The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-02-11

we read great deal these 0aye
as to national preparedness. and. II
we believe all of the calamity howl
ers. We are on the broad road to
perdition." writes William Fl. Cam
eron general manager of the National
Safety council. in an industrial pub
iication.
"As a matter of fact. never before
In the history of the world has real
preparedness taken such hold upon
nation as has the preparedness idea
or today. Not that l mean. that
thousands and hundred of thousands
of our young men are becoming ex-
perts with sixteen-inch guns. or. daily
becoming letter perfect in the manual
OF arms. but | refer to preparedness
in truer sense.
"A dozen years ago IL you met q
railroad man of lesser rank than that
of a general manager, you instructive
ly glanced at his hands to count the
remaining fingers. didn't you? Well.
today IL Is different If a railroad
of ono hundred cars could be run
even chance that on the completion
of the ninth trip, not one employe
of the successive crews operating the
train would have met with fatal
accident. Isn't that real prepared
ness?
you could operate a trans-conti-
mental limited train between San
Francisco and New York for a gen
Grafton without a fatal injury to a
passenger In the last Ave years only
one passenger was killed in train
accident each year out Of every three
hundred and fifty-fve million passen-
gers carried one mile.
Nor does the preparedness idea
stop with the railroads, wonderful as
has been the success of the Idea on
what was formerly ranked as the
most dangerous of all our industries.
The average number of tons of coal
mined in the United States per fatal
injury during the last forty years was
one hundred and eighty thousand six
hundred and seventy tons. Last year
this figure was reduced to one fatality
to two hundred and twenty eight
thousand six hundred tons. and this,
too, in spite of the great increase OF
nom English speaking men in the
mining industry.
The same spirit OF preparedness
has invaded building operations
With the advent OF modern steel con-
struction and the piling OF story on
story till the newspapers, for want
of a better expression. coined the
skyscraper phrase. safety OF the work
men Tor lln0 became DS-"cAu '
Do you remember the banner of the
structural iron workers IN their La
Dor day parade: We don't die. we
arc killed? Well, that doesn't hold
good any longer. An iron worker
has about the same chance to die
from pneumonia, scarlet fever. or
other contagious disease these days,
as he has from industrial accidents.
in the Industries we ind intelu-
gent preparedness frightening the
life Of the worker an average OF nine
years. IN some OF the more combining
trades, 70 ten years in trades such as
cigar making and printing. while in
others where dust. poor sanitation,
and oocupational hazard was the rule.
rather than the exception, l believe
twelve and fifteen years have been
added to the life of the average
worker.
Preparedness has been the watch
word in the shops and factories, in
the mines. and on the railroads for
decades. For a time the employer
was sadly put 10 1t to convince hts
workmen that he should take heed
Of his very life. Day in and day out
the fight against carelessness had 10
be waged A trip through a shop
would show a scrap OF discarded rag
earelessly. tied around an injured fin
GER or maybe, 'chaw' of tobacco
doing duty as an antiseptic. Today
the bulletin board with its Take your
scratched finger to the doctor is the
rule Your eyes are the windows of
your soul, wear your goggles; the
company furnishes them without
charge is posted in ten thousand
shops.
AN accident in this shop is a Sc
rious reflection on the foreman in
charge of the work drives home TO
the man on the JOB that the man
agement Is in earnest. BE careful
Think safety If safety interferes
with production explain your troubles
to the safety committee and your
work will be made safe A box-car
can be rebuilt in thirty days, but 1t
takes twenty-one years to make a
man. is the message of one railroad
corporation to its men. These and
score of similar messages from ON
ployers TO employees emphasize the
new order of things.
The preparedness spirit IL illus
trated in a hundred ways. The won
derful growth of saving accounts in
our banks. the added thousands Of
policy holders in insurance compa-
MES. the miles of cottages in our