The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-08-25
Increasing Business With the
Globe Increases Business
for Business Men.
TUESDAY, AUGUST Is, 1908.
SOME RESTRAINT NECESSARY.

1t is always the policy of T h e
Globe to discuss the events of the day
with calmness and fairness. to discour-
age popular passion, and especially to
refrain from comment upon events that
are to come up later for judicial con-
sideration. For this reason it abstained
from editorial notice yesterday of the
terrible catastrophe on Sunday, when
one member of the st. Paul fire de-
partment was killed and three others
badly hurt by a collision with a supply
car Of the street railway company. But
whatever the degree of responsibility
that may attach, which we hope and
expect to see fully ascertained, there is
one moral of this awful occurrence
that our people should take to heart
and that should stir them to action.
1t is utterly improper and dangerous
to the lives of our people that the cars
of the street railway company should
portion of the city at the rate they are.
Substantially we have surrendered all
public rights to our streets, except
such as may be exercised without in
terfering with the pleasure or the in
terests of the street railway company
Its great cars are Of the size and
weight of an ordinary railway coach.
They are equipped with motors that
can maintain high rate of speed. And
they run as if they were passing over
the prairies instead of through bust
ness thoroughfares where a life may
pay the penalty at any crossing.
Our people would be amazed at the
effrontery of any corporation operating
a steam railway that should propose,
for the more convenient transaction of
its business, to run its trains through
their principal streets and across their
crossings without guards, gates, flag
men Or any Of the precautions that are
obliged to be observed by these car
riers elsewhere. Yet that is what they
have permitted the street railway COM
pany to do. at the imminent risk of
the public and with the certainty that
just such awful sacrifice of life will
occur as we saw on Sunday
The great trouble is that no restraint
Is laid upon this corporation at all ade-
quate to the protection of the people.
There are prescribed rates of speed,
but everybody knows that they are not
observed. 1t is asserted that the cars
not infrequently run at the rate of
twenty miles an hour. Even when they
do not strike that gait, they do run
fast enough to make quick stop i'm
possible and to fill all our highways
with deadly peril. The old rules are
totally unfit for the cars and motors
that are now in vogue; and a careless
public has allowed its regulations to be
set aside without rebuke. Such an
event as that of last Sunday ought to
bring it back to its duty with a shock.
Whatever else we may do or not do
with corporation which has received
nifty for nothing, we ought at least to
enforce Immediately and vigorously
such rules as will afford measure of
protection. No car ought to be run
faster than the city ordinances permit;
and every motorman caught violating
this should be arrested at once. If it
requires additional policemen to do it,
let them be supplied. Their services
will not long be required; for from the
moment the company finds the people
to be in earnest it will quickly conform
to the regulations.
Every heart in st. Paul is sad for the
brave men who have been laid low.
Theirs is one Of the most dangerous Of
callings. At any moment. in the per-
Torrance Of their regular duties, they
may be called upon to face death in enc