is Good Business, does not common sense tell us that waste of life and mutilation of human beings cannot be Good Business? Are not men the most important equipment? Upon the subject of the waste of life and and the appalling consequences, Doctor Edward A. Steiner speaks in no uncertain terms : "If we keep on transgressing against the toiler, his wife and children, we shall have the harvest which other nations have already garnered, a harvest of decay and death. "A nation recovers from the effects of war when there are decades of peace and yet the scars remain ; but when that war is ceaseless, when we kill and hunt and maim ceaselessly, we may never recover. National immortality depends upon how we deal with the present generation. National wealth never in- creases with ever-increasing draft upon national health. "We are as responsible for the next generation of toilers as we are for our children and grandchildren, for their weal and woe depends upon the weal of the nation. Labor then pro- duces wealth how much of it is produced by the hand-worker, how much by the brainworker, how much by capital, is still an economic puzzle; but with some assurance we can say that the fundamental national wealth is created by the masses of men which we designate by the word labor. We know that wealth is dependent, not only upon production, but upon capacity for consumption, and in this labor has an acknowledged supremacy by the very force of numbers and increases the national wealth 10 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA by its growth the largest portion of the population of the next generation will have sprung from the loins and womb of labor. " We know that 'the sins of the father are visited upon the children', and the sins of the children upon many generations of men; from these conditions no logic can release us. The na- tion's asset is its working strength, no more its fighting strength; the man behind the desk and the man behind the machine, and not the man behind the gun decides great nation- al issues. "The nation which leads in making her labor effective, which protects her toilers best against accident, disease and pov- erty, the nation which thinks of her men first before she thinks of her guns, has already won the battle, no matter whom the fortunes of war favor. "The noblest patriot to-day is he who works best for the commonwealth and our common wealth is our common toil. "No more impoverishing things may happen to a nation than the alienation of the handworkers from the brainworkers, and of both from the love of one another and of their country." The prevention of accidents and injuries by all possible means is a personal duty, which everyone owes not to himself alone but to his fellow workmen. A decision by Lord Abinger of England in 1837 in the case of Priestly vs. Fowler, is considered the genesis of the Fellow Servant rule of law and doctrine. Of this doctrine a discussion is unnecessary. Sufficient to say that in practically every state having a Compensation or Industrial Insurance Act, the Fellow Servant rule of law, as a defense, has been abrogated. It was the cause of much bitterness, much hardship, and gladly did most right-minded men see it suffer a legal death. Gladly too do right-minded men welcome the reincarnation of the Fellow Servant rule in Safety First. As no man can live unto himself and no organization unto itself, so does Safety First under the Fellow Servant rule say to the careless, indifferent man, "Where is thy brother? Thou art thy brother's keeper, and the voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the earth." In Wisconsin, there is a gentleman named Mr. W. A. Fricke, who thinks clearly and writes entertainingly on the subject of Industrial Insurance and Accident Prevention. He has written "An Appeal to the Workers", to which I feel we can with profit to ourselves give earnest consideration. I quote from said article: "The help, the effort and the co-operation of the worker, individually and collectively, is an essential requirement for a proper and satisfactory solution. The individual worker, who will not lend his aid and co-operation, is as great a detriment to the solution of the problem as the indifferent employer, who seeks compensation insurance to 'wash his hands' from per- sonal responsibility to his men and endeavors thereby to unload his liabilities upon others. The indifferent, the careless, and INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 11 the reckless employee is not only a menace to his fellow work- ers, but he is a danger and a stumbling block in the enlargement and broadening of the Compensation Act, and for these reasons should be eliminated by his fellow workers with the same zeal that so generally actuates their efforts for a betterment of working conditions. "Workingmen individually and collectively must appre- ciate and understand that they constitute a very important factor in the proper solution of the*se questions. They cannot stand idly by and imagine themselves the sole beneficiaries of the Compensation Law they are not. Society as a whole is interested; the children still unborn have claims for considera- tion, and in the responsibility for a proper solution and settling these questions right, there can be no evasion or shirking on the part of anyone, least of all the workingman. "No greater mistake can be made than to imagine that the insurance company pays the compensation and carries the real burdens. Insurance Company' is merely a name for a collect- ing and distributing agency of premiums. The employer may turn over the premium for his policy of insurance, but that pre- mium is determined by the number of accidents experienced and the scale of compensation to be paid. So far as the Insurance Company is concerned, it is a cold, hard example in arithmetic. It can pay for a large number of accidents and a large amount and a long period of time just as readily as for a smaller number of accidents with smaller amounts of compensation for a short period, for the very simple reason that it must collect from those who are insured the full amount it costs. In the first instance, of course, it is the employer who insures who pays the premium, but whether this premium is larger or smaller will make little difference to the employer when once the compensation principle has become a fixed factor in industry and business. Every em- ployer will pass on the compensation premium as a fixed charge on the cost of production, and in the last analysis it will be the consumer who will pay the insurance premium just as he now, always has, and always will pay for everything and every fac- tor wages included that makes up the cost of the article pro- duced; and here again the worker becomes specially interested. Workingmen and their families make up the largest number of the consumers in this country, and as a consequence the cost of compensation will in a larger measure be passed on to them in the purchase price of everything they eat, wear, and need. Then too, if the cost of compensation becomes too large, the possibility of broadening and enlarging the scope of the com- pensation law and providing more adequate compensation be- comes less. "Then the effect of competition is another consideration. If the manufacturer is in competition with another manufac- turer of the same product in this or another State, the cost of compensation insurance may become a serious factor in the 12 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA cost of production. With the application of the individual merit-rating system for determining the premium to be paid, whereunder the character of the plant, safeguarding, and the co- operation of the workmen make for an appreciable reduction in the premium rate, one manufacturer may be able to produce his product at a materially lower cost because of this fact alone. If cost of material and production have everywhere been held down to the lowest figure possible to maintain the high stand- ard of the product there remains only the wages paid to be re- duced, or the inauguration of such an efficiency in accident re- duction and prevention, to reduce the cost of compensation (insurance to enable competition) on an equal basis. "What then is the remedy and why this appeal to the Worker? There is just one way to reduce the cost of compen- sation insurance and enable the broadening of the law for adequate compensation, and that is by a reduction in the num- ber of industrial accidents. "In this the Worker is the greatest and most valuable fac- tor. If his interest and co-operation can be secured for Safety First, the battle for adequate compensation at a reasonable cost to the consumer is won." The purpose of this paper is to introduce in a general way, rather than discuss in detail, the subject which has. brought us together. You will have the opportunity of hearing ways, means, and methods discussed by gentlemen of ability and experience in both of which qualities I am woefully deficient. Inasmuch as to-day is the inauguration of Safety First as a State-wide movement in Nevada, it seems fitting and proper to conclude this paper with "A Summons Forward", which is taken from our President's Inaugural address of March 4, 1913, it being particularly appropriate for this day and Conference. "Our life contains every great thing, and contains it in rich abundance. "But the evil has come with the good, and much fine gold has been corroded. With riches has come inexcusable waste. We have squandered a great part of what we might have used, and have not stopped to conserve the exceeding bounty of nature, without which our genius for enterprise would have been worthless and impotent, scorning to be careful, shamefully prodigal as well as admirably efficient. "We have been proud of our industrial achievements, but we have hitherto not stopped thoughtfully enough to count the human cost, the cost of lives snuffed out, of energies over-taxed and broken, the fearful. physical and spiritual cost to the men and women and children upon whom the dead weight and burden of it all has fallen pitilessly the years through. The groans and the agony of it all had not yet reached our ears, the solemn mov- ing undertone of our life, coming up out of the mines and fac- tories and out of every home where the struggle had its intimate and familiar seat. With the great government went many deep INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 13 secret things which we too long delayed to look into and scrutin- ize with candid, fearless eyes. The great Government we loved has too often been made use of for private and selfish pur- poses,, and those who used it had forgotten the people H * * . "We know our task to be no mere task of politics but a task which shall search through and through, whether we be able to understand our time and the need of our people, whether we be indeed their spokesmen and interpreters, whether we have the pure heart to comprehend and the rectified will to choose our high course of action. 'This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of dedication. Here muster, not the forces of party, but the FORCES OF HU- MANITY; men's hearts wait upon us; men's lives hang in the balance ; men's hopes call upon us to say what we will do. Who shall live up to the great trust? Who dares fail to try?" MR. WALLACE: I now call upon Mr. L. E. Abbott, a veteran in the railroad service, to speak to you on the subject of "Safety First on the Oregon Short Line". SAFETY FIRST ON THE OREGON SHORT LINE BY L. E. ABBOTT, Safety Commissioner, o. S. L. R. R. Mr. Chairman and Fellow Students and Delegates: It affords me great pleasure to respond to the subject assigned to me in this Industrial Conference planned and brought forth by the faculty of a university. The Safety First organization was inaugurated on the Oregon Short Line Railroad July 1, 1912, for the purpose of eliminating the avoidable accidents and injuries to men in the service. First the organization was made up of a Central Committee consisting of the general officers of the Oregon Short Line Rail- road Company, three division committees, each consisting of the superintendent of the division as chairman, and other officers and employees of different departments. Under this plan the work proceeded for eleven months, and then the man- agement decided that the organization was not full enough to carry on the work as thoroughly and as comprehensively as desired. It became apparent to our Central Committee that the success of the Safety First movement in decreasing the avoid- able accidents depended to a very large extent on the co-opera- tion of the employees and that a larger number of employees should actively engage in the committee work. So, on the 1st 14 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA of June, 1913, the positon of Safety Commissioner was created, and immediately thereafter the organization was enlarged by establishing sub-committees all along the line ; one at each shop, one at each division, besides terminal and freight committees. The members serve on each committee for three months, and the idea is to eventually have all the employees serve as commit- teemen. Since the fuller organization, the work has been followed up more vigorously. Literature pertaining to this great safety movement has been distributed freely among the men. Public meetings have been held in which the gospel of Safety First has been expounded and the attitude of the railroad company ex- plained. A great many private meetings, or meetings where the employees alone have attended, have been held for the pur- pose of removing all doubts in their minds as to the true and humane purpose of this movement and also to secure their co- operation. Every employee on the Oregon Short Line Railroad has been solicited to hand in to the sub-committees or the divis- ion committees suggestions calling attention to dangerous con- ditions or dangerous methods. These suggestions are discussed freely among the men themselves at committee meetings, and when they conclude that the suggestion does point out a dan- gerous condition or method it is referred by them to the officer in charge of the division where the thing or method is com- plained of, with request that action be taken immediately to apply the needed remedy. And I want to say that it is gratify- ing to read the number of suggestions that have been offered by the men, and to know the spirit with which these suggestions have been accepted by the officers of the company and acted upon. Already it has resulted in many changes in the shops, such as covering gears, countersinking set screws, guarding saws, procuring lights for dark places, and in fact one class of machine called the "Square Headed Variety Planer", has been dismantled and put out of use. A number of valuable sugges- tions have been offered and adopted for the changing of certain equipment and the installation of appliances on engines and cars; the position of hand rails and grab irons have been changed and so on down the line from superintendents, assist- ant superintendents, trainmen and section men, suggestions have been offered and complied with to better the physical conditions on our road. The following is the report of accidents on our road during the six months the present organization has been in effect: July 240. August 225. September 193. October 168. November 145. December 134, INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 15 This shows that in the last six months we have made a reduction of nearly fifty per cent, in the accidents. I call your attention to this pertinent fact too, that this reduction was made in accidents while the number of employees and the work was increasing, and if this computation had been made on the man- hour basis it would have been much greater than the figures show. To show the attitude of the management of my road on this worthy work, I quote from some of the literature which has been issued and placed in the hands of the men. In an address de- livered by Mr. E. M. Bagley to the railroad employees at the Y. M. C. A., Pocatello, Idaho, October 12, 1913, he said: "The management is determined that this Safety campaign shall not fail. It is to be given precedence over all other mat- ters; in fact it is the one thing that is to have its right of way over even first-class trains". Mr. W. H. Bancroft, our Vice- President and General Manager, in a publication, stated: "To the Officers and Employees: One of the greatest ac- complishments that modern industries can attain is the elimina- tain of preventable accidents. This can be accomplished only by the strenuous efforts of every employee. Eighty-five per cent, of our accidents are caused by carelessness or inattention of the men themselves. Figured on this basis, intelligent cau- tion constantly exercised last year would have prevented 1,362 accidents and saved 24 human lives. Hence our greatest efforts should be directed to bring home to all of the employees a reali- zation of this fact, that their assistance and co-operation in se- curing greater efficiency in the service is indispensable. "We want to take every employee and workman in as a partner, arouse his interest and get him to aid in the prevention of all unnecessary accidents and injuries. Until this end is reached our efforts in Safety First must take a place second to none other. "The industrial Golden Rule, 'It is better to cause a delay than to cause an accident/ is ours and I insist that it must be adhered to." The management has not lost sight of the fact that by merely reporting and correcting conditions in machinery all the avoidable accidents will not be eliminated. Our records show that the biggest element in the cause of accidents and injuries is man himself. Our Safety First work has been directed with this fact ever in view, and we have herefore been working for the cor- rection of the defective conditions in this human machine. We have kept uppermost in our mind what some of our great men are pleased to call the broader spirit, which can be known only by observation of the manner in which the employer, the em- ployee, and the public go at the solution of this great problem. Reciprocity, mutuality and co-operation are combined in this spirit, and the greatest of these is co-operation ; and the result will be, when supported by all our universities and institutions 16 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA so equipped to mould public opinion, peace, precision and pros- perity will prevail in our industries and hope and happiness in our homes. I cannot refrain here from offering my congratulations to the University of Nevada for being the first great institution of learning in our inter-mountain country, and I believe within our whole country, to catch the real spirit behind this move- ment and commence actively to promulgate it, as this meeting will surely do. My gratitude to the men who have discerned the spirit of this great movement and brought forth this gather- ing to disseminate it is unbounded. MR. WALLACE: The next speaker is a representative of the railway brother- hoods; I present Mr. Frank Ingram. SAFETY FIRST IN PRACTICE BY FRANK INGRAM, Secretary Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : The organizations of railroad employees are pleased to be represented here to-day, for the subject of Industrial Safety or "Safety First", as commonly termed, is of vital importance to them, in that every hazard which this Conference may be able to remove from their employments, will reflect in their longer and happier sojourn on this earth. If the mining industry and that of railroading could be stud- ied from the viewpoint of eliminating all or a lot of the hazards which could be eliminated if the item of cost did not have to be considered, then, ladies and gentlemen, those occupations would be so safe that the actuary of the old-line insurance company (and you will probably concede that he should be a good barom- eter of insurance risks) would be falling over themselves in getting the miners' and the railroadmen's premiums at a fair rate. We believe that one of these hazards has been relieved, by the last Legislature, through the passage in this State of the Headlight Law. We know from experience, that in our State, with its cloudbursts, slides, and washouts, that a better illumina- tion of the roadbed of our railroads through the use of better headlights is imperative if the railroad men are not to be sub- jected to hazards which modern electrical engineers have over- come by the perfecting of the modern headlight. A short time ago enginemen expected to take their locomotives out of the INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 17 roundhouse, and have to go round in front with a torch to see whether the headlight was burning or not ; but, Gentlemen, those days have departed in company with the pin and link days and if they never come back it will be soon enough for the railroad man of to-day, for they each in turn have helped to lengthen the terrible toll which the railroad man has paid, that the wheels of progress may ever turn with the least amount of friction. The railroad men have been very backward in requesting legislation, but they certainly favor the law as passed at the last session of the Nevada Legislature, and wait with rosy expecta- tions the equipping of every locomotive in our State with a good headlight, such as is now in use in passenger service on the Southern Pacific and on all locomotives on the Western Pacific. I am not an electrical engineer nor am I familiar with any method of measuring the electricity of those headlights, but I can say that if the question of inability to supply the amount mentioned in the law is brought forward as a ground for not putting headlights of any better illuminating value than those at present in use on freights, the object of this legislation has been defeated, and it will seem to railroad men unwarrantedly so, because similar laws, that is of fifteen hundred candle power, have been passed in the following states : Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Florida, Indiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Washington, Colorado, and North Dakota, and this headlight now in use on the Western Pacific and the passenger service of the Southern Pacific has met the requirements of those laws. In striking proof of the need of better headlights in this State it will be necessary to cite but three instances which have come to my attention during the last year, in two of which the headlights were inadequate, while in the third the headlight was of sufficient brilliancy to prevent a serious accident. The first example was a washout near Gillis, last summer, in which 24's engine turned over, scalding the engineer to such extent that he has been unable to resume his duties since, and may never be able to again fill the position which has taken years of hard work to acquire. This train was probably making 25 miles per hour, and engine was equipped with a regular gas headlight, whose brilliancy was probably normal. This wash- out was of about three rail-lengths, and this train was not stop- ped before engine and tender turned over. It is reputed in rail- road circles that the first thing this engineer said when he got his bearings was that if he had had a headlight as provided in the present law he would have been able to avoid this accident. This is one of the cases where a good headlight was all that was needed to avoid a very serious hazard of accident, which might have resulted in casualties. The second example was the result of a misunderstanding of orders describing certain conditions of track that was being 18 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA turned over for operation at Rye Patch, in which a freight en- gine and train hit a string of cars at the end of the double track, or what was being used as an auxiliary main line. Had this engine been equipped with a headlight as provided in the pres- ent law, much damage of equipment would have been avoided, and one fireman would not have had to suffer physical anguish through being scalded. The third example was a case where rocks and sand had been washed over the track for a hundred yards to the depth of three feet. An engineer on one of our fast passenger runs, making his fifty miles per hour, swings round a curve and sees an unusual condition of the track. He applies the emergency brakes and stops his engine with the pilot in the mud. Here the headlight certainly saved a very serious accident to a train which was making the maximum speed permitted, while in the first case a very much slower train was not stopped until serious damage had been done. Numerous other cases could be cited in which the headlight has played an important part. From the viewpoint of a member of the train-service bro- therhoods, this Safety First movement dates to the time long years ago, when those organizations with wonderful persistence, presented their campaign of education to the public and to the National and State legislators, and insisted that the safety of the employees of common carriers and the public should be considered first. It was not a great while ago that the pin and link were in vogue, and t'was with considerable reluctance that some rail- roads adopted the automatic coupler, and in some instances not until a Federal law made it compulsory that such a coupler be supplied, and yet to-day to suggest returning to the pin and link would hold you up to the ridicule of all the railroad man- agements. From the old armstrong hand brake to the present E. T. Equipment has been a long jump, and was the result of the best brains on air brake construction. And yet the inventor of the airbrake had very rough sledding, and his proposition that compressed air should actuate the brake equipment in place of the old-time brakeman met with small encouragement. To-day Federal legislation has made possible rulings from the Inspection Bureau of the Interstate Commerce Commission, to the effect that all trains must have at least 85 per cent, of the airbrakes in working order controlled from the engine, and a corps of inspectors insure the active co-operation of the car- riers in maintaining this standard. The need of standard construction, where cars are to be handled in interstate commerce, led to the adoption of safety appliance acts and standards which have been increased and broadened in their scope, all coming under the Inspection Bu- reau of the Interstate Commerce Commission. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 19 Owing to the loss sustained, the train service employees instructed their National legislative representatives to present to Congress a suitable bill covering the inspection of locomotive boilers and their appurtenances; and as a result of such repre- sentation showing the need of such a law, on February 17, 1911, after five years of hard-fought legislative battles, we received the splendid boiler inspection law now in force. Extensions of this law to cover other parts of locomotives will probably be asked for in the future, for experience has shown that where Federal inspection is obtained, better equipment results. And yet in fairness to the railroads let it be said that they have not stopped at what might have fulfilled the law but have inaugu- rated splendid improvements on their own initiative. The placing of these safety appliance laws under the Inspection Bureau of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and the thorough investigation of all acidents has probably resulted in the splendid record which is being attained by our railroads of to-day, considering the enormous tonnage hauled. And yet, Ladies and Gentlemen, the train-service brotherhoods are not through with their program of betterment in safety laws, and as our future welfare suggests the need of more safeguards through legislation, these organziations will present requests and figures why these needs should be considered. At the present tme we need legislation prescribing standard clearance of all obstructions both above and to the sides of each track in operation. During the years 1910, 1911 and 1912, 4741 employees were either killed or injured by being hit by these obstructions, and unless these are removed but little im- provement can be made here. It will probably cost money, and lots of it to remove some of these death traps, but until they are removed this terrible number of railroad men will get their register checks from Saint Peter every year. When 231 Ameri- can marines were killed by the destruction of the ill-fated Maine in Havana Bay, the United States declared war, the first cost of which was about $300,000,000, and which has entailed a total outlay of $1,000,000,000; it is estimated that the removal of obstructions, thus giving a clearance from the rail of over- head structures of twenty feet, and seven feet from centers to side obstructions, tracks to be 12 feet 6 inches apart from cen- ters, would cost in the neighborhood of the initial cost of the Spanish-American War, and would save industrial lives of twenty times as many as caused this war. Is the life of a marine in the service of the country of more value than the lives of these industrials, whose constructive endeavors have materially assisted in making this country worth fighting for? Another cause of fatality to railroad men, which possibly some of the members of this Engineers' Club may remedy, is due to crown sheet failures caused by low water. The report of the Chief Boiler Inspector of the Division of Locomotive Boiler Inspection to the Interstate Commerce Commission for 20 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA the year 1912 (I have not seen the figures for 1913), show that 222 were either killed or injured from boiler explosions due to low water. Of accidents on locomotives or their appurtenances which resulted in death or injury to their crews, 64 per cent, were caused through boiler explosions. Experience has shown us that the soft plug is inadequate, and this experience, Ladies and Gentlemen, has come pretty close to home, for we have two of our members laid to rest in the cemetery whom the soft plug did not pr.otect. On other occasions the soft plug has let go with a full glass of water. We believe that an appliance which will stand service tests under different conditions, especi- ally in bad water districts, and which will, first, sound an alarm, second, put out the fire, and third, register the event, would be a godsend to both the employees and the railroad com- panies, in the first place saving those 222 from death and in- jury, and in the second place saving the loss of thousands of dollars of railroad property. This is a proposition which we submit to the consideration of the Engineers' Club of this Uni- versity, and if they are able to perfect an appliance which will meet the service requirements, I feel certain that the adoption of such device will only be a matter of a short time. Owing to the long work-periods and the resultant unsafe conditions which they brought, the train-service organizations drafted an Hours-of-Service Law, which prohibits the employ- ment of any trainman for longer than sixteen hours in any twenty-four-hour period. This will probably be reduced to fourteen hours in the future. To insure further protection to the traveling public and themselves, they have in numerous states secured Full Crew Laws, which provide adequate train crews, and insures the em- ployment of men of sufficient experience to properly perform their duties. Safety First has long been in practice on railroads, as ref- erence to Rule 106 of the Standard Rules will show : It reads : "In all cases of doubt or uncertainty, the safe course must be pursued and no risks run." That was one of the rules which I learned about eleven years ago, and I presume that Johnnie Smith read something to that effect about forty-five years ago. But the valuable feature of the present movement from a railroad man's viewpoint, is that through the publicity given the mistakes of others and the studying of those mistakes, and the studying of all hazards before the accident, the accident is often prevented. And this studying of those hazards is made pos- sible through the monthly Safety meetings which have been held for a number of years on each division. One employee from each vocation meets with others and discusses any and all of the accidents of the month, and any and all hazards which they have collected during the month for discussion at this meeting. The decisions or recommendations of this safety committee are then passed up to the District Safety Committee, and if any INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 21 great amount of money is involved in making the changes, from them in turn to the management, where they are carefully scrutinized, to see that the proposed improvement or remedy justifies the expenditure. Ladies and Gentlemen, the members of the railroad organi- zations look forward with expectations to the result of this meet- ing in hopes that this Conference will suggest new methods of reducing the unnecessary accidents to a minimum. MR. WALLACE: The papers immediately following deal largely with the subject of Industrial Education, which should be the founda- tion stone of the Industrial Safety movement. I will call on Professor J. G. Scrugham, a specialist on the subject, to act as Chairman during their presentation. MR. SCRUGHAM: Under the leadership of President Stubbs, the University of Nevada has long been active in the promotion of Industrial Education. Nearly ten years ago we established an extension school for mechanics at Sparks in co-operation with the South- ern Pacific Company. This was one of the first of its kind in the West, if not in the country. Shortly thereafter the South- ern Pacific Company established a remarkable student course in general railroading which has attracted most wide-spread at- tention. I will call upon Mr. Norman Collyer, the man in direct charge of the course, to tell us of its aims and results. THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC STUDENT COURSE BY NORMAN COLLYER Chief Clerk to President, Southern Pacific Company It is fitting that at a Conference of this educational char- acter we should consider the Southern Pacific Student Course in Railroading. The course is now in its tenth year, and I shall endeavor to give a frank review of its aims, operation, and its results. In the ringing article by Mr. George M. Basford in the last Railway Age Gazette, I was struck with the following passages : "Perfection of performance is not accidental; it is the re- sult of unremitting training, first individual and then collective ******. If some years of study of the personnel of railroads has guided my thought correctly, railroads will find themslves unable properly to cope with their problems if they do not seriously and consistently inaugurate systems of train- ing." 22 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA Prior to 1900, the special apprentice had been confined al- most exclusively to one department. On the Great Northern, President Hill had tried the experiment of affording certain young men one of them his personal stenographer the oppportunity of broadening their field of vision by work in sev- eral different branches of the service. These and other similar instances were the outcome as a rule, of some personal relation- ship with the management. To my knowledge, the Southern Pacific Company was the first railroad in the United States to adopt an orderly, systematic scheme for the development of executive talent through the medium of apprenticeship. The idea was conceived and put into effect by Julius Kruttschnitt while Vice-President and General Manager of the Company at- San Francisco. It was first crystallized into syllabus form un- der the administration of Vice-President E. E. Calvin. In 1909 it was broadened and strengthened, and January 1, 1913, by direction of President Sproule, it was extended to embrace the Traffic and Accounting as well as the operating Departments. The aim of our student course is to give to young men in the employ of the company an opportunity to pass through dif- ferent departments for the purpose of gaining such co-ordinate knowledge of the entire railroad as will fit them better to assume positions of responsibility. It is, in fact, a laboratory course, wherein the student performs the actual work of the department to which he may be assigned, supplemented by a parallel course of reading in text books and railway publications and periodicals. Much thought has been given to the arrangement of the different periods, and further changes are under consideration. Briefly, the procedure is as follows: Upon appointment, the student is first placed at a station of medium size for a term of six months. This is because the station agent handles both the be- ginning and the end of transportation. The student is expected to perform such duties as are assigned to him by the agent, and the agent is expected to afford him such diversified experience as will give him an all-round knowledge of station work, includ- ing ticket office, warehouse, baggage room, yard, and the solici- tation of business. Being an extra man, the student is ndl bound down to routine, but is permitted to distribute his time in such a way as to treat each feature with equal thoroughness. Next, the student is assigned consecutively to Maintenance of Way, the office of the Superintendent of Transportation, Motive Power, Train Service, Accounting Department, and Tariff Bu- reau, spending three months in each. This completes his second year as a student, and he should now have a working knowledge of the several departments of the railroad and their mutual in- terdependence. At the student's option (subject to the approval of the management) he next elects to specialize in either Opera- tion and Maintenance, Passenger and Freight Traffic, or Ac- INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 23 counting. If he chooses Operation and Maintenance, his pro- gress is as follows Maintenance of Way 4 months Motive Power 3 months Signals 2 months Stores Department 2 months General Manager's Office 2 months Student with Trainmaster 5 months This completes 42 months' service as a student, which is the length of the course. It will be seen that the operating student has gone more deeply into maintenance, motive power, arid transportation, and has also taken up several additional fea- tures. After his graduation he is given such special experi- ence as is needed to fit him for a regular position; thereafter everything depends upon himself. The student specializing in Passenger and Freight Traffic spends his last eighteen months as follows: Passenger Report Clerk at Gateway Junction Point 3 months Passenger Ticket Office 5 months Student Solicitor in Large City.. 4 months Student District Freight and Pas- senger Agent 6 months If he specializes in Accounting, the distribution is as fol- lows: Auditor Freight Accounts... 3 months Auditor Passenger Accounts 3 months Division Accounting Bureau 6 months Auditor of Disbursements 3 months General 3 months In either case, after the final polishing off, he is put in the water and told to swim, and he must either swim or sink. One of the best means of perfecting a plan is through the honest criticism of those competent to criticize. I have set down the various criticisms of the student course; as I have heard them expressed, and after reading them to you I will try to answer them, as well as I can : 1. It is not practical. 2. It is a waste of the Company's money. 3. Student's work virtually without supervision, hence fall into idle and indifferent habits. 4. It is necessary to have "pull" in order to become a student. 5. It is too long. 6. It is impossible to learn anything about the * * * department in three months. (Insert name of de- partment in which the critic happens to be employ- ed). 24 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA 7. It is a source of discouragement to the rank and file of employees. 8. Graduates of this course have not made good, therefore the course is a failure. Criticism other than this usually takes the form of ridicule, which is unworthy of consideration in a serious discussion. 1. It is not practical. This is the objection generally expressed by those not in sympathy with the course. It is a phrase easily said, and which may be construed in a variety of ways. I understand it to mean that the course gives the student a smattering of knowl- edge which is not available for his practical every-day uses; that what is wanted is not "Jack of all trades and master of none," but a trained specialist in some particular line of work. The weakness of this theory is disclosed when the specialist is promoted to a position of greater authority in which he is called upon to supervise both the familiar and unfamiliar phases of the business. He not only lacks versatility, but almost invari- ably he gives undue prominence to the work in which he has been trained and discredits the importance of those functions with which he is not familiar. Ask any officer whether his department is appreciated and see what he says. This hits the Mechanical Department along with the rest. As Mr. Basford says: "Mechanical and operating officials have everything in common as a problem. Each knows much that the other needs to know. They are too far apart. I believe they may be brought together through training which will produce railroad men and not department men." While it is true that our "laboratory course" is not and can not to be carried to the stage of highly trained routine efficiency in every detail, nevertheless many of the students have absorbed and retained a surprising amount of detailed knowledge which they have afterwards used with disturbing success in penetrat- ing the excuses passed across the departmental boundary line. Better still, they have helped to make their own departments more valuable to other departments and hence to the organiza- tion as a whole. This is surely making a practical application of special knowledge. Singularly enough, one of the bases for the charge that the student course is not practical is the fact that the sudents are required to follow a course of reading. There seems to be an impression that the student goes about his work with a refer- ence volume always in his hand very likely written by an im- practical author. In answering I may say that our bibliography has been selected with the utmost care. I cannot conceive of any railroad man who would not be helped by reading such books as "Freight Terminals and Trains", by J. A. Droege, General Superintendent of the New Haven, or "The American Transportation Question", by Samuel 0. Dunn, Editor of the INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 25 Railway Age Gazette, or "The Letters from an Old Railroad Official to His Son", by Major Hine, until recently Vice-President and General Manager of the Arizona Eastern. Further, the course plainly states that all reading must be done outside of working hours. It seems to me that every officer and employee with whom the students come in contact has it within his power to help make the course practical. If there is a more practical way of learning how to do a thing than by doing it, I have yet to learn what it is. Remember that a student's sojourn with you is lim- ited. Cram him with information he will absorb it like a sponge! Load him with work he will "eat it up"! Give him all the responsibility you dare it strengthens mm! If you don't believe the course is practical, help to make it practical ! 2. It is waste of the Company's money. Students are paid $75 per month to begin with, increasing by five dollar increments until the student is receiving $100 a month during the final period ; hence, the total wage investment in each student approximates $3600. Formerly the students were carried on a special payroll in the general offices; now, on the theory that all of the employees under the jurisdiction of any department should appear on the payroll of that depart- ment, they are carried on the payrolls of the department to which they are assigned. This expense, however, is not charged against the department, but is transferred by the Auditor to "General Expenses". The head of the department, therefore, is not responsible for the cost of the student; nevertheless in times like these, when he is cut down to the very limit, it looks to him like a rather expensive and hazardous investment which the Company could 'forego better than it could some other things he might mention. The Company's money, however, is the property of the stockholders. If they are not satisfied with the way it is being spent, it is their privilege to complain to their Board of Directors; and it is the privilege of the Board of Di- rectors, through its Chairman, to take the matter up with the President. As the student plan has the approbation of both the President and the Chairman, I do not think we need inquire further. 