The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-11-25
SAYS UNCLE CAV

1t is just possible that the arrival
/ of the millennium will be announced
by the vote of somebody's board of
directors. All things work together
for good, and what human nature and
altruistic preachment fail to accom-
plish, the desire for quarterly div1-
dends brings to pass For instance,
there's the safety first" movement
which is rapidly reforming railway
operating methods.
Yesterday we We're speed mad. To-
day we are making better time and
getting there all in one piece. The
reason is that we have found that
missing fingers, toes and limbs and
recklessly scrambled fragments of
humanity are incompatible with good
business.
Time was when all of us witnessed
-complacently the huge industrial toll
taking. We regarded the loss of life
and limb as a matter of course. We
were all in hurry, and we assumed
that hurry meant accident, disaster
and death. The foreigner who OBJ
served our methods was convinced
that our object was to get somewhere
in the least possible time regardless
whether a taxicab OF an ambulance
awaited us at our destination.
A brilliant Frenchman once remark
ed that the principal purpose of Amer
lean railways was to bring the pas
sengers to a given point properly pre-
pared for the surgeon or the under
taker. This was putting it a little
strong, but from foreigners view
point it was not wide of the mark.
The railways were giving us about all
that we demanded, and in the way that
we demanded it. Another wooden leg
or two and a funeral more or less didn't
make any particular difference to the
public, and the public, widespread opin-
ion to the contrary notwithstanding.
was not to be damned" Individuals
might be killed, but the public at
large Wasn't even to be winked at.
This condition prevailed until it was
discovered that the plan of getting
there quickly and leaving the damage
suits for the next administration to
settle wasn't all there was to piling up
dividends.
Then came the greatest Industrial
reform of the day-the safety first
movement. The biggest railways of
the United States are undertaking to
educate their employees to do things
the safe way, regardless Of the time
it takes. That's all there is to it
it's as simple as Thou shalt not
steal,' and a commandment that has
been even more frequently violated.
The new gospel of transportation is
that safety makes speed in the long
run, and that to save a leg is to in
a
most costly thing in the world, and
everybody from the president to the
fagman knows it now. 1t is better
to be safe than sorry, and there's no
surgeon, hospital, undertaken, lawyer
or widow to pay. There is always
plenty of time to do things in exactly
the proper way even if it delays the
first mail or the presidents special.
A little necessary delay at first saves
the time occupied by the operations
of the wrecker later. And so the rail-
way world has moved up a notch
nearer perfection.
All of which suggests an exceed
ingly comforting thought What the
soldiers of the common good cannot
accomplish, the agents of private in
terests bring to pass. The board of
directors is mightier than the preach
er, and both work together for good.
The desire of dividends hastens the
dawn of the mfllennium.-(Copyr
1912, by the Mcclure Newspaper Syn
dicate.)