The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-08-14

WASHINGTON, Aug. 13.-Your dangers
from accident-how do they rank?
You have often wondered but have had
no tangible information on the subject.
Nor have you guessed that aside from
counting your fellow citizens. the census
bureau has lately been at work trying to
solve this problem for you.
II is line of research that is bringing
TO light a wealth Of information of the
utmost import TO you and 10 your neigh
boY-facts which Will be OF the greatest
value to those who are at the head of
public movements Tor the elimination OF
violent death in all OF It's CHASTITY forms.
and who are working as zcalously for the
conservation OF human life as other gen
fuses are striving for the conservation of
our water supply, mineral resources and
forests.
No problem is moro vital to our peace
OF mind. No enlightenment can better arm
Of outrageous fortune" which threaten us
on every hand
Cold Worse Tfan Locomotive.
That railroad trains are our chief causes
of accidental death will cause you no sur
prise. but you will be taken ahacls to
learn that travel upon the steel highway
subjects YOU 10 one Of tie very least OF
your perilS, Il you arc n mere passenger.
According 10 these new census figures,
the locomotive kills far more OF us than
any other agency OF dcStruction-crush-
ing the lives out OF thirteen and u half
In every hundred thousand Of per
year But even since these statistics
were compilcd-in fact. since the main
notes for this article were takcn-the in
.terstate commerce commission has issued
fuller data. showing that you are In no
greater danger OF death from railway
accidents than from freezing TO DEATH so
InrNs ts..ttH Vll tfN- r rly..t IN
deed, the danger 10 your lie from auto
mobiles is nearly double. from sunffoca-
tion over three times, from heat or SUM-
stroke, nearly four times, from firearms
over four times, from poison or gas over
seven times as great.
Ii is the railroad employe and the in
diyidual who walks on the railroad or
otherwise trespasscs on railway prop
erty who run the death average from
railroad accidents away up IN G.. Out
of every three and a half million rai.-
proved 10 be a ticket to the realm from
which no traveller returns, And ono
black ticket out of three ana a half MIL
lion white ones is not so bad a chance in
lcordlng 10 these latest figures of our
great railway tribunal one-sIxth less vic
Tins than in the twelvemonth before, In
fact. fewer tombstones were left in the
wake OF this monster last year than IN
J.. any similar period since 1902
! Water and Fire Our Worst Foes.
( The water kills more of us than any
other accidental agency except the iron
steed, Out OF every 100 900 OF us Aneri-
cans. thirteen and a half are killed on
the rail- and nearly ten and n half by
drowning, not including suicides.
These census figures include only
drowned persons whose bodies come under
the jurisdiction OF our canoers-people
who go boating and bathing In our in
&and waters or along our coast lines. also
lthose whose corpses the sea gives UP and
lays upon our foaminy beaches
Fire is ranked next in this census
count of death perils, and as far as the
general public is concerned this and its
sister element, water, can reasonably be
death IN counting the deaths due TO
fire are included not only those sacrl-
feed to the flames direct. but those due
10 scalding. Your danger OF death from
fire or both of these forms is about
four flfths Of your peril or dying from
water, and, OF course, I am addressing
you as the average American, as I must
eight out OF every hundred thousand OF
us are burned or scalded to death per
annum, but In the last four years flames
have licked up an average Of $26S. 000. .0G0
worth OF our property per annum. accord
Ing to the national board of underwriters
This fearful tribute IN life and wealth is
being looked into by II. NJ. Wilson chief
engineer OF the new bureau OF mines who
blames 1t upon our predominance Of
frame houses compared with those OF
foreign countries, and also upon the
faulty construction Of American builders
THE list OF causes OF fires" says he,
sis headed by defective chImneys hues
freplaces and heating and lighting ap-