The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1922-01-10

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five miles per hour, provided that
at the summit Of hills or onSsharp
lcuryes or In passing other vehicles
or pedestrians, the speed should
be reduced so that the car may
be under absolute control Of the
driver and capable Of being inn
mediately stopped in case OF OBJ
struction.. An urban street Is q
highway along which houses are
within fifty feet Of each other,
over which the speed must not
exceed fifteen miles, andta subur-
ban street or highway Is one along
which for a distance for a quarter
LOT a mile or more houses are
more than fifty feet and within
three hundred feet OF each other,
along which the speed must not
exceed twenty miles per hour. In
case Of injury resulting from care
less driving the person found
guilty shall be punished for the
result Of his act even to the ex-
tent Of manslaughter. Under the
law as now IN force, effective on
the first Of the present month, in
addition TO the license that must
be procured for the car. every
driver or one who operates q car
must have an operators license,
and in case one Is convicted Of
RECKLESS driving, In addition to
other penalties, his license may be
revoked and he shall not be per-
mitted to again drive a car with
in that license year, and after
that only in the discretion OF the
state authorities.
] Among the new laws enacted by
1.-THE last legislature, was one rails
ing the age OF consent in rape to
tsfxteen years, SO that now II one
carnally know a female under the
age OF sixteen, even with her con-
sent, he shall be guilty of rape
and punished with death or con-
finement In prison. Another new
act is one that created a bureau
of venerial diseases and in order to
prevent the spread of contagion as
a menace to public health, re-
quires County Health Officers to
cooperate with the State Bureau
and provides for the taking into
custody and treatment at public
Expense Of persons so infected, and
makes II unlawful for any person
having such disease in an infecti-
Gus stage to engage in the busi-
ness Of barber, baker, cook or
waiter, makes it unlawful for any
person to retain In his employ in
any such capacity one SO afflicted
after twenty-four hours notice by
the Health Officer.
There is another subject which
II am impelled to call to your at
tention that citally affects all
of the citizens Of the community;
/ refer to living conditions. It
might be said that this is without
the realm of our interference, but
not entirely SO. For the present
consideration, our citizenship may
be divided into three groups.
First, a comparatively small num-
iber engaged through corporate en-
terprise in the manufacture and
production of commodities, who
are in a measure independent Of
and Indifferent to tAe cost Of
living; who survive lean periods Of
their business and their attendant
losses with the expectation Of
making up In periods Of abnormal
prices. or even with small profits
on a large volume OF business.
Another group is composed Of
those wage earners whose ruling
principle OF life is that the fruits
of their labor are to be immediate
ly enjoyed, and who live one day
in lavish extravaganza and the
next in penury aud want. The
third group, which comprises the
lyast majority Of our clLl4enship, Is
composed Of small householders,
men who must live upon limited
incomes, who, from their expert
ence and knowledge Of their own
capacity and opportunity can ap.
proximate within a few dollars
what their incomes may be ten
years hence, men who have no
ambition or expectation of becom-
ing rich, men who are content to
perform with cheerfulness their
daily tasks, discharging with
fidelity their duty to their en-
ployers, to their families. to soci-
ETY., and performing all the duties
of citizenship.
Carrying out the underlying
principle OF organized society, al
truistic though it may be, that Of
securing the greatest good to the
greatest number, economic con-
ditions should be SO regulated
that this group, comprising as It
does the very backbone OF our
civilization, should be able from
their limited incomes to provide
for their families the necessities
and reaeonable comforts OF life, to
educate their children agreeably
to their capabilities and special
talents, and gradually accumulate
a small savings account for sick
emergency and old age. II on
the other hand the members of
this group under conditions as
they have for sometimes existed,
come TO the end of each month
with a deficit, there Is something
radically wrong In our social or
der which needs to be corrected.
Ours is a community OF limit
less commercial ambition, and our
business men are enterprising and
public spirited and liberal even to
a fault In their contributions to
public charities. Yet emerging as
we are fromkwar conditions with.
their attendant abnormal values
which are declining much too
slowly, we find ourselves sur
rounded by unemployment, under
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