3. Students work virtually without supervision, hence fall into idle and indifferent habits. The officer in charge of students is responsible for the stu- dent corps. He assigns them to the divisions or departments where they are to be employed, receives from each of them a monthly report on the work and reading done, and gives them occasional examinations on reading. Upon the completion of a period by a student a confidential report is sent in by the head of the department all of which becomes a matter of record and enables the officers in charge of students to answer questions on a student's progress with a fair degree of accuracy. This is but long-range supervision, however; immediate and active super- 26 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA vision rests with the head of the department wherein the stu- dent is employed, and here there is decidedly room for improve- ment. The first step in any form of supervision is to let men clearly understand what is required of them ; the next step is to see that they do it. That the students are following the intent of the course and getting the experience they set out to get is perhaps more creditable to the students than it is to the depart- ments. 4. It is necessary to have "pull" in order to become a student. This charge is contrary to fact. Not since the inception of this work has influence or "pull" been able to govern in the slightest degree appointment to a studentship. Since a mistake made at the beginning would be perpetuated and become a dis- credit to the Company and the student system, we are exceed- ingly cautious in our appointments. First of all, the applicant must be an employee of the Company; not only for the reason that any other policy would be an injustice to our employees, but also because we thereby get a better line on the applicant. To be mature enough to understand and appreciate his opportuni- ties, he must be over 21 ; and to be young enough to have retain- ed his enthusiasm and freshness of mind, he must be under 30. He must be unmarried, and remain so as a student, because we place our school on as high a plane as those of Annapolis and West Point, where the same rule prevails. The many necessary expenses of the course, the numerous changes from point to point, and the absorbing character of the work, unite to make a man of family inadvisable. We prefer college graduates, if we can get the right sort; but we do not close the door on the self-educated man of signal merit. We demand rugged health, and the importance of a stalwart physique is not overlooked. Further, the applicant must be alert mentally, cool headed and a good mixer. In fact, we set so high a standard that the diffi- culty is in finding men who can measure up to it. Qualities of leadership are rare and not always to be readily detected ; hence, the necessity for exhaustive investigation. After we have ex- amined and probed and sounded to the fullest extent, no appli- cant is accepted without the personal approval of the President or one of the Vice-Presidents. 5. It is too long. It has been claimed, with some merit, that the course re- moves a young man from active responsibilities for too long a time at the formative period of his life. In answer, I can only say that I do not see how it can be cut down and still cover the ground. It is now practically the equivalent of a full college course, omitting the vacations, or from a post-graduate stand- point the equivalent of a course, say in medicine. 6. It is impossible to learn anything about the department in three months. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 27 The students are admonished that they must touch the "high spots", because their time everywhere is limited. The critics who make the above assertion are generally those who neglect to distribute the students' time according to the thought- fully preconceived plan, but would allow 7 them to consume the first thirty days in addressing envelopes, taking seal records or doing some similar work that any bright boy of sixteen could learn in forty-eight hours. It frequently happens that although the student is not paid by his department, he is diverted to the department's uses for an indefinite period on account of short- age of force. This is not only as much a misuse of the Com- pany's money as building a siding and charging it to GMO for a new depot, but it is moreover unfair treatment of the students, all of whom merit, and many of whom have commanded, con- siderably higher salaries than they are receiving. For their services they are justly entitled to a fair return in the way of experience. The collapse of the medieval system of apprentice- ship was caused by the apprentice being required to spend much of his time performing the household drudgery of his master, which advanced him little or not at all in the " Arts and Myster- ies" of his craft. I believe that students, if given the chance, are capable in three months of learning quite a little about any department of this Company. 7. It is a source of discouragement to the rank and file of employees. There is a prevalent impression that having adopted the student plan, the Company proposes to promote none but stu- dents. Let us examine into the facts of the case. During the past five years this Company has appointed eleven assistant trainmasters, of which three have been graduates of the student course. It has appointed twenty-nine trainmasters, of which six have been graduates ; and the office of assistant superintend- ent has been filled twenty-eight times, three times with student graduates. The Portland and Salt Lake divisions are excluded prior to their coming under the San Francisco jurisdiction. Lumping together these three positions, student graduates have been appointed twelve out of sixty-eight times, a ratio of eigh- teen percent. I see no reason for believing that this ratio will be greatly modified in the future. Students have likewise been appointed to other positions; but since the course until recently embraced only the Operating Department, its effects in that department have been most conspicuous. For the ambitious young man who is eligible for appoint- ment the course offers a possible avenue for promotion. On the other hand, the competent employee who is not eligible to a studentship need not despair, because promotions to official positions are being and will be made from the rank and file. And the officer of equal grade with the student graduate need not fear him, because if he is the better man, he, and not the stu- dent, will accrue further advancement. I wish to make it plain 28 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA that a student graduate is not advanced nor held back from the mere fact of his having been a student. If he has made of his training a tool of special skill and learned to apply it in a practical way, he will win promotion unless there is one in line better equipped than he is. If he deserves dismissal he will get it as quickly as any other employee. It is the man to-day that counts, and not what he may or may not have been. 8. Graduates of the course have not made good, therefore the course is a failure. In the syllabus of the course appears the following: "It should be understood that the appointment to a student- ship does not carry with it a promise or an obligation on the part of the Company that the appointee will receive an official position upon the completion of the course. A student who has been graduated from the student class will be given preference in the filling of a vacancy, provided he is temperamentally fitted to meet the peculiar conditions of the position." Not all of the students have been permitted to finish the course. In the case of those who have graduated to date, it has been deemed good business to give them their chance. The fact that with one exception they are holding down their jobs, and that some of them have been advanced to other and more impor- tant jobs, proves, it seems to me, that they are making good. Nicholas Murray Butler said: "What science and practical life alike need is not narrow men, but broad men sharpened to a point." Before he can have developed his highest efficiency, the student graduate must undergo the sharpening process. It is inevitable that immediately upon his graduation he cannot measure up to the standard of efficiency of a trained specialist of twenty-five years' experience in his particular line. Like every man breaking into a bigger job, he must be allowed a rea- sonable time in which to learn to use the authority with which he is vested. It is our belief that the graduate of ten years will be a better, broader and more competent officer for having been a student, if he has the right stuff in him ; and if he has not the right stuff, he will not last that long. To the thoughtful young man contemplating railroading as a life work the student course affords an opportunity not to be overlooked. From a material standpoint, the figures are inter- esting. There are nine graduates of the students course in the employ of the Southern Pacific Company. They nave been in service an average term of eight years and three months, and their average monthly wage is $193.33. These figures compare favorably not only with the average wages of other employes of like length of service, but even with the income of college gradu- ates in other lines of industry, although railroads are notable for paying low salaries. The opportunities in the railroad business are limitless; and while advancement cannot come to all, it means a great deal to a young man to be in line. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 29 So when you run across a student, do not call him a fool. You may entertain that opinion, but calling him one will not help to educate him. Scratch him, and you will find a young man very much in earnest, who is performing a difficult task in a con- structive way; who is making great sacrifices for the sake of gaining experience, and who is frequently being retarded in- stead of helped to that end ; who is entitled to your respect not only because of his employment but for himself. In the language of "Tommy Atkins" : "We arn't no thin red 'eroes, no we aren't no black- guards, too, "But single men in barracks, most remarkable like you." There is nothing spectacular about the Southern Pacific Student Course. We do not claim to make superintendents and general managers over night. We are just trying to make all 'round railroad men in a new way. MR. SCRUGHAM : We thank Mr. Collyer for his able and interesting exposi- tion of the aims, operation and results of the Southern Pacific method of educating students to become efficient railroaders. I will now call upon Mr. Thomas G. Gray, Supervisor of Appren- tices at the Sacramento Shops, to describe the methods used in the education of shop apprentices. THE APPRENTICE SCHOOL SYSTEM OF THE SOUTH- ERN PACIFIC COMPANY. BY THOMAS G. GRAY It is now almost nine years since Mr. George M. Basford, in addressing the Convention of American Railway Master Mechanics, pointed out so forcibly the inadequate and unsys- tematic methods of recruiting and training men for railroad service and for the Mechanical Department in particular. At that time Mr. Basford presented a plan for the training of ap- prentices, which combined a thorough shop training under the supervision of instructors, with an Apprentice School training meeting the particular needs of the various trades, and conduct- ed within the shops during working hours. The general plan outlined by Mr. Basford was immediately put into effect in the mechanical department of the New York Central Lines and a little later the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe, the Union Pacific and the Canadian Pacific started systems of Apprentice Instruction along the same general lines. During the last decade, with the westward march of pro- gress and settlement, we have seen a very great increase in the 30 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA volume of traffic handled by the Western Roads. This increase of traffic, bringing with it new problems of maintenance and operation, has of necessity been accompanied by an era of inter- nal adjustment on the physical and mechanical sides perfec- tion of machinery, cutting down of grades, strengthening of bridges, increasing of train units. As a part of this era of internal adjustment there has come to the Motive Power De- partment a demand for a higher degree of efficiency in shop work which implies a higher degree of efficiency of training and intelligence for the average mechanic. The era of internal adjustment will extend into the next de- cade but there must go with it an era of sociological adjustment. The human part of the machine is quite as vital as the steel and wooden parts in producing efficiency and so increasing the income. The problem of raising the standard of training and intelli- gence in the future mechanics, which the Eastern roads of our country were required to face and solve nine years ago, has now become our problem here in the West. The management of the Southern Pacific Company, recog- nizing in systematic education a valuable means for training its men and fitting them for their most efficient spheres of useful- ness, by a selective process, established Apprentice Schools at all its principal Shops, on January first, 1913. These schools were started at Los Angeles, Sparks, San Francisco and Sacra- mento. An Apprentice School had been established some ten years previous to this time at the Sparks Shops. The establishment of these schools was the first step in a plan which will without doubt have as its complementary step, the estab- lishment of a more systematic shop training and supervision. Applicants for Apprenticeship are not employed under the age of 16 years or over 21 years. Before being employed each applicant must pass two examinations a physical examination by the company's physician and an oral and written examina- tion by the Apprentice Instructor. The purpose of the exam- ination by the Apprentice Instructor is to determine as nearly as possible what the boy's education has been, what his fitness is for taking up the work of the Apprentice School and by ques- tioning to find out how well he is likely to be adapted to the trade he has chosen to enter. The first year of the Apprenticeship is a preparatory term. The shop and school records of all Apprentices are carefully kept and filed in the Apprentice School room. If it is found during the preparatory year that a boy does not possess the proper qualifications to become a good mechanic, he is not per- mitted to advance, in which case he and his parents, or guardians are informed and the cause stated. The course of instruction in the Apprentice Schools is con- fined very largely to the two subjects so essential to the mental equipment of the mechanic, viz., drawing and arithmetic. In INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 31 both of these subjects the work of instruction is adapted to suit the needs of the various trades. The course in Arithmetic starts at the very beginning of this subject and each principle is illustrated by means of shop problems which are w r orded in the language of the shop and are therefore thoroughly intelli- gible to the apprentice. The courses in Arithmetic, commonly called in the Apprentice Schools, Problem Courses, are gotten up in loose-leaf form and are followed by each apprentice work- ing individually. A boy's progress therefore depends upon his own ability and industry and this gives to the Apprentice Instructor an excellent basis upon which to judge his mental capacity and certain phases of his character. The greater part of the problem work is done by the boys at home and handed in at their regular recitations which come twice a week in peri- ods of two hours each. The recitation hours are from 7 to 9 in the morning and from 1 to 3 in the afternoon. Each boy has one morning and one afternoon recitation period during each week. The periods in the Apprentice School are employed for the most part on drawing. This work is more easily adapted tu the specific needs of each trade than is the problem work. The general practice is to have a boy make a free-hand sketch of some model chosen from his particular line of work. He meas- ures all the dimensions of the model and then goes to his desk and makes a mechanical drawing of it. The instructor closely supervises this work and points out errors in it, at the same time explaining the correct method. Another practice which has been found to be very effective in teaching apprentices to read blue prints is to put into their hands blue prints of objects thoroughly familiar to them and to have them lay the drawing out to some different scale. This serves the double purpose of making the boy go over the drawing dimension by dimension and of teaching him the meaning and use of the scale. For boys working in the sheet metal trades, after a short course in drawing from models and reading blue prints, the work is specialized to suit their needs in the development of patterns either for tinware or for the sheets of a locomotive boiler. The success met with in teaching the methods for the develop- ment of patterns demonstrates beyond all question the great advantage of combining instruction with actual shop practice. This work of development when taught under the name of descriptive geometry and as an abstract subject is regarded generally as a rather difficult and dull study. But the boiler- maker and tin-smith apprentice who cuts out his pattern and bends it into shape, it means the mastery of the highest branch of his trade. The Apprentices are assigned to graded sections according to their previous education. These sections vary in size from 15 to 20 boys, depending on the total number enrolled in the school. It is the custom to take a part of each period, usually 32 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA the last 20 minutes, for the answering of any questions con- cerning the problem work or the shop work which may be asked by the boys. All answers and explanations are given before the whole section. Illustrations and diagrams are freely used on the blackboard. If the answering of questions does not take all the time set aside for this purpose, the instructor tries to have some subject "up his sleeve" to introduce for discussion among the boys. This stimulates thought and reasoning and develops the faculty for oral expression. In the case of the most advanced sections, additional time is taken for a system- atically arranged course of short talks on the principles of Mechanics. Illustrations are drawn from the various tools and appliances familiar to the boys and problems are worked, based on these principles. The blackboard is freely used in illustrating the easiest way of figuring the more difficult problems. The fact that attendance at the Apprentice School is made compulsory by the Company and that the boys are paid while in attendance seems to place the whole work of the schools on a more serious plane than would ordinarily be thought possible with boys of this age. They are required to exercise precisely the same care and industry in the school work as they do in the shop, for the two are essential parts of their training., The matter of discipline becomes very simple where an atmosphere of seriousness surrounds the work and where the co-operation of the shop officials is hearty. Cases of violation of the rules of good conduct and proper discipline are vigorously and impar- tially handled. They very seldom occur. The Apprentice Schoolroom is kept open during the noon hour and the Instructor is there to offer any assistance sought by the boys. A number of the leading technical publications are taken by the Company for the use of the boys. The services rendered by the Southern Pacific Apprentice Schools will prove much more far-reaching than the mere giving of instruction in Arithmetic and Drawing. The combining of instruction and work will develop men who work by intelligent self-direction and not automatically. The teaching of the fun- damental principles underlying all mechanical operations will give to the worker the power of adaptation, a most valuable possession. The gaining of even a limited knowledge of what science has contributed toward the development of all our indus- trial processes, will gradually but very surely break down the prejudice that exists so largely in the minds of our so-called practical men against scientific knowledge and scientific meth- ods of operation. We shall find our men of the future more receptive of and willing to co-operate in the efficiency move- ment. We shall, as ignorance is dispelled and prejudice over- come, find them taking the initiative in applying the common- sense, waste-eliminating principles of efficiency to their own INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 33 particular operations. These results can be won through educa- tion and through this means only. Through the Apprentice School, where every Apprentice comes under the close and intimate observation of the Instructor, it is possible to discover boys of exceptional character and ability. From such boys the foremen of the future can be recruited. It is within the power of the Apprentice Instructor who gets close to his boys to direct the work of exceptional ones so as to foster their ambition, to awaken the interest of those who are dull and phlegmatic and to promote within all the habit of inquiry. The development of the power of adaptability, of independ- ent thought, of initiative and of judgment are all clearly within the sphere of service of pur Apprentice Instructors but we fail in the grasping of our highest opportunity if we fail to be con- cerned with and to promote, in a strong, manly way, the moral qualities in our boys. All the initiative, good judgment and adaptability we may develop in them is useless unless they are sent put from the school, trustworthy, responsible, loyal and conscientious men. The Instructor in this particular has a grave responsibility because his example will be his greatest instrument for good, and especially so if he holds the respect of his boys. He must be square, manly, fearless in declaring for the right and his life outside the school must be such as to com- mand only respect. The Apprentice School, while only introductory and auxil- iary to the service, must be an auxiliary which shall be able to change the whole character of that service. It should be the aim of the Apprentice Instructor to develop within our future men the conception of work, as service, as a means for the ex- pression of inner life and character, rather than a mere avenue to the obtaining of bread and butter. When we shall have won the enthusiastic interest of our future men by teaching them to look upon the Railroad business as a scientific profession, we shall gradually build up a working force capable of voluntarily supporting and maintaining the highest degree of efficiency. Every Apprentice must be made to feel the dignity of his school and of its work. He must know in no uncertain terms that the Instructor stands strongly opposed to the saloon and all the destructive forces that go with it. He must be made to see the value of the opportunity placed within his hands for the building up of his mental capacity and his resourcefulness. The atmosphere of the schoolroom must be one of cordiality, democracy and absolute impartiality. The room must be kept spotlessly clean and in good order. In order to promote clean- liness and pride in the neatness of work, the boys should be provided with a place to wash up. The attitude of the Appren- tices toward the school is largely determined by its general atmosphere and the efficiency and system with which it is run. 34 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA The attitude of the Instructor toward the boys must be one of genuinely kindly interest. The boys must have confidence in and respect for the Instructor if the school is to do its best work. It is a fact worthy of particular mention that the Appren- tice Instructors have met with marked success in the handling of the so-called "incorrigibles", boys who have come from the reform schools and those who have spent some of their leisure time in jail for petty crimes. There seems to oe something about the serious atmosphere of the Apprentice School with its close contact to the practical work of their lives which holds the interest and respect of these boys. Their unfailing character- istic is a superabundance of animal spirits. This can be brought under control and directed into worthy channels by careful handling. One of the greatest possibilities for service in the Appren- tice School is the building up of a spirit of interest and co- operation toward the admirable movement to promote safety in every department of the Railroad work. We are all deeply proud of the fact that our Company has been awarded the Har- riman Gold Medal for the best Safety record during the past year. Our Apprentice Schools are an eminently fitting place for the development of that fine pride in the achievement of such a worthy distinction, which shall be the source of even greater efforts toward the repeated winning of it. After only one year of work, our Apprentice Schools, may with pride point to specific cases, not a few, which demonstrates beyond all question the splendid results which may with confi- dence be looked for from this phase of Industrial Education. Our future must be one of continued development and pro- gress. We must carefully devise methods of instruction which shall present the work of the various trades in the clearest and most forcible w r ay. We must devise ways of carrying on a course of special instruction in a separate recitation room tak- ing the boys of each trade or of like trades in groups, for 20 or 30 minutes, during the regular two-hour recitation periods of the sections. The benefits to be derived, in a conference of this kind, from the free interchange of ideas, cannot be over-estimated. We have a total of 325 Apprentice Boys under our instruc- tion at he present time. We can tell what rich fruits may be borne from the movement founded on such fundamental right and such sound business judgment. We have the making or marring of this admirable work, for we are the pioneers in it on the road. Let us bring to the discussions of this and all future conferences (of which I hope may be many), a broad-minded, generous spirit and the one aim of combining our talents toward lifting the work of the Apprentice School System of the Southern Pacific Company to the highest plane of efficiency and service possible. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 35 MR. SCRUGHAM: The next paper is by Mr. A. W. Preston, Instructor in Mechanical Engineering in the University of Nevada. His sub- ject is, "What We Should Do for the Apprentice Boy." Mr. Preston's long experience as apprentice, machinist, shop foreman and apprentice instructor qualifies him to speak with authority on the subject. WHAT WE SHOULD DO FOR THE APPRENTICE BOY. BY A. W. PRESTON, Instructor in the University of Nevada Most of us present to-day are more or less familiar with the grave difficulties facing the Superintendent of Machinery or Master Mechanic in his efforts to maintain a force of skilled and efficient mechanics in his shop. Industrial organizations have only themselves to blame for this condition on account of their gross neglect of apprentice education. With few excep- tions, the apprentices have been selected in a most haphazard fashion, with little or no attention paid to systematic instruc- tion and development. The first step toward the making of a competent mechanic is the selection of good material to work on. Before entering the service of an industrial concern, the apprentice should dem- onstrate that -he is able to read well, write legibly and under- stand ordinary arithmetical operations. Furthermore, he should be of good moral character and amenable to discipline. After employment he should be required to follow a carefully systematized course in shop practice, mechanical drawing and elementary mathematics. All of the required work should be done during the time paid for by the Company except that re- quired for mathematical problems, which should be done at home. The shop training must be taught by an instructor who personally understands the business, and preferably by one who has been "thru the mill." He knows what the apprentice has to deal with and the difficulties he encounters in obtaining a knowledge of his trade. The boys must be taught direct and correct methods, and to understand the value of time and material. You cannot introduce anything in a shop or department that will pay as quick results as proper apprentice instruction. A company may lose money on the first year of a noy's appren- ticeship, but the boy pays the company well for the other three years. In order to obtain the best results from a boy he must be shown that there is something ahead of him; something to work for. College graduates are given experience and taught for the purpose of filling the offices from the Master Mechanic 36 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA to Manager. Why not develop the apprentice thru the proper channel and use him for positions up to and including the Mas- ter Mechanic? A locomotive engineer makes a poor Master Mechanic or General Foreman because he does not understand shop work or much else out of the scope of his previous experience. For the same reason a boiler maker, blacksmith, or machine shop man would fail to fill the position. Why not then introduce a training which will make the men you want? I suggest that a special course be introduced, and the boys showing the ability and interest, be promoted after the first year to the special course, putting them to work in all of the different shops that are in operation at that point. Throughout the course the apprentice should be carefully watched and directed, an accurate record of each boy's perform- ance being kept. The course is to consist of four years. For railroad work a suitable division would be as follows: General Machine Work 1 year Erecting Shop 6 months Blacksmith Shop 2 months Boiler Shop 2 months Shop Clerk's Office 2 months Air Brake Shop 2 months Advanced Machine Shop 3 months Round House 4 months Firing on the Road 3 months General Shop Work and Assisting Foreman 1 year I suggest one year on general machine work, to be so ar- ranged as to gain experience on all common machine work. The next six months to be spent in the erecting shop, covering valve setting, cab work, repairs on injectors, steam gauges, etc. I suggest two months each in the blacksmith and boiler shops, two months in the shop clerk's office, then two months in the air brake room. This will give the apprentice a good idea of such work. Then they should have not less than four months on tool making and accurate machine work on the different machines. By this time they will be able to handle the finer class of work and will know the importance of being accurate and careful. The next four months should be spent in the round house, where it is necessary for them to be capable of doing any class of work on a locomotive. A poor piece of work on a service engine may cause an engine failure and a train delay. By this time an apprentice should be well equipped with practical knowledge of shop work. The next three months are spent in firing on the road. This is to give him an education on the handling of an engine, ways of the engineer, and dis- patcher, trainmaster and other road men. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 37 Next he shall spend one year on general shop work, assist- ing the foreman, filling temporary vacancies, etc. To get the best effort from an apprentice, he must be shown that the com- pany wants his service, but before he can be advanced he must have a complete knowledge of many departments in order to deal with his work intelligently. MR. SCRUGHAM : One of the great pioneers in the field of industrial education was the Santa Fe Railway Company. They have spent large sums of money in attaining an ideal, and it has paid them to do so. Their delegate to this Conference has been intimately con- nected with their educational work. We will call upon him to tell us something of their organization and methods. I have the pleasure of introducing Mr. John Linn of Topeka, Kansas, Assistant Supervisor of Apprentices for the Santa Fe. MR. LINN: Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen: Mr. Scrugham is to be congratulated, and I wish to thank him for starting a meeting of this kind. We Kansas people are all proud of the State. Sometimes, though, they say some funny things about us, but I am not ashamed to tell you that I am from the Sunflower State. We are proud of our people, we are proud of the idea for which the State stands, we are proud of our great wheat fields, we are proud of our gas and oil wells, we boast of King Corn. Mr. Coburn has made famous the Kansas Steer and his sister, and likewise the Kansas Hog, and the Kansas Hen. Speaking of the Kansas Hen, the wealth she has produced under the present high prices is very much like the famous hen that used to produce the golden egg. Speaking 01 the hen, one question always bothered me. It was the correctness of the expression : "Does she sit" or does she set". At the present time of high prices, the question is, when she cackles, "Did she lay", or "did she lie". I am sorry Mr. Hill is not here to tell you about the Safety work as we do it on the Santa Fe. The Santa Fe is one of the pioneers in this safety movement. It was brought to the front by our General Claim Attorney, Mr. J. G. Hamilton, and later our Mr. Hill Was placed in charge as Safety Commissioner, with headquarters at Topeka, but he goes all over the system getting the employees to take up this Safety First movement. Our employees have been supplied with buttons saying, "Get the Safety Habit". Placards are placed all over the shops saying, "Get the Safety Habit". Also, something like that came with our monthly checks, "Get the Safety Habit". Speaking of Kansas we have one Safety Law in particular that I think one of the greatest in the United States. I am proud to say that I think the Kansas Temperance Law is the greatest Safety Law ever made by any state. Some of you may 38 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA doubt its effectiveness, but I was born in Kansas, and, if you will pardon the reference, I was put of its borders before I ever saw a man take a drop of liquor in an open saloon. With the kindness of your Chairman, I will try to tell you what the Santa Fe is doing in the training of its young men : THE APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM OF THE SANTA FE. BY JOHN H. LINN, Assistant Supervisor of Apprentices Life is more valuable than property. Men are more in de- mand than machines. Even from the purely commercial point of view, the question of men, the right kind of men, men by nature endowed and by training and education specificially fit- ted for the work they are called upon to do, is the biggest prob- lem the railroads and manufacturing concerns have to solve. The degree of civilization of a country or nation can be safe- ly measured by the value placed on a human life. In a highly civilized country it is held in high regard; the nearer we ap- proach the state of barbarism the cheaper we find the life of a human being. In this age of enlightenment, this day of pub- licity, we must safeguard the lives of our patrons, our subor- dinates, our fellow workmen. Carelessness and his full brother, ignorance, are responsible for 85 per cent, of all our accidents. The education, the careful training of our subordinates, will prevent accidents, will add to our profits. We are all depend- ent upon each other. We have so many interests in common. We can't drop a dead cat into the public well to spite our neigh- bor without spoiling our own tea. We cannot be selfish in our work. We cannot hold our knowledge to ourselves. We can- not stand still these days; if we do others will pass us. We must not be satisfied with our present accomplishments, for others have newer and better ones. Nature has demonstrated the need of new blood in breeding our live stock. If the rail- roads and manufacturing concerns are to cope with the needs of our rapid industrial development, they must infuse new blood, select the right kind of young men, and definitely and specifically train them for their needs. The awakening of the railroad and manufacturing com- panies to the importance of educating and training young me- chanics to recruit their depleting ranks and fill their expanded shops, was until six or seven years ago very slow not until the supply had fallen far behind the demand, or until they were sorely pressed for men. There has never been a time when the demand for good, all-round, skilled mechanics was greater than it is to-day. The cry on every hand, from one end of the indus- trial world to the other, is the lack of competent workmen. In the struggle and competition of modern business push, brawn INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 39 and muscle have necessarily given place to brains and skill. While inventions and improvements in endless succession are everywhere increasing the effectiveness of commercial enter- prise, they are likewise daily increasing the demand for think- ing men, men capable of performing the work incident to our rapid industrial development. The worker or artisan who labored at the bench in his own home, assisted perhaps by his son or a few helpers, has been supplanted by immense shops and manafactories with thousands of workers under a single roof. To meet these changed conditions we must have trained minds and skilled hands, not of the few but of the many. The educational forces of the country are beginning to realize that they have failed to keep pace with our rapid industrial develop- ment and are struggling blindly for some solution of the diffi- culty. Meanwhile the wheels of industry will be checked for lack of operatives unless the industrial concerns come to- the rescue. Many of them are doing so. Nowhere is the lack of workers more keenly felt than in the modern railway shops. I might add that nowhere is the problem being so successfully solved. I have been asked to tell you what one of these companies, the Santa Fe, is doing to meet this emergency. I need not tell you I am proud of the Santa Fe. I love her romantic name, her employees, her officials, and am proud of what slie has accom- plished. She has given us our hospitals to care for our sick and injured; our safety department to guard against accidents; our pension system to provide for our aged, those who have given the best years years of their lives to her service; she has pro- vided reading rooms and recreation halls wherein are furnished free lectures, concerts, and wholesome entertainments, even in the remotest desert terminals; and last, but by no means least, she has provided a system of training and educating young men for our service a system which gives its apprentices an oppor- tunity nowhere surpassed and which has resulted in unmeasur- ed value to the company. Our management would no more think of abolishing its apprentice schools than it would of abol- ishing its power houses or its tool rooms. The system in vogue on the Santa Fe really had its begin- ning a score of years ago when Mr. John Purcell, now Assistant to the Vice-President, and at the head of our Mechanical De- partment, organized and maintained, at his personal expense, a little school at the Division Point where he was then located as Master Mechanic. This school cost him $40 a month out of his own pocket, but several of his students are now occupying responsible positions with the company. I would also like to pay tribute to Mr. G. M. Basford, now with the Joseph T. Ryerson Company, but formerly with the American Locomotive Company, and at one time Editor of the American Engineer. Through his lectures and magazine articles he has probably done more than any other one man in 40 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA the country to advance the idea of our modern apprenticeship systems. I would call him the father of modern apprenticeship. His address less than two weeks ago, January 13th, before the New England Railway Club, at Boston, on the subject, "Devel- opment of Young Men for Railroad Work", is, I think, the ablest article ever written on this subject. You will find a copy of this in the issue of January 16th of the Railway Age Gazette and doubtless in other railway publications. By the way, thanks to Mr. R. V. Wright, the Railway Age Gazette and its companion ,the American Engineer, have done much to spread this advanced apprenticeship movement. Our regular apprenticeship school system was organized in September, 1907. We now have some two dozen schools located at various division points on the road from Chicago to the- Pacific and down to the Gulf of Mexico, having a total of over 800 apprentices. Some 40 Instructors devote their entire time to this work, the responsibility of the whole scheme rest- ing in our Supervisor of Apprentices, Mr. F. W. Thomas, to whose remarkable ability and personality is due the success of our project. I wish he could have been with you to-day, but when your invitation was received he was in Washington, D. C. on a similar mission and could not have reached here even had there been no tie up of the trains. Our apprentice system is generally referred to as our apprentice school system. Now, we are proud of our schools, but the schools themselves are a small part of our system. The place to learn to swim is in the water. We have found that the place to learn a trade, and consequently to teach a trade, is in the shop itself. So we have selected a Shop Instructor for about every twenty-five apprentice boys. This man is a skilled mechanic himself, a boy-loving man, one who not only knows but knows how to tell what he knows. He has no other duties than those relating to training the hand and eye and judgment of his apprentices. It is his duty to give the boy whatever instruction he may need on any machine or class of work. He it is who decides when the apprentice should be changed from one kind of work to another. Upon him rests the responsibility of seeing that the boy is given all classes of work a mechanic in his particular trade is called upon to do, whether on ma- chines or erecting floor, in car or paint shop. He works in har- mony with the Foreman. The Foreman is held responsible for immediate output and the Instructor for ultimate output, i. e. the production of skilled mechanics for the future. The busy Foreman to-day in one of our modern shops has no time to stop to show a boy, no time to change him from one class of work to another, in fact he would often be tempted to keep a boy on a particular job simply because the boy could do better work and more work than a green boy. But here is where the Shop In- tructor comes in. He is there to see that the boy has the oppor- tunity to learn and to give him the necessary instruction at the INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 41 start. When the Foreman has work to be assigned to an ap- prentice, it is the Shop Instructor's duty to know what boy is best fitted for doing this, what boy most needs this particular experience, and know also pust how much personal assistance to give him. Some companies have established school instruction for their apprentices, but have felt they could not afford the ex- pense of the shop instruction. This is a mistake. I do not mean to belittle the school instruction. It is worth many times its cost, but it is from the shop instruction that the company is going to get its largest returns, either in immediate output or in the ultimate gain in skilled mechanics. As the man in charge of our Mechanical Department recently wrote one of his Mechanical Superintendents, the question of putting on an ad- ditional instructor is not one of expense but one of investment. It is not an increase of $125 in the monthly payroll but a de- crease of several times that amount. Closely allied to the shop instruction and co-ordinate with it is the school instruction, that given by the School Instructor in the school rooms built and equipped by the company and located in the midst of the shop buildings. Here the boy spends two hours a day twice a week during his four-year apprentice- ship. Instruction is confined to subjects relating directly to the respective trades. There are so many things that the Mechanic should know, that with but four hours a week and a course of only four years it will require every moment of the apprentice's time to master the essentials of his trade. Fur- thermore, a too wide diversity of subjects will onjy tend to lead him astray. The school instruction is given during daylight working hours, and the boys are paid for the time the same as when at work in the shop. Night schools, so far as the average boy is concerned, are a failure. I know history points to many men who achieved fame by studying by dimly-lighted lamps far into the night. But had this not been out of