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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Herald, 1924-01-10, Page 3MAKE HIGHWAYS SAFE FOR The latest figures on automobile ae- •cidents for the Iaet year indicate that. the number of victims ison, the 'in- crease. Consequently it ie high time that some: resolutions be put into of-• feet which will decidedly lessen this Slaughter of human lives. For the „pedestrian 'I suggest the :following resolution; "In 1924 I will be thoughtful as I amble along the .public thoroughfare. I will; carefully observe traffic rnles that have.. been passed in the interest of lay. safety. I will co-operate with motorists. I will watch street cars and stand in the safety zone when waiting for them. I will keep to the right and. avoid jay walking." RESOLUTION BY MOTORIST. Then let the motorist resolve as fol- lows: "I will think ahead. I will ob- serve 'signals. I will co-operate with pedestrians. I will demonstrate my ability to drive skillfully before op- erating a car in traffic. I will keep the .mechanical features ofmy nia- chine in good working order." If the public, both pedestrians and motorists, would make such • resolu- tions for 1924 and, taking them seri- ously, would really try to carry them •out, many thousands of homes would be spared the sfi•dness such as has been brought about in the past by auto- mobile accidents. Municipalities also have some re- sponsibilities in this matter. Ordi- nances can be passed for 1924 which Will help the people in carrying out their resolutions. Some very good re- sults along this line have been accom- plished by the Bureau of Safety of New York City.- This bureau has been inspecting brakes of cars to see if the owners have complied with the local regulations. Thebureau has just closed its first. year's work, and during the last twelve months 73,635 motor vehicles on the streets have been inspected. Of this number 10,517 had one defective MOTORIST AND PEDI STRIA. N, brake, and the driverswere required to report back with the defective brake fixed for re -inspection. In 2,239 cases both brakes were defective and the drivers were fined, the penalty usually being $25. INSPECTION OF BRAKES. A brake inspection squad of ten po- licemen has accomplished this work. They were told to stop drivers of ears, particularly of the heavy type, make running tests of brakes and steering gears, and, if found faulty, to see that they were put in good con- dition. - Their method is first to signal an approaching truck or other motor ve- hicle to stop. One man gets on the seat of the car by the driver, and, under his instructions, the Striver will proceed to start and stop, the patrol- man making a note of the distance it takes- the car to stop under various speeds. At a speed of 10 miles an hour a car, to pass the test, must stop within FOUR LEGS The good old horse I used to drive! I sometimes wish he were alive; he something lacked of pep and power, ho hit' up seven miles an hour. He had his faults, I must allow; but so has every sheep and cow. He'd sometimes cut up monkey shines, and wrap his tail around the lines, and use his feet, with iron solos, to kick the dashboard full of !roles, and driven batty by the flies, he'd grip the bit and close his eyes, and try to climb a barbed wire fence, an animal bereft of sense. But taking Dob- bin pro .and con, I'm sometimes sorry that lie's gone; when nsy old bus is full of bugs, with fantods in the sparking plugs, when tires blow out or strings break down, some forty-seven: leagues from town; when I am stalled for lack of gas, a long night in the rain to pass; King Richard's plaint I` then indorse: "My ten cent kingdom for a horse!" When motorcycle cops draw near and tell me that I must appear -before the jurist and explain why I was pushing my old wain same sixty parasangs or so, where thirty is the clip to go, I cry aloud Iii niy remorse, "My crown and sceptre for a horse!" When reckless delvers hit my car and from its bearings knock the tar, and I am knocked about a verst, so that my pink suspenders burst, I cry aloud, amid the gorse, "My silver corkscrew for a horse!" 9 feet; at 15 miles, within 20 feet; at 20 miles, within 37 feet, and at 25 Tree Doom. miles an hour within 58 feet. This To draw sweet sustenance from the test is made with both the foot and the earth emergency brakes, and if either brake Without devouring meat that's slain; will not stop within these distances at With casing bark to fit one's girth the speed indicated the brake is con- And stand unlioused in wind, sun, sidered defective. rain,— This is only an indication of the! To have waved leaves instead of hair And a green color for a face; sort of activities municipalities can interest themselves in if they are real- ly anxious to protect their citizens from accidents. There are numerous others that might be incorporated in the New Year's resolutions