Albuquerque morning journal., 1908-09-17


lived he might have grown up to be
champion hustler ana made a fortune
on the stock exchange. Unfortunately
however. he died.
In 1890, an ingenious Frenchman
calculated that there were 1900 diff
ferent ways OF getting on the earth.
| estimate that the advance Of civlliza-
tion and progress has now increased I
the figure to $4,000. Statistics prove
that 1900 people die every year
through swallowing things such as
pins, needles. studs. buttons, pieces of i
bone, unmasticated meat and false
teeth. This is due TO hurry
In London alone there are 1000 !
street accidents per month, These ac-
cidents arise almost entirely from the
anxiety of the populace TO get there
quick There is no other reason why
cabs, motors. bicycles, carts. tramcars
and parcel vans should go dashing
along, hurting pedestrians to right and
left, and filling the hospitals with cas-
ualty cases.
| heard the other day of two men
hurrying TO keep an appointment in
the city, one was delayed by a falling
wire, which broke his collar bone. and
the other by a postoffice cart, which
fractured his rib. Happily they were
both recovering and will be able to
keep interrupted appointments in
about six weeks time.
In order to keep up with the de-
mand triumphant science is always
deysing fresh apparatus to save time
and accelerate speed.
Take electricity, for example. You
frequently read in the papers that
somebody has died suddenly through
touching live wire. Doctors all
agree that this is the quickest death
ever invented. And as electricity now
plays so large a part in modern life 1t
is satisfactory to know that If any of
us should happen to come in violent
contact with live wire there Is no
delay. We are hurried off at top
speed 1t is quicker and more reliable
than chlOroform-a fact which APP
parently was not known 10 the chief
actor of this tragedy.
After chloroformlng two cats a
West Hamstead artist killed himself
by the same means"
We are not told why the deceased
artist did 1t. Probably ii was because
this age Is In too great hurry to pat
ronlze art Or It may he that he was
SO worried by the danger of being
alive and the endless possibilities of
being knocked down. blown up or
otherwise cut off by violence that he
chose safe and easy way out of It.
Haggafd inquirers who go rushing
about trying to ascertain the safest
place on earth are cautioned against
the fallacy of staying at home.
Statistics prove that home is a dam
gerous place. Progress and the de-
sire to equip ourselves with conven-
iences have undermined home with
deadly wires and pipes, gas that may
explode and boilers that may burst
And, agreeable to the demand for hur-
ry, houses are now put up by the jerry
builder at such a speed that they are
capable of coming down with equal
celerity. Walls or ceilings may coll
lapse at moments notice, chimney
! pots may crash through the roof, or
the flooring subside and launch you
hurriedly into the cellar. Consequently
/ it is proved by figures that you are a
/ lot safer in an express train that at
I home. o
This assurance. however, has been
somewhat shaken by the official re-
port on the Shrewsbury accident,
which is supposed to have been caused
by the driver and fireman being
asleep. The accident occurred at ?
o'clock in the morning.
And the question may occur to an
inquiring mind, why should some 200
people have found it necessary to be
hurrying to Shrewsbury at . O'Clock
in the morning? At the same mo-
tment there was probably another
train with 200 people hurrying away
from Shrewsbury, and similar trains
with thousands of other people dash
ing all over the railway systems OF
the country.
1t seems curious that respectable
citizens should want to go riding about
like this at such unholy hours of tht
night. when they ought to be in bed
No time to go to bed. What a sadden'
ing thought!
The exciting event has been received
: with a chorus of rejoicing, but pre-
vately, ] am not without misgiving'
/ that this saving Of minutes adds t(
the dangers of being alive. One o.
these days the boasted safety that i
r liner will be spoiled by "A loud bang
: liner viii be spoiled by n loud bant
' and the spectacle of an Atlantic linel
y rapidly ascending skyward with al
hands.