the order the historian would not have mentioned it. It takes a great deal of stamina for even an ambitious man to sit down to night lessons after working ten hours in the shop. The boy with his immature mind and his growing body is certainly entitled to a little time for rest and play. If we wish him to be loyal, we must not deny him the pleasures and recreation of his evening hours. If education pays at all, and it certainly does, any corporation can well afford to pay its apprentices for the time spent in school, two hours a day, two days a week. The principal subjects taught in our school rooms are me- chanical and free-hand drawing, shop arithmetic, simple busi- ness letter writing and the elements of mechanics, these being varied for the particular trades, and for the individual boy, and so far as possible correlated with the work the boy is doing in the shop. Our school Instructors keep in constant touch with 42 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA the shop. With one or two exceptions our School Instructors are graduates of technical colleges who have also served an appren- ticeship, either regular or special. They must be prepared to answer the innumerable questions raised by the boys regarding all shop subjects as well as those of a purely technical nature. In fact, we encourage the boys to ask questions concerning any- thing they do not understand. If the Instructor cannot answer them at once, as is frequently the case, he is in a position to find out, for we have free access to any information available in any of our mechanical offices. All the instruction in the school room is individual. There is no massing of the boys in classes. A powerful Clydesdale and a hgh-bred, spirited race horse do not make a very good team, and yet this is what the public schools are doing. Each progresses according to his ability. We have our own printer and an up-to-date press, and prepare and print our own lesson sheets. These are issued to the various schools from our head office at Topeka. They are in loose leaf form so that they may be revised or added to as occasion arises. Just recently our apprentice school rooms were opened to all employees in search of mechanical information and bulletins were issued inviting the enginemen to visit the school rooms and call upon the Instructors for information desired. This is a decided compliment to our system. We aim to make each of these school rooms an emporium of mechanical information and are constantly widening their scope. Eventually our instruc- tion will doubtless be extended to take in other departments of the road. Much of the success of any kind of instruction depends on the Instructor himself. No expense should be spared in getting the best men available. The duties of the Instructor are as dif- ficult as they are important, as full of trials and hardships as of blessings for those whom he influences. He must be a keen judge of human nature, a man who is deeply interested in boys and young men, capable of taking a brotherly interest in their sports and pastimes as well as in their work ; he must be clean morally, must be just, impartial and honest, must be a disciplin- arian in the broadest sense, must be firm and fair ; he must ask nothing but what is possible and right, and then insist on getting it. In addition to this he must have patience and ability to in- struct, and be capable of placing himself in the position of the student in order to put the subject before that student in an intelligent and understandable manner. In short he must be able to think with them, feel with them, work with them. No man can be truly successful as an Instructor, either in the shop or the class room, no matter how thorough his tech- nical and theoretical education may have been, unless he has worked as they have worked, sweat as they have to sweat, un- less he knows their likes and dislikes, their desires and emotions, their struggles and ambitions, and through this knowledge and INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 43 sympathy be able to feel with them in their joys and in their sorrows, thus winning their friendship and their confidence, which is the most valuable asset any instructor of men and boys can have. He should not only have sufficient knowledge and skill to command the confidence of the apprentice and all with whom his work brings him in contact, but must also know how to impart his knowledge to others. He must not be a mere ma- chine, but a living soul, obedient to the light of a cultivated intel- ligence and the impulses of a generous heart. He must love boys in general and have a fatherly love for the particular boys in his charge, yet be able to sympathize as one of them in their games, and sports, their joys and their troubles. He must make an individual study of each boy and learn just what help each one needs and how this help can best be given. He must be exceedingly patient and self-sacrificing, showing his love and care most conscientiously toward those who need it most, not the most deserving, but the most needy. He should become familiar with each boy's home life, know with whom he associates and how he spends his evenings ; remembering that if these boys are to become good mechanics and loyal employees they must also be honest and upright citizens. The Instructor's success or fail- ure will depend very largely on his own personality, on his own manner and temper, on his own life and character, on the ideals he impresses by his own spirit and example. To be successful an Apprentice School worth while must be in charge of one efficient head. This Supervisor of Appren- tices should possess most if not all the qualifications just men- tioned as requisite for the Instructor. In addition he should possess qualities of leadership, be able to organize his depart- ment, select his Instructors, and properly direct them in their work. He cannot be a skilled mechanic in all the trades, but he should know the essentials of the make-up of a machinist, a boiler maker, a cabinet maker, or painter. He should be able to adjust misfits and must interest all the shop officials in the boys. He should have the unlimited backing of the management and be given sufficient authority to bring about the necessary changes in handling shop matters, these changes possibly in- fringing on certain long-cherished prerogatives of other shop officers. Yet in doing this he should have tact to carry out these ideas, without friction or ill feeling. To do this he must be a good mixer and know how to get what he goes after. He should be able to outline the course of instruction, and above all should inspire the best work of his Instructors and be of such a nature as to be heartily loved by all the apprentices. Upon his head, whether he be mechanic or pedagogue, rests to a great extent the success of the enterprise. He must be an educator in the true sense of the word. You say it is difficult to find such a man. I agree with you, but the Santa Fe has one such, and other roads might be likewise fortunate if they made suffi- cient effort. 44 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA The Santa Fe Apprentice System has always had the Unlim- ited backing of the management. Everyone from the President down is proud of the system and ready to boost it forward. The local schools are the pride of each Master Mechanic. They are the show places for visitors. Shortly after the inaugura- tion of the system, two or three Master Mechanics were trans- ferred from points having schools to those without, and their first request was for an Apprentice School and Apprentice Di- rectors at their new location. At the head of the Mechanical Department of the system is Mr. John Purcell, a man who served his own apprenticeship in our shops and has risen step by step to his present position of responsibility. Remembering his own early struggles, he it was who some twenty years ago established the first railroad apprentice school, to which I have already referred. He has a warm spot in his heart for all the employees of the road but is especially proud and considerate of two classes in particular, namely, the old employee who has given the best years of his life to the road and stayed by it in adversity as well as in prosperity; and second, the apprentice boy who has con- centrated his young life to preparation for its service. Upon the care taken in the selection of these young men, much of the succes of the undertaking depends.. If the boy has no special fitness or liking for his chosen trade, it is a crime against his young life and a "dead loss" to the company to em- ploy or keep him as an apprentice. Our applicants are care- fully examined by both school and shop Instructors, the final decision as to the boy's employment resting with the chief officer at each local shop. So well pleased is each apprentice with the opportunities given him that he is a living advertisement for us. We have no trouble getting boys even at the remote desert shops. In fact, at most of our shops we have over a year's sup- ply on our waiting list. The physical examination given by our company surgeon is such that only boys of good physique can be employed. Since we are preparing men for a lifetime of service, we deem it well to start with boys sound in body as well as in mind. The amount of schooling required depends largely on the boy's mentality and the opportunities he has had. We have had our best results from boys with an eighth grade education. The high school boy is apt to leave us for a job in a dry goods store where he can wear his white collar regardless of the pros- pects ahead. Four years ago a boy, very small for his sixteen years, came into our office with a note from the Superintendent of Shops requesting that he be examined for a painter apprentice. He was small, illy dressed, poorly fed, undeveloped, restless, timid, and dumb, but nothing vicious or bad looking about him. He was about the least promising looking boy that ever entered the office. He seemed to possess neither physical nor mental fitness for the trade. The natural outcome would have been to reject INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 45 the applicant, but something in the boy attracted our interest and our sympathy. With considerable coaxing and coaching we found out that his father was worthless, a drunkard, and had deserted the family. His poor, crippled mother, unable to stand without the aid of a crutch, was endeavoring to make them a scanty living by taking in washing. "Yes", he said, "there are some brothers, some little fellows." We could not reject that little boy. We had not the heart to do so. We decided to give him a trial. Three months later the Instructors reported he was doing fairly well in shop work, but the School Instructors were still exercising that characteris- tic which made Job famous. He knew his alphabet and read a few words of one syllable. He had been so inhumanly beaten by an unmerciful father that his very nature was cowed. The first evidence of any talent or interest in his work was acci- dentally discovered. On the under side of a piece of paper upon which he was supposed to be writing with his pencil, he had slyly made a large letter "A" of Old English style, shading and illuminating it in a manner that would have been a credit to one whose talent had been trained and developed. The next day he uncovered the head of an Indian warrior appropriately bedecked in his feathery headdress. We gave him some work of such nature in the schoolroom daily. His interest was aroused, his tongue was loosened, his mind so long cramped and unused began to expand. That was four years ago. Next month we will graduate him as a journeyman painter, capable of doing any work in painting and decorating our passenger cars. He has not entirely ly outgrown the cowed, subdued spirit inflicted by his brutal father, and never will, but he has grown in body, in mind, and intelligence, and has been a blessing and comfort to his mother and the little fellows. He has been faithful during his appren- ticeship, and I have no doubt that he will give many years of faithful service to us as a man. Next month he will receive a diploma which will be the open sesame to a job anywhere which may need painters. One hundred and thirty-five dollars in cash will be given him as a reward for his faithfulness, and this will go toward build- ing a home on some land he has already purchased with money saved from his apprentice wages. Closely allied to the selection of apprentices is our proba- tionary period of six months, during which time the apprentice is given every opportunty to prove his fitness. During this per- iod he is closely studied by our Apprentice Board, which, by the way, is composed of the General Foreman, the Department Foreman, the Gang Foreman, the Apprentice Shop Instructor and the Apprentice School Instructor. The members of this board are reminded once a month that John Smith is a new boy and should be given special attention. At the expiration of the six months' probationary period this Apprentice Board meets 46 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA and jointly passes on the question of this boy's continuing in his trade. Sometimes they recommend transfer to another trade for which the boy is better fitted. Sometimes they recommend a further trial of a few months. Sometimes they recommend the boy's dismissal. If they decide that the boy, instead of be- ing fitted to become a mechanic, should be a lawyer, or a doctor, or a merchant, the boy is kindly told that he is wasting his time in the shop. But in such a dismissal the boy knows, his par- ents know, his friends know, and the Shop management knows, that the partialty or dislike of no one man was responsible for this action. In passing, I might mention that our apprentices are guar- anteed a full day's work if the shops work at all. They are given wages sufficiently large to pay necessary living expenses even from the start. These wages are raised each six months. Apprentices are never suspended for spoiling work or for any other cause. If necessary to punish for breach of discipline, they are penalized a few hours on their apprenticeship time, a pun- ishment which they feel severely. This rule, however, works both ways. The boy may have these penalties cancelled by sub- sequent good behavior. The boys are encouraged in athletics and in all kinds of wholesome amusements. We have our base- ball, foot ball, and basket ball teams at each point, these teams competing with each other in wholesome sport. At Topeka we have an apprentice glee club, an apprentice orchestra, and a brass band of three dozen pieces. All this attention to per- sonal interests makes the apprentices contented and happy, and promotes loyalty to the organization which is loyal to them. On graduation apprentices are given full journeymen rate and encouraged to remain in the service of the company. Of the 500 who have been graduated since the organization of the apprentice schools, 66 2-3 per cent, are still in the service of the company. Fifteen per cent, have already stepped out of the ranks and been promoted to foremanship or other positions of responsibility. The management has issued instructions that in case of vacancies preference is to be given to our apprentice graduates, those who have been trained and educated "Santa Fe way". Is it any wonder our apprentices and graduates love the Santa Fe, any wonder why they are staying with us ? This kind and considerate treatment has had a very whole- some effect on the entire shop body. The good feeling has been contagious and now permeates the other departments, making a better esprit de corps through the whole shop. There is less of the old-time rawhiding and more recognition that a man is a man no matter what his position. We teach our boys that the vocation of a good machinist or a good boiler maker is as honor- able a calling, and often much better paid, than that of lawyer or doctor. All the brains of the country are not confined to the Halls of Congress nor found on Wall Street. It takes just as smart a man to be a good mechanic as to be a good merchant or INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 47 banker. We teach them the joy of work, the true happiness of work, that work is honorable and to be sought, not avoided, that education will not lessen their work, but will increase their opportunities for work and service. All work is sacred. Is there not a lesson for us in the recollection that when God made Adam He immediately put him in the Garden of Eden to dress and to keep it, and later when He gave the world His only son, He put him in a carpenter shop where he learned a trade, and where the good book tells us that knowledge and wisdom came unto him. Gentlemen, I would urge of you carefully to consider this question of getting young people into occupations for which they are fitted, and then seeing that they are given a chance to de- velop their natural talents. I thank you for your attention and would be pleased indeed to have you visit any of our Apprentice Schools which you may be near. We will be glad to show you what we have and to receive any suggestions you may have for improving our system. I have with me some samples of our lesson sheets, also some of the forms used in handling apprentice matters which I will be glad to show to any of you who are interested. We will be glad to have you tell us of improvements we could make. We are not standing still, but are always in search of something better. Nothing is too good for our boys. It is with youth that we are dealing. Old age may be creeping upon us, wrinkles may cover our faces and gray hairs crown our heads, but the young men of your charge are of the springtime of life. You take them in charge fresh from the hands of their Maker, away from their monthers' breast, and for ten years or more they are yours, to help or to hinder, to bless or to curse, and to mold or mar their precious young souls. Enter into their lives and help them enter into the real world. It is as much our duty, it is our sacred duty, to help make their characters, their morals, their dispositions, their manners, as it is to teach them to spell or to write or to run a machine or locomotive or to build a car. The average boy has to go to work for a living at sixteen. Are you not enough interested in his future to help prepare him for such a livelihood? By so doing you will have kindled in his heart a gratitude, a love, which he will carry through life. MR. SCRUGHAM: We take this opportunity of extending our thanks to the management of the Santa Fe Railway and to Mr. Linn for the inspiration which comes from a story of successful achievement. The results attained by this Company are remarkable. I will now call on Mr. J. M. Guild of Omaha, representative of the Union Pacific, to tell of the work of his Company. 48 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA SAFETY FIRST ON THE UNION PACIFIC BY J. M. GUILD, Safety Commissioner of the Union Pacific Railroad Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: Safety First, or the first duty to the uninjured, does not look proper, but it is, and strange to relate, it has come to take a place and fill a long-felt want in the rank and file of the railroads of the United States. Years ago, when the Interstate Commerce Commission was organized, and the Safety Laws were passed, it was thought that at last the solution had been reached to reduce the number of injured and killed on the railroads of the United States. After this law had been passed, and had been in effect for a few years, and the inspections were being made under the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission, it was found that instead of decreasing, accidents were increasing, and that instead of safety things, it was necessary to have safety men. Mr. Ralph C. Richards, General Claims Agent of the C. & N. W., conceived the idea of inaugurating the Safety Movement on the railroads of this country. Since that time some 38 roads of the United States have practically adopted this organization, and they control a mileage of about 100,000 miles. The Union Pacific started their Safety Movement one year and eight months ago. Our organization is very similar to that of other railroads. Our central committee, our four division committees and 56 local committees meet every month, and to-day we have received over two thousand suggestions, 75 per cent, of which have been adopted and put into use. The Safety movement is a movement of the men. It was necessary to make them feel that it was for their interests that this movement was being pushed, and that it was the men and not the officials who were being killed and injured, and that it was to their interest to take an active part in the Safety Movement. I have come to this meet- ing to learn, and I hope that the echoes of this Conference will go to all the large educational institutions of this country, and that the people, through education, will be made to feel that next to saving human souls, our greatest duty toward ourselves, our fellowmen, and our country, is saving human life. MR. SCRUGHAM : Safety First on the railroads has received some little atten- tion. Let us now consider the question of Safety First with the Civil Engineer. I will call on Mr. H. P. Boardman, Professor of Civil Engineering of the University of Nevada, to tell us something regarding Safety First in Civil Engineering. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 49 CIVIL ENGINEERING AND SAFETY FIRST BY H. P. BOARDMAN, Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Nevada In these days of specialization the terms mechanical, elec- trical, mining, and civil engineering are all very broad in their meanings, each including numerous specialities. Many of these special branches of engineering borrow from two or more of the above named general divisions and some introduce new features entirely beyond what was formerly the scope of any of these, such as chemical engineering. Signal engineering, so closely allied with much of the Safety First movement, is a good illustration of one that borrows from several of the general divisions of engineering, in other words, shows the over-lapping of different branches of engineering, which is so common in practical life. The signal engineer practices civil engineering when he designs and constructs many of his structures. He draws on mechanical and electrical engineering largely for the design and installation of the operation part of the signal and inter- locking systems. Considering civil engineering in some of its most common phases its connection with Safety First is mainly in relation to statics or the action of forces on and within structures which are practically fixed and immovable, or which ought to be. Mining engineering involves danger mainly because of deal- ing with underground work and the use of explosives, and also machinery. Mechanical and electrical engineering touch dan- ger mainly in connection with motion of machinery or electric current. This is a swift age; so things causing or connected with motion attract much attention and naturally so, since we all have to move or get run over. Aside from ordinary railroad roadbed, track, and other structures of various kinds along a railroad, all of which con- cern the civil engineer, we have bridges and tunnels which are more spectacular and always involve danger to men during con- struction. After construction they should be safe for the use of the traveling public and I think generally are so, barring accidents due to the moving things which pass over and through them. Take the bridge for instance. You have doubtless all heard the expression "factor of safety" as applied to the design of structures. Some choose to term it "factor of ignorance", but I resent the use of that expression, not because we know all 50 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA about the materials of construction, but because to be safe we must stop considerably short of stresses which would mark the first beginnings of failure. This is true even in the use of structural steel, a comparatively well understood material, for it has been shown that if stresses approach the elastic limit too closely a deterioration results from a great many repetitions of the application of such stresses. In other words, it is possible to wear out a part of a stationary, stable structure which was at the first safe. The day I first arrived in Reno, August 29, 1907, the great Quebec bridge failure occurred, causing the loss of more than eighty lives. The study and discussions of the causes of that failure served to show bridge engineers several things, among which were the following: (1) That it is not always safe to apply what has seemed good standard practice in small struc- tures to the design of immense structures of the same type; (2) That danger sometimes results if the different parts of a structure are not built sufficiently robust to stand the abuse incident to some rough handling in transportation, loading, unloading, etc. (3) That long immunity from accidents of a certain kind may lead those concerned to think that it is due to overdoing the safety precautions and that they might well stretch a point in favor of economy when large expenditure is involved, in other words, decrease the customary factor of safety. Reinforced concrete building failures have been quite com- mon in the last fifteen years, indicating a chance for the applica- tion of Safety First by engineers and architects in decreasing such accidents. Failures of dams have been quite frequent for many years. These structures, together with bridge foundations, sub-aqueous tunnels, canals, and all similar engineering works involving diffi- culties inherent in attempts to utilize, control, or combat water, present the most fascinating of civil engineering problems to me. Every structure of these types is a problem by itself re- quiring careful local study and the exercise of judgment based on experience if the proper solution is reached resulting in safety and economy. The study of dam failures and the criti- cism of design and construction of the structures that fail is going to lead to safer dams in the future. I think the tendency is growing to build more of the types of dams that utilize water pressure to add to the stability of the structure, instead of the solid gravity type which "bucks" against the thrust of the water by presenting a vertical or nearly vertical surface to it. So far, most of the danger discussed has had reference to the finished product of civil engineering and due generally to faulty design or construction, or both. Besides this is the danger of accidents during construction. Here is where an application of Safety First principles can often INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 51 work wonders. Since the plant of machinery and other equip- ment used for construction purposes is erected only for tem- porary use in one place, there is a tendency to take chances and not make things as secure as is the custom in permanent plants using the same class of machinery or tools. This is especially true where the plant is moved frequently from one job to another, so the matter of taking down, moving, and setting up again is a large item of expense. All of these operations present many chances of accident and also tend to wear out and rack to pieces the machinery being moved, such as hoisting engines, derricks, pumps, etc. This excessive "wear and tear" on machinery gives cause for more repairs and more close attention to keep it in working order than is required of machinery in a stationary plant, thus causing more danger of accidents. The labor employed on such temporary construction work is to a very large extent composed of transients, apt to be reckless, and not unused to taking chances, such as stealing rides on trains. It is more difficult to impress such men with the importance of Safety First than is the case with steady em- ployees, and yet, if they are made to feel that the contractor or engineer in charge is consistently planning and working for their safety, some of them will catch the spirit and be more careful, at the same time giving more willing and better service. Contractors, as well as engineers and others, should be interested in this movement for safety. Other civil engineering problems and the last I will refer to are those touching the public health. Typhoid fever epidemics often take many lives. These are frequently though not al- ways caused by contaminated water supplies. When a com- munity is aroused to such dangers, self-preservation impels that community to seek a better water supply. Sewage treatment on the other hand often waits until the demands of other communi- ties below or state laws compel action. Past experience in Europe and in the more populous por- tions of the United States has led to the following present atti- tude of some of the best sanitary experts : (1) That all sewage which must eventually reach natural streams which flow through other towns and cities farther down should be treated or par- tially purified; (2) That all communities taking water sup- plies from such streams should purify that water before dis- tributing it for use, since it is practically impossible without relatively enormous expense for the towns above to purify sew- age to such an extent as to insure safe drinking water to the town below. In closing it is evident that the average civil engineer has ample reason, to be interested in the Safety First Movement along with other engineers. It is an altruistic movement and will make life more endurable, so the general public should be interested. Now, if the automobile drivers will only fall in line and 52 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA practice the principles of Safety First, while we may miss some thrills, perhaps the life insurance companies will reduce their premium rates. MR. SCRUGHAM: In recent years the demand for organized accident preven- tion has created a new profession, that of Safety Engineer. He is the man who supplies the "ounce of prevention" in the modern industrial establishment and he has supplanted the old-line en- gineer who furnished the "pound of cure". One of the most successful Safety Engineers in America to-day is Mr. C. W. Price of the Wisconsin Industrial Commission. He is not pres- ent to-day but his address will be read by Mr. C. W. Whitney, representative of the Natomas Consolidated Co. of California. ORGANIZED ACCIDENT PREVENTION BY C. W. PRICE, Safety Engineer Wisconsin Industrial Commission There is a widespread awakening over the country alon^r the line of the prevention of accidents. This movement in its present organized form is only six or eight years old. Until recently information has not been available for manufacturers generally, regarding the reductions in accidents which have actu- ally been accomplished, and regarding the ways and means of promoting safety which have been found most efficient by the companies which have made the largest reductions. The Department of Labor reports that in the United States each twelve months there are about 34,000 men, women, and children killed by accident; or to state it in other terms so that the mind can grasp these appalling figures, there is one human being killed every fifteen minutes of every twenty-four hours of the 365 days in a year. The report further states that there are 2,000,000 men, women and children injured by acci- dent every year in the United States; or one person is injured every sixteen seconds of each twenty-four-hour day. Not only are manufacturers awakening to the enormous waste involved, but the public in general is becoming tremendously concerned in regard to this appalling slaughter and in regard to the suffering and deprivation which comes to the homes and the families as a result. The United States Steel Corporation was the pioneer in the present organized Accident Prevention Movement and has without question made the largest contribution to the cause. This corporation began to study the question of accidents and INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 53 to organize safety work on a systematic basis some ten years ago, but the most remarkable developments have come in the last five years. The officers of this corporation state that dur- ing the last ten years they have made a reduction in accidents in all their plants, of over 50 per cent. A recently published statement by this company shows that since 1906 there have been 8801 men saved from serious injury and from death as a result of the safety campaign. The Illinois Steel Company, which is a subsidiary com- pany of the United States Steel Corporation, has been the leader of the Safety Movement in the Central West. In 1906 this company with its four or five plants and some 20,000 em- ployes had a record of 43 per cent, of its employees who were injured and lost over one day of time. The record of 1912 shows 12 per cent, injured and losing over one day of time. This company reports that a total reduction of 66 2-3 per cent, has been made in serious injuries and deaths since 1900. The Wisconsin Steel Company, which is a subsidiary com- pany of the International Harveste/ Company, employing 1300 men, since 1910 has made a reduction in accidents of 68 per cent. The Jones and Laughlin Company of Pittsuburg, has made a reduction in accidents of over 70 per cent. About three and a-half years ago the Chicago and North- western Railway Company began to promote safety along the lines which had been found so efficient in the Steel Corporation. A recent report of this Company reveals the fact that compara- ing 1913 with 1910 a reduction of 35!/2 per cent, in employees killed has been made, and a reduction of 25 1/2 per cent, in em- ployee injured has been made. The number of passengers in- jured on this road has been reduced over 20 per cent. So imme- diate and striking has been the success of the safety work of the Northwestern Railway that within the last three years every great railroad in the United States has adopted the general plan of the Northwestern Railway and is now vigorously pro- moting safety. Out of the 244,000 miles of railroad in the United States nearly 200,000 is now operating under organized Safety. I recently received a letter from the Frisco Railroad which stated that during the first eleven months of their cam- paign for safety they made a reduction in men killed of 33 per cent, and of men injured, 27 per cent. The American Steel Foundries, which includes some eight large foundries making railroad castings, some three years ago were having about 85 eye injuries a month from chipping cast- ings. They adopted a very efficient type of goggle for their chippers and as a result have reduced the number of eye injuries from 85 a month to less than 10 a month. They have also made large reductions in other accidents. Harrison Brothers and Company, paint manufacturers in Philadelphia, began to promote safety vigorously something over 54 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA a year ago. They report that during the first year they made a reduction of 68 per cent, in accidents. The most remarkable record which has been made in Wis- consin has been made by the Fairbanks-Morse Manufacturing Company of Beloit, makers of gasoline engines. Comparing 1912 with 1906 this company has made a reduction in the num- ber of days lost for which compensation would have to be paid (that is, the number of days over seven days) of 72 per cent. The Chicago Street Railway Company has within the last year organized a Safety Department. I recently learned that whereas their traffic has increased 11 per cent, during the last eight months they have made a reduction of 10 per cent, in accidents. I think that all of the men who have been actively engaged in this safety campaign over the country will agree that the experience in the United States during the last five years has demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that it is possible to reduce by one-half the number of days lost by accident, and it is possible to pevent from 50 to 75 per cent, of the serious injur- ies and deaths. Assuming this to be true let us look back a moment to the 34,000 deaths and the 2,000,000 injuries in the United States which are reported by the Department of Labor. A reduction of one-half in deaths would mean 17,000 lives saved every year. Let us say that about 12,000 of them are men with families, which would mean 12,000 fewer widows, and say 36,000 fewer orphans. A reduction of one-half in days lost from injury would mean an enormous saving in suffering, and an enormous saving in wages, to say nothing of the gain in comforts and opportunities to the families in ways that cannot be computed. Out of the five years' experience in the various industries which have made the largest reductions in accidents has come this striking fact, and this fact is agreed to by practically all of the safety experts: that not more than one-third of the reduc- ions which have actually been made have been accomplished through the use of any safeguard or any mechanical equipment, while two-thirds of the reductions which have been made have been accomplished largely through organization and through education, in short, through reaching the workmen and securing their co-operation. The Statistical Department of the Industrial Commmission of Wisconsin has recently made up a chart showing causes of accidents in the industries of the state that is, accidents which caused disability of over seven days or resulted in death. This chart shows 7900 accidents which occurred from September 1, 1911, to November 1, 1912, a period of thirteen months. 2500 accidents occurred on machines and machine parts; that is, occurred at points where it might be possible to use a guard and to prevent the accident. However, it goes without saying that all of these accidents could not have been prevented by the use INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 55 of guards. 5400 out of the 7900 accidents occurred in ways where it is almost impossible to use any kind of a mechanical safeguard. A large number of accidents were caused by hot metals. Another group of accidents were caused by men being hit by chips, by hoisted and moved objects, by objects falling from piles, etc. Another large group of accidents came under the head of "falls" down stairs, from ladders, into excava- tions, etc. Slipping and stumbling caused many accidents. A considerable number of men w r ere injured in handling various heavy objects and in dropping heavy objects. The largest num- ber of injuries came from handling various kinds of tools. The experience of all men who have studied accident pre- vention emphasizes the point that accidents similar to these 5400 accidents can be prevented only by reaching the workman on the job, by instructing him in regard to how accidents hap- pen and the part which he must do in their prevention a part which is beyond the power of the employer to do. A recent re- port of the Interstate Commerce Commission contains a state- ment to the effect that 74 per cent, of the railroad accidents in the United States during the past year resulted from violation of simple rules of safety. I do not need to dwell upon the importance of building safe- guards to cover various points of danger on machines. Prac- tically all manufacturers are now familiar with this phase of safety work and appreciate its importance. In Wisconsin, for instance, during the last year there have been more guards built by the manufacturers than during any previous five years in the history of the state. Already we are beginning to realize results. During the months of April, May, June, and July of 1913 there was a reduction of 25.8 per cent, in machine accidents in Wisconsin. Comparing 1912 with the year 1907 a reduc- tion of 50 per cent has been made in the number of persons injured and killed in the entire state, and the indications now are that very substantial increases will be made over this record during the next two years. It goes without saying that unless the employer has done considerable work along the line of covering points of danger with guards, he is in no position to ask his workmen to co- operate in promoting safety. He must first show his ow r n good intentions by spending the money and doing what he can to protect the men. The experience of the companies which have done the most systematic work in accident prevention has dem- onstrated that practically every point of danger on machines can be covered with a simple and effective guard which will prevent the men from being accidentally injured. The experi- ence of these companies has revealed the fact that practically all of the best guards are simple, inexpensive, and are designed and made by experienced foremen and machinists who are close to the work and who can design guards which will be easily adapted to the situation. 56 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA Our study of accidents in Wisconsin has brought home to us in the most striking way, how, until recently, serious acci- dents and deaths were occurring every few days which might have been prevented by some simple and inexpensive guard. For instance, one manufacturer protested to the Commission against an order requiring that a set screw be removed or cov- ered on a line shaft ten feet from the floor. The Commission replied that our records showed that accidents happened at such points, but before the letter reached the man, or at least before he reached the set screw, one of his best men was caught on the set screw and whipped to death. An expenditure of 25 cents would easily have made that accident impossible. Recent- ly a boy in one of the factories went up the ladder and walked across a platform which was dark, and ran into a large belt and was swept around the pully and killed. Three or four old fence boards nailed together and placed in front of the belt would have prevented this accident. This crude guard would have cost almost nothing except a few minutes' time. One of the factories having a large number of men working in the foundry at one time had thirty men off with burned feet. On the recommendation of the Commission they adopted the plan of furnishing their foundrymen with moulders' gaiter shoes at cost. At the end of six months they reported that they had made a reduction in the burns to foundrymen of 85 per cent. I might go on to enumerate dozens of similar instances, but it is unnecessary. Every manufacturer who has made a study of accidents in his plant is fully alive to the necessity of cover- ing every point of danger with a guard where it is possible to protect the workmen by such guard, and when every point of danger which can been covered by a guard has been covered, then only one-third of the hazard has been taken care of, while two-thirds still remains to be provided for by reaching the men on the job. I had the privilege recently, at the second annual meeting of the National Council for Industrial Safety which met in New York in October, of spending three days with some 150 expert safety men who are connected with large companies which have done successful safety work. We conducted a series of round tables at which we exchanged our experiences in an informal way. I found that we all practically agreed on the essential points of the ways and means of organizing safety in the plants and of reaching the workmen. I wish to outline briefly the form of safety organization which has been adopted in practically all the manufacturing plants. I shall include only those features which are considered indispensable to secure good results. 1. It goes without saying that the men at the top the owner of the business and the manager, must be in sympathy with the movement and must get back of it, and as stated before INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 57 must have convinced the workmen of their own intentions by visible signs. 2. The next step is to appoint what is called a "Central Committee", composed of the Superintendent as Chairman, and four or five high-grade men in whom the owner of the business has confidence and in whom the foreman and workmen have confidence. The general management of the safety work is placed in the hands of this committee and all important matters are referred to it for decision. 3. Practically all plants have found it necessary to ap- point one man whom they call a Safety Inspector. In larger plants he gives his entire time to the work. In smaller plants he may give only a few hours each day to the work. The Safety Inspector acts as the secretary of the central committee and looks after all the details of inspection, all reports, and keeps in touch with the various committees in the shop. In other words, he attends to the details which busy superintendents and fore- men cannot and will not attend to. 4. It has been found indispensable to have each foreman make an inspection of his department, say once a week, and sub- mit to the central committee a written report regarding the conditions. This plan places a certain definite responsibility upon each foreman and gives him an active part in the safety campaign. Unless he is given a part to do he is apt not to take an active interest. 