Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1916-11-28
EVERY CITIZEN TO BLAME

The terrible tragedy of Sunday night in which one OF
Saems brightest young women was struck and fatally
injured by reckessy driven auto should awaken the
people of the city to the criminal careessnesS not only OF
city and county officials empowered with the enforce
ment of the laws but of the criminal careessness
and neglect Of each and every citizen 1hs apples not
alone to Salem but to every city and village in the United
States The laws appertainng to auto travel are prac
ticallv dead letters The sherifs policemen and con-
stables of this and every other city or section are aKe
guilty of failure enforce the speed laws or any other
in which an auto is connected in any way.
There is not day passes that the speed laws OF the
regulations to turning corners or some othel are not
violated dozens of time How many arrests have been
made on this account in Salem in the past six months?
You will not require lead pencil to make the caicuatlo
Why are the laws not enforced? Is 1t because the ofcels
deliberately fail to do their duty? In sense this may
be true but back of it all is the fact that public sentiment
winks at the violation of the law and does not demand s
enforcement
The young man who drove the deadly auto Sunday
night is in jail facing heavy criminal charge IL tortu,
natey he had struck any one when his auto sdded
the street does anyone suppose he would nave ee
arrested? Yet he was violating the law according to the
statement made concerning the accident, III Gwo
ways: he was exceeding the speed limit and ne was on
the wrong side of the street Why would ne nave escaped
arrest? For the that whoever saw the Voaton
of the law would not have taken the trouble TO report
or enter complaint Yet that is the duty OF every good
citizen when he sees the laws violated So in the hnal
ANALYSIS while the driver of the auto was directly re-
sponsbe for the tragedy the indirect cause was the
people of Salem It is not pleasant accusation u 70 e M
vet who of deny our responsibility! IL we hao III,
sisted on the laws of the state and city being enforced
within our city this tragic death would have been avoid
ed 1t is not worth while blaming the police OF conStaou
Iary for if public sentiment demands anything that 1t
will get from the police any other officer what the
people connive at and paiate, they cannot expect their
officers to punish
A short time ago there similar tragedy out be
vond the Fair grounds when driven at high speed
in dense foe and on the wrong side OF the road crashed
into Ford machine and killed OF its occupants What
was the punishment in that case? What did the coroners
Jury in that case decide? That the dead woman was TO
blame equally with the other party for trying to get out
of his way. :oo
Every day from all parts of the country the wires
bring stories of death and disaster due to reckless auto
lists These stories are so common that news editors on
the larger papers throw them in the waste basket as be-
ing unworthy of mention. 80
The sensible careful auto must suffer from the
acts of the speed maniac and the needless. For their
protection from general condemnation the laws shoud pe
enforced and every voator Of the auto laws punished IL
might be good scheme to transfer the army OF game
waTens from watching pheasants and hunters to watch
ing the roads and taking of human life rather than
that of the birds 1t is evident the end OF the era Oh
auto lawlessness is near There is feeling OF prejudice
growing up against autoists by those who do not own
cars that bodies no good to either When men openly talk
of carrying gun to protect themselves against speed
maniacs it is not long distance to tragedy IN when II
will not be the person in the street who furnishes the sub
ject for the coroner.