Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-06-13
A CATASTROPHE WEEKEND
AND SOME BAD GOOD TIMES
Americans Dedicate Their Days on to
Wild Excitement and Then Wonder
What's Up With Their Nerves

hasn't been En'f told For the storm on
| Pelham Ray was. Of course no more violent
than the uErecorded storms that rocked the
souls of No'stead dodgers on the roofs and
.'. .'"i'9 - "r>rdwnv. Enats - .hc
| open water tossed about no more danger
onsly than the cabaret to cabaret taxicabs
chartered by fox wko. when the week $
work is done. seek rest and peace in the
shade Of the artificial palms. 80. -.
Nmcri"a was being gay. IL was going
about the busineSs' with its usual head
long drtcrmination Any disciple of Mr..
Edison or any school child above the age
Of twelve crn tell you that the toitcd States
has only one consistent aim in the months
between May and September. 1t labors to
have a good time And good times. as we
are coming TO know them. mean Pullman
expresses doing seventy an hour" Fords
striving their valiant best TO show that they
are faster than any twin six that ever gave
them dust and u genera, wild rush OF people
TO get to nowhcrc in Particular and n uni
lersal stretching Of "ytr.trahcd nerves.
The cities empty themselves into the
,ntry and toward thc's"l. And the coun-
try emrties itself into the cities. And people
behave rs If they had only another day to
live and know pleasure.
Why do Pullman trains do eighty an hour
ana why do FordS 90 wild 10 pass twin
skies: Because people wio normally COM
pain bitterly of the weather and walk on
the shady side OF every street are in breath
less haste to lie in bat thing .ni,s under the
full blaze of blistering sun.
r,, H.
yndured by people who aren't happy unless
they can achieve in II few hours the air of
having been afar and the aspect Of elegant
leisure'iness that 90 with the complexion of
Il healthy Malay!
On any Monday morning during the full
tide Of summer it is easy to recognize the
people who have been good timing it in
their off hours. They are people who move
cautiously and their eyes are filed with
suffering If you touch them they moan
and If they wish to ioo! behind them they
must turn all the way round. Tan they
will have achieved in the course of time
through torment that few people are willing
10 endure for an exalted principle
The hardened roof gardener seldom
appears in public on Mondays in summer.
-N"huh! is MS uay or rest.
j. it because people work too hard that
they go off like uncorked champagne bottles
at the instant that they find themselves foot
loose: Are we forgetting how to be leis-
urely?
COncy Island and most of the resorts that
initiate it specialize. as some one observed
not long ago, in the devices carefully cal
cuated not to let your nerves down but to
drag them up another notch and to the
very limit Of endurance. They will fling
you through the air and shoot you In chutes
and ill your ears with match!ess din.
Relaxation they do not provide, seemingly
because it hasn't II recognizable market
value. That is one of the reasons why your
home coming week -endcrs invariably seem
w'aried to the bone and why some one has
suggested that there ought to be an allotted
period in which the tired business m6n could
rest after the stresses and tribulat!ons of the
conventional summer vacation.
The extraordinary number of motor acci.
dents reported yesterday and the nature of
most Of them provide corroboration for
something said day vr two ago in this
column relative to the contributory neyli.
gence of public authorities visible in the
grent majority of automobile mishaps.
1t seems now. for example. that the signal
bell may not have been ringing at the grade
crossing near Absecon where six members
of one family were killed when n shore ex.
press struck n motorcar.' Is bell enough
at crossing where railway trains and
automobiles run at top speed?
The blame for the Absecon tragedy NAV
be put ultimately upon the railroad or it
may be shifted to the driver of the automo.
bile. who is dead and unable to give his side
OF the story. Hut 1t belongs in reality, with
public officials of the past and the present
whU were TOO shortsghted to see that all
the problems of overland traffic would need
new treatment with the astonishing expan-
sion of the motor industry and the increas.
ing use and utility Of the automobile itself.
The time to prevent the accident near
AbsccOn was ten years ago when new roads
in that general region were being planned
and when no one had enough Imagination TO
perceive that the plans were Inadequate to
future needs.
1t is idle to suppose that all the important
motor roads in New Jersey and PENNSYLVANIA
and other States can be carried under or
over railways at one swoop. That is what
will have to he done with them sooner or
later. Meanwhile the railroads ought to be
compelled to do what railroads do In other
civilized countries. 'They should he COM
PEELED to put guards and gates at every
grade crossing. They will do SO readily
enough and at a comparatively slight ex-
pense when Legislatures are honest and free
from the belief that corporations are holy
and not to be bothered or irritated, no mat.
ter what happens.