Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 253, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 October 1914 — TOO MANY DISASTERS [ARTICLE]

TOO MANY DISASTERS

NEED FOR PUSHING "SAFETY FIRST* MOVEMENT. Evident That Extreme Vigilance In All Ways Must Be Maintained if Real Improvement la to Be Accomplished. The tremendous pressure of war news has caused a series of railroad, steamship and mine disasters to pass with little notice. The loss of life, considerable in itself, has, of course, been small in comparison with the loss in battle. But we can scarcely afford to Ignore these stall and “usual” disasters. Ip Utah a dozen men have been imprisoned in a mine. In the St Lawrence, a Canadian government boat rammed during a fog, went down with a loss of fourteen lives. But these do not concern us so closely as the numerous railroad accidents. The worst was near Lebanon, Mo., when a St Louis and San Francisco passenger train rolled -from a soft track into a flooded creek. Twenty-seven persons lost their lives. Near Livingston, Ala., an Alabama Great Southern train was derailed at a switch, with a loss of six killed and twice as many injured. At Memphis an Illinois Central freight train ran down a streetcar, killing eleven persons and Injuring fifteen. Near Waldron, Ind., one man was killed when a Big Four freight split a switch, at Morristown a C., H. & D. freight train ran down a gravel wagon. This accident threw open a switch, with the result that two men were badly hurt and twenty-one loaded freight cars were reduced to wreckage. A week or so previously a Grand Rapids and Indiana passenger train ran into a washout near Kalamazoo, Mich., and injured a large number of persons, among them several residents of Indianapolis. It is to be observed that most of these wrecks occurred at switches or at pofhts where the tracks were weakened by floods. Investigation has not disclosed whether any were avoidable. , The “safety first” movement has become general. I The idea, which at first was one of stern necessity, has become popular. “Safety first” means vigilance first and always—and in all ways. Railroad managements are impressed with the need for such constant watchfulness. Recent wrecks have been confined to no one system. The New Haven, which for months stood at the top of the disaster list, did not 'suffer, due surely to the rehabilitation of Its official system of management. Accidents, as long as safety depends on fallible humanity, may be unavoidable, but they can be largely reduced in number. The realization of a deeper sense of responsibility on the part of official and employee is necessary.