5. In the majority of plants the superintendent holds a meeting with his foreman at least once a month for the consid- eration of safety. The superintendent presides at these meet- ings and the Safety Inspector acts as secretary. A number of accidents which have occurred during the month are discussed and ways and means are suggested for their prevention. A very important and fruitful subject for discussion is the ways and means of reaching the workmen. It is always found that certain foremen are more successful along this line than others, and their suggestions serve to help and encourage the others. One superintendent told me that in one hour's time each month with his foremen gathered together he could do more to line them up and keep them interested and enthusiastic than by go- ing to them individually every day in the month. 6. The most important feature of organizing safety work has been workmen's inspecting committees. In each depart- ment three rank and file workmen are appointed to serve one, two and three months and are authorized and encouraged to make a thorough inspection of their departments once a week, or at least once a month. In many plants they also investigate serious accidents. The reports of these committees are always made in writing and are sent to their immediate foremen. The foremen attend to the majority of suggestions because they usu- ally cover minor points of danger and especially of careless practice. The complete report with the points which have been 58 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA attended to, checked off, is then pent to the central committee. I have made a careful investigation of a large number of plants in which workmen's committees have been appointed and in every case they have been successful and a surprising awak- ening of interest among the workmen has immediately resulted. When workmen are given responsibility and an active part to do they feel that they have been recognized and they at once take an new interest and a new attitude toward safety work. The experience of all factories with which I am familiar re- veals the fact that from 90 to 95 per cent of the suggestions which these committees make are practical and are accepted by the company. As the work progresses the workmen's commit- tees more and more report cases of carelessness and ignorance on the part of the workmen, and report less and less points of danger to be covered with guards. The 500 workmen on the committees of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway have re- ported, during the past three years, over 6,000 points of danger. I recently learned that all but about 200 of these suggestions have been accepted by the officers of the road. In the work of inspecting their department and in investi- gating their accidents the men learn what the superintendents and foremen cannot tell them and make them believe, namely : that two-thirds of the accidents are beyond the power of the employer or the foremen to prevent and must be prevented by the active co-operation of the workmen. When the workmen on these committees become interested and become informed in regard to the causes of accidents through their experience they become the best teachers and boosters in safety among the workmen, and can do very much to convince the workmen of the honest attitude of the employer, and especially in regard to the obligation of the workmen. In organizing a small plant, say of 50 to 300 employees, the same fundamental principles apply as have been outlined for a large plant. While the features of the plan which include the superintendent and foremen could be simplified, and in many cases should be simplified, the committees of the workmen are the one indispensable feature should be retained. The small plant can be organized in exactly the same way and just as successfully as one department in a large plant. This safety organization could be just as successfully adapted to a mine as to a factory. In every plant the instruction of workmen especially new men and non-English speaking men, in regard to danger, is made a very prominent feature of the safety work. So impor- tant is this considered that in some of the larger companies which employ a large number of non-English speaking men an intrepreter is employed who devotes his whole time to going among the new men and talking to them in regard to what the company is doing to protect the men, the part which the work- men are performing, and the dangers of the particular work INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 59 which the man is about to take up. In this work of instruction bulletin boards, books of rules, signs, shop bulletins, safety but- tons, moving pictures, calendars in the homes, have all been found valuable in keeping the safety idea uppermost in the minds of the workmen and in instructing them in regard to what they can do to protect themselves. The Illinois Steel Company has adopted the plan in all of its plants, of giving some small token such as a watch charm or pocket comb to each workman in a department, in which depart- ment no accident has occurred which causes a disability of over one day or over seven days. The plan has brought surprising results because the workmen feel that they have been recognized and rewarded for the part which they did in making the record for the department. The introduction of the safety movement into a plant does not mean the addition of more red tape or the imposition of a cumbersome system which will become a burden, but it means just what a manufacturing organization means a systematic and orderly and efficient way of taking care of a difficult prob- lem which has heretofore not been taken care of in a thorough- going manner. It means that a new force has been introduced into the plant which will keep up the interest and enthusiasm. During the last year the majority of large industries in Wiscon- sin have worked out safety organizations and in every case there has resulted an immediate awakening of interest and a reduc- tion of accidents within the first few months. I recently took the records of fifteen companies in the State which had adopted safety organizations and found that for the months of July and August, 1913, they had reported 40 per cent, fewer days lost on account of injury than for the corresponding months in 1912. While these figures are only tentative they are a fair indication of what may be accomplished. One of the most encouraging features of this whole cam- paign of organized safety work is that when once the manufac- turer organizes his plant and secures the active' co-operation of his workmen he is so pleased with the results that he never goes back to the old methods but in every case goes forward with increasing interest. I think the rapid progress which the Safety Movement is now making in the United States is largely attributable to the fact that manufacturers are learning of the remarkable results which have been secured in various plants by systematic efforts, and are becoming familiar with the details of safety organiza- tion. In every plant with which I am familiar where systematic safety work has been done it has resulted in an improved manu- facturing organization and in every case has resulted in a very substantial saving in money. Judging from my investigations I should say that any company which will properly organize and promote safety may realize a dividend of at least 25 per cent, on 60 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA the money invested. I know of plants which are realizing 50 per cent, on the investment. It goes without saying that most manufacturers are humanitarian in their attitude toward their workmen and do not wish to see their workmen killed or injured, but if com- bined with this feeling there goes the realization that safety work turns out to be good business organization, we have two powerful motives which combined give us almost a certain assur- ance that within a few years all of the manufacturing plants in the United States will be doing efficient safety work and very large reductions will be made in the number of men, women and children who are killed and injured. MR. SCRUGHAM: We will next call upon a man who has had much to do with the upbuilding of the great southern desert country of Nevada, wherein are situated the rich mines of Tonopah and Goldfield. I have the honor of introducing Mr. W. D. Forster, Traffic Man- ager of the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad. SAFETY FIRST ON RAILROADS. BY W. D. FORSTER, Traffic Manager Tonopah & Goldfield R. R. Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen: At the outset I wish to congratulate those responsible for this meeting on the very successful culmination of their efforts. It must indeed be extremely gratifying to these gentlemen when they realize the attention this very important subject is receiv- ing, as symbolized by the large audience. We railroad people see much good resulting from this happily conceived meeting ; it affords us to exchange views on subjects in which we are vitally interested and enable us to reach the public, to whom we look with much hope as a strong ally in the important movement of Safety First. The gentlemen speaking on the Safety First subject, who have preceded me, have so thoroughly, so learnedly, and so minutely dissected the case that it would seem that there was very little left for me to say. There are, however, one of two points that were not appropriated by my predecessors, upon which it will be my privilege and pleasure to address you. It is a fitting occasion, Mr. Chairman, to extend to a rail- road company, one in which every Nevadan takes much pride, one that is so closely interwoven with the present prosperity and future welfare of our State that we claim it as our own, the great Southern Pacific Company, our sincere congratulations upon the proud position it has attained in the Safety First INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 61 Movement. There are a number of this company's officials and employees in our audience, and I say to these gentlemen that they have every reason to be extremely proud of that great transportation machine of which they are a part. The E. H. Harriman Gold Medal was awarded by the American Museum of Safety to the Southern Pacific Compnay "For the utmost progress in safety and accident prevention dur- ing the year ended June 30, 1913." During the past five years the Southern Pacific Company has operated over 10,000 miles of railroad without a single fatality to a passenger through collision, derailment, or other train accident, truly a wonder- ful achievement in railroad operation. While Federal enactments have to date contributed largely to the elimination, or rather the lessening of the frightful toll of human life in railroad operations, there are some things yet to be accomplished by the railroads, earnestly assisted by the pub- lic, which will materially lessen the death and injured list. The Safety Appliance Act, the Hours of Service Law, the Boiler Inspection Law, the Ash Pan Law and others, were not founded merely upon sentiment, and were not enacted, as some people think, for the sole purpose of imposing additional and unnecessary expense on the carriers, but were prompted by a humanitarian feeling which is not, nor can be measured by the commercial standard of money. The results, as the years roll by, are not only gratifying but confirm the wisdom of those who build on equity and fellow love. Engine headlights of adequate lighting force, to insure the necessary service, are an element of safety and are twin sisters to the block signals and yard switch lights ; each contributes its quota to the safety movement, which in the main is the one big problem in railroad operations. The Block Signal and Train Control Board inspection re- port during 1913, among other things, says: "Nowhere in the world have appliances for safeguarding railroad transporta- tion been so highly developed as in this country." It is not my intention to inflict upon you an array of statis- tics, but in order to present this matter in an analytical light, I crave your indulgence of a few figures. Deplorable as is the annual casualty list of railways and no class regrets it as much as the railroad managers themselves there is the bright ray of hope in the form of improvement, brought about by the Safety First Movement, which has been inaugurated on all important roads, and which is uppermost in the mind of every railroad head to-day. Over 53 per cent, of the total killed on the rail- roads in this country during 1913 were trespassers, that is, per- sons who had no connection with the railroad either as opera- tives or passengers, but who were totally disinterested individu- als. Now, what possible reason or excuse can be advanced for the slaughter of this number of people? None whatever. It is in the nature of wholesale slaughter and entirely beyond the 62 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA province of any mechanical device to remedy. The railroads are not pleading guilty to this red indictment. This human loss is not upon their heads. Think of it, over 53 per cent, of the total killed were persons who had no business to be on the railroad property trespassers. To those who will observe, it is quite obvious where the fault lies and where we must look for a remedy. The human equation, the human ele- ment, can effect a remedy, but only through two possible chan- nels : One, that the public get the Safety habit as the railroad has it ; the other, means the co-operation of the public to the end that laws be enacted to prevent trespassing. Very few states have laws specifically directed against tres- passing on railroad tracks, and those that are in effect are of such a mild form as to invite constant violation. They are rarely, if ever, enforced, but strong laws covering the matter can be enacted and can be enforced. The carriers have very little trouble with the Federal law covering the breaking of seals on freight cars; and what can be accomplished in that can be accomplished by or through a proper law honestly enforced, covering trespassing on railroad property. Now, Mr. Chairman, it is not conceivable that the railroads are anxious to kill and maim people; apart from the economic waste involved in such a performance, it is expensive, and for that, if for no other reason, sound business economy would frown on this deplorable human waste. The amount paid by railroads for injury to persons during 1912 was $27,640,851, and the amount paid for claims on ac- count of loss and damage to freight caused through wrecks was $34,197,285, totaling, $61,838,186, or 2.20 per cent, of the earn- ings. Think of such a hugh economic waste. Why, this amount has a borrowing capacity, on the basis of 6 per cent, in- terest of over one billion dollars ; and don't you think at this period of tight money that the railroad would gladly, in fact, fairly move heaven and earth to save this money if they could? Yes, sir, laying aside for the moment the human element, the commercial necessity would prompt every railroad manager to eliminate this waste. The many thousand miles of expensive block signals, the many thousands of protected crossings, the large and expensive mileage of elevated approaches to congested terminals, entailing as they do an enormous outlay in money, all bear proof of the desire of the railways to protect their patrons and their pat- rons' goods entrusted to their care, and it must not be forgotten that many millions of this expense were voluntarily contracted by the railroads themselves. The many thousand miles of block signals, costing many millions of dollars, is not the result of legal requirements, but on the contrary resulted from the voluntary action of the railroads, thus proving their foresight and initia- tive, backed by the courage to spend prodigious sums to protect and safeguard human life and public property. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 63 It is apparent from statistics of railway casualties that less than one-twelfth are in any way due to causes that can be reme- died by mechanical appliances for the protection of trains. The other eleven-twelfths results from causes common to all condi- tions and occupations under the sun. In one country accidents to agriculturists take precedence; in another, those who go down to the sea in ships are the most numerous victims. Taking into consideration the number of employees, the number of passengers carried, both for the year and for one mile, the number of tons of freight handled and the increase in rail mileage, single, double and side tracks, the number of killed and injured on the railroads is decreasing. Compared with European railroads, the number of passen- gers killed on American roads for 1912 was only half as many, and less than 14 per cent, more employees, although our rail- road employees operated 20 per cent, more miles of road and 54 per cent, more units of traffic. The causes of loss of life and damage to and loss of property through train operations are many. Train collisions and derail- ments are the principal contributors, and condition of track and speed of trains the disease. Having thoroughly diagnosed the symptoms, what remedy to apply either for partial or complete extermination is the cause of much loss of sleep and the addi- tion of many gray hairs to the railroad managers at this very moment. I realize that it is almost revolutionary to advocate Gov- ernmental control over the speed of passenger trains; but it is coming. After all, we are not in such a great hurry when trav- eling as we imagine we are. The principal object sought by every railroad manager should be Safety. To reach the desired goal, the first step is a sane passenger train schedule. The rate of speed at which passenger trains are operated is entirely under the control of the railroad officials, but if the rate of speed is too high and endangers the lives and limbs of its patrons, the pub- lic can and evidently will demand regulation. It is an easy matter to criticize, but what about the remedy ? A criticism without a remedy usually emanates from an individ- ual who is a most pleased and interested audience to his own voice. One eminent authority relieves himself of the following: 'The crying need of railway service to-day is a sensible and entirely workable code of rules governing the operation of trains a code that can be obeyed under all conditions of opera- tion, a code the primary purpose of which shall be the preven- tion of accidents rather than the avoidance of legal responsi- bility for their occurrence." Splendid, so far as it goes; but where does it lead one? Every railroad man in this country knows we need just what the gentleman says, but how to reach that much desired goal is the rub. I suppose specialists and experts will continue to give 64 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA the railroad people their advice at so much per, but in the last analysis it will be the practical man who will work out the solution. To that end the railroad manager must have the assistance of the public, the co-operation of every railroad user, both trav- eler and shipper. Through this human agency the public must be schooled in safety, caution, obedience. Safety, prompted by the law of self-preservation; caution, on the approach to or leaving cars at stations or crossings, or while traveling; and obedience to the rules, signs and signals of the railroad. A constant observation of these fundamental rules, together with the adoption of a strong Federal law against trespassing, and perhaps a Federal law regulating the speed of passenger trains, a continued development in the per- fection of the Block Signal, and other safety appliances, the casualties of our railroads should cease ; and our constant hope, yes, and prayer is that they will cease. MR. SCRUGHAM : The Southern Pacific has several representatives here, one of whom is from their New York office, and I will ask Mr. John C. Weigandt, representing the Chairman of the Executive Board, to favor us with a few words. MR. WEIGANDT: Mr. Chairman, and Ladies, and Gentlemen: I was not expecting to be called upon for an address, and thought my ef- forts were to be confined to lecturing within the booth; never- theless, I am very glad of having the opportunity of bringing to your attention several of the principal features of our exhibit. As you enter the booth, on the left, on the wall, you will see a chart showing fatalities to persons on the Southern Pacific lines in the last five years on practically 12,000 miles of road. I want to draw your attention particularly to the fact that of all the fatalities 64.3 per cent, were trespassers. I want to let that sink in just for a moment that represents about two-thirds of all of the fatalities on the Southern Pacific lines. On the other hand, the same chart shows that the fatalities to passengers in train accidents were nothing. Not a single passenger was killed in five years in a train accident. Further along the same wall, there is a chart showing what the engineers and trainmen are accomplishing with the surprise tests. You will find the percentage of efficiency hovers around 99 per cent, in the years from 1906 to 1913. You will find two drops, but it has never been below 92 per cent, so there has been a general percentage of efficiency of about 98 per cent. That shows the high standard of efficiency of the Southern Pacific engineer, and I would like to have you study that chart before you go. There is another thing, no doubt, that will prove very inter- esting, the evolution of the hospital. You will find that on the INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 65 back wall. In 1867 we rented in Sacramento a building for hos- pital uses for employees. In 1869, two years later, we built a hospital at the same place, and it is the first one in the world for the exclusive treatment of railroad employees. You will find that in 1899 we built a general hospital in San Francisco. That was destroyed in the fire in 1906, but it has been replaced with a building which you will find located at the entrance of the Golden Gate Park. With these few remarks and extending you a cordial invita- tion to visit the booth before you leave, I will close. MR. SCRUGHAM: This concludes the formal program for this afternoon's meeting. Mr. J. J. Mullin, who may justly be termed the father of the Industrial Saftey Movement in Nevada, has received a number of interesting letters from some of the foremost indus- trial leaders in America commending the work of this Confer- ence. We will call upon Mr. Mullin to read such portions as may be of special interest to the Conference : NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Committee for Accident Prevention and Workmen's Compensation Office of the Chairman Springfield, 111., January 14, 1914. Mr. John J. Mullin, Secretary Nevada Industrial Commission, Carson City, Nevada. My Dear Mr. Mullin: I have your good letter of January 8th. This is addressed to me as President of the Citizens' Industrial Association of St. Louis. This office I have not held for more than two years past, but I am just as much inter- ested in the Safety Movement as ever, even though my duties hold me at the present time in Springfield, 111., as shown by the attached business card. You are aware, of course, that while I have given to the Safety Movement nearly half of my time during the last five years, I have never held a paid position. I have been glad to give what energy there is in me to the Safety Movement, and probably get more joy out of the time spent thus than other business men get out of their golf games or other occupa- tions 'for leisure hours. I am more than glad to see from your letter that a Safety First Con- vention will be given at the University of Nevada and that this Convent- tion will be held under the auspices of the Engineers' Club. Being an electrical, mechanical engineer by profession, and having devoted much of my time during the last few years to agricultural engineering, I naturally have a warm spot for the engineering profession; in fact, as one of my old Professors put it, I believe Engineering as important as Philosophy, if not more so. This Professor told me that every man intending to become a philosopher ought to study mechanical engineering first so as to acquire horse sense. While this seems somewhat of a reflection upon our philoso- phers, it is by no means bad advice. Whenever I hear that the engineering profession is taking a special interest in our new modern conservation methods, especially human con- servation methods, I feel proud of the fact that I am an engineer, even 66 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA though I do not follow the profession now because business and financial affairs require all of my time. You ask me to send you a paper on the subject of "Safety First", but instead I would rather have you read to the gathering such parts of this letter as you desire. Tell them for me that no effort in my life has given me quite the satisfaction that the five years which I have spent in the Safety First Movement. Tell them for me that the State of Nevada ought to be proud of the interest the State and the Industrial Commission have taken in the human conservation movement. Be assured that you are right in taking hold of his movement and especially in establishing a local Council to be affiliated with the National Council for Industrial Safety. You are aware that I am a member of the Executive Committee of this organization. You may be aware that I was one of the organization and served the Council as its Chairman last year. It is to my mind one of the deserving and one of the best movements of the age. Whatever we may do in the conservation movement, it is a fact that the lives and limbs of our toilers, the health and well being of our people, are more important than all other natural resources of the United States, and that the preservation of these resources is far more important than the perpetuation of forest, stream, and soil. It seems to me particularly important that our Engineering Schools take more cognizance of the Safety Movement, and it is a strange coinci- dence that practically on the same day on which the Safety First Conven- tion takes place at Reno I am to address the engineering students at Shef- field Scientific School of Yale University. To be used in this talk I am preparing fifty or more new charts and lantern slides which should appeal with particular force to engineers and engineering students. I am going to send this material in the form of an illustrated pamphlet, to our members and I shall be very glad to send you some of these books if you care for them. It is quite possible that you may not have paid special attention to the "Open Letter" which I issued to the Colleges several years ago. I attach it hereto. My plea is as timely to-day as it was then, only more important and more pressing. And now in conclusion, let me again urge you to push the Safety First Movement with all of your energy and all of your strength. There is no better movement, and I hope to have the opportunity to discuss in person with you and your associates within the next year or so the good work that is being done now from ocean to ocean, and which work should find its natural expression in the establishment of Safety Councils in all parts of the United States to be affiliated with a central body at present located in Chicago. Truly yours, FRED C. SCHWEDTMAN, Chairman. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Committee for Accident Prevention and Workmen's Compensation Office of the Chairman, 706 Locust Street, Saint Louis, Mo. AN OPEN LETTER TO THE COLLEGES We are assured by many authorities that a college education in our best institutions is conducted upon more practical lines than in European Schools. This is particularly true of technical schools, engineering col- leges and and agricultural schools. The civil engineer, mechanical, elec- trical, chemical, and agricultural engineers turned out yearly by our many excellent institutions are the men who in a large measure will write the INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 67 future history of the United States. They are showing us how to grow two dollars where one grew before. Our colleges deserve great credit for popularizing education. Cor- responding courses have brought a college education within the reach of everybody willing to work. New branches and new degrees have been added as fast as modern conditions require, but it seems to me that there is one field in which developments of recent years invite the prompt action of our colleges. I speak of "safety engineering." The economic loss in the United States due to accidents is estimated by eminent authorities as $250,000,000.00 annually, and this money value is as nothing compared with human considerations. We are learning that the health and independence of our people, the self-respect and earning capacity of our wage-workers, the lives and limbs of our toilers are our nation's best assets and that their safe-guarding is five times as important to the nation as the preservation of forest, stream and soil. Up to a few years ago the principal consideration in designing and operating American machinery was speed and output. To-day humanity has placed a new requirement ahead of quantity and quality, namely: "Safety". A few years ago accident prevention was considered in the United States an abstract and theoretical question. To-day is the most con- crete and practical problem confronting us. A few years ago a room 12x 12 could easily hold all the persons devoting time and study to the subject of accident prevention in the United States. To-day five hundred or more delegates engaged in practical safe-guarding of mine, industry and trans- portation, attended the first "Co-operative Safety Congress" held in the United States. A large manufacturing concern, which does not employ regularly one or more safety experts, is, at the present day, considered as much behind the times as a plant with out-of-date machinery. While it may require the club of the law to bring realization of safety conditions to some employers and some employees, it is my conviction based upon experience that a large majority of our people are anxious to comply with every reasonable precaution as soon as they know and under- stand. It is not the policeman's star and club that is nearly so much re- quired as education. I have ten requests on hand for every available safety engineer. Thousands of foremen, machinists and steam engineers would enroll in a correspondence course of safety engineering Thous- ands of graduates of our colleges in safety engineering would find at once remunerative employment not only in manufacturing establishments but in our public schools, where safety, accident prevention and first aid to injured should be taught in an elementary way. Large amounts of energy and money are wasted every day of the year in going at the problem of accident prevention in a wrong or ineffi- cient manner. Thousands of State Factory Inspectors, who should by law be required to be graduated safety engineers, have little conception of the fundamental principles of their official duties. All these conditions retard safety engineering, and colleges can ren- der wonderful service to the country by establishing means of supplying the greatest demand of the day, competent safety engineers. As speaking for the National Association of Manufacturers of the U. S. A., I am sure that the colleges can count upon the hearty co-opera- tion of all employees. F. C. SCHWEDTMAN, Chairman. Committee for Accident Prevention and Workmen's Compensation. 68 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR INDUSTRIAL SAFETY Office of the President Chicago, 111., January 23, 1914. Mr. John J. Mullin, Secretary Nevada Industrial Commission, Carson City, Nevada. My Dear Mr. Mullin: Very many thanks for having sent me the kind invitation from the Engineers' Club of the University of Nevada for its meeting on Tuesday evening, January 27th. I very much regret, however, that the point of geographical location, makes it impossible for me to avail myself of this invitation. I should, of course, have very much liked to attend. Wishing the meeting every success, I am, Yours very truly, R. W. CAMPBELL, President. AVERY COMPANY Peoria, 111., Jan. 24. 1914. Mr. John J. Mullin, Secretary Nevada Industrial Commission, Carson City, Nevada. My Dear Mr. Mullin: The writer wishes to acknowledge to you personally the pleasure he has had in receiving an invitation to attend the Safety First Conference, which is to be held under the auspices of the University of Nevada and the Nevada Industrial Commission at the University of Nevada on the 26th and 27th of this month. I anticipate with a great deal of interest any reports you may send in reference to the program or the discussions. We are at present exceedingly busy taking inventory and preparing for the annual meeting on the 17th of next month. The writer would very much like to attend the Conference, but cannot see now that it will be possible for him to get away or to go so great a distance. Rest assured, however, that I shall be present in spirit although not in person. Very respectfully yours, AVERY COMPANY, G. L. AVERY, Secretary. WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION SERVICE BUREAU 80 Maiden Lane New York, January 19, 1914. Mr. John J. Mullin, Secretary Nevada Industrial Commission, Carson City, Nevada. Dear Sir: I have for acknowledgment your favor of the 13th inst. advising of a Safety First Conference to be held at the University of Nevada, Reno, Ne- vada, on Jan. 26th and 27th. Permit me to express my deep appreciation for the invitation. Un- fortunately, however, distance precludes any possibility of my being pres- ent. I assure you, however, that nothing should have given me more pleasure than to have spent the two days with you. Will you be kind enough to express on my behalf to the Engineers' Club of the University of Nevada my sincere regret at my inability to avail myself of their kind invitation and further assure them that I am heartily in favor of the movement undertaken. I have traveled in practically every section of Nevada, having inspected most of the mines and industrial es- tablishments there and know that improvements in point of safety are obtainable if a concerted movement for that purpose is inaugurated, but let it be a movement of deed rather than of promise. We have found in different parts of the country that enthusiasm in the subject is easily work- INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 69 ed up, but when it comes to achieving actual results, we find that some of our greatest enthusiasts lag behind. I hope and believe that the State of Nevada will go after Safety First with true characteristic Western enthusiasm, and if they do, success will be theirs. C. M. HANSEN, Secretary. UNITED STATES CORPORATION 71 Broadway, Empire Building New York, January 19, 1914. Mr. John J. Mullin, Secretary Nevada Industrial Commission, Carson City, Nevada. Dear Sir: This is to acknowledge receipt of your very kind invitation, dated January 13, 1914, to participate in your Safety First Conference in Reno, January 26th and 27th, and also to be the guest at a dinner given by the Engineers' Club. I thank you very much for your kind invitation and regret exceeding- ly that it will be impossible for me to attend. Your letter mentions that a copy of the program was attached, but I am unable to find it. May I be favored with another copy. I would also be very much pleased if I could receive a copy of the records of the Conference provided that they are printed and distributed. With very best wishes for the success of your Conference, I am, Very sincerely yours, C. W. CLOSE, Manager. P.S. I am sending you a copy of our Number Four Bulletin, in which you may be interested. THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF SAFETY 29 W. 39th Street, New York, January 22, 1914. Mr. John J. Mullin, Secretary Nevada Industrial Commission, Carson City, Nevada. My Dear Sir: Acknowledging your kind favor of January 13th, inviting me to be your guest at a dinner at your Safety First Conference January 27th, I only regret that you should have selected a place of meeting so far from New York. Believe me it would give me great pleasure to be present, and I de- sire you to extend the greetings of the American Museum of Safety to yourself and colleagues. Very truly yours, W. H. TOLMAN, Director. P.S. If you have any published report of the meeting, I shall be glad to receive a copy. PROFESSOR SCRUGHAM: The program for this evening's entertainment is as follows : Presiding Officer H. C. Neeld, International Association of Machinists Honarary Presiding Officers W. S. Lunsford, Reno Typographical Union H. A. Lemmon, State Industrial Commission No. 1 Demonstration of Wireless Telegraphy and of Discharges of High Potential Electricity; by Departments of Electrical Engineer- ing and Physics, University of Nevada. No. 2. Motion Pictures, "The Manufacture of Steel," loaned by the U. S. Steel Corporation. No. 3. Motion Pictures, "University Campus and Laboratories." No. 4. Motion Pictures, "Miners at Work, Mine Explosion and Rescue," U. S. Bureau of Mines. 70 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA We are in receipt of telegrams stating that Governor Oddie, W. R. Scott, General Manager of the Southern Pacific Company, and numerous other men of prominence in the industrial world, will arrive some time to-morrow. A special train will be in waiting to-morrow night at 9 o'clock at the S. P. depot to convey those who desire to attend the headlight tests. This concludes the afternoon program. GENERAL MEETING JANUARY 27, 1914, 10 A. M. MR. P. E. RAYMOND, President University of Nevada Engin- eers' Club: The principal business of this session will be a discussion of Safety Regulations for Electric Power Companies. We have for our presiding officer this morning one of the most eminent authorities in America, whose work along such lines has received highest commendation. I present Mr. A. H. Babcock, Chief Electrical Engineer for the Southern Pacific Company: MR. BABCOCK: The opening paper is by Mr. W. K. Freudenberger, Chief Engineer of the Nevada Public Service Commission. As he has been detained by traffic interruptions, the paper will be read by Mr. Delwyn Dessar of the University of Nevada Engineers' Club: SAFETY REGULATIONS FOR ELECTRIC POWER COMPANIES. BY W. K. FREUDENBERGER The above named subject was assigned to me for a paper to be presented at this meeting, with the explanation that it is for the purpose of securing uniform practice in the protection of high voltage electric lines, and, further, that it touch upon the Nevada laws on the subject. Taking up the subject of uniform practice in the construc- tion of electric lines, including all classes, from low voltage to, extra high voltage, I unhesitatingly recommend the adoption of the specifications prepared by the National Electric Light Asso- ciation, and published in their 1911 report. In order to properly bring the subject before the meeting for discussion, some of the most important parts of these speci- fications are attached as an appendix. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 71 Adverting to the Nevada laws on the subject, I find the following : All regular line wires for electric light or power service, shall be placed a distance of more than 16 inches from the center line of any pole, whether or not they are attached to same. Line wires intended to carry more than 600 volts, shall be placed 4 feet or more in a vertical direction from line wires intended to carry less than 600 volts, but the distance between such wires may be only 32 inches in a horizontal direction if placed on the same cross-arm. Provided, however, that at all times a clearance of not less than 2 feet in a vertical direction at a point of crossing is main- tained between wires carrying more than 600 volts, and wires carrying less than 600 volts. All crossarms on which are lines carrying from 600 to 15,000 volts, shall be painted a bright yellow, or, on such cross- arms shall be placed enameled iron signs, providing in white letters on green background, the words "High Voltage," and these letters shall not be less than 3 inches in height, and said signs shall be securely fastened to the face and back of each crossarm. All guy wires attached to poles carrying electric light or power wires, shall contain insulators at a distance of not less than 4 feet nor more than 8 feet (measured along the line of guy wire) from the upper end thereof, and not less than 8 feet ver- tically above the ground from the lower end thereof, and pro- vided further, that whenever two or more guy wires are attach- ed to same pole and same anchorage there shall be at least 1 foot vertical space between the points of attachment. And further provided, that where guy is attached to a pole or structure of steel or other conducting material, which is thoroughly ground- ed, no insulation shall be required in any point in said guy. All electric light and power w r ires which are run vertically on poles shall be wholly in conduit equal in durability and insul- ating efficiency to a wooden casing not less than 11/2 inches thick. Arc lamps and transformers shall not be placed on the same pole. None of the provisions of the preceding sections shall be held to apply to direct current electric wires having the same pol- arity, except the spacing between pole and wires. All span wire shall contain insulators at each end, insul- ators to be placed not less than 2 feet nor more than 4 feet from the ends. The Public Service Commission of Nevada shall see that the provisions of this act are enforced. Any violation of any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed a misdemeanor and shall be punishable upon conviction by a fine of not exceeding $500, or, by imprisonment in a county 72 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA jail not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and impris- onment. This act shall take effect six months from the date of its passage in so far as it relates to new work, and a period of five years shall be allowed in which to reconstruct all existing work and construction to comply with the provisions of this act. The following law also applies to the larger electric com- panies operating in this state; those which have filed their ac- ceptance of the terms of the provisions of the act approved March 2, 1901, Chapter 25, Laws of 1901, or which complied with the procedure authorized by Chapter 190 of the Laws of 1907. This law coming under Chapter 132, Laws of 1909. Section 2. Such persons or corporations shall keep their plants, poles and wires, and necessary appurtenances in good repair, so as not to interfere with the passage of persons or vehicles or the safety of persons or property. Such poles shall be not less than 30 feet in height, and the wires strung thereon shall be not less than 25 feet above the ground, and such per- sons or corporations shall provide a competent electrician at the expense of such persons or corporations, to cut and repair such wires as are necessary for the removal of the buildings or other property through the streets of said counties, cities or towns with all due diligence. Section 3. The appurtenances of said plant shall be of the most approved construction for the comfort and conveniences of the inhabitants of said counties, cities and towns of this state. Although there have not been a large number of serious or fatal accidents on the high tension lines in this state, the num- ber could be still further reduced by using greater care. I have gone over the accident reports made by the public utilities of this state for the last three years, which are on file with the Public Service Commission, and find that there were four accidents in 1911, three in 1912, and three in 1913, briefly described as fol- lows YEAR 1911 Linemen working on a corner pole guyed in only one direc- tion. Pole broke off at ground line, resulting in a broken leg and sprained right arm. Lineman repairing lightning arrester, exposed himself to the live side of same, and was severely burned. Lineman was removing some unused wires from a pole. Pole had rotted off at ground line. When wires were removed the pole fell, resulting in a broken leg. Man was fastened to pole by a safety belt. Lineman killed when telephone wire came in contact with high tension line. A line gang were stringing a pair of tele- phone wires on the poles of a live high tension line. