The new era. (Walden, Colo.) 1906-19??, 1908-11-12
CRIME OF THE
CLOCKS
Man Who Mlssed a Train Frooe
He Mind About Com.
mon NuieanC0.

railroad station waiting room, hot and
indignant because he had missed his
train, that the man maintaining in =
public place clock that does not keep
time ought to be found guilty OF fe-
lonious misdemeanor, II not of some
thing worse. and punished. II that
were possible. with a penalty In some
measure commensurate with his crime.
Il am not sure that l would hang
him for the first offense-at least
would not make such a punishment
mandatory; / would leave something
to the discretion Of the judge and jury
but l would make the penalty cumu-
lative. For instance, would have the
law SO read that after man had been
found four times guilty of this crime
he must be hanged or electrocuted
four times, with no escape, and don't
know but what would both hang and
electrocute him.
For / can conceive of no higher
crime than that of man who sets up
clock in public place and then fails
to keep it going correctly.
Understand me clearly. l do not
refer now to clocks in church steeples,
on which l never rely; they may be
right and they may be wrong. Nom
inally they are supposed to be looked
after by the sexton, but really they
represent the congregation, a divided
responsibility; and on anything for
which the responsibility is divided you
can never rely. The church clock goes
its own sweet way through the week
with nobody to look after It, and 80 on
it I never rely.
Nor do permit myself to be misled
by tower clocks, which, like the church
clocks. may be right and may be
wrong. You might think that the
F, tower clocks would be looked after
scrupulously by those who owned
them. but up so high. so near the sky
and though looked at daily by many.
+ they seem sometimes to be quite over
looked and forgotten by those whose
business 1t should be to keep constant
watch over them; and l have learned
| by experience not to rely on tower
clocks.
And l have long since ceased to
rely on clocks simply because they
had the word Regulator printed on
their face. l have known such clocks
that were model timekeepers, but put
ting that name on their face didn't
make them so. Have we not all seen
one story shacks with sign up read
ing Grand Palace Hotel?' But that
sign didn't make the shack a palace
any more than printing the word Reg
ulator' on the face of a two-dollar
| clock makes that perfect timekeeper.
So have long since ceased to be mis-
lead by the word Regulator
For that matter, may we not And in
jewelers. windows, where of all places
you would expect to md clocks show
ing the correct time, clocks that are
minutes of? I never rely on clock
simply because l see 1t In jewelers.
window.
Nor do rely on the barber shop
clock, nor on any Of the many clocks
that find in many semi-public places,
and least of all do rely on clocks
found in homes; for clocks are as vari-
GUS and as irresponsible as men.
and now l am coming to the real
point of what want to say There is
one sort of clock set up in public
places upon which we should be able
to rely with absolute security, and that
is the clock that is set up by bust
ness man in front OF his place Of bust
ness.
Now there is a clock that really
ought always to be kept in perfect
order and keeping perfect time. For
does not this man place 1T there to at
tract attention to himself and his
goods for his own profit? Does he not
thereby expect to derive benefits from
the public, and should not the public
be able to rely upon receiving recfp-
rocal benefit from him? Does he not
thereby substantially say that what he
has to offer is good and worthy Of at
tention, and is 1t not reasonable to
suppose that he invites our confidence
in his clock as we'll as his goods?
"And would you not suppose that
the most commonplace considerations
of selfishness would prompt him to
keep that clock always in perfect or
der to confirm and increase for his
own profit the confidence that he in
vites? You'd think so, wouldn't you?
But how many clocks are so?"
Il infer from what you say" said the
tranquil man waiting for his train to
whom these remarks had been made,
that you have trusted some public
clock somewhere and so missed your
train
Your inference is quite correct
said the hot and indignant man, and
what | said to you as to the penalties
that think ought to attach to this
crime of failure to keep public clocks
in order is only brief, limited, short,
condensed mild abbreviated attenu-