Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1902-12-25
Accidents.
How MANY uccnicuts "

How many uccndrnts we read o.
and hear OF; sons d,bcrll ed u
bad some Iatheilu' and otLei
rs "unavoluaL. e".
But did 1T ever occur 10 y,u
how many rcul accideuls LapLel /?
AT least nine out CT every ten TO-
called accidents are only ;he le-
suit of thoughtlrssntss, or cAle-
lessness, which is about the me
thing.
A tanner bitches up his team
III the molnlng 10 urve to The
WOODS, the field or to tow IT,,
neck yokA ring is handy safe, I
breas t-,t1ap is badly Weir, CT
line is almost ,il p. d III two ut
splice; he hes often rot, d Thea,
d~fec!s al d intended 10 lepa
them, but regl,c'td to do go; 10
day the VIZ ak place gives way, i'll.
the res ult of the runaway, wLe,h
err it be ruined team, demol
ished wagon, or dragged anc
mangIed body, is set down as al
accident.
The man whoruns the station.
ay engine forgets his waite,
gra,e; the waser in tle boile,
s.nls lower ana lower until the
situation is noticed, and the fun
8 ream turned in; the injection OF
the water into the ovelheate q
boiler does It's work: an explosion
is the result; the shop, mill OF
factory is in ruins; perhaps many
are dead or manned, not by an &C
cident, but as the result of care
lessness. Didn't think" WheL
the fireman noted the scarcity OF
water, had he used his brain, in
stead OF his hands for only mo
ment, all would have been we'll.
A contracting carpenter sets his
men to construct q scatfoldiug; in
his haste to have the work com
pleted in short time he does not
see that it is properly built. and
when the workmen with their
material climb upon the scaffold
there is a crash, and enc or more
are crippled for life; not by an
accident, but as tho result of one
mans hurry and carelessness. o.
it may have been the result of
one or of the wor6men them
selves, who had not done their
work properly.
A train thunders into the sta.
ton, loaded with it's human
freight; the inspectors examine
the train; one sees q broken bolt,
a defective coupler, or something
which, had he tl,ought for second
he would have known that to
leave it meant extreme peril; yet
in his haste to get over the train
and let it out on time. he passes
by the defect; the train pulls out,
aud soon the wires flash back the
news OF sad accident. Or it may
be that the force Of inspectors
was so small that thev could not
do the work required of them
properly and must needs slight
the work or incur the displeasure
of those over them in authority.
Again: A man who repairs
cars finds broken bolt in place
difficult to get at. In order to
make good time on the Job he
puts nut on a new bolt, cuts the
bolt few inches from the nut
and drives this stub into the hole
where full new nut should be;
and SO he completes the job, de-
ceives the foreman, and endangers
the rolling stock of the road, and
perhaps human life as we'll.
And SO it is in every trade, oc-
cupation and profession. Care
lesness, thonghtleesness, causes
more sadness-m more loss and more
grief than all the ignorance and
all the wars of the universe. Of
ten this carelesness is on the part
|of the employer of labor; but equa
lily often on the part of the ON
ployed. 81 did not think" is the
great bulwark behind which PEG
|ple who are too INDECENT to use
their brain, often take refuge.
An old maxim, and a good II
is: Anything that is worth l,ia
atall, is worth doing WE'LL"