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 73 YEAR 1912 Laborer was killed by touching an overhead high tension wire with an iron pipe. The wire was probably not more than 15 feet from the ground. Three men in a surveying party using a 600-foot steel tape, working beneath a high tension line, flipped the tape up against the wires and were all more or less severely burned. Workman was killed by bringing a ladder into contact with a high tension line which was about twenty feet overhead. YEAR 1913 High wind blew down a pole carrying high tension line which came in contact with another line, resulting in a workman on the latter line having his hands severely burned. Patrolman had his hands badly burned by a lightning stroke. He was standing on the ground repairing a dead trans- mission line wire, and had the line grounded with safety chains in the regulation manner. Mining company built up a dump beneath a transmission line to such an extent that a workman in raising a track rail brought it in contact with the wires and received slight burns. In addition to these reports I will refer to several fatal accidents which occurred in Nevada before 1911. In 1904 a lineman was killed while repairing a dead line, which was on the same poles with a live line, the wire from which he received the fatal shock evidently having come in con- tact with the live wires. The manager of the company oper- ating this line, states that since this accident no repair work has been done on this line until both circuits have been discon- nected and grounded. In a second case, occurring in 1909, a man was electrocuted by leaning against a corrugated iron building with one foot against a tram rail w r hich extended into a tunnel. A 2000-volt wire, which crossed over this building came in contact with the roof. The sagging of the wire being caused by the breaking of a guy wire two poles distant from the building. In a third case, a carpenter was killed when he turned a switch on a 110-volt circuit. It was suspected that the distrib- uting line had come in contact with a 2000-volt line. Since that time all transformer neutrals on the system have been grounded. A fourth case occurred in 1909. A lineman was electrocuted while tying in live wire lines carrying 4000 volts. A fifth case occurred in 1909. A lineman was electrocuted by being grounded from a 4000-volt line to a guy wire which was not properly insulated. The line was supposed to be dead at the time,, but due to an oversight of the entire repair gang one switch had not been opened. A sixth case occurred the same year. A lineman was elec- trocuted when he climbed a tree and attempted to remove a loose limb from contact with a 2000-volt line. 74 'UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA A seventh case occurred in 1910. A lineman was electrocut- ed while working on a 220-volt line. A 2000-volt line became loose and dropped on a transformer, and in some manner the higher voltage was transferred to the line on which the man was working. The Telluride Power Company, one of the pioneers in high tension transmission, writes as follows on this subject: "On the transmission lines where one would expect the greatest danger, we have had practically no serious accidents. We never work on a live high tension line, nor do we employ the construction now coming into such widespread use of having two 3-phase circuits on one structure. Before any repairs are made to any section of line, switches are opened at both ends. In addition we have a rigid, switch-type grounding and short-cir- cutting device to prevent dynamic voltage being thrown on the line and to remove static charges. These grounding devices are arranged so as to lock shut and be under the absolute control of the men working on that particular section of line. "We do not install telephone wires on our high tension trans- mission structures. Our reasons are mainly to avoid operating difficulties rather than to obviate any danger that there may be. "Our stations are so designed that operators cannot come in contact with any high tension parts in the ordinary pursuit of their duties. During the 15 years operation, several accidents have occurred, but they may all be attributed to occasional lapse of human vigilance in pursuit of a thorough knowledge of the danger. The operators are thoroughly cognizant of the danger, when doing special work, and there seem to be no further measures toward the protection of human life than we have al- ready taken." In further reference to this subject I have for distribution a number of copies of the Safety Regulations for Public Utili- ties which were issued by the Public Service Commission. I also have single copies of safety rules issued by some of the large operating companies which any one present may inspect. In conclusion I will say that in my opinion the best way to secure safe construction and operation of high tension lines and apparatus is to employ none but competent and experienced men. MR. BABCOCK: We will now call upon Mr. Geo. A. Campbell, General Man- ager of the Truckee River General Electric Company and Reno Power, Light and Water Company, to discuss the subject. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 75 SAFETY REGULATIONS FOR ELECTRIC POWER COMPANIES BY G. A. CAMPBELL I have listened to Mr. Freudenberger's paper with a great deal of interest, and I think he has covered practically every- thing. Certain standards have been adopted and we are all try- ing to follow them. With my company in Reno especially, we are trying to follow them right up to the standard. Outside of Reno we have some few lines yet to be brought up to the stand- ard, which we are doing as rapidly as possible. I noted the mention of operation of high tension lines. Operation of high tension lines as we all know, is dangerous. We know that they should never be repaired while the lines are hot. The usual custom of repairing high tension lines, if there are two circuits on one pole line, is to disconnect both. We do not work one line while the other is hot. We had an accident eight or nine years ago on a double circuit line, in which a man lost an arm. He thought he could repair the line by pulling up the line on one side of the pole while the other was hot, and the wire slipped over to the other line. Our rule is that they must now be grounded at both ends. My company has recently started an inspection of power plants to prevent fire hazard, and they have followed up with the prevention of accident hazard. I am going to mention some of these things that come up. We think we have a very fine plant. We are proud of it. When I heard from headquarters that we were going to have an accident preven- tion inspection, I said, "When the inspector comes along, he will find that some of the old plants which have been in existence 12 or 15 years may not be in the best shape, but this new plant will be in good shape." I repeated the remark to him. His reply was, "You have a fine plant." BUT- . Here is his report on the plant. It covers three pages. I will just read one or two items : "It is recommended that you place barriers so that unauth- orized persons cannot have access to the back of the switch- board in the southeast corner. Gate or wire netting door, by which access is obtained to the back of the board, should be pro- vided with a lock, but to be arranged so that it can be opened from the inside with ease and promptness. Door should of course, swing outward." It covers a number of little things like that. We took his inspection report, and immediately began work so that when he comes down next year he can give us a more favorable report. That is just one of the plants. He has a general report for acci- dent dangers. This report is suitable for any plant. Not alone 76 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA a power house, but a steam plant, or factory, or anything of that kind. He begins this report as follows: "Special attention should be given to the subject matter contained in this report relating to portable and fixed ladders, fences, and railings, stairways, portable steps and stools, house- keeping, tools, emery wheels, lathes, and the guarding of mechanical transmission machinery and moving parts." He also laid a good deal of stress on tools. I accompanied him over our system, and I noticed at each station he inspected the tool box. Whenever he found a chisel that was mushroomed, he called attention of the operator to it, and said that he should have that tool dressed. He said there were more accidents from chips flying from tools than anything else. The boys are all taking a great deal of interest, and they expect to accomplish some very fine results from this inspection. MR. BABCOCK: Mr. Campbell's discussion has brought out many points of interest to us all. The next speaker is Mr. Fred Mechling, Manager of the Nevada-California Power Company, who will tell us something of the Safety work of his Company. SAFETY PRECAUTIONS OF THE NEVADA-CALIFORNIA POWER COMPANY BY F. B. MECHLING This subject of Safety regulation is one that interests all the power companies very much, and I desire to state that the Ne- vada-California Power Company is thoroughly in sympathy with this Safety movement, and wants to do everything possible to show their interest in it. As the paper written by Mr. Freudenberger outlines the rules covering Safety regulations which have been adopted after a careful study of this subject by the National Electric Light Association, any criticism of these rules is naturally a difficult proposition. In the operation of the Nevada-California Power Company, these rules, which are considered standard, are being followed as closely as possible. In connection with the use of electric power in the opera- tion of mines, I would suggest that as a matter of precaution to the miners, special attention should be given to the proper grounding of motors used for hoists, compressors, and pumps. The hoist motors should be grounded independent from the hoist frame which may be installed on a wooden or concrete foundation. In a dry climate this affords but a partial ground, INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 77 and does not protect a miner working in a wet shaft coming in contact with the bucket or steel cable connected through the hoist to the motor. In case of a break down in the motor insula- tion, a dangerous condition of affairs is brought about. All motors used for the operation of air compressors and pumps should have their starters perfectly grounded as a matter of precaution to the operators. In the operation of the Nevada-California Power Company, all transformers in the various sub-stations are grounded; also all lighting transformers have their neutral wire grounded as a protection to the consumer and to the linemen working on the light distributing system. The company is operating parallel power transmission lines between its hydro-electric plants, and its distributing plants. These transmission lines total 350 miles of three-phase single- circuit lines which are divided into sections of 25-mile lengths. When trouble occurs along this line, the particular section is killed before any linemen are permitted to make repairs. In addition to opening switches, the linemen are instructed to use short-circuiting ground chains immediately on either side of the trouble as an additional safeguard. MR. BABCOCK: We thank Mr. Mechling for his valuable discussion. Prac- tical suggestions are very useful, and it gives me great pleasure to call upon a man I know from old acquaintance, Mr. F. 0. Broili, Superintendent of the Elko-Lamoille Power Company; a man who has grown up with the electrical industry and whose experiences will be of interest to us. SAFETY REGULATIONS FOR ELECTRIC POWER COMPANIES BY F. 0. BROILI It is a well recognized fact that in most damage suits that are brought into courts, the injured party was injured, appar- ently, by carelessness or neglect on his own part. When inves- tigated it is generally found due to momentary forgetfulness. If the injured party had remembered at the particular moment that there was danger in a certain operation, he would not have done what he did. Call it what you will, when thoroughly ex- amined, it is generally momentary forgetfulness. Some peo- ple are more careless than others; they take greater chances; they estimate that they can do things and carry them to a great- er extreme than prudence would justify, and some day, the inevitable occurs. They do not, however, mean to get them- 78 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA selves injured; they think that there is no danger, or that they can escape the penalty of doing certain things. They have done these things several times before when everything was just right, but the unexpected occurs in some manner, the condi- tions are changed suddenly, and they cannot escape being injur- ed or killed. This kind of danger, however, is probably less frequent than the other kind, that due to momentary forgetful- ness. Employers think that in this case, they ought not to be held financially responsible for the accident. I believe that a broader view of the matter should be taken, and we should real- ize that as long as human nature- is what it is, we should make every endeavor to avoid injury, even going beyond the point legally demanded. Those who have had damage suits decided against them should not look upon the verdict as a charge of neglect or carelessness upon their part, but should take the broader view that it was an accident of the industry, and that the more humane method is for the industry to carry the burden rather than the individual, who almost invariably is less able to stand it. Our old law has not been entirely just, for the reason that if the corporation or employer was not financially able, a heavy verdict would mean his ruin, or the victim not be able to obtain recompense for his injury. With the present industrial insurance that we have in this State, the burden is placed upon the industry as a whole, where it rightfully and justly belongs. With this idea in mind, it is our duty to study the experiences and ideas of others, as to the matters of safety, and to try to get our apparatus into such shape that it is difficult for a man who is careless to get hurt, and also to eliminate that more serious danger which is that due to momentary forgetfulness. It is impossible for us, of course, to get all apparatus absolutely safe, and the only thing we can do is to impress it upon the minds of the employees that it is expected of them to be careful, and to bear in mind constantly that certain apparatus is dangerous. With apparatus that is very dangerous, the back of a switchboard, for instance, which the writer mentions because he is more familiar with electrical topics, special precaution should be taken. With small switch- boards, it is not practicable to make them as safe as in large plants, where the switches can be put in cells, and all other high voltage conductors well protected, so that it would be difficult to get at them. A switchboard should be fenced off, and at the back of it there should be a sign, "Danger", "High Voltage", or something of the kind which will constantly impress itself upon the minds of the operators. This danger sign should be more frequently employed in places where persons have very little occasion to go, because that is a possible source of danger not often heeded. I believe that all wires that are lower than seven or eight feet carrying high voltage currents should be protected in every possible way from accidental contact. The practica- bility of doing this in all cases is not well settled. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 79 The writer has in mind one or two cases. In one case, he insulated some heavy bus bars carrying 2300 volts. An official of the company, who had had experience in another company, thought that this was bad practice, and condemned it strongly on the ground that in case of a short circuit, the arc would burn the insulation and cause more destruction of property than would otherwise occur. The writer held in that particular case the possibility of trouble arising with an insulated bus bar was greatly reduced; also that there was a source of danger which was of more importance than any destruction of the apparatus of the company, and that was danger to the operators. The manager held that the operators would have to be careful. A few weeks afterward an accident occurred of an unusual nature. An operator was on a ladder some little distance away; the lad- der slipped, and he fell across the insulated bus bar. He escap- ed without even a scratch. No one will deny the fatal result, had the bar not been insulated. Some time afterward, light- ning came in there, destroying portions of the switchboard. The arcing that resulted, showed its mark on the switchboard, but the insulated bus bar reduced the extent of the damage. Another source of danger is on oil break switches. At one plant it was decided not to insulate the switch terminals. The writer, some time after the switches were installed, in examin- ing the back of the board, stumbled, and, but for quick recogni- tion of the danger of touching the terminals of the switch would have come in contact with them, and as it was, saved him- self only by a few inches, by catching the oil tank of the switch. The terminals of the switch were only a few inches apart, and some years afterward something got between them, I believe it was a bat, causing a short circuit, with considerable interrup- tion in the service. It is hard to insulate the terminals of a great many oil- break switches now on the market. It is a defect which can be satisfactorily remedied by the manufacturer only. This ought to be impressed upon him as a possible source of danger. It would not be difficult to insulate terminals wit^ a bushing or something of that kind. A bureau or committee for the inter- change of experiences, by calling the attention of the manufac- turer to such serious defects as might exist in the apparatus, and are disclosed only by actual experience, would probably meet with good results. Experience, after all, is the only true test as to whether certain apparatus is safe. A certain type of con- struction of apparatus is designed by competent and experienced engineers. It is something new in the line, and no pains are spared to insure safety. From an unexpected angle a source of danger develops. A bureau or committee, by recording the experiences, and investigating the accidents, would be of invaluable assistance to its members, calling their attention to dangers of a similar na- ture, that might already be existing in their own system. 80, UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA Working on high tension lines is always a source of well-rec- ognized danger, especially where there are a number of power houses, sub-stations and lines. The following rules were got up for the Elko-Lamoille Power Company, where there are only two plants, a gas engine plant at the receiving end, and a water power plant at the other end, with one line only connecting the two: HIGH TENSION LINE OPERATION The high tension line at all times must be handled as if alive. Great care must be used when turning on the current that no one is working on the line. When current is off the line, and men are working on the line, a sign must be hung on the high tension switch both at the power house and at Elko, word- ed: "Men on line. Turn on current only on orders from ." (A space is to be left for insertion of a card giving name of the party to order current turned on. When orders are given to turn off the current, it must also be stated on whose orders it will be turned on. No one else's order can be accepted, except in special cases where the attendant assures hmself that the one ordering the current back is a responsible person, and that he has been authorized by the proper party. The power house attendant must assure himself thoroughly on this matter, regardless of who orders the current turned on. Men on the line must always telephone to the power house before touching the line. When informed that it is dead, they must then ground the line properly. The proper way to ground a line is to drive a steel peg about two feet long into the ground with grounding wire attached before going up the pole, then hooking the wire over the line. W T hen connecting to the line, hook it solid. Do not touch it to see if it arcs, as you might draw the arc against yourself. The telephoning and grounding can be dispensed with un- der certain conditions, namely, if the line is completely down and men are sent out in an auto and dropped off every few miles to patrol the line. They must, however, have a written order from some responsible person saying that the current will be off. Said person will take down the names of the men authorized to work on the line, and until they are all accounted for, he cannot order the current turned back on the line. The only persons author- ized to give orders as above are B. G. McBride, F. 0. Broili and C. A. Stephenson. In no case, however, are the men to be sent out to work on the lines without grounding one or both ends. The instructions issued by the Public Service Commission of Nevada entitled "Safety Regulations for Electric Utilities", are made a part of these rules, and all employees must read them carefully, especially paragraphs 6 to 27. All employees must sign these rules, stating that they have read, and thoroughly understand them. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 81 MR. BABCOCK: I will call on Mr. L. W. Crehore, of the Fallon Municipal Plant, for the next discussion. SAFETY REGULATIONS AT THE FALLON (NEVADA), MUNICIPAL ELECTRIC PLANT. BY L. W. CREHORE, Electrical Engineer in Charge Safety should be one of the first considerations of every power plant and distributing system. This applies in a more marked degree perhaps to those operated by municipalities than to others. Disregarding the fundamental principle that no per- son nor group of persons has a right to sacrifice human life or be responsible either directly or indirectly for damage to property or personal injury, and considering the subject from a purely commercial point of view, it is a fact that municipalities are in nearly all cases forced to pay larger sums to liquidate damage claims than are private corporations, resulting necessarily in high cost of service and in some instances increased taxation, to say nothing of censure brought upon public officials and through them upon the citizens themselves. Early in 1912 the City of Fallon in this State through its Mayor, George Sherman, and City Council, issued bonds to the amount of $15,000 for the purpose of constructing a municipal electric distributing system, and entered into a contract with the U. S. Reclamation Service for a power supply to be delivered at 2300 volts at a sub-station located near the city limits. The building of the system was commenced in the summer of the same year and S 1 /? miles of line were completed September 21st, on which date service to customers commenced. Standard construction was used throughout the entire work and no labor or expense was spared to make a safe installaton in every respect. The city pumping plant is electrically oper- ated through automatic control. The automatic control is per- haps a source of danger due to the fact that the machinery is liable to start at any moment without warning to men working around it. Conspicuous notices are posted calling attention to this fact. By arrangement with the U. S. Reclamation Service Elec- tric Power Plant, the power is cut off from the Fallon sub-sta- tion when requested by proper authority. The power must not be thrown on again except on request of the person ordering it thrown off. All employees of the Fallon system are instructed to take no risks of any kind in working on high voltage lines. Requests to throw off the power on any primary line before working on same, are always granted without question. Fal- 82 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA Ion requires buildings to be wired in accordance with the Na- tional Electric Code, and furthermore, requires that no electric fixtures be installed within reach of a shower bath, tub or wash basin. MR. BABCOCK: We will now call on Mr. Joseph Beane, Electrical Superin- tendent of the Lahontan Plant of the U. S. Reclamation Service, for a discussion. SAFETY DEVICES ON THE LAHONTAN POWER LINE BY JOSEPH BEANE, Electrical Superintendent Lahontan Plant The U. S. R. S. Lahontan Power House is a reinforced con- crete building 32x37 feet and supplies power for construction work relative to the Lahontan Storage Dam. There is at pres- ent a connected motor load of 1100-H.P., 800 of which is in- termitting duty such as winch, cable way, electric shovel, and dragline motor, the other 300-H.P. being of a fairly steady nature. The Government also has a contract with the City of Fallen to supply it power; 24-hour service is maintained to fulfill this contract. The installation at the power house consists of duplicate units each with a 2000 volt General Electric Alternating Cur- rent Generator rated at 625 K.V.A. on an 80 per cent, power factor, directly connected with a Pelton Francis Horizontal Tur- bine of 1000-H.P. operating on a 110 foot head. Belted to the governor shaft is a 20-H.P. 120-volt exciter. Speed regulation is obtained by the use of Pelton Oil Pres- sure Governors, belt-driven from the turbine shaft. Tapping each scroll case is a 12 inch flange to which is bolted a relief valve or pressure regulator. These are connected by suitable links to the governor rocker shaft and at present under the severe load conditions are cut in a synchronous by-pass, helping materially in keeping a constant penstock pressure. The switchboard consists of a direct current panel, two generators, and three feeder panels. The 2200-volt oil switches are mounted six feet back of the board giving remote control through suitable levers and bell cranks. The frame work and all switches connecting levers are thoroughly grounded so that there is no possibility of a potential in excess of that carried by the instrument leads coming in contact with the switchboard. "Warning, do not close this switch", signs are used when switches are opened to allow work on the feeders or lines, and note is made in the station log of who requested the opening, INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 83 and the switch is not closed until the workman requesting the same to be opened, reports clear. Shutting off each end of the space behind the switchboard is a picket fence made up of seasoned Oregon pine with 2 inches by 4 inches stringers running horizontal and % inch by 1% inch pickets 5 feet long. The lumber was given a good rubbing with raw linseed oil before installing, and for a cheap installa- tion has a neat appearance. In one section is a gate fastened with a spring lock so that it is necessary to secure the key before going behind the switchboard. One end of the power house floor is laid out with the idea of installing high voltage transformers for transmission but the City of Fallon contract would not warrant a permanent installation ; so 3-150 K.V.A. -19000 volts star connected trans- formers with a grounded neutral are used temporarily with no meter connections or oil switches on the high voltage side, taps being run direct from one of the feeder switches, and the line and transformers protected by electrolytic arresters. Eight-foot pieces of No. 5 copper cable with a lug soldered in one end and a spring jaw on the other are kept with the regular tool equipment, and any time that it is necessary to do work in this section the oil switch between the generator busses and transformers is opened ; the lugs are bolted to a ground lead and by means of a switch stick the spring jaws are slipped over a bare section of the 2200-volt side of the transformer leads, thus assuring protection to the workman even if the oil switch should be closed through carelessness. This 33,000-volt section is surrounded by a 6-foot picket fence similar to that used on the ends of the switchboard and also has a gate fitted with a spring lock. At each end of the 33,000-volt transmission line ground plates are buried, and bolt- ed to those plates are 30 feet of No. 5 copper cable with 12 feet of 3-16 chain on the end, and before the power house operator reports the line dead after opening the switch he must ground the wires by throwing the chain over the line, the ground to remain on until the workmen report clear. As the construction camp telephone and 2300-volt distribu- tion lines are on the same poles, where practical, and the latter is of a more or less temporary nature, all telephones are install- ed 6 inches higher than standard so that it is necessary to stand on an insulated stool before they can be reached for use. For drops to the transformer, crossing under construction railroad tracks, 2300-volt motors, electrical shovel, etc., 2300- volt, 3-conductor armored cable is used with a ground lead fas- tened to the armor. As a factor of safety and convenience for work of this kind too much cannot be said for the use of this cable. 84 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA MR. BABCOCK: It is customary for a person delivering a formal address to make a few remarks at the close of the discussion, but as Mr. Freudenberger is not present I would like to contribute a few words to the discussion, by way of closing. The main point being "the divided responsibility wherever there is an accident." The men themselves are wilfully careless. We have all experi- enced it. Nevertheless there is a divided responsibility when- ever there is an accident. This point of view is so obvious as to require no remark. The second point is the responsibility of the foreman of construction. I myself, have a death on my memory that was caused partly through carelessness on my part, when I was a very young construction foreman. I sent a carpenter to take down some scaffolding. The roof was an ordinary incline roof, and the space between the wires and the work was less than three feet. It never occurred to me that a carpenter begins to take down his scaffolding from the top where a lineman begins to take his work down at the farthest end of the wires. This man crawled into the three-foot space, and when I took him down, he was the most pitiful specimen of a man I have ever seen, and I don't want to see it again. There is the further responsibility of the corporation or the company to its men, and apart from all this shouting of safety first and claiming of damages. It is the solemn duty, not only to save money for our stockholders, but also to save our men for their families. These points are being recognized. Another thing is publicity. Whenever there is an accident on the Southern Pacific, they call for an investigation. The meeting is open to the newspapers and prominent citizens. The fact that the trainman knows he is to be called up before a meet- ing of his fellow citizens is to me an excellent thing. Making the matter open to the public, I believe is one of the finest move- ments ever thought of. Then there is the inspections of the insurance companies. We lately have had insurance experts going all over our system and suggesting improvements and modifications of this and 01 that to make the work safe for the men. I am pleased to say that our electric safety devices and regulations received their commendation. For the concluding paper of this meeting we will call upon Mr. R. M. Alvord of the General Electric Company, INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 85 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ELECTRICAL MANUFAC- TURING INDUSTRY. BY R. M. ALVORD It is only thirty-six years ago that Edison began the inves- tigations which resulted, two years later, in the invention of the incandescent lamp. Yet the electric lighting, power and trac- tion interests compose to-day one of the greatest industries in the world. Th General Electric Company and the companies which went into its organization in 1892 have been so closely associated with the growth and development of the electrical manufactur- ing industry that the history of one is the history of both. Therefore, if we will trace the growth of these companies we will have a very good idea of the development of the industry as a whole. As Mr. Edison and Mr. Elihu Thomson started their work on the incandescent lamp respectively about the same time, and as the companies which were organized to manufacture their inventions were finally consolidated to form the General Elec- tric Company, we will follow the growth of the Edison Com- panies and of the Thomson-Houston Company along together. In considering the early history of the industry we should keep in mind four men who have had very much to do, not only with the early successes, but with the present day successes of the General Electric Company. These four men are Mr. Thomas A. Edison, the Inventor, Prof. Elihu Thomson, the In- ventor and Engineer, Mr. C. A. Coffin and Mr. E. W. Rice, Jr. The last two are at present Chairman of the Board of Directors and President, respectively, of the General Electric Company. Now, thirty years ago these were comparatively young men. Mr. Coffin, for instance, who is the oldest of the four, was born in 1844. He became interested in electrical business in the year 1883, and therefore was 39 years of age at that time. Mr. Cof- fin originally was a shoe manufacturer and a very successful one active and energtic, and, although he was a business man, his ideas with regard to design were very good indeed. A great many times, upon seeing a piece of apparatus for the first time, he would ask some question that would call the attention of his engineering associates to certain features that had not occur- red to any of them. Mr. Thomas A. Edison was born in 1847. He began his work in electric lighting along in 1878. He was 31 years of age at that time. Prof. Elihu Thomson was born in 1853, so he was but 25 years of age when he began his work in electric lighting in 1878. 86 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA Mr. Rice, who joined Prof. Thomson in 1880, was born in 1862, so he was but 18 years of age when he started in. At that time these men were young in years and therefore were young in experience. Now, about the early undertakings. It is not necessary for me to say that Mr. Edison began his work on incandescent lamps. With the manufacture of lamps it was necessary to manufacture generators to generate the electricity to operate these lamps, and that constituted the entire work of the original Edison Company. Prof Thomson began his work with arc lighting apparatus the arc light and the generator. Previous to Prof. Thomson's practical work, he taught Chemistry and Mechanics in the Phila- delphia Central High School. Some of you are familiar with the Thomson dynamo, with its unique features spherical arma- ture and cup-shaped fields. It was unique at that time and is unique to-day and shows the great originality of Prof Thomson. That was in 1879. In 1884 the Thomson-Houston Company began the manu- facture of incandescent lamps, which were used with a piece of apparatus called a "distributor", through which the constant current of 9.6 amperes was carried and split into ten circuits. Arrangements were made so that if a filament broke a little keeper dropped and cut in an equivalent resistance. That was the beginning of the Thomson-Houston Company's work in that line. In 1885 and 1886 this incandescent lamp work of the Thomson-Houston Company went up to 110 volts and they began the manufacture of generators for supplying energy at that volt- age. In 1886 and 1887, Prof. Thomson resumed work in alter- nating current in a very active way. In 1887 the Edison Company began the manufacture of stationary motors for the Sprague Company, and that finally led Mr. Sprague to develop railway apparatus. The Thomson- Houston Company also manufactured stationary motors. In 1887 and 1888 both companies were manufacturing railway ap- paratus. The first railway apparatus manufactured by the Ed- ison Company for Mr. Sprague was the famous Richmond instal- lation the electrical railway in Richmond, Va. The first rail- way that the Thomson-Houston Company equipped was the Ben- tly-Knight Railway Company, which was an organization entire- ly separate from the Thomson-Houston Company, and they had patented some devices for underground conduit. They had no factory of their own and they came to the Thomson-Houston Company for the apparatus. The first apparatus which the Bently-Knight Company installed was at Woonsocket, R. I., and then a larger one in Alleghaney, Pa. Part of this latter was underground conduit and a portion of it overhead, with vertical wires, and a device running on two wheels collected the current. The first incorporated organization of the Edison interests was known as the Edison Electric Company, with a capital of INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 87 $300,000. It manufactured at Menlo Park not only incandes- cent lamps but generators, and did a vast amount of experimen- tal work. That leads me to say, just by way of comparison, that different methods were used by Mr. Edison and Prof. Thom- son. Mr. Edison would go into any particular field and would interest everyone in sight, and by "cutting and trying" work out in some shape anything that showed possibilities. Prof. Thomson, on the other hand, adopted the analytical method. He would work out things in his own mind, and in some ways the progress which he made was much more rapid than that of Mr. Edison, and of course from an economical standpoint there was a great advantage. I think you are all familiar with the investigation started by Mr. Edison that led to the adoption of bamboo as the filament for incandescent lamps. A number of men were sent all over the world to discover all kinds of vegetable fibre. The Thomson-Houston Company had its beginning in a small machine shop on Buttonwood St., Philadelphia, where an experimental arc machine and some arc lamps were manufac- tured. Prof. Thomson himself wound the armature and fields, etc., for this machine, and when it was completed and tested, it was found that it would carry eight lamps in series. The ma- chine and lamps were installed in a very large bakery, and the average temperature of the oven rooms was 140 degrees. These lamps required a good deal of nursing on the part of Prof. Thom- son, and you can imagine the discomfort of working in that tem- perature. The work which Prof. Thomson did at that time led to the organization in the spring of 1880 of what was known as the American Electric Company with a capital of $125,000, and a small factory in New Britain, Conn., was equipped to manu- facture apparatus. We shall now go back to the work of the Edison Company. They soon discovered that their facilities at Menlo Park were inadequate, and in 1881 the machine tools were removed to a factory on Arch St., New York City. The lamps were still man- ufactured at Menlo Park, and a little later on a factory was started at Harrison, N. J. In 1882, the affairs of the American Electric Company were thrown into a critical condition by the threatened purchase of a controlling amount of stock by the Brush Company. Charles Brush, if you will remember, was the original manufacturer of arc lamps in this country. His company soon became very ac- tive, and it did not take them long to discover that the apparatus made by the American Electric Company was a success ,and they expected, by the purchase, to shelve it. However, there was a clause in Prof. Thomson's contract, that no purchase or sale of stock could be made without his consent, and the Brush Com- pany was balked. Just about this time a demonstration outfit had been placed in the City of Lynn by the American Electric Company, and it 88 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA attracted the attention of a number of Lynn manufacturers, among whom was Mr. Coffin. They went to New Britain, look- ed the factory over, became more interested and decided to buy the company. That was in 1882. In the spring of 1883, the company was reorganized and the name changed from the Amer- ican Electric Company to the Thomson-Houston Electric Com- pany. Prof. Houston was also connected with the Central High School at Philadelphia, and naturally he and Prof. Thomson were thrown together in the early experimental work. The re- sult of this experimental work was some eight or ten joint patents, and those joint patents furnished the basis for the organization of this company, so that naturally it was called the Thomson-Houston Electric Company and the capital was in- creased to $250,000. In addition to Mr. Coffin, who was Vice-President, the other Lynn gentlemen were Mr. Peaver, who was a large morocco manufacturer and was President of the Thomson-Houston Elec- tric Company, Mr. J. N. Smith, Mr. Spinney and Mr. S. A. Bar- ton, who was perhaps the most active in getting the other Lynn gentlemen interested. Mr. S. A. Barton for a number of years was the General Manager of the Thomson-Houston Company. These gentlemen preferred to have the manufacturing done in that city, so in the fall of 1883 about a hundred men and all the tools were transferred from New Britain to Lynn, Mass. I said that in 1881 the Edison generators were made in New York City. In 1884, that work had become large enough to re- quire a separate organization for the manufacture of genera- tors, and the organization was called the Edison Machine Works, with a capital of $200,000. During the same year the incandes- cent lamp business was organized under a separate organiza- tion called the Edison Electric Lamp Company, with a capital of $250,000. Then in 1885 Mr. Edison did a great deal of work in design and the working out of a system of underground con- ductors, and this company was managed by Mr. John Kruesi, who afterward became Manager of the Schenectady Works. Shortly after, they began the manufacture of shafting, pulleys and hangers, and in 1885 a ten thousand-dollar corporation was formed for that work. Later on the Edison Company for Iso- lated Lighting was formed, also the Sprague Electric Railway & Motor Company. So that you see the Edison Company had a number of organizations, while the Thomson-Houston Company had but one. In 1889, the Thomson Electric Company turned the tables on the Brush Company and bought it outright. In 1886, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company bought the Van Depoele Company and thereby became the owners of Mr. Van Depoele's valuable patents on railway apparatus. There were also several other companies bought ; the Schuyler Electric Company, which manufactured arc lighting apparatus and the Excelsior Com- INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 80 pany. These were all competitors of the Thomson-Houston Electric Company in the arc-lighting field, and were not strong financially. It was very important in those days that an elec- trical manufacturing company not only manufacture and sell the apparatus but that they also aid in financing the local light- ing companies, which were organizing throughout the country, by taking a large amount of the lighting companies stock in payment for apparatus. So these smaller corporations that did not have strong financial backing had hard sledding. But they owned some very important patents and some engineering tal- ent, so that in 1890 the Thomson-Houston Company bought these two companies. The question is often asked, "Why or how did it happen that the Edison Company came to Schenectady ?" In 1885 and 1886 Henry George was stirring up things political in New York. He stood as the laboring man's friend and when he was elected Mayor the laboring man was going to get everything. That promise had a rather bad effect on the labor conditions, and as a result there occured a large number of strikes in the different manufacturing organizations in New York. The Edison Com- pany had two or three strikes in their shops, and decided to leave New York. Their traveling men were instructed to keep their eyes open for a suitable location and buildings. Buildings Nos. 10 and 12 at Schenectady were miilt along in 1883 and 1884 by the McQueen Locomotive Company. Mr. McQueen had been Master Mechanic of the Schenectady Loco- motive Company, and, because of some dissatisfaction, decided to start another factory of his own. Just about that time his principal financial factor died, and the other locomotive com- pany realizing that it would not do to have two locomotive works in the same town no doubt had something to do with the aban- donment of the project. One day a representative of the Edison Company, passing on a New York Central train, noticed these two buildings, made inquiry and learned that they were for sale. Negotiations were started, and as the story has been told me, purchase was made within ten days and the moving began the latter part of Novem- ber, 1886. It was understood that Schenectady was a temporary location and a permanent location would be found later. In 1887 and 1888, the business grew very rapidly and those two biuldings were augmented by others. In 1892, when the con- solidation was effected, it was found that the buildings in Schen- ectady were better adapted for manufacturing large generators than those at Lynn, and the manufacture of large apparatus was transferred to Schenectady. Schenectady was found to be a very good railroad center and only a few hours from New York, and it was not very long before we found that Schenectady was a very good labor market. So that the locating of the works at Schenectady was due to a chance look from a window of a New York Central train. 