The Washington herald., 1922-02-02
Progress Over the Dead

To the Editor. The Washington Herald;
The knickerbCcker Theater dis
aster calls to mind a line in a West
ern metropolitan newspaper that I
read in the year 1915 with reference
to the world war as a disaster.
The line read ''All human prog
ress is made over the dead body OF
its friends"
One familiar with his history can
appreciate the truth OF the state
ment.
AnesthetiCs, smallpox prevention.
yellow fever prevention. typhoid
prevention. etc: bulkheads in ships,
automatic signals on railroads. air
brakes on trains, fireproof building
material. etc. are all born of mis-
fortune or disasters, but no matter
the name.
1t seems that we must see many
people suffer and die by disease be-
fore We invent something to pre-
vent or eradicate the cause. 1t
seems that VIC must see a ship sink
| by collision. or train go through
! a bridge. or two trains meet head
| on or hotel burn down, or a the
ater COLLAPSE, each killing many
persons in a msst spectacular man
neT before We viii invent something
or pass laws to prevent such a dis
astCr In the future.
We had to burn at the stake many
witches, heretics and infidels before
we found there is no such thing
We had to make living sacrifices be
fore wooden and stone idols before
We found the idols didn't care much
about il or pay any attention to
I i IL.
and dislikes of the stolid images.
II took nearly l.So0 years of hor-
rible. unspeakahlc religious wars
that killed millions Of people be-
fore VIC learned the teachings of
the Bible were wholly TO save pep
pie. not to destroy them.
So the knickerbocker Thcater may
at great sacrifice give us some
thing. 1t took the Iroquois Thea
ter disaster in Chicago. where near
ly 500 people were killed and over
1000 seriously injured to get as
bestos curtains on theater stages and
a special inside lock on theater doors
that unlocks almost automatically. 1t
took the General Slocum steamer dis
aster in Long Island Sound. where
1,400 eXcursionists lost their lives.
to compel all vessel owners to in
spect their lIte-saving apparatus at
certain definite periods and also to
carry enough OF the apparatus to
supply each passenger. II took the
Galveston flood. where hundreds lost
their lives, to get the sea wall that
Galveston had been talking about
for years.
1t took the Revolutionary war to
win our independence from an ZEN
emy" who is now our friend and
thanks us for teaching 1t a welcome
lesson. II took the civil war to re-
adjust a moral and economic condi-
ton for which the whole nation is
now glad. 1t took the Spanish-Amer-
lean war to compel us to become an
empire in the affairs of the world
for the good OF the world. 1t took
the world war to make US the leader
Of the world. morally. economically
and financially-that is. we can be
il we willard we should, for II
is our destiny.
Locally, we have only to remem-
ber that the cd Ford Theater build
ing collapsed about 1900; that the
glass roof OF the present General
Postofice building collapsed twice
soon after the building had been ac-
cepted by the Federal government
| (but it was the last building to be
! built by the Treasury Department. ;
that one other theater building roof
collapsed only n year or so ago, and
that still another large and old the
alter building in this town is con-
sidered a fire-trap at the present
timc-we only need remember these
things, along with the knickerbocker