The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1906-07-17
SPEED Up.

SPEED Up.
The railroad accident in Great
Britain. by which nearly a score of
Americans were Killed has aroused
a number of homilies, comparing the
relative number Of deaths and In
juries attendant upon the operation Of
railroads in tn United Kingdom and
the United States, and also a re-
crudescence of the cry that I'VE are
going too fast" the English disaster
having been reported as due to ex-
ccssive speed maintained on the road
by reason Of q speed competition. We
are cited % the fact that even SO au-
gust q parsonage as the Kaiser has
been cndangering his sacred neck with
an automobile in a contest With a
express train. "Go faster" say the
exchanges freshly aroused by this last
instance, but do we go far?' 1t is
pointed out that We are all in the
''~hurry-up'' divisions; that we bolt our
food; stampede our recreations; work
at forty-five miles an hour; are dis
satisfied, fretful, disSipated and dissi-
pating. This is all wrong and UNI
and nerve-wrecking. And men who
are pounding out the editorial matter
while the rush of a great office goes
on around them and they chew at their
cigar butts With the viciousness Of
those ccntcnding with time, draw
soothing pictures Of old days and
quaint gentlemen and picturesque
s~tage-coaches and end the sermon With
a sad sigh of one who shifts the burden
Of responsibility after giving warn
ing.
1t is true that the age is a fast one.
But ii may we'll be queried whether
or not the old slow days shine OK
cept as they create an Impossible
mental contrast. What the world
does is generally hat for which con-
ditions call. It is all very we'll to
speak of the evils of speed. 1t is an
apparent comparison to write OF
turning a corner with cheerful disre-
gard of whether it leads to a precipice
or a plain. But speed carries along
with its advantages the cure of It's
evils. The world, on the whole,
leaving out of the equation such few
Willie-boys as can own motors and
mechanicians to run them and an oc-
casional Kaiser who does himself the
fattery to think that he has Won a
race. when any one would have been
imprisoned for life who had dared TO
beat him, is fast only for the ends
OF its business. 1t desires most ard
emily and sincerely to continue to live
and breathe and-if necessary-to go
q hundred miles an hour in doing SO.
But, fast as it loves it sets off
danger with ~precaution. The limited
express, proportionately to the num-
Der of passengers, is not as fatal as
the stage Of olden days; and the auto
mobile, properly run, is not more
fatal than the general use of the
horse. even the motorist who INDUCES
in a reckless rush across country, runs
little more risk than the jovial gen
tlemen who were wont to follow the
hounds across bitches and fences. the
one sport not more than equalling the
other in danger. crudely modern as it
may be in its manifestation.
Ethically. there is much to be said
for the habit Of going fast" There
is certainly plenty to do and the time
is limited. The citizen must go fast
if he would do his duty. There has
been more harm in going slow in CIV
life than in speed. Here We have
~vegetated while there we have rushed.
The evils which an aroused country
is beginning to stare at as fearful
obsessions are a growth made posi-
BILE. not by speed. but by siumber.
Everything has moved at breakneck
speed, except the citizen as a citizen.
He is commencing also to get a move
on in his wake there lie wrecks
and before his path many of the
old impregnable barriers are being
taken down with haste and curses.
Movet-yes,- and faster, The
time has come To act. Thought has
reclined on its arm and unused away
the golden moments. The plea of re
fection has too often been a habit
which was the drug OF effort. 1t
may be remarked that it is unwise TO
act first and think afterwards. True.
But it is sometimes necessary to 20
where we cannon see in order to get
to where we belong. The CON
servatism that sits in the dark to
wait for morning to break wins no
battles. Let US be on the way. and
swiftly. Go faster if you please.
and far.