of the municipal officials- which will take care of those people who haven't enouglts interest in public safety to co- operate willingly. A combination of care and • co- operation by motorists, pedestrians and community officials will greatly reduce motor accidents in 1924. Here is a triangle of power that should get into action at once. - My Radio. When earth is iron hard with frost And skies portending snow, I love to sit beside the fire eaand hear my radio. It tells me of the barren wastes Where .summer never smiles, Alaska's frozen hills of gold, The gray Aleutian Isles. IQo:station do I have to call • Nor to a wave length tune, But _I can listen to the pines Along the Mohawk croon. The rush of icy Arctic seas Where terrible and white, The bergs are moving crowned with rays, Sapphire and chrysolite. No agrlograms break in upon The monologues that speak • Of snowy plain and frigid lake, And. stili unconquered peak, No static trouble stopfi glissades Or blurs arpeggias, My radio's the winter wind That down the chimney blows. —Minna Irving., Not to be Spelled. He had just obtained a job at some railway works. "What's your name?" asked the timekeeper. "Patrick Cahill," was the reply. "How do you spell it?" inquired the other. The Irishman scratched his head thoughtfully: "Indade, an' O1. don't know, sorr," he said. "01 never shpelt it, an' 'me father he never shpelt it either. Faith an' Oi don't think it was ever intended to be shpelt at all. Put it down without shpellin', sorr." • Small Sailor. Robert lived in the country and had never seen a sailor. "Papa," he said one day, "sailors must be very small men. "Why do you think so?" asked his father. • "Because," answered Robert, "I read in the paper about one who went to. sleep on his watch." Why, Indeed. Willie --"Mamma, will you answer just one more question? Then.I won't bother you any more." Mother—"All right, then. What is Willie—"Why is it that the little fishes don't drown before -they learn to 'swim?", A Cure by Proxy. "Doctor," Said. he, "I'm a victim of insoinnia.I can't sleep if there's the least noise, such as a cat on the back fence, for instance." "This powder will be effective," re- plied the physician, after compound - g In a prescription, ,"When do I take it, doctor?" "You don't take it You give it to the cat in some milk." - Location of Flortnce. • Old Lady -"I want a ticket for Pier - mice," Ticket Clerk (after {searching hi Vain for ten minutes)-"Wber.s the deuce is Florence?" Old. L,aaTy -- '°Sitting over there On the ,seat" A Good Answer, Condescending Lady (to her part- ner)—"My husband is very jealous, so 1 only dance with; exceedingly plain people." The Partner—"It's a good system; I follow it." •Emphasizing the Plate. "How lovingly she regards her table silver." "Contem-plates it, I'd say." Never to move through life elsewhere But root forever in one place, 0, what a strange life there must be. In a broad, earth -rooted tree! And yet, men say, when stricken ,sore, Trees shiver a space just as they're felled; A sentinence sweeps their inmost core That by . their downward rush is quelled— As if„from base to crown, they,; tried To walk but once before they died! —Harry Kemp. • Two Causes. "1 say, Tom, are you troubled with sleeplessness?” "I am. Some nights- I don't sleep three hours,' replied Toni. "I pity you, then," remarked Bill. "I've got it awfully, bad. I've beenof- fileted now for about two years. The doctor calls it "neurio insomnia para- laxitis: " , Tom grunted, and said:— "I've had it about- six months; but we call it a baby" . . . Family Pride. 'Prou should always be clean in your person," wrote one boy,' upon the sub- ject of petsonal hygiene, "specially on gymnasium days, because if youbroke your leg or anything you wouldn't want your family disgraced all over the town by an unclean skin." Content makes poor men rich; dis- content makes rich men poor. Gardens and the Things s That 11 $ Grow in Gardens. Gardens and the things that grow 1a gardens, I like them all! In -summer, peas and beans, and canta- loupes And squash in fall. Gardens and the fofks that work in gardens, They are my friends. • Along some garden walk I visit and I talk, Till autumn ends. And when it's wintertime I read A`catalogue of garden seed. Keep Your Checks. A school teacher had found her class of boys reluctant in their writing of English compositions. At last she Conceived a great idea to stimulate their interest—to write an account of a ball game. It seemed that she was successful. With one exception, the boys threw themselves at the task and evolved youthful masterpieces. The backward one chewed reluctantly at his pen and was struck by a burst of genius. When the teacher opened his paper, it read: "Rain -no game.' /%/ H..p Dram Looked. Like It. The Waif—"Say, Mr, Pouter. Pigeon, did you swallow a toy balloon?" Sailors' Sixth Sense.. The Board of Trade inquiry now