238 GENERAL SCIENCE 



Perhaps the greatest obstacle to any full measure of 

 success in these efforts is the culpable negligence and indif- 

 ference of workers themselves, and a lack of the forethought 

 that makes accidents unlikely. The " safety first" crusade 

 in the industrial world has sought to impress upon employees 

 having to do with travel, transportation, and industrial 

 life generally, the demand that human life under no circum- 

 stances shall be put in peril. No risks are to be counte- 

 nanced under any conditions, and the efficiency of any 

 employee depends upon whether he is trustworthy as well 

 as capable. 



A man who drinks, whose brain is not clear and whose 

 judgment is warped, whose nerves are unsteady and senses 

 dulled, is not wanted anywhere in the trades, shops, factories, 

 railway or steamship service, in business houses or the pro- 

 fessions, nor in any place where property and life are in any 

 measure dependent upon his discharge of duties. The drink- 

 ing man, however brilliant in his attainments, is not con- 

 sidered reliable, and the financial loss in making good his 

 mistakes sooner or later costs him his position. Employers 

 of labor cannot afford the risk involved where any man wil- 

 fully imperils his own life or that of others in any way. 



Railway corporations have long insisted upon the highest 

 degree of efficiency in locomotive engineers. Prepared for 

 service by long training, steady of nerve and of good judg- 

 ment, unwilling to take risks and mindful of the responsi- 

 bilities resting upon them, these men as a class have won and 

 have retained the confidence of the traveling public. Men 

 in charge of expensive steam and electric plants are of 

 necessity competent men, and their license is supposed to be 

 evidence of their fitness to discharge the responsibilities of 

 their positions. Incompetency manifests itself sooner or 

 later, and causes loss of license to operate power machinery. 



One of the features of the introduction and general use of 



