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Show GRADB CltOSdlNQb. I Daerval In It-a) Nnmbar of Arrlleatl. rrmil Thla Cania. I Since ID'S the number of railroad accidents at crossings nt grade has fallen oft 16 per rent , though the volume vol-ume ot railroad travel In the United States has largely Increased and the number of trains Is much greater, 'luls decrease Is due largely to the legislation, In which New York wi tho pioneer, for the abolition of all grade crossings, sa)i the New .ork bun. Tho Antl-tlrnde Crcwslng law ol New York, adopted In 1897, provided that Ursini surface roads theTenflei built must be ronstrmted to avoid al' croMluge nt grade New streets, av piiue or hlghwiiys, when canted ncroM tho trnika of existing steam roads, must be cither above or below Itrade, and the extra cost of audi ion-rtriictlun ion-rtriictlun la to be paid bait by tht municipality and half by the road rrneaeil Where extatlng crossings an rhungexl upon the application ot the municipal authorltlra or of a railroad rompany the expense ot such change li to bi paid ns follows One-halt by the railroad couipan), one-quarter by the (state and ono-quartcr by tho municipal authorities All street surface railroads rail-roads hereafter ronstnutcd In New York across a steam ratlroid shall bo either abate or below Its grade. The legislature la authorized to appropriate appropri-ate not lees than 1100 000 annually to defray the state's share of the expense Imposed by compliance with thla statute stat-ute Massachusetts, in which the population outside of tho largo cltlia Is moro dense thin In New 'ork, appropriates ap-propriates ''00,000 a year for the elimination elimi-nation of grado crossings and has already al-ready expended f!,COO,000 for this purpose, pur-pose, and tho railroad companies In Massachusetts, (largely owned In New York) hat i) paid 13.000,000 for tho mine purpose. Under n ltw passed by tho . Tennessee, legislature In mv, tho railroads rail-roads nro obliged to grado road cross-I cross-I Ings to tho lcel uf tho rails, and to keep them In repnlr for ten feet on each sldo of the track, Tho Connecticut Connecti-cut Icglslaturu adopted n similar measure meas-ure nnd It has been strictly enforced In that state Nearly etcry western etato nnd some southern nnd 1'nclllo ctates havo followed Now York's lead In gradually doing nway, wliero practicable, prac-ticable, with tho old fashioned method of layliig railroad tracks on tho saino level ns tho Intersecting wagon nnd carriage roads. There nro few roads In tho country on which there has not been In recent years some effort to ro-1 duco tho number ot grado crossings, |