An unusual publicity campaign on the part of railroads has resulted from
the passage by the state Legislatures of the so-called Full Crew Bills
in New Jersey and New York, regulating the number of employes on trains.
In the New York newspapers for several days in succession the railroads
used three-quarter page advertisements for a joint statement of their
opposition. In this space they urged the governor to veto the bill, and
the public to protest against its enactment. It is claimed by the
railroads that the law will cost them $2,000,000 annually in the state
of New York without bringing any increase in efficiency or safety. They
point out that Governors Hughes and Dix both refused to approve similar
measures on the ground that such questions should logically be decided
by the Public Service Commission.
In their advertisements the railroads urged that the matter be left to
the state Public Service Commissions, and promised to abide by their
decisions.
The Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, which is urging such legislation
all over the country, insists that it is necessary to promote safety.
_The Railroad Trainman_, organ of the brotherhood says:
“Today our men are asking for legislation that is no more of a departure
from the beaten path than the safety device legislation of twenty years
ago was. They have tried to regulate the car limit of trains and the
number of men to be employed on them through their contracts. They have
failed in the first instance altogether and for the most part in the
other. They realize that, operated as trains are, freight train service
is often performed under unsafe conditions. Two men for an unlimited
number of cars is the rule for the most part. Because of it there are
freight trains running today averaging between fifty and one hundred and
thirty-five cars and two men are in charge with the conductor.
“There will be trains, perhaps, on which the extra man will not be
needed, but if the companies had been forehanded enough to put men where
they were needed they could have saved the ones not needed, but they did
not and legislation does not find a way to discriminate as readily as
the exercise of common sense does.”
The bills have been signed and have become laws in both New Jersey and
New York.