The Washington herald., 1911-11-20
COMMENTS ON TIMELY TOPICS.
Good Roads Clubs.

According to the Chattanooga Times,
the people Of Hamilton County, Tenn,
have inaugurated a plan by which
they ought TO be able to keep their roads
In fairly good repair. The Times says:
They have formed good roads club
and Will make 1t their business to keep
the authorities apprised OF every defect
that appears in the thoroughfares lead
ing TO and from their section. The for
nation of this club is an encouraging
evidence Of an awakened sentiment
among taxpayers touching their public
affairs and would seem to indicate that
they were about to realize their own re-
sPonsIbillty for the kind Of service they
get 1t has been the general experience
that Officials are only neglectful and in
efficient when their constituents are OF
tae same quality, adding thereto 'ndiftcr.
ence and indolent complacency toward
the management OF their public affairs.
These good roads clubs ought to be or
CANNED in every civil district in the
county and constitute themselves as per-
petual tormentors Of the road authori-
ties wherever a bad piece of road exists
and until it is repaired. Good roads
QUICKLY become bad ones when Sneg-
Il lied
Need in Mine Rescue Work.
The time win no doubt come when
every mining operation will be safeguard
ed by Immediately available rescue equip
ment, as developed by the experiments
of the Federal Bureau Of Mines. But"
adds the Pittsburg Dispatch. eft is too
Haf Ia
realized there will prob LbIy be dfsheart-
ening delays like thai ~ Punxsutaw-
ney when the volunteer relief party was
forced to abandon its efforts to rescue the
men entombed at o'clocl: in the morn
ing and perforce await the arrival Of the
rescue car from Pittsburg after s o'clock
at night. In these accidents promptness
in rescue Is everything. Every minutes
delay may mean a life, or at least in
creases tremendously the probability that
the work when attempted will be fruit
less. With the increased knowledge Of
the causes of such accidents and precau-
tions taken to prevent them as far as
possible, there is an equal necessity for
the providing OF every known agency for
speedy relief. The government rescue
car can hardly be more than a demon
stration OF possibilities that must be left
for the working out of the men on the
spot. When this is thoroughly grasped
and rescue equipment and trained users
are on hand, the chances for saving en-
tombed victims of mining accidents will
be reduced to the minimum"
Decrease in Families.
According to the Christian Science
Monitor, race suicide tendencies of
America are becoming as pronounced as
those of popuIous European countries.
The decline of the birth rate, according
to the Census Bureau, to which econo-
mists and sociologists have been calling
attention, is not a phenomenon OF any
nation. but of all that part of the world
of which We speak as Christendom. In
the year 1890 the ratio of children to
each woman in this country, sixteen
years of age or over, was two, but now
this has decreased to a scant one. Great
Britain had a ratio of one. France could
show only SIS, the German empire IL, and
Italy IL Five of our New England
States and New York show a proportion
practically the same as that of France,
the lowest of the European countries.
Some observers profess to see encourage
ment in these statistics and facts. They
deem them an evidence of enlightenment,
as showing that the more civilized man.
kind becomes, the more It is apt to re-
gard quality above quantity. 1t would
rather rear small families happily. they
say. than large ones under the stressful
conditions of a large famiIys struggles
to keep the wolf from the door.
There is small satisfaction in such |
reasoning 1t is false both in philosophy |
and facts. Many of the worlds noblest |
characters have come from families large |
and distressingly poor. Many owe their |
superior character to the beneficent ne
cessity of fighting poverty. A small fam |
lily is more apt to be a pampered |
family