The Washington herald., 1913-10-12
Cities, Railroads, and Indi-
vidual Employers Taking
Steps Whereby Killings and
Maimings May Be Greatly
Decreased.


up in the management OF street traffic;
manufacturers all over the country are
adopting systematic precautions for the
protection Of their employees, and the rail-
roads are devoting themselves with ut
most diligence to the study of means
whereby killings and maimings on the
iron highways may be rendered more in
frequent.
1t is high time that something was
done. According TO the latest govern
lment figures, coo work people each year
in this country are Killed at their work.
and more than 100000 receive disabling
injuries. From 5000 to 1900 men annually
Hose their lives in our mines and quarries
The railroads every year. taking an aver
age, kill 325 passengers and 600 of their
| own employees.
The death rate for passengers, how
ever. is relatively low, when one comes
to think of it. An average person travels
2. si6 272 miles before he is injured on the
rail. and he goes about 100000 miles
before he loses his life. In fact say the
accident insurance folks first-class pas
senger train is one of the safest places
in the world. IL one buys a ticket. II is
other people who suffeT-especially ride
stealers and other trespassers on the
right of way, of whom 1900 are Killed
| every year.
Snfety on steamships.
But OF all places. the very safest
known is aboard an ocean steamship. IL
is ten times as safe to be voyaglng on
such a craft as to be on land. The aver
age man. during any given twelvemonth'
has one chance in 200 of being fatally
hurt on land; on the ocean his chance OF
losing his life by an accident Is only one
in 22OOO Ships sink, but not often. and
fpT
ward to happen to a passenger on snip
board. unless he falls down stairs or
through a hatchway.
Travelling in these days is remarkapiS
safe II Is safer than staying at nome.
Much safer. indeed. Home IS rather a
dangerous place. The Travellers lnsur-
ance Company. OF Hartford. is authority
for the statement that 26 per cent OF all
disabling accidents happen at home. One
reason for this is that at home people
are not on their guard against such mis-
chances as they are when on the street
or in other public places. Take the mat
ter Of walking around in tn dark. for
instance 4 man will often do that at
night in his own house rather than bother
to light a match. ard the first thing he
knows he bumps into something and gets
hurt.
1t is surprising how many different
kinds of accidents can happen to man
in his own home Mr.. YOunghusband
gets up in the night TO heat the baby's
milk. Half asleep. he falls over chair !
and 5angs himself up: or perhaps he /
stOOps to light a match by Scraping il on /
the floor and his nose comes into violent /
contact with the edge of a table. In the
dark he ma even get lost in his own
bedroom. Who is there that has not had
this annoying kind OF adventure? Quite1
absurd. and very unsafe. I
II Mr.. Younghusband escapes the perils
of the night. he may slip on the edge OF
the porcelain tub in getting out OF his
morning bath and break a leg; or while
he is shaving. the family dog may run
between his legs and cause him to cut
himself seriously with the razor. After
breakfast he may tilt his chair while
reading the newspaper and go over back
ward, hurting himself badly. He may
trip over a rug or the pet cat. Sooner
Or later he will fall down stairs Every
body does it once in while His dan
z--s are particularly great if he is ad-
1icted 10 pOttering about the house and
ioir, odd jobs. Picture-hanging espe-
cially is a perilous performance.
Housekecp-rS in Danger.
Meanwhile, the wife is by no means
exempt. She has her own home perils
o |
The is bound TO burn or scald herself ,
severely now and then. Her curling iron I
source of danger. unless she handles |
I carefully. The gas stove. if out of ,
rider, may suffocate her with carbon |
nonoXi6 !
One might imagine this partial desCrip-l I
ion of the terrors of home to be mere >
humorous eXaggeration, but it is nothing :
4 the kind. The accident insurance COM =
= nies will fully indorse its correctness !
nd add quite a lot of facts for good :
Measure One of them last year paid J,
ighty-five claims for injuries resulting =
rom the practice, unfortunately preva-
ent among the fiat-dwellers. of poking ,
eads into dumbwaiter shafts TO see if .
he moving shelves were coming up or
Ding down. In truth. one may say that .
he only really safe place at home is in :
ed-and 1t mustn't be a folding one for !.
olding beds often do shut up with dam
ging. and occasionally fatal. conse- :
uences to the occupants
From the very moment of our entrance "a
Ito this world OF toll and trouble we II
re exposed to accidents Every year in o
MS country. says the Census Bureau III
900 babies die from accidental injuries IT
lficted at birth. These might fairly be
assed among the perils Of home, mas II
uch as home is the place where babies n
sually are born. q
Now. how about your own expectation of al
,ath or disabling injury due to accident? di
hat chance have you of dying of old al
re? &C
You are four times as likely to meet II
violent death as TO die of old age | bl
ut, of course. this is accounted for by pl
e fact that most people are carried off o.
disease long before reaching the pc cC
ID of ultimate senile decay. In the
nited States 10000 persons meet vio-
nj deaths in every twelvemonth, with
Il counting suicides and hOmicides. r.
II you are a man the chance is nearly
e in ten that you will die sooner or
ter from an accident of one kind or wi
other. Women are not exposed to IA tic
mishaps to any such extent. Each
ar one man in every seven meets with re
accident. Among women the re
tio is one in twelve ne
= an average man could live LOCO years
would suffer li3 disabling accidents
these, ~ would be incidental TO his Pa
'rk, % would occur on the streets. and
would interrupt his amusements. Dur
: the period mentioned he would lose
e leg or arm; he would have an even
ance to be killed once; he would re- lras
We internal injuries twice: his head 30,
face would be severely damaged -,
elve times, his arms or hands, twenty Iys
e thimes; his legs or feet, twenty-six ~ ~
hes. and his fingers forty-eight times Co'
out % per cent Of all disabling in W Wtli'