ILLINOIS RAILWAY DISASTER.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 29, 18 August 1887, Page 2

ILLINOIS RAILWAY DISASTER.

The appalling disasters which have recently occurred in Canada and the United States, have caused many people to imagine that proper precautions for the safety of passengers are not so carefully carried out as they are in other countries, and we have heard several people the last day or two contend that Cousin Jonathan is much more liable to be bust up on the “cars” than is John Bull or John Bull’s sons and grandsons out here.

This is not the case, however. The fact is that compared with the total mileage of the American railways, that of Great Britain is a mere flea bite. In the United States alone there were open for traffic in lBBe no less than 86,497 miles of railroad, and since that year, the vast lengths of the Southern Pacific and other new roads, have brought up the total to 100,000 miles. Against this Gnat Britain had in 1880 only about 18,000 miles open, and we question whether at the present time this has been increased to ao,ooo. On the 5000 or 6000 miles of line possessed by the Australian Colonies, the proportion of accidents of a disastrous character have of late been out of all proportion to their extent, and America by the side of Australia will compare very well. We are not saying that American railway management is immaculate, but we hardly think it is any worse than that of other states. In this Illinois accident it was the trestle bridge which proved the first agent in the fatality, and as August is one of the hottest months In the year over there, the bridge must have caught fire, and had its supports charred through for some time without it being discovered. The American lines are built at a very cheap rate, and wooden bridges are no doubt very dangerous, but wooden bridges notwithstanding, we do not believe the per centage of accidents is higher in the States than it is in Great Britain. It is certainly not nearly so high as that which has unfortunately been the case of late in Australia.