TABLE XII.-THIRD DISTRICT, EXCLUSIVE OF DULUTH.-Continued. Inspection of Establishments by Towns and Industries, and Number of Employes. SWITCHYARD INSPECTION. One of the several duties connected with the Bureau of Labor is that of inspecting railway switches. It has been part of the work of this office since 1893. Previous to that time the law enacted by the legislature, in 1887, requiring railroad companies in the state "to adjust, fill, block and securely guard the frogs, switches and guard rails on their roads in all yards," failed of the purpose for which it was intended, largely owing, no doubt, to the fact that it was rarely, if ever, enforced, in the absence of any provision for an officer of the state to perform that duty. The law carries with it a heavy penalty, of from $500 to $2,000, in case of noncompliance. But not until it became the duty of the Labor Bureau to inspect railway switches and enforce the law was it made to render the hazardous work of switching less dangerous. A switch-frog accident is now almost a thing of the past. The work of inspecting switches involves a great deal of care and time, and to have made a complete inspection of all the yards in the state would have been a task wholly disproportionate to the limited force at the disposal of the bureau. The bureau, however, has aimed to accomplish thoroughness and completeness in the work which has been done. Below is given a table which shows the extent of switch inspections made during the years 1899 and 1900. It will be seen by this table that the number of switches inspected each year has been a trifle over 5,000. In order that the table may be more readily understood, it will not be deemed out of place to explain what is meant by "switch inspection." There are "split switches," "stub switches," "diamond switches" and crossings. Each switch will average about ten blocks. The important part of the inspection is to see that these blocks are in place, and in good condition. In the year 1899 over 50,000 of these blocks were inspected, in some sixty-five towns in the state, and out of that number 425 were entirely gone, 1,058 were bad, and 3,222 were in fair condition. In 1900 about the same number of switches and blocks were inspected. Four hundred and thirty-five blocks were missing, while the bad and the fair ones were respectively 579 and 241,—a substanțial decrease over the previous year. In the column given to "Blocks," and also in the column given to "Good Blocks," in some places there are no figures to indicate the number of blocks examined. Where the figures do not appear the blocks were all found in good condition. Greater care has been taken in later years by the railroad companies in the matter of blocking, and in places where there are large yards men are engaged almost exclusively in keeping the switch blocking in good condition. The application of this law has been highly beneficial. |