Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1916-10-09
THE DAY OF SAFETY.

| lnlleu OtdlSS. IL Is TIC lHouShC u'bSA Su
on every hand to be careful, safe and
sane The two words were first brought
into use in the hurry and bustling city
of New York, where traffic has pre-
scented enormous problems. Today, it
is everywhere. The cautious words of
Watch Your STEP" cling to the cry
ing conductors on the subways and
elevated trains of the great American
metropolis.
So, everywhere there is a movement
for safety. The school authorities of
the nation have wisely set apart day
for the purpose of instructing the stu
dents on fire prevention" Besides
this great menace to the happiness and
| life of the school child, they are told
of the other matters affecting their
safety, such as traffic and accidents.
This morning the students of the
Americas High school joined in the
suggestion and they were told interest
ing facts and given helpful advice on
the subject.
Along these lines was an editorial in
the Atlanta Constitution of yesterday,
which is:
To-day is yesterdays pupil"
This is Poor Richards way of telling
us that we learn today by the mistakes
CT yesterday.
To more forcibly impress this truth
upon the American mind and capitalize
it to the fullest possible extent toward
the conservation of human life and
property, a group of humanitarians and
economists some few years ago organ
lied the National Fire Protection asso-
citation, which was followed shortly by
and co-ordinated with the National
Safety council. the objects of which
correlated organizations are the min
imizing Of preyentable fires and acct
dents throughout the United States.
The possibilities and the usefulness
of this movement cannot be over-esti-
mated; and the fact that the Atlanta
Chamber of Commerce, our schools and
our police and fire departments have
manifested such an affirmative and
alert interest in plans for the observ-
ance of fire and accident prevention
Monday is as cheerful as it is COM
mendable.
Statistics show that every year fire
kills 1900 and Injuries, physically, 5000
people in the United States. The ma
tons accident toll mounts to the grue-
some total of $4,000 deaths and 2,00O,-
600 injuries each year. The property
loss by fire in the United States
amounts to $500 every minute through
out the year.
And federal statisticians and insur-
ance folks-fire and personal-mafn-
tain that two-thirds of the fires and
two-thirds of the accidents are pre-
ventable by proper safeguards and
rrecaution. Every home should
have in it fre-fghting apparatus, for
use in emergencies.
An ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure" and "a stitch in time
saves nine" are old saws, but true and
universally recognized as such; but
the difficulty in the way of their gem
eral application lies in the fact that
SO many of our people, especially the
youth, are ignorant as to how to apply
the ounce of prevention and how and
when to make the timely stitch, or,
knowing, are careless in profiting by
what they know.
To correct all of this is the central
purpose of Fire and Accident Proven
ton Day observation.
There is right and wrong way
to cross a crowded street; to board, or
disembark from trolley car; to burn
rubbish in the kitchen lot, or start a
fe in the CRATE
The foregoing figures indicate to
what proportionate extent each of these
two ways are practiced in the United
States.
1t is incumbent upon every good citi-
zen in every American city to give
careful heed to the lessons that will
be taught throughout the country Mon
day, and to cooperate to the fullest
extent with the authorities in the OBJ
seryation of Fire and Accident Pre-
vention Day
Atlantans, every man, woman and
child, can show their civic pride in no
more effective and forceful manner