The work is carried on by means of committees. At each division point is what is known as a “sub-committee,” composed of men from all branches of the service, who suggest changes in the road’s equipment or in existing conditions, that will make the work of railroading safer. If the suggestions made cannot be acted upon locally, they are referred to the “division committee,” which in turn accepts or rejects them, and if unable to enforce them by its own vote, recommends them to the “central committee.” This body is composed of officials of the road and their decision is final. In this way the entire Short Line force, from the newest and lowest paid employe to the highest officer, is interested in the common safety, and is in a position to suggest measures for the general good. That the system is successful is shown by the fact that during the year ending June, 1913, there were 2829 people injured on the Oregon Short Line. During that ending June, 1914, the total was reduced to 1711, or 39.5 per cent. During the first six months of this year there were only 606 accidents, as against 955 for the same months of 1913--a reduction of over 61 per cent. The company is also conducting a campaign to eliminate the accidents caused by trespassing. In 1913, 5434 trespassers were killed on the railroads in the United States. Of these, 10 per cent were tramps, 70 per cent young men or heads of families, and 20 per cent were children under 14 years of age. By trying to educate school children, their teachers and the general public in precautionary measures, and by attempting to secure proper legislation on the subject, the Oregon Short Line Railroad company is trying to still further enhance its value to the people at large and to reduce to a minimum the accidents connected with all great railroad corporations. CHAPTER X. GENERAL CONDITIONS AND DEVELOPMENT. In his book “Astoria,” written about 1840, in which he gives the history of an attempt made by the first John Jacob Astor to establish a fur trade to the west of the Rocky Mountains, Washington Irving repeatedly regrets the fact that the great stretch of the western plains must forever form a desert stretch between the civilization of the west and that of the east. In one place he says: “Some portions of it (the prairie) along the rivers may partially be subdued by agriculture, others may form vast pastoral tracts, like those of the east; but it is to be feared that a great part of it will form a lawless interval between the abodes of civilized man, like the wastes of the ocean or the deserts of Arabia; and, like them, be subject to the depredations of the marauder.”