90 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA In August, 1890, all of the various Edison corporations that I have enumerated were thrown into one organization. They no doubt found that it was rather cumbersome to deal with so many heads. That organization was called the Edison General Electric Company, with Henry Villard, the great financier, as its President. The twelve years prior to 1892 were, in the history of elec- trical industries, an era of invention and preparation ; incandes- cent and arc lighting and electric traction were growir-or arts, but were so clouded and delayed up to 1892 by the clash of diver- gent methods, that only a few realized their vast future utility. The two companies that we have been considering were getting into the same field. Competition was getting more severe all the time and, of course, the companies were fighting each other in patents as well as in sales. A number of stockholders were common to both companies. Some of them had broad vision and saw the great possibilities in combining the engineering and financial talent. This consolidation was finally effected in Feb- ruary of 1892. Legally it dates from May 1st of that year, but in fact the organization was effected the latter part of February. The General Elecetric Company acquired as its formation all the capital stock of the Edison General Electric Company, of the Thomson-Houston Electric Company, and of the Thomson- Houston International Electric Company. Never in the industrial world did organization effect a more magical change in releasing pent energy. Guided by master hands, electrical arts leaped into industrial pre-eminence; vol- ume of manufacture of appliances, progress of invention, public confidence in electricity, and its general utilization, all took long strides forward. The growth of the industry may be shown by the Com- pany's annual reports of Sales Billed since the consolidation : YEAR AMOUNT 1893 . $12,102,000 1894 12,540,000 1895 12,730,000 1896 12,541,000 1897 12,396,000 1898 15,679,400 1899 22,379,500 1900 28,783,300 1901 32,338,000 1902 36,685,000 1903 41,699,600 1904 39,231,300 1905 43,147,000 1906 60,071,900 1907 70,977,000 1908 44,541,700 INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 91 YEAR AMOUNT 1909 (11 months) 51,656,600 1910 71,478,500 1911 70,383,900 1912 89,182,200 After the formation of the General Electric Company there were several more purchases made. The first one was that of the Eickmeyer Company. Mr. Eickmeyer had been a designer of hat machinery, and he became interested in electrical appar- atus and made a number of very important electric inventions. With this purchase came Dr. Steinmetz. He was not discovered at that time, so that the purchase of the Eickmeyer Company really discovered Dr. Steinmetz. Then came the purchase of the Siemens & Halske Company of America. They had a factory in Chicago and they controlled the Stanley Company at Pittsfield, Mass., and the Northern Electrical Company at Madison, Wis. A little later the Fort Wayne Works and the Sprague Electric Works were acquired. More recently there has been added to the organization the National Lamp Company, whose factories for the manufacture of incandescent lamps are located in and around Cleveland, Ohio. In addition to the manufacturing plants in this country, the Company has organized a factory in Rugby, England, called the British Thomson-Houston Company, one in Japan, and a number of years ago, before the consolidation, the Thomson- Houston Company started a factory in Germany. It was called the Union Electricitats Geselschaft. Part of the stock was owned by local German capitalists, and as the works grew and they discovered it was a money maker, they wanted to get con- trol of it, and finally the General Electric Company sold all of their stock. The Compaigne Francaise Thomson-Houston, in Paris, began in the same way. A review of the present manufacturing equipment in this country may be helpful in fully comprehending the phenomenal growth which that industry has enjoyed since 1892. The General Electric Company has important manufactur- ing plants located at Schenectady, N. Y., Lynn and Pittsfield, Mass., Harrison, Watsessing and Newark, N. J., Erie, Pa., Cleve- land, Ohio, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, and lesser plants at many other points. (Toledo-East Boston). The total land area of these works is 921 acres; the total floor space of the buildings is over 10,000,000 square feet, and the numer of employees over 50,000. The Company maintains a system of standardizing, testing and research laboratories where the most suitable materials to be used in construction are determined by chemical and mechan- ical analysis ; new methods and means of manufacture are care- fully sought after and perfected, and new machinery invented or existing products perfected. 92 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA Among the results achieved in the laboratories may be mentioned prominently the perfection of the Curtis steam tur- bine, the D'Arsonval instrument and various heating and cook- ing devices, and the perfection of the mercury arc rectifiers, the G. E. induction motor and the GEM or metallized filament incan- descent lamp. A recent and revolutionary invention was that of the "Drawn Wire" Mazda lamp, which has been followed more re- cently by the so-called gettered Mazda lamp which promises to give us a commercial incandescent lamp whose efficiency in large units will be about one-half watt per mean horizontal candle power. The General Office and the largest works are at Schenec- tady. This factory has a ground area of 335 acres, a total floor space of about 5,000,000 square feet. The largest building is No. 60, 295 feet wide and 800 feet long ; with galleries, etc. The total floor space of the building is 490,00 square feet. Installed in this works are about 10,000 machine tools, 210 traveling cranes, and 7,000 motors ; 3,000 arc lamps and hundreds of Maz- da lamps are used to light the buildings and grounds. Under the head of Safety, I might say that the Company has always realized the importance of properly protecting all machine tools and other appliances used in the various plants; but in order to carry its work along systmatically, and to have each plant profit by what has been done by the other plants, a committee on Safety Devices, having general charge of this work, was formed several years ago. This committee is com- posed of a representative of each of our important works. Its duty is to meet regularly, to investigate and to standardize the best safety appliances, to consider other matters which concern the safety of employees, and to make recommendations to the Manufacturing Committee. After the recommendations of tbr General Committee are approved, it is the duty of the local mem- bers of the Committee to see that the recommendations adopted are made effective in the various works. To date, over 12,000 safety guards have been applied to over 8,000 of the machine tools by a force of men who are constantly employed making and attaching these appliances and at the present rate of progress, the entire machine tool equipment will soon be provided with proper safeguards. While the introduction of safety appliances has greatly lessened the number of accidents, our records show that a large proportion cannot be prevented, even by the most liberal expen- diture for such protective devices. These records show that only about 15 per cent, of the accidents at the Schenectady Works are caused through the use of machinery, the remainder being due to other causes which safety appliances cannot pre- vent. It is well to mention this, because there seems to be an impression that if machinery was properly provided with safety appliances accidents would largely disappear. At the recent INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 93 Exposition of Safety Appliances, held at the Grand Central Pal- ace, New York City, the General Electric Company had quite an interesting exhibit.lt showed a number of appliances actually attached to machine tools, and a large number of photographs of other devices. Our space was constantly filled with people who were interested, and evidently the judges thought well of the exhibit, because we received the Rataneau Gold Medal for the best work accomplished along safety lines in industrial organi- zations. Fire-drills are held regularly. These drills are under the supervision of the Chief of our Fire Department, who, in addi- tion to the duty of keeping our organization of firemen in good shape, and thoroughly inspecting the shops, having in mind fire risks, is held responsible for the proper enforcement of these fire-drills. After the introduction of these fire-drills, we found in departments where several hundred are employed the entire department could be emptied in less than two minutes from the time the alarm was sounded. Emergency hospitals for the rendering of first aid are maintained at all of the works. Schenectady provided the first hospital ; this was in 1906. At the present time we are employ- ing 4 registered male nurses who are on duty both day and night. We now have the employees educated to the idea that even a mere scratch should have attention at the hospital in order to prevent infection. While we do not have any more accidents than they do in other shops of the same magnitude, yet the num- ber of accidents reported by the hospital, and the subsequent dressings which are applied until the scratch or wound is per- fectly healed, run up into the thousands each year. Any acci- dent, no matter how minor it might be, which is treated at the hospital, is recorded as an accident. During the year 1913, 6,300 such accidents were recorded, and the subsequent dress- ings amounted to 15,000. This will serve to give some idea of the work of this particular emergency hospital. In case of more serious accidents, first aid is rendered at the emergency hospital, and the injured are then sent to the city hospital, where they have the benefit of the best surgical skill. We have a regular arrangement with one of the leading surgeons in the city who devotes his time to such cases. This is done without any ex- pense to the individual and is entirely irrespective of any legal liability involved. 94 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA GENERAL MEETING JANUARY 27, 1914, 2 P. M. GOVERNOR ODDIE : Ladies and Gentlemen : It gives me pleasure to act as pre- siding officer at this second meeting of this Conference. Unfor- tunately, I was hung up yesterday by a washout on the road from Tonopah to Reno, and I missed the first meeting, for which I am sorry. A number of good citizens in the State, rep- resentative of the various interests and industries, were with me on the train, and we regretted that we could not get here, but made up our minds that we would make up for it to-day, and we are anticipating a very pleasant afternoon. There is much to be done this afternoon. Many addresses of the utmost impor- tance, so we will have to cut things short. I would like to say just a few words about this meeting. It is of the highest impor- tance from the standpoint of humanity, of industrial economics, and of industrial peace and good will between employer and employee. In this Conference are those who represent the State in its attitude toward the question of the conservation of human health, life, and limb. Also we have the representatives of the railroads, the mines, the electric power lines, mills and shops. Also we have representatives of labor organizations those who have the most immediate and vital interest of all in the problem at issue. The laborers are those upon whom the suffering and tragedy of industrial danger falls. I believe that the awakening public conscience, which places first the enact- ment of legislation tending to reduce to the least possible mini- mum the dangers of industrial life, is to-day receiving the most practical encouragement and support, from both capital and la- bor. Whatever differences may exist in respect to other indus- trial conditions, here is a common grounds of common benefit, where we can all meet as brothers. I share with all of you the hope that a substantial improve- ment may be made in the way of the prevention of industrial accidents. I shall not take any more time. I just want to state that the Engineers' Club of the University of Nevada, and the Nevada Industrial Insurance Commission are deserving of pub- lic appreciation for bringing this Conference about. Also, the State extends a welcome to all of you who have come from the outside, you who are to deliver addresses to us, and you who are taking part. And we all want you to feel that Nevada hospital- ity is yours, and we will all help in making your stay here agree- able. We have one disappointment. Our friend, Judge Far- rington, who presides over our Federal Court, is indisposed. Judge Farrington, I know, personally, has been looking forward INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 95 to taking part in this meeting for some time, but, unfortunately, he is ill, and we are very sorry that he will not be here. We will now have a formal paper on electric headlight questions by Professor Scrugham whom it is not necessary for me to introduce. I can say that he is one of the most able and scientific men we have, and I don't care what State that covers it can cover all of the States we are lucky to have such a man in Nevada. PROFESSOR SCRUGHAM: After the very pleasant introduction, I feel constrained to take at least five or ten minutes in telling the audience what an excellent Governor we have, but since we are pressed for time, I will proceed to the reading of the formal paper. ELECTRIC HEADLIGHTS BY J. G. SCRUGHAM Since the safety of the traveling public and of men engaged in the transportation industry is in a certain measure dependent upon the use of a proper headlight for cars or locomotives, it seems proper to discuss this important subject at an Industrial Safety Conference. Twenty-eight states have adopted legisla- tion embodying seventeen different specifications regarding the use of headlights on locomotives. The State of Georgia requires a 300 watt arc lamp with a 23 in. reflector, while in the adjacent State of Mississippi, an 18 in. reflector is deemed necessary. In South Carolina the light must measure 10,000 candlepower with a reflector. Nebraska requires a light that is sufficiently strong to distinguish an object the size of a man at a distance of 600 ft. (Whether the man is to be a white man or a black man, dressed in white or black clothes, etc., is not specified.) In five states a similar law is enacted in which the distance is set at 800 ft. In Iowa it is made to specify discernment of a man lying down at a distance 1100 ft. Several states require a light of 1500 candlepower with the reflector, while Missouri requires 1500 candlepower with the reflector. It will be noted that many of the above laws are of a conflicting character, especially as the strongest practical headlight manufactured at present delivers less than 1000 mean spherical candlepower without a reflector. What the traveling public, railroad management, and em- ployees all want is that light which is most conducive to the safe operation of trains. The problem is how to obtain it. The efficiency of a headlight is primarily dependent on the reflector or lens used, and, secondarily on the volume or power of light The reflector may multiply the horizontal candlepower of the 96 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA headlight anywhere from unity to 2000 times or more, depending upon the condition of reflector and the focus used. For example, a 500 horizontal candlepower arc with a dirty, ill-focused reflect- or, may give only a very few thousand candlepower ahead on a track, while a well-designed 100 candlepower incandescent, with a properly focused reflector is capable of delivering nearly a quarter of a million candlepower where it is needed. To obtain efficient results it is necessary for the light source to be well concentrated and placed at what is known as the focal point of the reflector. The complaint about poor headlights arises as much from the improper condition of the reflector and focusing, as from the insufficiency of the light itself. There seems to be an almost unanimous opinion that the light reflected ahead should be of sufficient volume to enable the engineer to discern any serious obstruction or fault on the track in time to prevent or minimize the danger of an accident. This means that the object must become visible at a distance of from 500 to 1000 ft. under ordinary operating conditions. Another requirement is that the light should not be too strong and dazzling as to blind observers or approaching enginemen. A very powerful arc, es- pecially those rich in greenish rays, should be avoided because of the tendency to give a false color to the red danger signals and the injury to the eyes of those looking into its field. The light should be uniform, reliable and easily replaced or repaired in case of failure. Our problem is to determine which light most nearly fulfills these conditions. In recent years the unit, called the candlepower, has been practically abandoned by illumination engineers and lamp manufacturers on account of its ambiguity. The most definite and useful unit is called the foot candle, and is a measure of the illumination on the objects to be made visible, instead of being a measure of the light source itself. To those having normal vision, an illumination of one tenth of a candle-foot thrown from a headlight on a dark object the size of a man render it distinctly visible on a dark object at a distance of a thousand feet or more under ordinary condi- tions. A man wearing white clothes can be discerned at twice this distance. If he wears some glittering jewelry, as in one case which came under my observation, he can be spotted more than half a mile away. However, all trials should be based on discernment of dark objects, as the average trespasser on the right of way is rarely so accommodating as to display his jewelry to the engineer on the approaching train. Illumination such as I have just described can readily be obtained from a concentrated filament lamp of 100 spherical candlepower if a well silvered parabolic reflector is used. In my opinion any stronger illumination is a waste of light. In foggy weather or when the air is filled with snow flakes, the lower can- dlepower light again has the advantage as the rays are more penetrating than those of the higher candlepower light. These latter are reflected back toward the observer. It is only within INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 97 the past few months that a satisfactory incandescent lamp has been developed for headlight purposes. The old carbon fila- ment lamp and the earlier forms of tungsten lamp were of such nature that the light source could not be sufficiently concen- trated to give good results with a parabolic reflector. However, the development of the wire drawn helix filament tungsten lamp surrounded by nitrogen gas seems to have solved the problem. When a lamp is so constructed that pactically all of the light source can be placed at the focal point, the illuminating effi- ciency is vastly higher that when the light covers a large area. For this reason a low candlepower lamp can frequently reflect a better light on the track than a large arc. The big headlight manufacturing concerns, such as the Pyle, Remy, and others, who formerly specialized in arcs are now building turbo-gen- erator sets to accommodate the rapidly increasing demand for the incandescent light. The advantages of giving no fumes to blacken or tarnish a reflector and requiring no elaborate mech- anism for adjustment is obvious to all. I hold no brief for any particular make or type of generating apparatus. The point that I do wish to make is that a five hundred or a five thousand candlepower light is of very little use in preserving the lives of the traveling public unless it is properly reflected and directed to where it is needed. Another thing worthy of consideration is the location of the light on the front of the engine. For many reasons it would be a marked advantage to have the headlight located lower down on the front of the boiler than is the present practice. I was formerly a very strong advocate of such a change, but after observing the ultra-coarse methods used by an Austrian helper in opening up a smoke box door with a sledge hammer, the desirability of the present headlight loca- tion became obvious. Reverting to the subject of headlight legislation again. While the startling originality of the ideas of some of the bill f ramers might be deemed commendable, yet the question is obvi- ously one that should receive the attention of some competent Federal Commission empowered to make recommendations to Congress. Such a commission should consist of a number of locomotive engineers and other qualified experts who would determine what degree of illumination on an object expressed in foot candles is required for the engineer with normal vision to sight a man in dark clothes at various specified distances. All legislation should be based on such accurate and reliable infor- mation instead of in haphazard manner as at present. RECORD OF TESTS In these tests the persons on the track were dressed in dark clothes. The column headed "as an obstacle" shows distance persons were visible as an obstruction of some kind on the track. The column headed "counted" shows distance when the number of persons on the track could be counted from the cab or dis^ cerned as a person, 98 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA Acetylene Standing Test. 11 * *$ J *v 1 p 1 7-26-11 n tt 10-25-10 1 799 1 1 1 1 1 Average 799 4 742 524 734 681 563 642 tt 4 768 4 787 1 831 1 697 Average 765 9-2-10 5 449 n 5 481 1 441 Average 457 9-2-10 6 513 99 6 597 1 469 Average 526 9-2-10 4 637 n 4 645 4 725 4 705 Average 692 Remarks. 9-2-10 10-25-10 637 661 4 773 4 773 Average 736 4 601 4 653 Average 627 Commercial Acetlyene Co. gas and reflector Commercial Acetylene Co. gas and reflector Commercial Acetylene re- flector and S. P. gener- ator Commercial Acetylene re- flector and S. P. genera- ator Commercial Acetylene Co. reflector and S. P. gener- ator Commercial Acetylene Co. gas and S. P. Co. re- flector. Acetylene Running Test. Commercial Acetylene Co. 6-in. reflector Commercial Acetylene Co. 6-in. reflector Q INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 99 Electric Incandescent, Standing Tests. 8 * *o . w j Remarks. Is I 7-8-12 2 1057 Mazda Light from General Electric Co. 1 1030 Mazda Light from General Electric Co. 1 1030 Mazda Light from General Electric Co. 2 960 Mazda Light from General Electric Co. 3 960 Mazda Light from General Electric Co. 3 960 Mazda Light from General Electric Co. 9-11-12 2 674 Westinghouse zigzag Cila- ment. 2 674 Westinghouse zigzag fila- ment. 2 674 Westinghouse zigzag fila- ment. 1 590 Westinghouse zigzag fila- ment. 2 640 Westinghouse zigzag fila- ment. 9-11-12 780 Westinghouse U-shaped filament. 3 705 Westinghouse U-shaped filament. 1 690 Westinghouse U-shaped filament. Running Tests. 7-8-12 2 990 Mazda Light from General Electric Company 1 852 Mazda Light from General Electric Company 9-11-12 3 621 Westinghouse zigzag fila- ment. 780 Westinghouse zigzag fila- ment. 1 690 Westinghouse zigzag fila- ment. 3 705 Westinghouse zigzag fila- ment. 100 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA Electric Arc, Standing Test. pj to 0) Swd'TJ S 1I S ll *o,g ^*g Distanc, ft. o dc 6 gU Remarks. ^ & g No. 1 No. 2 8-2-12 1 1067 1217 No. 1 Lacy Light 1 1109 1137 No. 2 Pyle Light. 99 1 1148 1073 Average 1108 1142 8-2-12 1 1608 1617 1 1568 1561 1 1601 Average 1588 1593 Remarks. 8-2-11 1 1420 Lacy headlight. Average 1146 Lacy headlight. 1 871 Lacy headlight. 8-2-11 1 1041 Pyle headlight. 2 1109 Pyle headlight. Average 1105 The last two tests are electric arc running tests. Summary. Feet. Acetylene standing test 653 Acetylene running test 621 Acetylene, all tests 650 Electric arc standing test 1281 Electric arc running test 1125 Electric incandescent, General Electric Co., standing test 10000 Electric incandescent, General Electric Co., running test 921 Electric Incandescent, Westinghouse zigzag filament, standing test 650 Electric incandescent, Westinghouse zigzag filament, running test 621 Electric incandescent, Westinghouse U-shaped filament, standing test.. 725 Electric incandescent, Westinghouse U-shaped filament, runnin gtest.... 725 In test of Westinghouse incandescent the zigzag filament light tested had been in service 55 hours of light; the U-shaped filament tried was new. Relative to oil light, we have no tests made under the same conditions as above. A test made at Benali in 1907 noting the distance another engine (without lights) could be seen gave the relative distances for oil and acetylene as 1 to 2.18. On this basis one or more people would be visible on the track with an oil light at a distance of 300 feet. General comparison as follows using the standing test and in the incandescent light the higher candlepower, General Elec- tric only: Relative Feet. distance. Oil light 300 1.00 Acetylene ., 653 2.18 Electric incandescent 1000 3.33 Electric arc ,,.,. J2SI 4.2 INDUSTRIAL SAFETY EXILIAN, 101 TEST ON ENGINE 3017 AUG. 8, 1913 This lamp is a General Electric Incandescent Tungsten hav- ing nitrogen in bulb. It is operated by Exide Storage batteries made by Electric Storage Battery Company, Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania. Batteries arranged 2 sets in multiple 4 batteries in series in each set, a rheostat is used and the circuit shows 8 volts and 12 amperes, 6 volts across the lamp which consumes 72 watts and is rated at about 100 candlepower. Test was made of light on Sacramento Southern on morning of August 7th, between hours of 1 and 3 :30 a. m. Night clear and dark ; moon absent ; men on track dressed in dark clothes. Globe tested had been in service approximately 5 hours, light being applied at Oakland August 6th for run Oakland to Sacramento, train No. 16. Result of distance tests as follows : Men on Track Discerned as Object or Obstruction of Some Kind. No. of test No. of men on track Distanc, ft. 1 3 1099 2 3 933 3 3 1079 Average 1057 No. of men on track counted. 1 2 857 2 2 751 3 1 917 Average 842 Running Test Engineer and Fireman Only Taking Part Distance Men on Track Discovered as an Object or Obstruction of Some Kind. 1 3 791 2 2 766 3 2 1038 Average 865 PYLE NATIONAL INCANDESCENT HEADLIGHT NOVEMBER 15, 1913 This generator (Type "S" Tubor-Generator Unit) has been installed for trial on engine No. 2328, furnishing current for a 20 watt 32 volt Westinghouse Mazda incandescent headlight lamp. Roundhouse Test of Type "S" Generator. K._ CO 0) I & foe x_s * fi g * IS. -1,, ..1*1 i- r - a I II I H W K > W<5 l> <1 <1 02 W 1 198 3642 30.7 3V 8 96. 5 225 106 416 2 198 3578 30.5 3 91.5 None 91.5 90 984 3 198 3727 29 00 00 None 00 74 4 198 3549 29.5 3 88.5 41 328. 118 363 102 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA In test No. 4 one of the Westinghouse headlight lamps was put in place of one of the Marker lights in order to note opera- tion of generator with a little overload. Steam used per hour by type "S" in operating headlight alone in comparison with type "C" which is most in use and with the later compound wound type "E" as follows : Steam Ib. used per hour. Type "S" 90 tb Test above. Type "E" 215 Ib. Test by Pyle Co. Type "C" 421 tb. Test report of Dec. 16, 1912 The type "S" turbor-generator is a small compact unit, its weight compared with types "E" and "C" as follows: Type "S," 125 Ib. ; type "E," 290 Ib. ; type "C," 350 Ib. Distance test of the 120 watt 32 volt incandescent used in above test was reported September 30, 1913, as follows: Three men on track observed an obstruction of some kind, 1149 ft.; 1 to 3 men on track counted from cab, 854 ft. Running test, ap- proximately 30 m.p.h., 3 men on track observed as obstruction of some kind 976 ft. RESULTS OF ELECTRIC HEADLIGHT TESTS JAN. 27, 1914 Sacramento Division S. P. Co. near Reno, showing distance at which obstructions on track could be discerned with respec- tive headlights: No. Character of Test Arc Lamp Nitrogen Lamp 1 Standing 1160 ft. 1900 ft. 2 Running 674 ft. 1508 ft. 3 Running 860 ft. 1606 ft. The mean spherical candlepower of the arc lamp used in above test was approximately 840, and the mean sperical candle- power of the nitrogen incandescent was approximately 120. The reflector used on the arc lamp was somewhat tarnished, due to several conditions. The reflector for the incandescent lamp was in first-class condition. GOVERNOR ODDIE: I want to thank Professor Scrugham for the very able paper he has read, and hope we will have a full discussion of the ques- tion. There are always two sides to a question, sometimes more, and we want to have the matter brought out so as to get everything before us. The next speaker will be Mr. Howard Stillman, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Southern Pacific. MR. STILLMAN: I have listened to the address with a great deal of interest. While I have provided no paper on the subject, I think there are some points brought out by the discussion that really demand our further attention. Reference was made to the requirements in "candle power". "Candle power" of a light is really too INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 103 technical a term. It was derived from our grandfathers, and is based on the consumption of 120 grains of a standard wax candle in an hour. It is an expression involving only the quantity of power required to produce light, in comparison with other sources of light, and in the case of the electric light, or an arc light for instance, we have determined that one candle power in wattage is equivalent to IVa watts. With an arc light, it is al- most impossible to standardize it, but we divide the total voltage by 1 Va to get the candle power and then we have got back to our grandfathers' candle again. There should be a more definite understanding as to what is meant by the units of light. The proper unit of light is the foot-candle. That is to say, it is the light that one candle will produce on one square foot, one foot away. That again, referred to in a practical way, means an object that we can distinguish at a certain distance, with light enough to know what it is. The term candle power makes no reference to the condition or kind of reflector, and that is one objection we have to the use of the arc light, because the reflect- or becomes more or less spotted by the sputtering of the arc, and if we go back to the time of the oil light, we get to the break- ing of the chimneys and the smoking up of the reflector. You still have your light energy, but you have no light, because your reflector is so spotted that it seriously interferes with the head- light efficiency. The so-called flame of the arc light is respon- sible for this trouble, and the same is true of the gas light. Any- thing that smudges up the reflector seriously impairs the effect of the light, and we really ought to drop this term candle power. For instance, if we have got the candle power, we might drop the curtain over it, and we still have the candle power, though we might not have the light at all. The nitrogen form of the incandescent light, from our recent determinations, we have found to be the best yet struck. It is yet a matter of ex- periment. We are experimenting all the time with something, and the incandescent light is the best thing we have, so far. It is steady, and has not the spluttering of the arc light. The light can be readily renewed in case of failure. There is an- other point that occurs to me in connection with the investiga- tion of this entire subject that of course the engineer of the train wants the best light he can get, but there are others besides the engineer. People on the track are generally more concerned than the engineer. In case of accidents, they suffer far more than the engineer, and any light that dazzles them is more or less dangerous to them. I remember one of the first arc lights on a locomotive coming out of the Sacramento depot. A woman started to cross the track, got in the middle of the track, and stayed there. We got her off, all right, but she said she could not tell where the light was, and did not know which way to run. Of course the engineer saw her, but she could not see the engin- eer and she would have suffered more than the engineer in case of accident. 104 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA On one thing I do not quite agree with the Professor, in his reference to the position of the headlight, advocating lowering it. I have seen it experimented with a good deal, and many of the railroads of the East have put it in the center of the boiler. In some ways it brings the light down, but consider that it only brings it about two feet down, and the same effect is produced by tilting the lamp forward. With reference to the different State Laws, that is what concerns the interests I represent more than anything else. We want to know where we are. We have a different law in each State. Up in the mountains last night I thought of a point; in crossing the line if the engineer had been compelled to get out and change the headlight at the State line, I thought what the difficulties would have been. Running from Oregon into Arizona, through California, we would have to change head- lights in every State we ran into, and we earnestly look for Federal legislation that will standardize this matter, and bring it to a point where we will know just where we are. GOVERNOR ODDIE: I want to thank Mr. Stillman for his practical remarks and suggestions, and would like now to have a discussion from Mr. A. H. Babcock, Chief Electrical Engineer of the Southern Pacific. Company. MR. BABCOCK: Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I approach this subject, not from the standpoint of the technical man, or the investi- gator in the laboratory, but from the standpoint of the man who must make for the Corporation the headlight that the Commissions would like to have, and the executives of the Com- pany would like to have, and the organizations would like to have, one that puts us on a basis where we would like to know where we are, as Mr. Stillman says, before we start. I wish to bring to your attention the essential facts of a headlight sys- tem as seen by the engineer, and ask you to carry in your minds through the discussion this afternoon, these few essentials: First and foremost is a certain illumination of the object. To be produced how? By a headlight. Within the headlight two essential features are the source of light and the reflecting surface that gathers the light and projects in a for- ward direction where it is most desired. The last, and least important feature, as far as anyone but the designing engineer is concerned, is the source of the light. These essentials please carry in your minds, because I am confident there will be a large amount of talk, more or less irrelevant, if these things are not carried particularly in mind. For example, after the certain degree of illumination has been agreed upon as necessary and that the electric lamp is required then the engineer will be asked to design or procure INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 105 a lamp and a reflector and the source of energy. I think that at the present time, we can state that the kind of lamp is nar- rowed down to two, the arc lamp and the incandescent lamp. The arc lamp has many advantages, and many disadvantages, and I think the greatest disadvantage of the arc lamp is its too powerful beam, and the direction. That direction is not con- stant. Please carry that in your mind. The travel of the arc around the surface of the carbon makes it impossible to hold the arc in the focus of the mirror. Where your mirror is con- structed with the accuracy that is now possible, the variation of 1-16 of an inch of the arc may result in throwing your beam wide of the track. You have all seen street cars with a power- ful beam projecting outwards, and if you watch it, you will see it is first in one place, and then in another. That is caused by the travel of the arc. It has also the disadvantage of clouding the reflector. What does it matter if a test can show you can pick up a man with a powerful light at 1200 feet if the beam is not on him when the man is on the track? You gentlemen that run behind the headlights must decide whether it is better to have a reasonably intense beam that will always and invari- ably pick up that a man at a distance within whicn you can stop say 800 or 1000 feet, or whether it is better to have a more powerful light that may not be on the track. The incandescent has the very great advantage of being constant, and can be fixed very accurately. It will produce a soft beam with more pene- trating powers. And these things are matters of practical experience in the field. Determine first what is wanted and then let the engineer do his best. Now, how can he exert his best efforts? He may take ad- vantage, first, of the storage battery one that will keep its charge strong enough to produce the light throughout the entire run, with enough capacity left in it to spare, to cover such inci- dents as we have experienced within the last 24 hours. Now, observe, please, that the quantity of electricity in the battery is what determines the actual illumination of the head- light until a new recharged battery is put in, and please note also, that by making the storage battery large enough, you can make the light burn as long as you please. Objections have been made that the storage battery cannot be made to carry a light long enough for practical purposes. Apart from the battery, we have only one source of light, a generator or dynamo, as it is called. That dynamo must be driven by some mechanical power. There is the choice of the turbine. That can be obtained from a number of manufactur- ers. The Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company is very actively pushing its turbine generator, and the Pyle people have for many years built one. Now, for a few years, at least, the automobile has been lighted by electricity, and com- monly by a little power driven generator connected with the generator. For many years we have lighted our Pullman 106 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA trains by axle driven generators. It occurred to me, why not make a combination of the two, to see if it is not possible to de- sign a generator properly designed for the variable speeds of a locomotive. That will give us adequate electricity to drive a headlight, either arc or incandescent. I fail to see any essen- tial difference between the automobile driving its headlights at speeds of from 5 to 50 miles an hour, and the locomotive on the track. To me, the problem is identical. When that problem was brought to the attention of the automobile manufacturers it was at once pounced upon by them as a new field for their efforts. And while a generator of suitable size for locomotive purposes is larger than that required for an automobile, the problem is different in degree only, and not in kind. There- fore, we have at our disposal, as engineers, a proved source whereby electricity can be delivered to any kind of a headlight that may be considered as necessary, either arc or incandes- cent. I will ask you again in the following discussion, to carry these main essentials in mind. GOVERNOR ODDIE: On the part of the Conference, I thank Mr. Babcock. Now, we have had several discussions on this headlight subject from men who are engaged in the mechanical end of making head- lights. We have a number of men here who have to use the headlights the engineer and firemen. Their lives and the lives of the public are in their hands, and we are very fortun- ate in being able this afternoon to have a discussion from those men, and to have their views. The first one I will call upon is Mr. Frank Ingram, of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire- men. MR. INGRAM: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I wish to thank Professor Scrugham for his very splendid paper on this subject, which has given me a good many ideas. I am not familiar with any method of measuring electricity, and as there has been a number of methods suggested, there might be some question as to just what is the proper method. Someone suggested the candle-foot for a measurement. That may be supplanted in the future by some better method. However, we use the popular terms, and we will use the candle power measurement till some- thing better is suggested. Mr. Stillman has suggested that the reflector has a big effect in the illumination of the track. That is true. But we think if a larger candle power is supplied at the source, we will have the illumination whether there is a reflector there or not. That is the object of this large 1500 candle power headlight law. We know that the men who have charge of the maintenance of these headlights, don't always perform their duty as they might. The new light the nitrogen light may be all right. It has a INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 107 good many features which are an advantage over the arc; one advantage is that it does not tarnish the reflector. But this is only an experiment, and, as practical men, we prefer to stay with the arc, which we know gives us results. However, if any light is proved to take the place of the arc light, we are satis- fied. What we are after is the illumination. In regard to Mr. Stillman's suggestion, that owing to the brilliancy of the are light people are liable to become confused, we suggest that these people are, as a general rule, trespassers, and in fact, safety first would force the engineers to stop, as it is the general rule of engineers to stop if there is any question. They don't ride right over them. We are not in the practice of riding over anybody. We always stop. The reason for the 1500 candle power pro- vision of the present law, is that it is standard in eleven states, and the policy of this organization on this subject has been to promote standard legislation on the subject of headlights. In the last convention of the Brotherhood of Firemen and Engine- men, they adopted a resolution instructing their National Legis- lation representative to present to Congress a suitable bill call- ing for the 1500 candle power light. That is the policy of this organization and along that same line, in our State laws we have always requested 1500 candle power laws. When there has been any other provision of this nature, we are not responsible for it. We have always asked for the standard light, 1500 candle power. And if anything less than 1500 has been accepted, it is not the fault of any of the organizations. It has been a compromise not what we requested. One gentleman suggested that the arc light beam is liable to shoot in almost any direction. Our ex- perience has shown us that while there may be some tendency for this beam to shoot to the side, there has never been a time when the beam was not somewhere near the center of the track. It does not shoot off, leaving the track perfectly bare. That is not our experience, and I think probably our tests this after- noon or evening will show this. We know nothing of battery or other methods of creating current, and I might add we have no objection to the battery if it will supply a steady source of electricity. That is all we want. We want the light. We don't care how we get it. We want better illumination. We suggest, however, that if they are anything like generators they are liable to weaken, and if not given careful attention, it will be something as with a generator you won't have power. In closing, I want to thank the members of the Engineers' Club and Professor Scrugham for the opportunity to present our views on this question. GOVERNOR ODDIE: I wish to thank Mr. Ingram for his practical remarks on the question, and will call now on Mr. R. Harlan, a locomotive engineer from the Sacramento Division of the Southern Pacific. 