The morning times., 1896-01-26
Most Of them Caused by Lack
of Foresight.
USUALLY CALLED ACCIDENTS
Catastrophes Resulting from Careless
ness ana Great MisliaI,s from What
Over-Confidence Responsible for Not
Few Misfortunes.


wnOiiy oi ILlLss that come wItLout any pre-
yious preparation and altogether uneX-
pecleu,,. Az o,iers everything Is p.aIi,ed
before hand, every thing arranged Tor and
the linie oi its Occurrence is set. IL Is u
mark oI culture aEd civilized condilion
to lorcsec ana provide.
The Imam vino Waits on circumstances
leaus Il Lah0 10 mouth existence whiie he
wLu p.Ai.s .4Gd es,iinateS Il year ;iivad Is
always opportunely supplied with what
he needs. One is The n-as,er, the other a
part OF machine.
inns tLC4o.sa lI,paration and foresight
constitutes tie CHIEF difference Lctwecn de-
feat ana vIcIory in war. IL is what made
Germany mistress OF Metz ana SEDAN,
AlsacN 'nd Lorraine. The lack Oh Al bought
defeatG> IN the eagles ofthe hIrd NapO.eon.
Every n.oveof tie FranCo-P russian war had
been p.anucd beforehand by the great
civil engineer, Won Mouke.
SECRET OF SUCCESS.
The secret oil success was simply TO bring
enough Iogce to bear at each point to be
sure OF accomplishing the pnfpose sought.
This was approximately as easy with the
resources Oh an empire at command as il is
for tie ordinary housekeeper 10 have din
ner on time. The difference is one of the
scale upon which the operations are
planned, hot OF oonpieAity Or difficulty OF
apprehension and understanding.
@.SlidrIts nappcn LsLdi.y through tue
ignorance OF some one who is depended
upon TO know, through forgetiumess.
throA gu panic, or because something taat
has been in use with ample security Tor
many years wears oIt anu suddenly refuses
any longer to perform its office.
story is told or an o!d farmer, whose
field WIS tile prey OF his nci ighbor' s thieving
L. no m in, no nntt
answered that the field would be safe If
IL had good fence.
1t has perfectly good fence" was
the quick reply. Il know, because I laid
1t myself ana il has done good service these
thirty years"
Three hundred years ago the big dixie
that protects the Netherlands had gradually
worn away at a weak point by the constant
washing of the sea. Little by little the
solid earth had been borne off by the waves
till finally one morning the great ocean was
pouring in over the wall. In a few hours
the whole land would have been at the
mercy OF the ocean. Quick work by band
of determined. public-spirited men saved
an awful catastrophe.
TRIFLES CAUSE GREAT EVENTS.
Again in the years before experience
and science had taught the necessity, and
the way OF watching against such acci-
dents, bridge over 4 great river went
down almost of its own weight. 1t bad
been built soldly ard well, but time and
use had undermined it. Only three or four
persons were crossing at the time and
they were saved as If by miracle.
Again and again in private life some
thing wears out and down gees its burden
to destruction. Now, it is a mantel with
costly vases, then so trivial thing, as the
handle of a teakettle let's 60 and the
nf
water, goes TO the hospital for two weeks.
Or it may be the entire house has grown
old and comes tumbling down about the
ears of its occupants, with fortunate
outcome, if one or more be not taken
out dead from the ruins. This is oftenest
the result of landlords greed, and against
II cities provide building inspectors.
But ignorance steps in and the man
charged with looking to the protection OF
his fellow-ciiiZens fails TO do his work.
II is impossible for him to see and know
the exact condition of every structure un-
der his supervision. A business man eager
To make money, careless of the safety OF
himself aud others, crowds into a struc-
ture never intended for the purpose a tre-
me-dnas weigh of machinery and sets a
hundred men and women TO work with II.
Tie rumble of IL Ldusiry goes on until some
day the brick and mortar will hold the
weight no longer, ard the whole mass goes
dnwH. sacrificing a dozen lives. The build
Ing inspector wishes he had known, but
II was impossible for him TO observe every
thing.
UNCLE SANS DEATH TRAP.
Such a case as this was the collapse fn
Rev York a year or two ago of big job
printing ulfice. There are a hundred fam
lies in Washington that pray every night
fl may not be repeated fifty fold magni-
fled III The big Government Printing OTfice
here. Again, it is only last week a builder
undermined the wall of a business house
aud let down an artists studio with its |
wealth of pictures. The builder was sure |
that his work was safe, but was Ignorant |
of some weakness or imperfectioni III il. and |
barely escaped being responsible for
death.
A track walker fails to observe a rail dis |
placed by flood and frost The next ex-
press comes speeding along and goes sweep !
ing down bank with i murderous crash.
A dozen broken and mangled bodies are
taken from the wreck and the names are
sent all over the land to Sadden u hundred
homes. 1t is only little oversight, but
1t works more mischief than all the murder
Gus purposes of wicked hearts in all the
land.
An engineer rushes into the depot to get
his orders. He is late. He reads at n
glance on the bulletin that he is to stop at
Tue usual place lOT uiiL 10 pdss INC idst ihtti
going in the other direction. But the
bulletin doesn't say so. The delay of the
engineers own train has been only part
of the difficulty on the line. There is only
a difference of one figure in what the
engineer read and what the telegraph
operator wrote, but it makes difference
of miles in the meeting place of the two
trains.
READ THE FIGURES WRONG.
The conductor for some reason known |
to himself, had depended wholly on the
engineer that day. The engine rushes
on, aud half an hour later, round curve
goes into the heavily-loaded passenger
coaches in a big train just coming out OF
great city. A scores of lives and half a
hundred broken bones pay the penalty. The |
engineer and conductor, who are at fault. |
are saved. One flees the country and is |
never heard of again. The other goes |
about in a dazed way till somebody picks |
hin up to find his reason is gone. He |
ends his days in mad house.
A workman iu great factory has |
passed a huge band that goes up to the |
rafters a thousand times. He has become |
used to it, and no longer thinks of danger. |
He avoids it iDstinctively. But some day |
instinct is overrun by attention to some |
other matter. The workman touches the |
flying band and in second is tossed into |
the revolving wheels and loses his life.
Two men stand by railroad train flying |
past. They talk of the danger they are so |
near and yet so secure from. One of |
them thinks to show how safe they are by |
touching the flying coach. He reaches |
out his hand foolishly, aud before he |
knows what has happened his fingers |
are gone. This sounds as though 1t were |
st.Ia brrf tnn oTftr