The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1905-10-21
THE AUTO PERIL,

1t is serious business for one to criti-
else the automobile in these days of
the automobile fever. So many people
use the machines and so much capital
has been invested in their manufacture
that large portion of the most inlu-
entail citizens of every city are adher-
ents Of the automobile.
The ever increasing number of fatal
accidents due to the use of the auto
mobile upon the public streets has, on
the other hand, led to popular resent
ment against this method of street
locomotion. The advocates of the au-
tomobile claim that they have right
to go along the streets in any sort of
conveyance that may suit their in
clination. They maintain that they
have as much right upon the street
as persons using other methods of con-
veyance. Writing upon this question
the Honorable Lambert Tree of Chi
cago, distinguished lawyer, has this
to say: Liberty in a state of society
does not mean the right to pursue ones
sweet will without regard as to whether
it conflicts with the safety or general
welfare of the remaining members of
it having equal rights. If it did the
laws preventing the storing of gun
powder in certain places, the firing of
guns, the running at large of swine,
the driving of horned cattle, racing
horses, or passage of railway trains
through the public streets and a hun
dred other wise laws and ordinances
in restraint of the citizens entire lib
erty of action would have to be con-
signed to the waste basket"
There are also persons who are such
devotees at the shrine of progress that
they tremble at the thought of ques-
tioning the future freedom to the use
of inventions having for their purpose
more speedy locomotion by those who
have the means to command them.
Serious differences of opinion exist,
however, as to what constitutes prog
ress, and it is not always safe to jump
at Il conclusion that every new inven-
ton, even in the way of rapid locomo-
ton, is the genuine article and de-
notes rise in the worlds methods of
doing things. 1t can not be possible,
however, that either of these classes
is .n11 hi ind ~ f,o
veyance as dangerous in it's destructive
power as the ordinary railroad locomo-
tive has been introduced upon the
crowded city streets and frequently
Travelled country roads in the hands,
for the most part, of incompetent or
ignorant persons, or is able to dis
guise from itself that their introduction
has been followed by accidents so fire.
quent and so distressingly fatal as to
make it apparent that the perils Of
street life have been increased more
than fifty per cent since their appear
ance.
Without reference to what is trans
piring daily in other cities in the way
of automobile accidents scarcely day
now passes in Chicago and it's vicinity
on which citizens are not killed or in
jured in the public streets either d.
rectly or indirectly by means of these
modern Juggernaut cars which are in
creasing in number every day. Whether
the running of these locomotives-for
that is what they are-along the pub
lie streets and roads is compatible with
the safe use of them by other citizens,
whether on foot or in vehicles drawn by
horsepower for which they were origi-
whether the use Of them by these loco
motives is fair and legal are questions
which will have to be, sooner or later,
tried out. At certain times of the day
and night it is as dangerous to drive
along certain streets or cross them on
foot as it would be to drive or walk
about any Of the railway switch yards
surrounding the city.
On the European continent automo-
biles and their occupants are frequent
ly stoned and sometimes fired upon.
In Great Britain, while the same thing
Is being done to some extent, the au-
thorities are just now trying the ex-
pertinent of regulating them by the in
Fiction of severe penalties. Thus, a
man caught exceeding the speed limit
is, on conviction, fined what would be
equivalent to one hundred dollars here,
and the conviction is written on his
license. For the second offense he is
fined two hundred dollars, and this
conviction Is also written thereon. For
the third offense, besides being fined
he is deprived Of his license.
But it is probable that experience will
prove that no measures merely in the
nature Of the regulation of the speed
of the automobile can bring protec-
ton to the people in the safe use OF
the streets and roads for the state
of the case is about this: Dangerous
powerful and destructive machines
\ some of them capable OF a speed Of
thirty, forty, sixty or ninety miles ar
hour, are running about the public
streets where pleasure, duty or neces'
| sity bring thousands of citizens on foo
land in vehicles every minute of the day