El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-06-03

Nashville Paper suggests That Insurance
should Come in for some
Consideration
An e Paso motorist sends the following
editoria- clipping from the Nashville. Ten
nessean- It may prove OF much interest 70
the motorists OF the southwest:
When the automobile became. so suddenly
and 50 largely. a popular means OF vehicle
transportation. it was inevitable that there
should grow up in connection with its opera
ton a good many evils Many Of those evils
have been eliminated. but q few OF them
persist ana - least one or Two VII prove
very oifticult Of eradication Naturally
enough, these most difficult ones 70 be rid
Of are the most dangerous ones
II probably would have been well II no
automobile had ever had a horn The basic
idea-that Of warning people OF the ap-
preach OF the cas- 81 course good I3ut
railroad trains and conditions are not SINH
lar The railroad train runs on a track
where every person who gets in front Of 70
IS trespasser The automobile runs on
roads and streets where every pedestrian
has equal right OF way with IL. and where
great number Of pedestrians are constantly
passing
The automobile horn has. in effect. given
the automobile supreme right OF way Very
TO warn pedestrians and horse drawn
vehicles out OF the way. instead OF con-
trolling his own speed in such way as 10
avoid collisions Very often. when for any
reason the warning OF the horn fails. when
the pedestrian fails 10 get into the clear
quickly enough. an accident occurs. perhaps.
10 the pedestrian perhaps 20 the occupants
Of the car For the average driver Is anxious
70 avoid accidents and. in most c. ses viii
take the risk OF injury 20 himself rather
than the certainty Of injury 10 a pedestrian
The trouble is that he depends upon his
horn until. too late. he realizes that the
horn is broken reed
To many. the system OF automobile insur-
ance appears to be wrong end first. A man
may not insure himself against the care
9Th o.
mobiles. but he may insure himself against
his own carelessness. so far as money loss
goes The owner OF an automobile goes
70 an insurance agency and takes out
judgment IN damages that may Be obtained
against him for anything occurring IN con-
nectiOn with the automobile In some sort.
that is a license to carelessness- Some re-
strictions are made in the policy. some
owners undoubtedly further restrict them
selves But there is no denying the facr
that the possession Of iudemuifying policies
renders many automobile owners less care
ful than they would he II they themselves
had to bear the money responsibility or
Just how these evils are 70 be corrected
IS a problem They are not In fact pure
evils and many persons will hardly agree
that they are evils AZ all They have their
good features. but they do somewhat in
crease the likelihood OF accidents in the
operation of automobiles
Automobile owners themselves have
brought about many reforms for the benefit
Of the public They are invited 10 think
upon these two things IN the hope that a
satisfactory solution or them may be found
II l. not amiss. either that insurance men
give the matter some thought. TO the end
be devised that. while It protects the own
er as much as may be. does not tend 10
augment oarelessness-
Russia IS said 10 be the only warning
nation whose people are actually growing
more prosperous during the conflict