be-, jug held in London into the circum- stances of the lose of the ill-fated 'Tre- veesa bas given another opportunity for the retelling of pee of the greatest epics of the sea, That amazing "sixth" sense which enabled forty-four men to navigate two small boats for nearly 2,000 miles over the Indian Ocean is something few landsmen appreciate. Sea instinct is a reality. A, sailor can feel his ship under him like a liv ing thing, He knows its mood, even when he is asleep in his hunk. He can tell by the feel of the deck under his • feet if the cargo is stowed properly and the weight equally distributed. He may not be an expert .stevedore, and he taws nothing about metacen- tric height, but he has an instinct for these things. Another important factor in the sail - pr's sixth sense is the smell of a ves- sel. • As- soon es he goes on board he can tell by her smell whether she is a good or bad ship, But he cannot (las- er - the difference in these smells. Although all the complicated naviga- tion instruments of the modern liner. threaten to kill his sixth sense, the sailor still retains his strange sensi- tiveness, and when he retires from his hard profession the old salt becomes a human barometer and can foretell the approach of wind, rain, or snow long before the Mctecrelogical Office knows anything about them. For the life he leads the sailor has to be made of very tough stuff, but un- derneath his rough hide he always re- mains a child of nature, a strangely sentient creature, with the wannest and• most responsive heart in the world. Amuses the Horses. He was a raw recruit, just enrolled in a crack cavalry regiment, and was paying his first visit to the riding school. "Here's your horse," said the in- structor. The recruit advanced, took bridle gingerly, and examined mount with great care. "What's it got this strap around it for?" he asked, pointing to the girth. "Well," explained the instructor, sol- emnly, "you see, all our horses have a keen sense of humor, andas they scnietimes have sudden fits of laugh- ter when they see the recrlits trying to ride, we put bands around them to keep them front busting their sides!" A Thick Skin indeed. A youngetravelling salesman in Eng- land was on his first trip to get orders. At Plymouth, says Mr. G. B. Burgin ,in Many Memories,'he met an oldcom- mercial traveler, whoexpressed his interest in the. young, man and asked him how he had fared. 'Badly," .the young man replied. "I was insulted in every place I visited." "That is strange," said the old tra- veler, "I have been on the road forty. years; I have had my samples flung into the street; I have been taken byl the scuff of the neck and pitched down- stairs; I don't deny that I have been rolled in the gutter; but insulted— never!" the his Winter Beauty, In June the proud and beauty ,cons" sclous earth I;lnrIehes fallow fields with petalled gold Resets old`bowider'gems In rings of ferns And spends, nor Counts her wealth. When pride is overcome: by winter's dearth, Preoccupied in guarding life from cold, Berth does not heed when beauty's Oast returns And fills• her hand by stealth. • On her at night the tuff oriee.d moon bestows Iced pools that mirror back a dire re. iiection. Gaunt shadowed symmetry of leaf and weed, Frost arabesques of lace, She wears the vast enchantment of the snows, Rayed wheels and silver sitars of brief perfection. Bleached silken grasses, patterns of wind strewn seed With all unconscious grace. —Marie Emilie Gilchrist. Elizabeth Wins. What is the favorite name among the girls of to -day? A census of girl students at the fa- mous Wellesley College, Boston, Mas- sachusetts, has disclosed, ' somewhat to the surprise of the authorities, that "Elizabeth" now heads the list, and that, of a class numbering 403, there are twenty-six girls of that name. Other names and the number of those who bear them include: Dorothy, 20; Mary, 18; Katherine, 18; Eleanor, 17; Marion, 16; Helen, 18; Margaret, 15; Louise, 12; Ruth, 11; Frances, 11; Alice, 10; Rhoda, 3; Dorothea, 2; Juliet, 2. Quite Safe. A little girl went to see her grand- mother, who was particular 'about spiritual• affairs. "My dear, I hope you say your prayers every night before going to bed?" said the old lady. "No, gran'ma," replied the young- ster. oungster. "Why, my dear! Aren't you afraid to go to bed without asking that the good angels shall watch over you dur- ing the darkness of night?" "No, gran'ma. I'm not afraid, 'cause I sleep in the middle." Couldn't Possibly Have as Much Friend—"But, my dear, your hus- band probably has more sense than you think." Wife (grudgingly)—"Well, that niay be; but he couldn't possibly have as much as he thinks." Jail Can't CureTheni Doctors Can Doctors are now treating and curing diseases and disorders 'of the brain. This is the overshadowing news of the world of medicine. What this means to the ten -billion -a -year crime problem is beyond immediate grasp, says a New York magazine. Its importance to all mankind is incalculable. It is almost childish now to repeat that something is wrong with the mind of every criminal. Men do not break laws for the protection of men, and in the face of almost certain de- tection and fearful punishment, unless they are abnormal in some respect. But if abnormalities amounting to some forms of actual insanity can now be definitely cured, and if the next ten years are likely to bring forth ad- vances undreamed of to -day, it begins to look as if the criminal problem might have to be taken out of the hands of the police and the lawyers and put into the hands of the doctors. And the medical men will do a much better job. The small beginnings of this change are already to be seen in the treat- inent of emotionally instable types by Dr. Schlepp and other endocrinolo- gists. Dr. Schlepp's clinic at the Post- graduate Medical School and Hospital, New York,- is already taking care of a .number of these unfortunates, sent from the courts•,for treatment. The' treatment of emotional . instability thrcugh the medication of the. glands is further advanced rind better under- stood to -day than any other medicinal or surgical treatment for criminals and abnormals. The first attack on the odd system will come from this quarter. The Root of Evil. Emotional instability based on gland derangements afflicts some of the finest and rarest minds among men. The most sensitive and delicately tuned natures, the then and woinen. who should do the world's exceptional Work, are .often its victims. Some of them wind up their days in prison, while men say: "He is a brilliant man; a genius. What a pity he isn't str'aiglit l" "Twenty years ago," Dr. Schlepp told irie in an interview, . "the very 'Attie endocrine did not exist and !net had not yet guessed the secrets a the glands. But to -day our' knowledge of the endocrines and of their influence'. upon every function of the nervous system promises to revolutionize our whole understanding of human be- havior. "We know now that many men com- mit crimes because their thyroid glands or other glands are out of or- der. It is now certain that these glands control , the activities of our. nerves altogether, including the work- ings of our, brains. "This means that science has. brought the matter of human conduct. or misconduct clown to a physiological and even to a chemical basis. Men do not err because they are evil, but be- cause of chemical disturbances in that marvellously intricate machine, the human body. It would be going too far to say that we understand the treatment of all criminals• to -day, but. we do know how to restore some to normal and useful life. "For the present we must not fail to, recognize that there are many danger- ous and rapacious criminals who must be locked up for the safety of society, even though we know that they are the victims of diseases we are only now beginning to understand. But there are many others who. can ba cured and ought to be treated: Prison only makes them worse and makes them a. burden to the State, whereas they can be transformed into produc- tive units, into assets. And there will come a day when medicine will no, doubt relieve the dangerous .Hien whom we insist now cage in .our own defense." The man in the street naturally wants to know whether this is all pro-, mise or whether, in his terminology, there's something to it. Has it been tested and proved? It has, and the stories of some of these eases are genuine romances. A young New Yorker of the Sensi- tive type was called to armsin the late war, but never actually went un- der fire. Nevertheless he had been subjected to long suspense and an- xiety, which were heightened 10 11 ef- feet by the fact that lie was the only child of a poor widowed mother, totals By Edward H. Smith. ly dependent on him. He came back worried and harried, and was given a position in a Wall Street broker's of- fice. The strain continued, for the pay was small, the mother in bad health. The element of worry was never ab- sent from the boy's mind. A hardier type would not have been affected. But this boy was fine, of spotless re- putation, devoted to his mother, and too intense. • It happened that an older employee of the same brokerage house made a chum of this: young man and soon tempted him. He had a tip that a cer- tain stock would go skyrocketing and make big profits. All the boy needed to do was to take a little of his firm's money and plunge. He could replace it in a few days and be prosperous. The boy was horrified -at the sugges- tion ugges-tion. and shunned his tormenter. The intellectual centers of his brain kept advising him against a false step, but the emotional side kept whipping him on. And the emotions won, for the boy was already weakened by strain and worry. He took a small amount of money, gambled in the stock; and lost. He grew thin and haggard. A vir- tuous. concept leaped into his mind. He rushed off in, an emotional storm and confessed to his employers. They recognized that the young pian was anything but a criminal and made an arrangement to let him pay back the • The young. clerk was delighted, but it was not long before his increased poverty began to cramp him worse than ever. He began to brood anew, wondering what he could do to dis- charge the debtand increase his in- colne. He saw* accounts of successful holdups in the newspapers. The idea struck hint that he might get the !Honey for his needs by some such crime. One'moreing, after a sleepless night, the boy put a gun into his pocket and started out aimlessly, with the rather loose' idea in his mind that opportunity nii$ht come his way. Re passed a ilia chino 'shop and picked up 'a piece of pipe, again withofit knowing what he Intended doing with .it. Ile had. trot eaten the night before and had had no breakfast that morning. He paused before a jeweler's window. He stood hesitantly in the doorway, with a re- solve half formed. Then the telephone bell rang, and the jeweler walked to the rear of the store to answer. The young man slipped into the shop and knocked him down with the pipe. As he saw the man fall, all control left the boy, He made no attempt either to rob the store or to flee, and be was' arrested. Now, It is perfectly easy for the cynical to say that the boy simply committed a premeditated assault, but lost his nerve at the sight of a falling man. But how explain such premeri- tation in a boy of timid, sensitive character? Dr. Schlepp found that the chemical balance of the boy's blood was badly disturbed, that there was too much thyroid hormone (a hor- mone is a stimulating substance form- ed, in one organ and carried to an- other), and that lie was overworried and undernourished. Treatment re- stored him to normal health, and he has been efficient and trustworthy for several years. There's a murderer now serving a life sentence in Sing Sing, a young dew of the modern type. He had fall- en in love with a young .orthodox Jewess, Both were well educated, well reared, and exceptional intellectually. The girl's orthodox father forbade the attentions of the young man, as he had fallen away from the strict faith, and was considered a goy. Immediately there was a change in the young man. He began to worry and brood. He lost his job for inatten- tion. He wandered aimlessly about the streets trying to find another, but lacking the resolution to enter offices. Finally there Was a secret reconcilia- tion;, and the boy at once :grew better, but the young woman's fathei discov- ered a tryst of the lovers and demand- ed of his daughter that she renounce her lover forever, The girl yielded, The young man tried to give her Zip and forget, but he was already emo- tionally disturbed, and the task de- manded a will he wal no longer able to command. Stronger -Than Love. Finally he resolved on suicide', went to New Jersey, bought a revolver, and went home to and his life. But desire to see the .girl and bid her farewell overcame him. He saw her coming down the street, ran out, pleaded in an irrational manner, smiled happily when she seemed. to humor him, bought her a drink in a soda shop, and started to walk with her again. She was nervous lest she be seen on the street with him and the fact be report- ed to her father, so she proposed that they enter the park. A strange rage seized him. He whipped out the. re- volver and emptied it into the girl's body. Then he turned it on himself, but it was empty, He had to be drag- ged away from his beloved victim and to his cell. Medical testimony and influential legal aid saved the man'from the elec- trio chair, but the law refused to re- cognize the case even as insanity and sent the red-handed lover to prison for life. He is still In ,Sing Sing, a quiet, helpful, broken man who teach- es the other prisoners in their pitiful school and says some sort of prayer at night to a photograph of the girl. Examination showed, of course, a highly advanced state of emotional stability and gland derangement, which can be treated as surely and de- finitely as malaria or dyspepsia. The great truth seems 10 be that there are countless human beings who are i11 adapted to their environment and ;the stresses andstruggles of life. They need both medication of the glands and some sort of social cure and guidance. Nothing of the sort is provided for thelia now, aiid they be- come criminals. Those people form the one-third of our great crime-com- nutting class which can be,cured with. such medical weapons as are already known and tested. Dr. Schlepp alone has made fifteen thousand expert - silents with such types, and ether spa- C allets have been malting many thou- sands more. One of these days our le islatore g are going to build larger hospitc Ys and smaller prisoner--t"aMfirs.