The Monmouth inquirer., 1925-08-13
PUBLIC ACCIDENTS
LEAD IN DEATH TOLL
Hazard Transferred from
Industries to Streets.
BY c. 3. AUEL, President. National
Safety Council.

Safety Council.
New York.-The world has become
Northumberland power and horse
power Except as a unit of
ment) are falling into ~desuetude.
"Harnessing Niagara" was an achieve
ment. conveying its force to great
distances was an accomplishment, but
to make Niagara freeze itself into lit
tie cubes In the millionaire's kitchen,
brown the buckwheat cakes on the
foreman's breakfast table and drive
the sewing machine In the third floor
back, transcends any of Aladdin's
mythical efforts. Not content with
Harvesting mere coal deposits and riv-
ers, man harnessed the oil fields, and
with what resuIf3-the development
Of cheap and light mechanical motive
power enabling him to flivver the sea,
fitvver the air, and 1ivver the surface
OF the land. See also what the gas
engine is doing for the farms-the last
stronghold Of horse power. First into
our industrial life, next into u pub
lie life and finally into our home life
hive crept the manifold applications
Of power t daily needs.
Power Takes Toll.
But, because power is the applica-
ton of the mechanical forces which
the human body cannot Withstand,
power has taken and continues to take
its toll of life and limb. The path Of
it's application to mans needs is
tracked with blood-first In the indus
tries some Of which a decade ago were
called slaughter houses" today upon
the streets where every mans life is
in jeopardy-perhaps tomorrow with
In our home, It's latest field of con-
quest.
Natures own efforts to protect the
individual of the species from the dam
gers Of his environment r marvel
Gus but they are inexorably slow.
Human efforts at protection will al
ways lag far behind the inception and
even the conception Of the hazard. II
seems that an Incredible number Of
human beings must be killed or In
jured before the public conscience is
aroused. 1t is true that the majority
Of those Industrial establishments
which were termed slaughter houses"
have at last become safe places In
which to work, but yet the automobile
has been allowed to take the toll Of
100000 lives In this country alone.
Notwithstanding u recognition OF
what is going on, the annual increase
In automobile deaths has not been ar
rested. 1t is our human failing not to
foresee these evils and our human
weakness to close our eyes to their
appalling growth until we awake to
find, in their elimination. a huge ma
tional problem.
Streets Now Danger Point.
The center of gravity Of accidental
deaths IN the United States was prob
ably at one time situated In the indus
tries, but since the inception Of the
safety movement 1t has been slowly
transferring itself to the field Of pub
lie accidents, In other words to our
streets, our highways, our transport
tation systems and our public build
ings. It is following the advance Of
power, but whether, as we develop
public protective measures and there
by diminish public accidents, 1t viii
transfer itself to our homes, remains
to be seen-for today 1t is sufficient
to realize that the focus Of the dis
order has moved into the public life
of the community.
The only new thing about the safe
ty movement in day is that 1t Is
a movement and not an institution or
an instinct and that Is wholly because
Of the abnormally rapid development
of modern life. If life would slow
down as IT did in prehistoric times
safety would be a family matter; 1t
would be part Of the family discipline,
like moi eating with ones knife or not
lying In bed in the morning, both IN
doubtedly prehistoric vices.