108 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA MR. HARLAN: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: My abilities as a speaker are not very great. As regards headlights, speaking for the men that run behind them, as far as electric headlight is concerned in its present state, I don't think that the arc is just exactly what everybody wants. I think that there are two things that should be taken into consideration in handling the subject of headlights and these explain the backwardness of the railroad people in adopting them. One is the question of the different laws- that govern in different states. The other is the relationship between braking power and speed. The electric headlight, for the man that rides behind it, is a fine thing. But when he is coming toward it well, I don't think the arc is just exactly what we want. If the nitrogen light is any better, then it ought to be adopted. The man that rides up against the elec- tric headlight is, practically speaking, up against it. Any man who has run or fired on an engine knows that. There is no question of its reliability, and it will show up objects. Take the engine equipped with electric headlights, and as far as rid- ing behind it is concerned, it is fine, but a man riding toward it up against it. He cannot see well for half an hour after it has gone by. With the electric headlight, you can distinguish some colors, and some you can't. As far as the 1500 candle power is concerned, it is rather high. Of course, legislation is not to be slackened, as far as that is concerned. I think what is holding the railroad people back in obtaining arc headlights is that it is too strong. The advance in headlight construction has been so rapid they are simply waiting to get the best there is out as the arc leaves something to be desired. GOVERNOR ODDIE: I wish to thank Mr. Harlan for his remarks, and will now call on Mr. R. B. Stout, District Foreman for the Southern Pacific. MR. STOUT: I feel very proud in addressing this audience in behalf of the Safety First interests. I didn't figure on making any kind of a talk before this audience, so I am not going to be able to say very much. A great many of the men here I am acquainted with, and I want to speak from the practical side of the Safety First Movement. A headlight has a great deal to do with the Safety First Movement. I feel proud to represent the Southern Pacific Railroad in the interests of the Safety First Movement, because they have been awarded the Harriman gold medal for 1913 for the finest work of any road in the United States. Their booth, here, is a reproduction of the booth that was in New York City it was prepared there when the Southern Pacific was awarded the gold medal. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 109 I have been associated with the electric headlight problem since it has been perfected enough to be in service on the roads, and the arc light has been the only light that has been practic- able for the railroad purposes. The incandescent light is something the future must decide. I will try and describe some of the features of the maintenance of the electric headlight. We often times hear curses for the poor headlight. While the arc is practicable, a good arc, yet the rays of the arc are not gathered in the reflector. I knew Mr. Johnson, Vice-President of the Pyle Electric Headlight Company, when he was running an engine. We attended some lectures in the Y. M. C. A. de- scribing the operation of this headlight so as to make it a suc- cess. We put on eight, then put on one hundred, and then put on eight hundred. Everyone took a great deal of interest in the lights and there was a great reduction in accidents. The electric headlight is so far superior to the old oil and carbide lights, in the way of preventing accidents, that there is no com- parison. This applies more to the men that are operating them than to the people or the traveling public. On this road there were many accidents due to oil and carbide headlights. Men were operating them and not understanding them. I wish to call attention to legislation. I approve of legisla- lation, but legislation does not prevent the accidents. It is only for the company to get at the individual men who operate headlights or anything else, to make them protect themselves. It does not seem reasonable that you should have to compel a man to protect himself, but I have been compelled to discharge men for an example in order to make other men use methods of protecting themselves provided by the company. GOVERNOR ODDIE: I thank Mr. Stout for his remarks and will now call on Mr. Kearns, Locomotive Engineer. MR. KEARNS: Ladies and Gentlemen : Speaking of headlights, I want to go back to my first experience with them. My early experi- ence on the railroad, when I started to work as a call boy and wiper in the roundhouse, taught me that the headlight was the most important part of a locomotive. In those days the engineers were assigned to regular engines, and it was one of the most important duties of the engineer to take care of the headlight- polishing the reflector and trimming the lamp. They took pride in having a good light, and the principal thing was to trim the wick. After I started to fire, I had two years' experience before I was considered qualified to light a headlight. The crust formed on the wick should not be broken, consequently the engineer attended to the trimming and the lighting of the headlight. I speak of these things to give you an idea of the importance of the headlight from the engineer's standpoint. 110 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA Speaking of the electric headlight, my first experience with one was two years after I was promoted. It was something new on the road I was working for, in the Rocky Mountains, where washouts and slides were very frequent, and I found it was of great assistance to the engineer in handling a train with safety. Of course, we did not understand it very well, and the shop force did not understand them, but we got along. The Pyle Headlight Company did not issue books of instructions on them, and the result was I burned up one machine before I understood how to run it. I was furnished with another, and I thought at that time that I would not be able to get along on an engine un- less I did have the electric headlight. After I came to the Southern Pacific, I found the old oil headlights were in use on the freight engines, and it was hard for me to get back to the old system. The gas headlight is a great improvement over the oil lamp, and we are now considering an improvement over that the electric headlight and I think we should have it. It is im- portant in enabling engineers to determine the speed at which they are running, and also distinguish objects on the track. Especially on our division, in the snowshed district, I think it is absolutely necessary that we should have the electric headlight. Speaking of the arc and incandescent, I would favor the arc light for this reason. In case of storms of wind or snow, where the glass is broken, you will always have a light with the arc, where with the other it is liable to be broken with the glass. Another advantage in having the electric headlight is that it enables you to have a better light in the cab, which is absolutely necessary for the engineer to see the steam and air and water gauges, and enable him to read his orders, and is more satisfac- tory in general. GOVERNOR ODDIE: We thank Mr. Kearns for his remarks, and will now call on Mr. A. C. Myers, Assistant Electrical Engineer of the South- ern Pacific. MR. MYERS: My first experience with headlights dates back some fifteen years ago, when I entered the employ of one of our Eastern trunk lines as a locomotive fireman. Like my predecessor here, who just spoke, I learned to take care of headlights while I was a fireman, and they were the old oil type of lamp. After some eight years' experience on a locomotive, I became associated with an electric manufacturing company in the East, and dur- ing my employ with that company I was selected to investigate electric arc lights for headlight use. The company, at that time, was developing an electric headlight set very similar to INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 111 the Pyle or the Remy as we have it in use to-day. They had developed this lamp to a stage, when it was handed to me, where they had already placed a number of them in service on one of the Western roads. The troubles multiplied with the number placed in service. After thoroughly analyzing the operating conditions and the construction of the lamp, I made an exten- sive report on it. My report was the cause of the company's abandoning the idea of building arc lights for locomotive use. Now, when the headlight question became a question with the Southern Pacific Company, I became interested, principally because I had some locomotive experience, and being connected with the Electrical Engineer's office, I was placed in this work. Some six or eight months ago we began testing a number of types of light. I have followed locomotives in service that were equipped with the various lights, acetylene, the arc light, and the incandescent light. Sometime last August I believe, we made some extensive tests with the incandescent light, to which Pro- fessor Scrugham has referred in his paper. We found from actual demonstration that we could pick up an object the size of a man, dressed in dark clothes, on the track, at a distance of anywhere from 860 to 1000 feet. With the locomotive running at 30 miles an hour, we were able to discern objects and dis- tinguish them at about 960 feet. This lamp favorably impress- ed me as the right light for locomotive use. I have been thoroughly familiar with the arc light. With all of its advan- tages and disadvantages, from an engineer's point of view the incandescent lamp has many advantages over the arc light. First of all, when considering a headlight for locomotive use, we should consider reliability, a lamp that will burn steadily, throwing a beam of light a sufficient distance ahead of the loco- motive. This type is to be approved over one that does not illuminate the track continuously. The next important feature in my opinion, is that the lamp must have sufficient brilliancy, or illumination, to throw a steady beam on the track, and the incandescent lamp has this. This can be shown by a simple example. In a dark room, if your eyes have been accustomed to that amount of light, you can see objects much plainer than you could when you first came into the room. Such is true of the locomotive headlight. If the light is continuous, and of uniform brilliancy, an engin- eer's eye becomes adjusted, and is more keen to pick up objects than where he has a lamp that is anywhere from 100 candle power to 1500 candle power. Such a light is confusing, and his eye does not become adjusted to any one point. With the incan- descent light, and the accurate mechanical possibilities of fixing it, we can hold this light steadily on the track, reflected at a dis- tance of about 800 to 900 feet, and hold it within those limits. This alone is one reason why we are to-day advocating the new nitrogen light. 112 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA The gentleman who preceded me spoke about the unrelia- bility of the incandescent light in case of snow storm, and, if I understood the gentleman correctly, he stated that with the arc light, with the glass broken, he would be able to get in. This is just one of the reasons why we have advocated the incandes- cent light. With the glass broken, if you have an arc light, I can't reason how you could get in at all because the currents of air will blow your light about, and it will be difficult to keep it burning. With the incandescent, you won't know whether you have a glass in your headlight or not, as long as your lamp is all right. The glass is not there to protect your light. Coming down to a matter of reliability, I would like to cite you some of the mechanism of the arc light, some of the parts on which it is dependent for its accurate operation, and the source of power from which it must be driven, as it cannot be driven from a battery. While I have no figures to substantiate these remarks, I believe the failure of the electric arc in service will be 1,000 to 1, compared with an incandescent lamp sup- plied by a battery. A battery is the most reliable source of electric supply that is known to the engineering profession. When we place a battery on a locomotive we know how many hours that lamp will burn. It is only a matter of placing a bat- tery there that will burn continuously for the longest trips made. Besides, it is possible to keep our current supply replenished from source such as a generator attached to the locomotive. I appreciate that the time is limited on this subject. While perhaps I might cite you some more points I want, at least, to impress upon you the importance of a reliable light for loco- motive use, one that can be depended upon at all times. I thank you, gentlemen. GOVERNOR ODDIE : And we thank Mr. Myers. We will now call on Mr. R. H. Bishop for a few remarks. MR. BISHOP: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I am very much pleased to be permitted to be present, and perhaps add a few words to what has already been said, but that is going to be mighty hard to do. I might be able to emphasize some of the statements that have been made. I realize that the time is short, and we have consumed a great deal more time than we intended, and I will therefore make my speech very short. About the electric headlight; it has come to the notice of the public and the employees of the different railroads as well as the employers, while they possibly don't admit it as rapidly as we will, that we need a good headlight. And we have taken measures by legislation to secure it, where we have failed to get recognition along these lines in other ways. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 113 Speaking about the incandescent lights-Mr. Kearns refer- red to that when the first glass breaks out, what is to become of the globe and the filaments inside? The snow hits it, or the water hits it, and if it is anything like the globes around in your houses, it will not last very long, and you have no light at all. With the arc light, which we have all had more or less experi- ence with, we know that we would have a light of some kind in the headlight, which will be better than a white lantern set up in the headlight, with which you cannot see anything. And that is why we would prefer to see the arc light continued in use until such time as we have been given assurances that the in- candescent light will meet the requirements. We don't care what kind of a light it is, or how it is maintained, but we want a good one. We want the illumination. And, in order to be safe, not only ourselves, but also the passengers that may be in the train, we have got to have it. This is a matter that goes to the question of Safety First right there on the head end of a train. A good headlight is the first thing that tends to Safety First, with the men handling the engine complying with the rules that govern. Referring to the statement made by one of my precedessors that he had to discharge men because they did not take care of the headlights or other machinery properly, why not give us some machinery that we are satisfied is going to be a good thing, and then find out whether we will take care of it or not, before you censure and criticise us when we haven's machinery of this sort ? There may be men that possibly neglect their work some- times. We find these people in all walks of life. I don't care to take up any more of your time, but will thank you for the opportunity of being present. GOVERNOR ODDIE: Thanking Mr. Bishop for his remarks, we will call on Mr. A. M. Metson, Road Foreman of Engines, to close this discussion on electric headlights. MR. METSON: I closing this discussion I wish to call attention to one great danger from a glaring headlight which has not been touched upon. At the Oakland mole we have a great mass of signals and signal lights which must be observed and obeyed by engine- men. We all know the blinding effect of many brilliant arc lights. I believe that the possibilities for confusing red and green lights are greatly enhanced when the arc headlight is used. In my opinion it is a positive danger to equip a locomo- tive with a headlight of excessive brilliancy. GOVERNOR ODDIE: There is the question of Safety First in mining, and this Conference has requested the Tonopah Miner's Union to send someone to discuss Safety First as it ap- 114 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA plies to mines, and it has sent Mr. Thos. M. Pagan, its Presi- dent. I am glad to introduce Mr. Fagan : MR. FAGAN : Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen and Fellow Workers : On behalf of the Tonopah Miners' Union, I wish to express their appreciation of the invitation extended to them to have a representative at this gathering. The Western Federation of Miners is the main organized body of metal workers of the western part of the United States. Metal mining has always been considered a hazardous occupa- tion. It has been considered more dangerous than almost any other occupation, with the possible exception of coal mining, and all members of the Western Federation of Miners have been trained to take care of their safety first. I may say that practically the only skill left to the miner's profession is his ability to take care of his life in dangerous places. The wrecks and washouts have interfered with this pro- gram so much that I am afraid that I can only touch on part of what I had laid out for this Conference. And the principal point I had in mind was the reason why it appears that the workman is to blame for approximately 85 per cent, of the acci- dents that happen to him. Now, it has been stated by all of the speakers here that something like that is the truth ; that approx- imately that percentage has been caused by their own careless- ness or neglect. Now, I hold that this is not true that it only appears to be true; and when we come to consider this question of whether or not a man is responsible for the accident that hap- pens to him, it becomes necessary to understand something of the relation between the employer and the employee, or, as the law puts it, between the master and his servant. Now, the workingman is not the master of his time. He has sold that time to get him a living. Speaking quickly, I will state the law as I intended to develop it, but instead of developing it, I shall state it, and that is this: That a workingman who works for an employer has this relation to the man who hires him ; that he sells a certain part of his life to that purchaser at its value. Those who have studied the question have formulated this law, that labor power is a commodity that is sold on the market ex- actly the same as any other commodity. When the railroad companies or the mines or any other industrial concern hires a man, in effect it purchases a commodity, and it is subject to the rules of the exchange that all other commodities are subject to, namely: that it shall be sold at its value. The value of a com- modity is the cost of its production. The cost of production of the labor power is what it costs to produce it naturally. The cost of production is determined by the social relations that ex- ist in a given society, INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 115 The cost of production of the labor power that is sold as a commodity on the market is the same as all other commodities that are sold, and is determined by the amount of raw materials, the amount of human labor that is embodied in the production of that commodity ; in other words, enough to eat is the cost of his production, if he has enough to provide for his physical exer- tion. If he has mental exertion to provide for, it might cost him more. It might be where it cost but a few thousand dollars to produce the commonest kind of a laboring man, it might cost twenty thousand dollars to produce a technically educated man. But the same law runs through the exchange of these commodi- ties. It is only exchanging at its value what the possessor of the commodity can, under the natural law, collect as its value. Now, this is true where the units of society are organized. The better organized they are, the better able they are to pro- tect their own commodity, and to get its value. The Western Federation of Miners have studied this question because they have had occasion to. There are a good many that have been atempting to protect themselves and look after their interest and their safety first through their organizations. They find they are best, as organizations ; and any body of men that cannot act as an organized body, cannot accomplish anything as an un- organized body. If the working class are going to co-operate with the pur- chasers of the commodity, they must act with them as an organ- ized body. Disorganized, they can do nothing. It requires no argument to show that. Now, the mining industry in this State is supposed to be protected by the Nevada Industrial Insurance Act. I am in perfect accord with the Nevada Industrial Insurance Act, but I take the stand that under the natural law that determines the value of commodities, the law does not provide for a just valua- tion on the human life that it intends to pay for. We will rec- ognize as a matter of scientific truth that the workman sells his life as a commodity, and, and, as his life is sold as a commodity, he is entitled to the collection of the value of it, as it is deter- mined as a commodity. Now, at the present time, when a laboring man sells one day's labor, in effect he sells one day's life. Now, the application to the purchaser of that commodity would appear to be settled when he has paid for that day, but there is another application which the purchaser of that com- modity is responsible to the laborer for, and that is this : If he buys one day of life which is sold willingly in order to live, the purchaser is entitled to that commodity and, under ordinary cir- cumstances, the workman makes no objection to delivering it, but he does not deliver to that purchaser any other part of his life ex- cept the day that he has sold. Now, if in the course of his em- ployment, he becomes permanently injured or incapacitated from performing his function as a seller of laboring power, the em- 116 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA ployer or producer who put him in an unsafe place to work, or even a safe place to work, is responsible to him for the property that he has destroyed this life that he has not paid for. The Industrial Insurance Act takes the stand that the workman stands half of this loss. The purchaser is entirely responsible for it, and will offer him only half. In addition to that, he will offer him nothing for the first two weeks ; but as far as permitting the Safety First examination, the safety of the individual, this law has not one bit of bearing on that subject. That devolves upon the individual, and the way to bring that about is to instill into the mind of every workman we may employ that he must protect himself. Look after his safety first. The thing that prevents him from doing that in our ordinary calling, is that his commodity which he is selling does not rep- resent enough value to make it worth his while to expend his time to look after his safety ; in other words, because he must to protect his job. I will give you an example. I am told that I must put in 20 inches. [ have had 13 years' experience in the mining business and I think I cannot put in 20 holes in less than seven hours. There is a Safety Law on the Statutes that I shall use water in all holes that are drilled dry. The question with me is, can I afford to spend 30 minutes' time to get some water and be one hole short in my round and lose my job? I look it over, and if I think the dan- ger is great, why I let the job go, but if it is not great enough, why I will let the law go. I think that is the practice that is common to all working men, that they do not obey the law when there is a greater stake to be lost by obeying it than there is lost by following it. It is very desirable that Safety First should be their first consideration, but safety cannot be the first consideration if a human life is worth but $5,000. This is the result of a system, the system of industry where- ever human life is a commodity and its value determined in the only manner in which the value of any commodity can be deter- mined. As the representative of the Miners' Union, I take the stand that Safty First can be the first consideration when the working man owns his own life, and does not have to sell it to a purchaser in order to live. I also take the stand, and the most of the miners agree with me, that if it becomes profitable for any corporation or employer to make it safe, he will make it safe; if it is not profitable, he cannot make it safe. All follows from this law. But, speaking of the Industrial Insurance Act it is strictly in line with evolutionary progress, it is strictly logical, and is entitled to the support of the working class, as well as the em- ploying class. Not because it will give him, in itself, anything. It cannot do it, but it can be amended to reach a point where the laboring man can collect for his life its value, as value is deter- INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 117 mined on a dressed beef, or any other commodity. At the pres* ent time, the law does not provide that he shall collect for it. Furthermore, the Industrial Insurance Act makes no provision for the safety of the individual as related to medical aid. Now, i1 Safety First is an object of the law, when a man is injured, it would appear that the first consideration would be that he gets medical attention. The law makes no provision that he shall get medical attention either first aid, or any other aid. They do in the common humanity of men do all they can all the law will leave them do; but it just illustrates the point that the law is not primarily intended for the protection of human life at all. It is primarily intended to replace a property that has been de- stroyed. I claim, and I claim that the laws of social science will bear me out, that the Industrial Insurance Act must be amended to allow for first aid ; that an industry is responsible for taking care of its injured, also that the laboring man is not responsible for half of his loss of property. The industry in which he was in- jured is responsible for the entire amount, and this is a legiti- mate charge. It is not a charity, it is a legitimate charge on that industry that he shall be compensated from the moment he is incapacitated. Now there is some difficulty quite a little difficulty in the way of furnishing first aid to the injured workman, and in this connection you will see the objection that continually comes up between the working man and the manager of the industry the question of expense, the question of cost. There is another problem, the doctor, that neither the employer nor the employee can handle. It becomes impracticable to furnish first aid to the man who is injured, for the reason they cannot furnish the first aid at its cost, or what it is worth. Now, there is one solution of that problem. The Industrial Commission must make pro- vision for their own medical staff and they must have their own hospitals. Now, it seems to me that the mining industry is far behind in this respect. While I am not familiar with the practice of the railroads, I understand that they have hospitals well equipped and well managed and organized. Now, that is one respect in which the law should be amended. Now, another respect in which the law should be amended in order to promote Safety First and protect the lives of the individuals who own it, is in the matter of compensation of single men. At the present time if a single man is killed out- right, the Industrial Commission is responsible to the amount, I think, of $125.00, or some such amount. Now, if he is per- manently injured, it might mount up to four or five thousand dollars, somewhere along in there. Under the law, if it was so organized that it would promote safety first, a man who was injured, if his life was saved, should be worth less money than if he was killed outright. I don't say that that can can be fixed, 118 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA but I do say the operation of the law tends to make it more pro- fitable if a man should be killed than if his life should be saved, if seriously injured. I don't know whether or not the law can be amended in that respect, but there should be some provision made that every individual company who has an accident should be made to pay on account of the greater mortality, and that would remedy it to some extent. Of course, the Industrial Insurance Act will be amended. Anyone can see these defects that I have pointed out. The only solution of the difficulty of making industrial con- ditions such that the individual workman's first consideration will be his safety first, is that condition in which the workman is the owner of his own life, and his own time ; and if the work- ing class, as a whole, of this State can collect the value of their life as a commodity, they will abolish the wage system, and make it four times as safe as their purchaser could ever make it for them. I thank you, gentlemen. GOVERNOR ODDIE: As a State officer, and speaking for the other State officers, I will say that our industrial laws are passed and enforced with the primary object of accident prevention. We do not measure human life by its value in dollars and cents. That is certain. The desire to prevent accidents comes first, for the reason that every man's life is worth more to him and to the community than all the dollars in existence. Our State Mine Inspector, Mr. Ed Ryan, is giving the best year of his life going from mine to mine from camp to camp, in pleasant weather and in storm, over the desert and mountain, for the purpose of making suggestions and when necessary, giving orders for changes and additions which will protect men's lives and prevent accidents. I am pleased to call on Mr. Ryan as the next speaker. ACCIDENT PREVENTION IN MINES BY ED RYAN, STATE INSPECTOR OF MINES I believe that only great good will come from a meeting of this kind. Any organized effort that has for its object the focus- ing of the attention of employer and employee on the great ne- cessity of accident prevention is a blessing and should meet with the approval of all. All human organization of whatsoever kind or character whether reliogious, social or otherwise, and founded upon some distinct idea, some pivotal principle. It is this principle under- lying the organization that gives it character, imparts to it indi- INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 119 viduality, makes for it history and distinguishes it from other organizations. To illustrate: An individual who is naturally charitably inclined, whose feelings are easily touched at the sight of suffering, will, if one is within reach, become a member of a charitable organization. Why? Because the dispensation of charity, being the distinct idea upon which the organization rests, is the very principle in which he so intensely believes. Af- ter becoming a member, the active work of his associates is the very sunshine of his soul and their companionship furnishes him a congenial home. Now this organization, if this meeting culminates in an or- ganization, will have for its fundamental principal "Accident Prevention." I see before me representatives of large business affairs and representatives of labor organizations; all men of keen intellects and they are here because they are swayed by a great sense of justice and because the fundamental idea upon which this organization is to be built is in perfect harmony with their belief. Intelligent minds imbued with humane desire make fertile soil in which to sow thoughts that will aid in the good work. Accident Prevention is certainly a theme on which one might dwell for some time were he to endeavor to cover all indus- tries, but as my daily duties have to do with mines and mining it is my purpose to speak for a few moments on that branch of the work with the hopes that I might be able to leave with you some thought that will add to this great movement, and possibly strengthen the bond between employer and employee which sure- ly follows when the employee knows his employer has his inter- ests at heart. It is commonly supposed that by passing safety acts and having inspectors who visit the different properties every few months, that everything has been done that possibly can be for the prevention of accidents. This is not so. Laws are nothing more or less than educational means and the penalty provided in the act is simply the punishment for the one who fails to learn his lesson. Now it is generally known that Nevada leads in laws looking to the safety of the men employed underground. We have taken thirty-one of the most important points in the law, the violation of w r hich has caused most of the accidents, and under the heading, "Don't," called to the attention of the opera- tor and miner to the frequently occurring happenings that must be avoided. These have been printed on cloth and furnished to all operating mines in the State and they are posted at the collar of the shafts and at each working level. These signs keep before the men many of the things to be avoided if accidents are to be lessened. Now with these signs constantly before them why do we have as many accidents as we do? The answer can only be that the men are incompetent or wilfully violate the provisions looking to their safety, or are compelled to forego the exercise of caution as pointed out by the signs in order to meet the re- 120 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA quirements expected by those in charge. We all know that men working constantly in an atmosphere of danger become careless and take chances they should not take and daily violate the State laws and company rules. Operators in some instances are re- sponsible to a great extent for the haphazard and careless man- ner in which the men do their work by reason of a lack of dis- cipline. Some mine foremen are competent and efficient in all other duties, but sadly deficient in discipline. Many times, per- haps, the foreman is simply carrying out the policy of those higher in authority, but generally speaking I believe the atti- tude of the superintendent and foreman as regards carelessness is reected by the men. If those in charge are careless and in- different as to rules and regulations the men will treat these matters lightly. If, however, the superintendent shows an earnest desire to have all rules and regulations looking to safety observedin fact, makes the prevention of accidents one of the main features in his department, his foreman will usually reflect that policy and in turn will see to it that the men will carefully observe the different precautions taken for their safety, and in this manner accidents will be reduced. Operators, if they wish to surround themselves with home loving, industrious, law abiding miners cannot afford to neglect discipline. Slipshod methods beget carelessness and indiffer- ence and the result is sure to be disagreeable conditions. Lack of proper discipline usually results in the gradual elimination of the better class of labor, with i stresulting increase of acci- dents and inefficiency. Laxity of discipline is entirely to preva- lent in some of our mines, and that the cause " Disobedience of Orders" would not be so frequently given in accident reports if we hand better discipline. Let the miner know that all laws, rules and regulations are to be obeyed and if he shows no dispo- sition to comply with them, get rid of him and thus protect him against himself and the careful miner against his more careless fellow worker. Centralize as much as possible, responsibility, what is ev- erybody's business is nobdoy's business. The Nevada Consolidated Copper Mines has recently inaug- urated a splendid system which will go a long way toward bring- ing about the co-operation of all their employees in the matter of accident prevention. A monthly bulletin is issued showing the number of accidents in each and every branch of work. The name of the one in direct charge of the work is given and all accidents happening on the different shifts and in each depart- ment is written under the name of the one in charge. The man- agement scans closely the accident record of each department and commends by favorable comment, in the monthly bulletin issued by the Safety Department, all those in charge who have clean record as far as lack of accidents go. Suggestions looking toward safety are eagerly sought and earnestly considered. Sometime ago I happened to be in one of their pits when an ac- INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 121 cident happened to a fireman on one of the shovels. It was not an unavoidable accident but an unforseen one. This accident revealed and outlined the method of prevention. The master mechanic was one of the first' on the ground and immediately took steps to prevent a like occurrence, and ere night every shovel in the pit was equipped to overcome the weakness which caused the trouble. It was the first accident directly traceable to this man's department and he was all wrought up over the unfor- tunate affair as it had always been his constant effort to leave nothing undone in his work to protect those under him. I sim- ply cite this case to show how earnestly some men do their part in this great work. Compare the earnestnees with which this man did his work with that of the foreman who outlined to the superintendent his method of doing a certain work connected with the mine. As outlined by him it was perfectly safe and met with the approval of the superintendent. A few days later an accident occurred in the same line of work discussed but a few days before and on investigation it was found that the meth- od as formerly outlined was not the one in vogue at all and he had deliberately decieved his superior in authority. Not long ago in going through a property with a foreman we came to a man working in a stope who had drilled fourteen holes in close proximity to five missed holes. This is forbidden, and that it was forbidden was well known to the shrift boss who had been through that very stope at least twice that very shrift. Did the shifter reflect the wishes of his foreman? If not, was he severely reprimanded or did the foreman pass it by without a word and thus lay the foundation for ap ractice that can only result fatally. Far better would it have been for one of our mining com- panies had one of those in charge followed the law relative to the use of gates than to have permitted them to be discarded by one who perhaps thought them a useless fad, and thus involve them in a damage suit and perhaps criminal prosecution by rea- son of a man falling from a cage. Almost every investigation of any accident brings out the fact that some employee either through the lack of knowledge or wilfulness violates the rules. Let us ask ourselves the question, are we doing our full duty by simply posting the rules and regulations. About two years ago in an address before the Engineers' Club of this University, speaking of accident preventions, I said : "The common mandates of humanity should cause all to get to- gether on this important subject. Already in this State since the passage of the Employees' Liability Law some of the mine managers have met together and exchanged ideas on accident prevention. Such meetings are bound to bring good results, one becomes the other's teacher and as a result all get a better under- standing of the needs of the industry. Why not go farther in these meetings and take the miners in. Let them know they have a duty to perform in this humane work. Almost daily I 122 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA see men not only exposing their own lives but those of others. Many of them do not understand that they are asked to do or not to do a certain thing because of the law. Bosses cannot con- stantly watch over them, therefore they must share in the re- sponsibility of carrying out the law. Let all meet together, dis- cuss frankly our responsibilities, tell one another what is expect- ed and a better feeling will prevail." I believed then and believe now that a better understanding, a spirit of co-operation that will go to the very bottom of the situation and grip the very heart of the miner can be had by putting the matter of safety right u pto them. Point out to them that they and their families are the direct sufferers from acci- dents. Take them right in as partners in the Safety First busi- ness, inculcate caution into their minds and should you find any who do not wish to invest in the business, for their own sakes, get rid of them, for The man who fails in Safety First To see the current bent, Spells danger for himself and friends; Lacks purpose, lacks intent. But the man who boasts for Safety First Will ever wax content, For he's the guy who puts the ax In every accident. GOVERNOR ODDIE: We thank Mr. Ryan for his very able speech and his dem- onstration which shows you what the State is doing for the pre- vention of accidents, and in saving men who have sustained acci- dents. I now introduce Mr. Hunsinger of Goldfield, a repre- sentative of the miners and a practical miner himself. MR. HUNSINGER: Mr. Chairman, and Ladies and Gentlemen: This is a sort of surprise to me, because when our Superintendent asked me if I would come up here, I supposed naturally that it was because I was good looking, and not because I was to talk. There having been so much said already, I do not think it is necessary for me to say but a few words. But I will say what we are doing in Goldfield for the Safety First Movement. Miners, superinten- dents, shift bosse.8, and everybody, are getting together and tak- ing this thing up, and if any one has any suggestion to make, and makes it to the shift boss, and he don't take it up, they can take it to the foreman or the superintendent, and he will give it attention. I don't believe any of the accidents we have in Gold- field are the fault of the management, or the fault of the miner. They are these unfortunate things we cannot help. We are forming a Unity Club in Goldfield, taking in every- body but negros and Chinamen, and I am not certain but we INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 123 will take them in before we get through. This move is not only for the benefit of Goldfield, but also for the benefit for the Safety First Movement all through the State. Thank you, gentlemen. CHAIRMAN: The next address is by Dr. McLean. FIRST AID TO THE INJURED BY DOCTOR DONALD MCLEAN, Chief Medical Adviser, Nevada Industrial Commission "Safety First" translated into medical phraseology- would read, "Prophylaxis or Prevention of Infection after the Accident", and it is with this element of the movement that I desire to deal. The Nevada Industrial Commission has been in operation not quite seven months, for which reason our statistics are not exhaustive, and are no fair criterion. One or two instances of infection, due to neglect, may be cited : Class No. 1. Slight scratch on little finger, neglected became infected, result amputation of finger. Case No. 2. Slight cut on wrist, neglected three days' infection lost six weeks. Case No. 3. Hand bruised, neglected due to no doc- tor being in camp, abcess resulted lost six weeks. Case No. 4. Bruised finger infection, loss of fin- ger through ankylosis and destruction of tendons time lost, two months. The greatest experience in this matter is that of the United Steel Corporation, and Doctor W. O'Neil Sherman their Chief Surgeon, is authority for the following statement: "To give you an idea of the value of first aid properly ad- ministered, I will say that during the past four years we have been able to reduce the number of infected cases from 50 and 75 per cent, to 1-10 of 1 per cent., or slightly over one in one thous- and. The infected cases take three and one-half times as long to recover as the non-infected." The experience of the Nevada Industrial Commission is, that the infected cases take seven and eight times as long to recover as the non-infected; but, as already stated, our experience has been small and our infections have been severe. It is the infection following an accident that is responsible for the stiff and useless joints and for the amputated limbs in at least 75 per cent, of the cases, and not the accident itself. 