The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1902-10-29
Tsst MODERN JocoERMAur.
Etssnsa vssilanes the Price OF safety -
the Street.

the Street.
The rapid development and multi-
forM character Of modern dynamics
are making eternal vigilance the price
OF safety to larger extent than ever
before The wayfaring man. woman
ore child needs eyes In every part of
the head, an ear attachment to every
nerve. and one or two senses more
than have hitherto been bestowed upon
the human family to avoid the peril
that runeth at MONDAY and rageth
morn or less during most Of the other
hours Of the twenty-four. There Is a
demand for . phenomenal alertness
never before made on a Christian civ
iiixatlun. The bicycle is no longer =
menace. The electric car. when 1t
doe9 not try to pass another car on
the aame track. we regard as q IA
miliAr and friendly object. The news
terror is the automobile, and 1t has
never before been SO terrible as 1t Is
In the present year Of our Lord.
When in our childhood we read the
stories Of Juggernaut and its willing
victims of narration had a certain
awcsome quality. though even child
ish logic generally reached the conclu-
sion that II the misguided heather
wished to dispose of themselves in that
mussy kind Of way. it was largely
their own business. But the modern
5uggernAut does not invite, II compels.
It runs down its victims, first giving
t1eSA faint wheexy. warning bysvay
Eod H}psep -
charging with the impact of q batter
ling ram, before they are able to get
away. OF courses the increasing num-
Der Of these engines accounts flor the
Increasing peril. Owners and chaffeurs
have pride in records, and are always
trying to make new ones, whether on
the city boulevard or in the solitude
of the country road.
1t is the records of damage and de-
struction to which the automobiles
public objects. An automobile is
very good thing under proper control.
and in proper places. So is revolver.
but there is a general prejudice against
firing it into crowd, and we believe
there is an equal prejudice against
running automobiles at express speed
among masses of people. Even this
caricatures hardly exaggerate the hav-
oc that these machines play in society.
Almost every day new list Of victims
makes part of the tragedy Of events.
Monday night an automobile swept
through Port Washinton, L. l., at a
pace so rapid that it could not be
identified by the citizens Of the place.
It managed. however. to start five per-
ilous runaways in passing. one of them
of team owned by Bourke Cochran.
On the same day society lady OF
Newport ran over a boy in one of the
streets Of that city.
Every month more automobiles are
sold and used. This is all right, and
to be expected. The machine has come
TO stay. to multiply. and to develop.
1t meets popular and constantly in
creasing demand. But its legitimate
mission is to serve the needs of soci-
ETY., not to spread CONSERVATION and
death through it's ranks as an almost
daily happening. 1t is all we'll enough
to pass laws, but they are not easily
enforced upon those who drive at
sueed that aAna-- Observation-Disclosures >
most reckless are sometimes the SAT-
est from arrest, and they have learned
that fact But 1t is dangerous to the
class that claims the right Of way
regard for the safety OF others
to carry its deadly tyranny too far. II
retaliation sets in 1t may be as difficult
for the law to stop that as the excuses
which invited it-Boston Transcript.