The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1946-05-02
Stop These Traffic
Accidents; Better
OPA Administration
By Chas. D. Rowe


the cause of safety. President TTu
man-and many state governors
will proclaim nationwide satet.
month. Few problems are o
greater Importance, inasmuch as w
are slaughtering people by the mil
lion every year-and that in peace
time. This is a good time to think
talk and act in behalf of safety
All of which brings to mind the
tragic accident of last week on the
Burlington railroad in which A
were killed and hundred or more
injured. A streamliner, travelling al
IS miles an hour, crashed into the
rear of another streamliner that
had been forced to stop few miles
out of Chicago.
investigations have been made
but Investigations do not bring back
the dead. And such accidents as
this one are becoming altogether
too frequent of late The railroads
have done a magnificent and vitality
necessary job during the heavily
burdened war years, and they should
not be condemned now However,
two suggestions have been made
that have common-sense behind
them.
One is that fast passenger trains,
when operated in two or more sec
tions, should not be run so closely
together. It is said the fast stream
liner that killed the A people was
only three minutes behind the other
one That's altogether too close for
two trains travelling at 80 to IS
miles an hour. 1t invites slaugh-
ter such as this one that shocks
the nation.
The other suggestion is that en-
+ gineers of advanced age should not
be driving fast passenger trains.
That critical job should be in the
hands of younger men. Some men
retain their faculties and their
rapid mental and muscular respon-
SEES at a ripe age, but others do
not Putting such man at the
throttle of a passenger train NOV
ing through space at IS miles an
hour is gambling with human lives.
We like a sentence in a recent
Spokesman-Review editorial which
read:
"A 68-year-old engineer with 43
years of honorable service to
railroad deserves the right to sit
around his home and enjoy life
on an adequate pension"
That should be his right. If it
were practiced, lives would be
saved.
A safety note for auto drivers
Better wait a minute at the cross
ing than forever in the cemetery.
The founding fathers acted wisely
when they set up a twO-h6use
legislative body for this nation. We
are frequently reminded of that.
The House has passed a drastic
anti-OPA bill Many agree that
it is too drastic. Conservative Re
publicans and Democrats in the
Senate now propose to modify that
bill more in line with wise states
manship
The nation is eXasperated with the
OPA but most of that evaporation,
we believe, is because of botched
administration. There seems to be
a general agreement that price con-
troll ought not to be abandoned COM
pletely. The sentiment in our own
community is largely the same as
throughout the nation. There's
general disgust because of poor ad-
ministration.
Libby auto dealers have for
months had handsome new cars and
trucks on their floors. They have
sales for scores of them. But can
they sell them? Not by any means.
OPA and the manufacturers cannot
agree on prices. Therefore the sale
of autos has been paralyzed for
months
/ heard a Libby dealer remark
last week that the factory would at
once start shipping him autos. But
the local dealer is to store them.
None can be sold because of lack
of price agreement, That doesn't
make sense.
A recent magazine article pointed
out many similar ridiculous situa-
TONS although the magazine is OPP
posed to disseminating OPA. One
incident was in respect to mems
shirts. Manufacturer A had been
making certain high-g grade shirt
at $3.50 a dozen. He couldn't con-
tinue to make them at that price
and asked $2050 a dozen, but OPA
said no. Manufacturer B, a new
conner in the field, was allowed,
for much inferior shirt, price of
$22.50 a dozen-$2.00 more per
dozen than had been refused Manu-
facturer A for a better shirt
And then there is the interesting
incident testified to by young Henry
Ford Ill He had been buying a
gadget for his cars costing some so
some cents each The manufactur-
er, because of increased costs, said