probably the most plausible explanation, it is the fact that the number of railroad casualties in this State has been steadily decreasing for several years. The number of accidents, fatal and otherwise, for the year ending June 30, 1895, as appears from the accompanying table, was materially less than in 1894, which year also showed a decrease as compared with 1893. The totals for the

Although the effort has been made to eliminate accidents of a trivial nature from these tables, nevertheless a large proportion of the injured class, fully one-half, may still be characterized as trivial, in that they did not cause any amount of discomfort or materially interfere with the occupation of the individual.

Of the number killed during the year of all classes, only 62 met death from causes beyond their own control, 60 of whom were employes and 1 was a passenger. The number of this class in 1894 was 88, 29 of whom were passengers, indicating increased precautions for safety on the part of the railroad companies. The number killed from their misconduct or incaution was 603 in 1895 and 523 in 1894; injured, 875 in 1895 and 1,136 in 1894. Of these totals, 341 of the killed in 1895 were walking on the tracks, of whom 55 were employes, and 283 in 1894, including 55 employes. From these figures it appears that the greater number killed in the manner above described were trespassers who met death because they were where they had no right to be. The increase in this number is no doubt due to the increase in the number of miscellaneous floating characters, most of them, presumably, tramps, who travel from place to place along railroad lines watching for opportunities to steal rides on freight trains.

Seven passengers were killed last year while attempting to get on or off trains in motion, six fell from trains in motion, and three were killed while crossing tracks going to or from their trains. There are so many stations in this State where the possibility for such accidents exist that the wonder is they are not of more