124 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA When we reach the Industrial Millenium, there will be no accidents, but until then it is hardly reasonable to suppose that accidents can be entirely prevented. Having seen, therefore, how greatly the accident toll is in- creased by neglect and infection, you will, I am sure, agree with me that the cost is too great if it insures against infection. How may this be achieved? By first aid properly applied. Of what does this consist? Let me again quote from Dr. Sherman: "First aid to be successfully applied is dependent upon three factors: First Properly equipped and organized emergency hos- pitals. Where the number of accidents is sufficiently large, a modern emergency hospital with the necessary equipment, in charge of qualified surgeons and female nurses, should be in- stalled. Second The intelligent co-operation of all employees. The success of the movement is in proportion to the interest and, enthusiasm shown by the operating managers. All officials and workmen should familiarize themselves with the rules and regu- lations on the subject. Third Education of the individual. The education of the employee is accomplished by the organization of "first aid" squads throughout the works. The revised Red-cross text book on "first aid" is used as a standard work. Each class is given twelve lectures and demonstrations. Competitive meets, at which prizes are given to the winning crews, are held to stimu- late and keep up the the interest in the work. In a short time the Carnegie Steel Company expects to have six thousand "first aid" men in the organization. This would be the ideal method were we of Nevada situated as they are in Pennsylvania, Ohio and the other great industrial centers. With our sparse population, scarcity of doctors, nurses and hospitals, "first aid" becomes a more serious matter. Frequently an injured man is far away from a doctor and many more from a hospital. Under such conditions, what can be done to lessen the consequences of accidents which occur in the small communities? Some effort should be made to hold "first aid" classes throughout the State, and a special effort made to interest every doctor in the movement, and through him, one or members in each community where there is no doctor. As to what these courses should consist of, I shall refer those interested to the American Red Cross "First Aid' text book, Industrial edition. Were I asked to give my personal views on the subject of the prevention of infection following accidents, I am positive it would consist chiefly of Don'ts. Don't wash a wound with antiseptic solutions. You will poke in more dirt and more pus-forming germs than you will wash out. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 125 Don't cover a wound or a burn with ointment or salves, or with an ordinary rag or handkerchief. Pus-forming organism are parasites upon the living animal tissues, chielly human, and you are more apt to infect a wound using a handkerchief or a towel that has been in contact with your hands, than you are if you leave it uncovered. Don't neglect a cut or scratch. No matter how trivial, cover it with a clean dressing, and by clean I mean aseptic, be- ing careful to see that it does not become infected when being applied. If it becomes inflamed, it is infected. Hunt a doctor, and, if none is available, paint it with tincture of iodine the one antiseptic permissible, and that only for slight wounds. Don't haul an injured man around to see where he is hurt. You only add to the shock and exhaustion, and can do no good. Send for a doctor. A man seriously injured will instinctively take the most restful position, even if unconscious. Don't raise a man's head unless you know he is suffering from heart stroke or any injury to the skull. For all other con- ditions it is better to raise his feet and legs, or at least have his head level with his body. Don't cover a bleeding wound. If the bleeding is profuse, apply a tourquinet above the wound and put the greatest pres- sure on the flexor surface. The arteries are all on the flexor surface and fall in the bend of the joints. Hence the crouch of pre-historic man to protect his arteries. Don't attempt to move a foreign body from the eye with a pencil, a match or a knife point. Use a clean cloth, or a loop of horsehair, and if that fails, send him to a doctor, preferably an eye specialist. Don't use a poultice of any kind under any circumstances on the eyes or on an open wound. Use a cold water compress on the eyes. In conclusion, " first aid" is no longer an experiment. It is as much a necessity as any other part of the Safety First Movement, and perhaps more, for the reason that while acci- dents cannot be entirely prevented, infection can. What does this work cost? Does it pay and whom does it benefit? The cost of material is infinitesimal. A train crew's outfit costs, $15.00; the largest shop outfit, $15.00. These outfits should be put in a durable aseptic container and some official should be made responsible for them. In regard to the benefits, the injured man gets the most. It is an insurance that insures the man against the accident be- ing made worse by improper handling. Benefits to the sur- geon are too obvious to mention. Benefits to the company and the community at large diminished death rate, and fewer sup- plies. The one sin unpardonable in modern surgery is infection ; that should be true of industrial accidents. 126 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA Therefore, to all interested in Safety, I would say Let your watchword be, "Prevention of Accidents and Prevention of Infection." CHAIRMAN : The next paper is by Professor Peter Frand- sen. FIRST AID TO THE INJURED BY PROFESSOR FRANDSEN, of the University of Nevada While each kind of accident or injury requires its own par- ticular kind of treatment, there are certain fundamental prin- ciples in all such cases which it is well to emphasize. We may group them under two heads; (1) general rules, and (2) con- ditions demanding immediate attention. Aimless activity, undirected by common sense or definite knowledge is apt to result in more harm than good. It is there- fore well to bear in mind the following rules : 1. First of all it is necessary that some one with a cool head and some knowledge of what to do should take charge and keep the crow r d of interested, well-meaning but flustered and helpless individuals away from the vicinity of the injured person. 2. Place the injured man in a comfortable position with his head slightly raised and give him plenty of fresh air. 3. Loosen the clothing and determine, if possible, the na- ture and extent of his injuries. 4. Then send some one for a physician with information as to the nature of the accident or injury so the physician may come prepared with the proper materials and remedies. 5. Then do what you know will be beneficial and if you lack the knowledge do nothing except to make the patient as comfortable as possible. 6. Do not follow the common practice of giving large doses of whiskey. Large doses are paralyzing and nearly al- ways detrimental. Where indicated, the medical dose of whis- key is a teaspoonful in a quarter cup full of warm water, and, if there is severe bleeding, even this amount may be dangerous. CONDITIONS DEMANDING IMMEDIATE ATTENTION The conditions requiring immediate attention are hem- orrhage, stopping of breathing and shock. Next in order comes the dressing of wounds, splinting of broken bones and the transportation of injured person. Hemorrhage Profuse bleeding is always a serious matter and may result in death or dangerous collapse in a short while. If the cut ves- sel is an artery the blood will come in spurts and be of a bright INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 127 red color ; if it be a vein the blood will flow in a steady stream and be of a darker purple color. If one knows the location of the main blood vessels he may apply pressure with his fingers or a knotted bandage directly to the vessel; if an artery, be- tween the wound and the heart, if a vein, beyond the wound. The tourniquet or Spanish windlass is an effective but rather painful method. A cork or pebble is wrapped in a piece of cloth or a knot is tied in cravat bandage and the knot or wrapped ob- ject placed directly over the vessel. The ends of the bandage are then tied in a loose single knot on the opposite side, a stick is inserted and the bandage ends tied in a square knot over the stick. By twisting the stick any amount of pressure can be ex- erted until the bleeding stops. It may be held in position by tying another bandage around the limb over the free end of the stick. The tourniquet should not be left on for more than an hour because the complete stoppage of the circulation will soon result in the death of the part deprived of blood. It may be gradually loosened from time to time and again tightened if bleeding recommences. If one does not know the position of the main vessels or if the wound is in a region like the abdomen where the tourniquet cannot be applied, direct pressure may be given to the wound itself, either by thrusting the fingers into the wound or such objects as absorbent cotton, soft cloth or clean waste. It is desirable that the fingers or cloths should be sterile or disinfected in a 1-1000 corrosive sublimate solution, but if the patient is in grave danger of bleeding to death it is better to take chances on infecting the wound. Artifical Respiration After many accidents, such as drowning, electric shock, coal gas and other forms of poisoning, severe hemorrhage, and in fact almost any kind of injury, breathing may be very feeble or cease altogether. In such cases artifical respiration persistently kept up for an hour or more may be the means of saving a life appar- ently extinguished. The apparatus known as a pulmotor, if such is available, is the most effective device we have. There are, however, several other methods of artificial respiration which any person may perform by hand. The so-called Schae- fer method is one of the simplest and has the further advantage over the older methods of not requiring that the patient's tongue be held or fastened. The patient is placed on his stomach on a level place. His head is turned on left side to keep mouth and nose away from the ground. The operator either kneels by the side of the patient or sits on the latter's hips and places both hands over the small of the patient's back with the thumbs near- ly touching and the fingers spread out over the lowest ribs. He swings his body forward, counting three, slowly, on the forward movement; then quickly swings himself backward, exerting pressure on the patient's body until his arms are straight, when 128 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA the pressure is released. Count three again and repeat the movements ten or twelve times a minute. Shock Following accidents of all sorts the condition known as shock is apt to result and generally requires immediate atten- tion. It is essentially a more or less complete checking of the vital processes of heart beat and breathing due to a profound exhaustion of the nervous mechanisms controlling these acts. The symptoms are cold, clammy skin, weak, rapid pulse, sigh- ing and irregular breathing, half-opened eyelids, dilated pupils, mental dullness or unconsciousness, and there may be vomiting. The treatment consists of applying heat to the surface of the body and internal stimulation. Hot water bottles, hot bricks, stones or plates wrapped in cloths, bags of hot sawdust or flannels wrung out in hot water should be applied, especially over the heart and abdomen, between the thighs and under the arm-pits. Care should be taken not to burn the patient whose lowered sensibility may easily make this possible. Rubbing the limbs toward the heart will also aid in stimulating the circula- tion. Where feasible the patient's body may be lowered into a warm bath and kept there until a physician arrives. If the per- son is sensible and able to swallow, drinks of hot coffee, hot milk, or teaspponful doses of whiskey, brandy or aromatic spirits of amonia in half a wineglassful of hot water may be given him at intervals of 15 minutes for an hour or more. If unable to swal- low stimulants may be injected into the rectum or given hypo- dermically. A few drops of ammonia water sprinkled on a handkerchief, which should be waived back and forth over the patient's nose but not brought in direct contact with his face, may also be of use. I have been particularly asked to briefly discuss the treat- ment for electrical shock. The first thing necessary is of course to rescue the person. If possible without loss of time, the cur- rent should be turned off. The patient in contact with a wire carrying an electric current will transfer the current to the res- cuer if the latter puts himself in the line of passage of the cur- rent by either touching the patient or bringing any part of his uninsulated body in contact with the live wire or other appar- atus carrying the electric current. Rubber gloves and boots are the best insulators but if these are not available, the rescuer should stand on a dry board, dry coat, or a thick piece of dry pa- per and cover his hands with similar material. Grasp the pa- tient's clothing and with one vigorous motion pull him off the wire. A live wire lying on a patient may be safely flipped off with a dry board. A live wire may also be safely cut with an ax or hatchet with a dry wooden handle and the electric current may be short circuited by dropping a crowbar or poker on the wire. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 129 The treatment for electric shock is the same as that we have just described for shock in general. The clothing about the throat, chest and abdomen should be loosened. Prompt treat- ment, especially artifical respiration carried on persistently for an hour or more, will result in the recovery of most patients un- less the shock has been immediately fatal. Another feature prominent in electrical accidents is the usually severe burns. Burns are classified according to their severity into three kinds, first, second and third degree. The first is characterized by a simple reddening of the skin; the second by the formation of blisters and the third degree burns by more or less destruction of the skin, followed by ulceration and sloughing off. Third de- gree burns should always receive the attention of a physician. Electric burns are usually of this class. The first aid treatment consists of the exclusion of air and the avoidance of infection. Clothing around the burned area should be ripped off or cut away. One of the best applications is carron oil containing three per cent carbolic. Carron oil is a mixture of equal parts of linseed oil and lime water, well shaken up together. To make lime water put a piece of fresh unslacked lime into a pint of cold water; shake up a few times, let settle, and pour off the clear liquid or filter. It would be well to keep a large sized bottle of this mixture on hand in a conven- ient place where burning accidents are liable to occur. This dressing should be poured over the burn and a light bandage of clean, preferably sterile, cloth, placed over it to hold it in place. In less severe burns a thin paste of bicarbonate of soda (baking, not washing soda) and water makes a soothing and effective ap- plication. Ordinary vaseline, carbolized vaseline, olive oil, cas- tor oil, fresh lard or cream are also good, but one should not use sticky, pasty preparations like flour and water, for these are hard to wash off and keep clean. In case of extensive and severe burns, it is sometimes advisable to immerse the patient's whole body in a bath at a temperature of a hundred degrees fahren- heit. We might devote further time to the discussion of other matters such as the treatment of broken limbs, the use of vari- ous dressings and bandages, the method of transporting injured persons; but, as these are best made clear by concrete demon- strations, we wi-11 content ourselves here by emphasizing the principle underlying such first aid treatment which is that of so holding and protecting the injured parts that the movements of the patient or of those handling him cause him as little pain as possible and do not make his injuries worse. CHAIRMAN : The next address is by Mr. C. V. Jenkins, Business Manager of the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company and allied inter- ests in White Pine County, Nevada. 130 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BY C. V. JENKINS As has been ably demonstrated by the many excellent ad- dresses made and papers read before your Safety Conference, the Science of Safety First, and I think the movement has ad- vanced to the dignity of a science, is composed of or divided into two important principal branches. The first pertains to mechanical safeguards, and the pre- vention of industrial accidents by means of mechanical safety appliances, safeguards and devices and the protection of life and property by the adoption of safe and efficient methods, ways and means. This all-important branch of the science has had prac- tical application in all of the large industries throughout the world with the result that disabling accidents have been reduced, not only in number but in the seriousness of resulting personal injuries. So much has been accomplished in this direction how- ever, and statistics will show from now on, that we have almost reached the limit beyond which slow progress is made. This first branch of the service has to do with the duty the employer owes to his employees. The second branch has to do with the duty the employee owes not only to his employer but to himself. The importance of this all-important feature cannot be over- estimated. It is devoted to the education of the workman in ways of safety to the general dissemination of knowledge con- cerning the cause of accidents and to the study of the problems of how to enlist the active support and efficient co-operation of employees in promoting safety. Authoritative statistics prove that over 70 per cent, of the industrial accidents to-day are due to the carelessness of the employees. Federal and State laws have been enacted forcing up'on the employer the adoption of safeguards, safe methods and safe con- duct of hazardous occupations, and as a general rule the em- ployer has been quick to respond not only to the letter but to the spirit of such laws. It is a matter of regret that the working- man has not kept pace with the progress being made in this hu- mane movement. "Compulsory Education" cannot be applied, and we have no laws compelling workmen to observe rules of safety in the avoidance of the dangers and and hazards incident to his occupation. The problem has therefore resolved itself into one of means and intelligently directed effort to educate workmen and force upon them the necessity of individual, active interest in this now world-wide movement. Since, as I have said, he cannot be compelled by law or otherwise to practice safe- ty in his work, the duties of the employer are enlarged and he is INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 131 burdened with the responsibility of trying to persuade his em- ployees that their own legitimate self interest demands that they co-operate in this effort to secure efficient carefulness. In the operations of the Nevada Consolidated Company every effort has been made to provide and maintain mechanical safeguards. In this work of safety our field of operations is extensive, comprising as it does three or four of the more haz- ardous occupations. At our Veteran mine we employ on an average 300 men daily in underground or deep-level mining and at Copper Flat there are about 650 men engaged regularly in steam shovel surface or open-pit mining, and at our reduction works at McGill about 1500 men are employed day in and day out. The difference in degree as well as in the nature of the risks and hazards of the various occupations involved makes it necessary not only to employ methods of mechanical safeguards peculiar to each, but makes it necessary in our efforts to preach safety to try to reach men whose trend of thought is necessarily and naturally influenced by their respective vocations. We have kept and maintained a fairly accurate and compre- hensive record of mine and works accidents which has proven of great value and assistance in our efforts to prevent preventable accidents. In the advancement of our endeavors to instruct our employees in accident prevention, and that they might have the benefit of this record, a monthly bulletin is published and cir- culated by our companies. In this bulletin we try to set out all accidents and try to show how many of them could be avoided. The endeavor has been made to keep in close touch with our employees and we have made it known that ideas and sugges- tions from individual workmen are welcomed. Many of our safety methods are adopted from suggestions made by em- ployees. The task of securing the live interest and co-operation of employees is one with which each individual employer must cope. Difference in men, in conditions, in the nature of the hazards of an occupation, and in environment, gives to each employee an individual problem. As 1 have said, we have tried to encourage our boys to become enthused with our interest by the publica- tion of our monthly comparative record of accidents. We issue this monthly, not only in order to keep all employees up to date in what has been done, but to keep the movement stirring. Like the keen and intelligent politician whose belief in the benefits of advertising caused him to urge upon his friends the idea of talk- ing about him. He urged his friends to "speak well of me if you can. Speak ill of me if you must, but for God's sake, talk about me."So with our efforts to talk Safety First, we issue our monthly record and keep it in the minds and thoughts of every- one in the plant in the hope that it will do some good. And I feel safe in saying that we have accomplished a great deal of good in the direction of thought and effort in the ways of safety and in the cultivation of the Safety Habit. 132 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA And in this effort to educate men we are encouraged in the results obtained not only among our intelligent Americans and Americanized workmen, but among our foreigners. It is true that because of necessity we employ about an equal number of each of English speaking and non-English speaking, workmen. The statistics, compiled from our records, and which Pro- fessor Scrugham has been kind enough to illumine and throw upon this screen, will show that in the last half of the past year through and by means of our bulletin we have secured a greater percentage of reduction of disabling accidents in the ranks of our foreign laborers. It is true they are often illiterate, ignor- ant and unaccustomed to thinking but their ignorance is in no sense as dense as the fog that puzzled the ancient Egyptian, and they can be led and pursuaded into ways of safety. The prob- lem of educating these foreign born workmen is however, a grave one, and one that will become more and more difficult to us here in the West. With the opening of the Panama Canal they will come to us in increasing numbers. We cannot throw Wide open the gates of entrance and bid these foreigners wel- come and then expect to enact laws that will prevent them from finding work and earning an honest livelihood. They may not hope at first to find employment in occupations demanding skill, intelligence and efficiency, but in whatever work they engage, it will be the duty of the employer to try to protect them from acci- dental personal injuries. And I cannot help but think and sug- gest in this humane work of educating men to protect themselves from danger, their fellow workmen should lend their influence and support to the employer. And basing the statement upon experience, and congratulating the men whose earnest, unselfish interest has made this our First Safety Conference a successful factor in this wider scope of education, I am encouraged to be- lieve that the great majority of of intelligent English speaking workmen throughout the State will soon be working heart and soul with the employers in a far-reaching and successful Safety First campaign. But one word in conclusion 1 would warn the employer and say that oratorical glorification of the cause of safety will not atone for the failure to provide protection for his workmen ; and to the workman I would say, that a superficial knowledge of the empirical rules and formulas of Safety will not protect an employee who fails in the daily practice and consistent observ- ance of the established rules and regulations of Safety First. CHAIRMAN : The next paper is by Mr. Lindsay Duncan, of the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 133 ACCIDENT PREVENTION AT THE NEVADA CONSOLIDATED BY LINDSAY DUNCAN Accident prevention in a large industrial plant is a business by itself and requires for its successful prosecution as much care, forethought, and energy as would be required by any other department. The Nevada Consolidated has attacked the problem vigor- ously and spared neither time nor money in its effort to effect a material reduction in the tale of death and suffering which has been the inevitable accompaniment of modern industry. The first step was to obtain accurate data of the accidents, and this was done by requiring each foreman to file a report of every ac- cident however trivial, answering the three questions : (1) What happened? (2) How did it happen? (3) Could it have been prevented? These reports were stud- ied and an earnest effort was made to prevent the recurrence of the same type of accident. One difficulty which arose was that of meeting new condi- tions The metallurgy of copper has advanced rapidly during the last few years, and practice at McGill has kept well abreast of modern methods, with the result that processes have changed greatly during the past six years and new types of accidents have arisen, requiring new safety devices. Thus the huge new basic converters, each of which can blow to blister copper 200 tons of matte in a day, have developed possibilities for accidents which did not exist in the smaller converters, and have necessi- tated a whole new line of safety appliances. UNDERGROUND RISKS. In taking up briefly the various methods of safeguarding our employees, I will describe a few of the characteristics of the work in each department. In the Veteran mine a top-slicing system is used whereby the ore is taken from the top of the deposit, dumped down raises into ore-bins on the main haulage level at the bottom of the ore body, then trammed to the foot of the shaft, where it is elevated in five-ton skips to the surface. Signs marked Tire Escape', with an arrow pointing the direc- tion of travel, are placed underneath an electric light at all cross entries. At the mouth of the drift leading to the fire escape it- self, a large red light is placed. The fire exist is downcast, while the main shaft is upcast. In the fire exit are rest plat- forms every eighteen feet, on which four or five men can stand at one time. Fire drill is held every two weeks, when all the new miners are required to use the fire exit in leaving the mine. 134 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA Three complete Draeger rescue outfits are kept at the head- frame and a selected body of men are trained in their use. A man equipped with one of these helmets can travel and work in a poisonous atmosphere for a long period of time. Their use and availability in the case of a mine fire would doubtless mean the saving of lives which would otherwise be lost. The cage in the main Veteran shaft is, of course, equipped with safety dogs ; but in order to be sure that the safety devices are operative ; once a week the safety devices are tried, to prove conclusively that everything is in working order. RISKS IN OPEN PIT WORK. Most of the Nevada Consolidated ore is mined by steam shovels at Copper Flat. The risks incidental to mining of this nature fall readily into four classes : ( 1 ) those due to the op- eration of steam shovels and churn drills; (2) those due to blast- ing and handling of explosives; (3) those due to transportation of ore and over-burden; and (4) shop accidents. Most of the accidents on the shovels and drills have been due to men getting caught in the machinery. To prevent this, all gears, on both the shovels and drills, have been housed. On the shovels, the crowding and swinging engines are completely enclosed, and also the moving parts of the main engine. The crane-man's seat has been changed from underneath the boom to the bull-wheel, so that now there is no chance for a chain to strike him should it break ; and the steam pipe to the crowding engine is run inside the boom and strongly bracketed to prevent its being jarred loose and scalding him. Both drills and steam shovels are well provided with steps and grab irons, which are always kept in good repair and are at once replaced when dam- aged. The shovels and drills are worked two shifts, and be- tween shifts there is a fireman on duty at each machine. This effectually prevents malicious or irresponsible persons from de- ranging or starting the mechanism. In case of serious accident the locomotive crane, which is under steam twenty-four hours of the day, can start at once for a wreck and quickly lift cars, tim- ber, rocks, or whatever might be upon an injured man. Powder handling and blasts have been a prolific source of injury. The Company has appreciated this and in the booklet of rules, issued to each employee of its mining department, six- teen out of the sixty-eight paragraphs are devoted to shops, shovels and drills; eighteen to train service; and thirty-four to blasting, the use of explosives, and warning signals for blasts. In general these regulations lay down the approved methods of blasting and handling of explosives and counsel safety in every line. Each shovel and each drill is equipped with a high-grade whistle, one of a different tone being placed on each machine. These whistles are inspected and kept up the same as a piece of machinery, Loading, firing and handling explosives, is done by INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 135 certain particular employees who are known as 'powder men' and wear distinguishing badges. No others are permitted to officiate, and any unauthorized person handling powder would be at once discharged from the Company's service. Safety precautions for the train service at the mines and also at the smelter, are patterned very closely after standard switching practice. Equipment is carefully inspected and promptly repaired; all accidents to equipment, however trivial, are reported and investigated; approved danger signals and semaphores are installed, and as far as possible only experienced men are employed. SURFACE WORK. Shop accidents are guarded against (1) by making the ma- chinery as nearly fool-proof as possible and then preaching Cau- tion First, Last, and Always. By way of illustration, all em- ery wheels are cased, circular saws have protectors, all gears are housed, safety set-screws are used throughout, goggles are provided for workmen whose eyes are exposed, motors and switches are fenced in, etc. Unloading the ore on the concentrator trestle has always been a prolific source of accidents. Ore is received in 55-ton hopper-bottomed steel cars, running in trains of twenty-one or twenty-two cars each, as many as ten trains a day arriving from the mines. The ore as loaded by steam shovels is frequently in lumps several feet in diameter and in the winter season an en- tire car is sometimes frozen into a solid mass. The ore in fully two-thirds of the cars has to be blasted, and this is done by a special crew carefully instructed in its duties and acting under a definite set of rules for the handling of explosives. The tops of the bins are protected by heavy iron gratings which effectively prevent any one from falling in while the ore is being discharged. Before the gratings were installed several workmen were injured, both by falling into the bins and going to sleep and then forgetting to wake up before ore was dumped. The stairs, working platforms, and walk-ways of the mill are thoroughly protected by hand-rails. Projecting set screws on shafting have been removed, and no loose flooring or open hatch- ways are permitted. In a plant of the size of the Steptoe plant, these simple precautions entailed a vast amount of labor and expense. The shops of the Company are very complete and include a pattern shop, foundry, tin shop, garage, paint shop, machine shop, blacksmith shop, structural shop, pipe shop and planing mill. In these shops about 150 men are employed, a fairly large industry in itself. Every emery wheel has a heavy steel plate protector fitted around it, and the saws and planes in the wood shop are similarly protected. Most of the machines are motor driven, and where belts are unavoidable they are boxed in wherever it would be possible for a 'workman to come in con- 136 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA tact with one. Drip pans are provided to catch the oil from machines so that there can be no slippery places to invite falls. Metal cans with self-closing lids are conveniently placed to re- ceive oily waste. Several chemical fire-extinguishers of ap- proved type are in each building, and on several occasions incip- ient fires have been extinguished by promptly using them. The power plant is rated at 10,000 hp. and is actually gen- erating an average of 7000 hp., which is an unusually large out- put for a plant of this rating. In fact 25 to 30 per cent, is the usual ratio of output to capacity, and the 70 per cent, output at McGill is an indication that the power plant is worked well up to capacity. The plant consists of nine direct connected engines and eighteen water-tube boilers; ten of the boilers are in the flues of the reverberatory smelting furnaces and utilize the waste heat of the gases. The power house is the original home of the hand-rail in McGill, and is encountered on all sides. Thed switchboard is surrounded by a railing within which no one is permitted except the operator. The metal steps leading to the main engine bear- ings are not only supplied with hand-rails but the treads are also of rubber studded with lead. This is the same material which has been adopted by the Pullman Car Co. as a standard for the car steps. The stair and hand-rail habit has percolated thor- oughly through the entire power plant; fly wheels, generators, vacuum pumps, condensers, economizers, feed-water heaters, and boilers are all so equipped. The steam lines are all strongly anchored and well support- ed and a leaky steam joint is not tolerated. Superneated steam at high pressure is hard to handle and as a result no liberties are taken with it. DANGER SIGNALS. In case of men working on an electric line, the switch is opened and a sign, "Danger: Men are working on this line," is hung on the open switch. The switch cannot be closed until the man who has been working on the line, and no one else, re- moves the sign. The automatic stokers have been a fruitful source of injury to the fire-room labor. Only recently one of the ash-wheelers, in an idle moment, availed himself of the temporary absence of the fireman and essayed to start one of the stokers 'to see what would happen/ He not only saw what happened, but felt one of his fingers depart. In the smelter, sheet iron protectors have been placed along all elevated hot metal and calcine tracks, to prevent men passing underneath from being burned. All charge hoppers are pro- tected by gratings; hand-rails are liberally used and walk-ways and stairs are of substantial and permanent construction. Signs and warnings in English, Greek, and Slavish are lib- erally used, and respirators and goggles are distributed to the workmen whose occupations make them necessary. INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 137 In the industrial car system, which is used to carry concen- trate from the mill to the roaster, calcines from the roaster to the reverberatory furnaces, matte from the furnaces to the con- verters, and slag and secondaries from the converters back to the reverberatories, many safety devices have been placed, both on the cars and the locomotives. These include chains to pre- vent slag pots from dumping during transmission, grab-irons and steps, steel running boards, and wooden treads to prevent slipping. An earnest endeavor is made to keep the track up to modern standard. Manganese steel frogs are used on account of better wearing qualities, cast iron frog fillers are used to pre- vent a switchman catching his foot and being thrown in front of the train. Safety niches have been placed in trestles and places where the trains run with narrow clearance to lessen the danger of a switchman being caught. The Nevada Consolidated has organized a regular Safety Department under W. H. Droll as safety engineer, and to him I am indebted for much of the information contained in this pa- per. The Safety Department suggests changes and protective devices, and in general makes it its business to investigate and report on all accidents which occur, or which might occur, around the plant. GOVERNOR ODDIE: The impressions of a visitor from Nevada who attended the Safety Conference under the auspices of the American Museum of Safety, in New York, in December, last, should be interesting. I will call on the Rev. Lloyd B. Thomas, that we may have the benefit of those impressions. REV. THOMAS: Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: It seems to me rather incongruous to have a man whose profession is that of preparing people to die, to address a meeting whose declared purpose is to prevent people from dying, at any rate accident- ally. The First Safety Congress was opened with prayer and there was an address by the same Clergyman on the subject of the "Value of a Man." There is an increasing sense of the value of the man, whether he be the hunky, or the wop, or the high- priced, brilliant technical expert. All this is characteristic of the Safety First Movement, because a very essential element in that movement is recognized as being the humanitarian one. So it is really no anomaly that a man whose profession is concerned with theh umanities, with the broader and wider welfare of man- kind, should have something to say before a gathering like this. I know there are people who still believe that the vocation of the ministry has nothing to do with the bodily or mental wel- fare of man, that it is concerned solely with something that is 138 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA known as soul, or character. We may thank God that this con- ception is very rapidly passing out of the average mind. The Safety First Movement has in it a large element of humanitar- ism, or to use a less hackneyed term, a large element of fellow- ship and brotherliness. Coming from the McAlpin Hotel on a visit to New York last fall, I happened to see a sign which at- tracted my attention, and I later picked up a program of the Safety First Congress. I was not able to attend the whole of the conference, but I attended the session devoted to Organized Safety. I have been asked to give some of my impressions. The most immediate impression in going into that gathering was of the intense earnestness evidenced and the deep interest shown in this particular line of work by all present. I heard a paper by Dr. McNeal on organized safety. He began by saying that the United States was rather famed in a great many walks of industrial life, but that sadly and sorrowfully, it was famed also in the sphere of sacrifice of the workers. He said that Ameri- can industrial life was killing an army and injuring more than an army of men every year, and if this condition were due to the greed of the operators, that then we might give up all hope of altering conditions ; but that in reality he thought it was due to the national characteristic of carelessness and negligence; the tendency to take a chance. To cure that national defect there was necessary first of all, an organization for education begin- ning at the top. That is with the men who never come in con- tact with the laborer in their particular line of work. It cannot go merely to the superintendent or the manager, but it has got to go up to the board of directors of the company. Then there must be a vitalization of statistics. We must be able to make statistics talk in spite of their dry- ness. We have no accurate industrial statistics in the United States. We have got to go to other countries now to obtain averages, and such information in the different branches of in- dustry. We need these statistics in order that they be vitalized and made to talk. We need them to educate the public conscience, to drive out of the public conscience this tendency toward negligence. We need them to make the public conscience of the country aware of the fact that there are many industrial accidents which are pre- ventable and that the preventable accident is a crime which can be brought home directly to the door of the industry. And then Dr. Neal spoke finally and briefly of the institu- tion w r hich is gathering safety statistics; the clearing house of safety ; the conventions of those interested in safety ; the Ameri- can Museum of Safety. I heard Dr. Jackson explain into what minute detail the New York State administration is doing in its regulation of industry. I also heard Mr. John B. Anderson, of the American Association for Labor Legislation, on the subject of Commercial Diseases, INDUSTRIAL SAFETY BULLETIN 139 Of the many motives which drive men to action, there are two which stand out prominently in the Safety Movement. They are the humanitarian and the economic motives. Let me point out a few results. There are twenty-four States in the Federal Union which now have Commissions studying industrial insurance. There are twenty-two States which have some form of in- dustrial insurance. There are nineteen States which have abrogated the com- mon law defense of assumption of risk, contributory negligence and the Fellow Servant Act. When these things began to be brought to bear then came an economic reason for conducting a campaign for Safety First. I am not saying that is the only underlying motive for the development of this movement, but it has had a marked influence. These two motives have come in together, and they have come into our present social conscience and are the power back of our present progressiveness and development along lines of human welfare. The final impression I have to give you is that the Safety Movement is wide-spread and of most vital importance to our national welfare. It develops co-operation and understanding between employer and employee and between capital and labor. If the organization of a chapter of the National Council should grow out of this session and be something more than a fad, it is going to carry the men who are interested in this thing into spheres which are very different from that of mere preven- tion of accidents. For instance, a man cannot organize his workers to prevent accidents without coming in touch with their educational advantages, or lack of them, their housing and their recreations. A man cannot be brought in touch with with the housing and recreation and educational advantages of the men who work for him, without coming into vital contact with the whole wage problem. A man cannot come into contact with the wage problem without being drawn into the whole question of the organization of labor. This movement for Safety First is humanitarian and it tends to fellowship. To me it is the prom- ise of the society that is to be. Those who are engaged in it are learning to realize the value of the man and they are learning to work with other men. In other words, it is one of those promises of our own day, of that society which is to be, which we describe best by calling it "Brotherhood". GOVERNOR ODDIE: We thank Reverend Thomas for his very interesting talk. Now, as regards the organization of the Nevada Chapter of the National Council for Industrial Safety, Mr. Mullin has some- thing to say about it, and Mr. C. W. Whitney has a letter from the National Council which we will ask him to read. 140 UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA MR. WHITNEY: I have a letter written to Mr. Mullin by the Secretary of the National Council for Industrial Safety. The question has come up as to a permanent organization in Nevada, so as to carry on the good work started by this Conference. There is a national body organized for this work and the question has come up as to whether or not it will be advisable to organize in this State, a body which will co-operate with the National Association. This letter states briefly the advantages which would grow from such a local organization. MR. J. J. MULLIN: Inasmuch as the hour is growing late, and there is not suffi- cient time for the discussion of the question of the organization of a Nevada Chapter of the National Council for Industrial Safety, I offer the following motion : 'That it be the sense of this Conference that a permanent Industrial Safety Organization be formed; that the matter of the formation of such a permanent organization be referred to a committee of nine, the Governor of this State to be Chairman of said committee and the other eight members to be selected by the Governor, and the report of said committee's labors to be made public through the press of Nevada/' The motion was duly seconded and unanimously adopted. The Conference adjourned. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW Books not returned on time are subject to a fine of 50c per volume after the third day overdue, increasing to $1.00 per volume after the sixth day. Books not in demand may be renewed if application is made before expiration of loan period. OCT 1 191S HOY 2-8 5 3 UD m 8EC.CI8.OCf 25-78 fitt-fl* 50rn-7,'16 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY