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K.utaL .^ietu iomc5 



SEAGRAVES. Safety Director 



Farm deaths lead tlie country's occupa- 

 tional accident toll I Alonq with our 

 cherished utterance that "the farm is the 

 — -—healthiest place in the world" we must 

 accept the above statement. Occupation 

 for occupation, more farmers arc killed 

 each year following their business th.m 

 aTe accotmted for by fatal injuries in anv 

 other line of endeavor. 



This fact, along with the knowledge 

 that safety is a highly organized an. I 

 publicized profession, makes it all the 

 more remarkable that last October 15 in 

 Kansas City was held the first meeting 

 of national scope to ever discuss farm 

 accident prevention. Under the auspices 

 of -the National Safety Council, the fol- 

 lowing program was presented: 



Chairman, Dr. David J. Price, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture: 



WHAT ARI: THI- OUTSTANDING 

 CAUSES OF AGRICULTURAL ACCI- 

 DENTS.' .... J. C. Mohler, Secretary, 

 Kansas State Board of Agriculture, To- 

 peka, Kansas. 



FARM MACHINERY' ACCIDENIS 

 AND THEIR PREVENTION ... A. 

 P. Yerkes, International Harvester Com- 

 pany, Chicago, and President Society of 

 Agricultural Enyineers. 



FARM FIRES AND THEIR PRE 

 VENTION. . . . W. D. James. President, 

 James Manufacturing Company, Fort At- 

 kinson, Wisconsin. 



A PROGRAM FOR FARM SAFETY'. 

 . . . C. M. Seagraves. 



Because of the important part played 

 by farm machinery in farm mishaps, it 

 was greatly regretted that Mr. Yerkes 

 who was to discuss "Farnn Machinery 

 Acciilents and their Prevention," was not 

 present. 



The detailed attention given to all 

 other fields of accident-prevention work 

 naturally leads to some little speculation 

 as to why farming, the oldest, largest, 

 most important, .ind the scene of the 

 most work fatalities of any of the nation's 

 industries, is at the same time the most 

 neglected, llie answer is painfully obvi- 

 ous. Farmers themselves, farm organiza- 



TSi^ndgroups with .igricultural inter- 

 ests have concerned themselves almost en- 

 tirely with the problem of betterint; tlie 

 economic position of the curalist. S.'.fety 

 promotion, like any other ende.ivor. takes 

 money. Available .funds have been used 

 in channels far removed from safety edu- 

 cation. ^X'hether this policy is one of 

 "wisdom can be questioned. 



For instance, due to farm accidents, in 

 the State of Kansas in one vcar (l')ii) 

 107 persons were permanently disabled. 

 \\Z were killed, and 'injured workers 

 numbered 3,016! Now for our econom- 

 ics: the 3,016 injured workers lost 132,- 

 93 I days time or the equivalent of 360 

 years of lost work on Kansas farms, be- 

 sides the 2 19 persons who were fore\er 

 removed from the field of activity. In- 

 cidentally, most of these casualties were 

 men in the prime of their productive 

 years. When 'next s]x-aking of farm 

 taxes, let's mull over this one a bit! 



Bringing the situation a little closer 

 home, our Illinois farm accident survey 

 for 1936 shows 1 '56 accidental farm 

 deaths. And most of them could have 

 been prevented. Not only prevented, but 

 e.i\ily prevented. If, as has often been 

 said, man power is our princij^al asset a 

 more determined effort to conserve that 

 man power would seem to be justified. 



The wide-spread and firmly rooted at- 

 titude that rural accidents, as different 

 from all otlicr varieties, cannot be cur- 

 tailed, springs more from the purely 

 human attribute to resist change or new. 

 ideas than it does from any knowledge 

 as to the causative factors entering into 

 the problem. It's more than a coincidence 

 that every industry resisted in the same 

 way the safety programs which sub- 



TRACTORS WITH SHALLOW, UNCOM- 

 fortable seats, open spokes, unprotected 

 whe«ls are fruitful sources of farm acci- 

 dents. 



secjuently have become one of their 

 proudest achievements. 



It s to be hoped that the wide interest 

 aroused by the Kansas City meeting will 

 be fcuitfjl of a healthier and more in- 

 cjuisitive attitude on the subject of rural 

 safety. 



The total annual loss due to auto- 

 mobile accidents is greater than the 

 total value of new cars sold in a year. 



S18 A HUNDRED? NOT FOR THIS ONE 

 An ill-timed nap quickly converted this livestock carrier into a junk pile at the 

 same time killing and crippling many of the steers enroute to market. Scene on Rt. 66 

 near Chicago. 



DECEMBER, 1937 



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