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Show SAFETY FIRST. All who have the opportunity should not fail to visit tho "safety first" special spe-cial train in the yards at the Harriman station. It contains one of the most remarkable re-markable and instructive exhibits ever placed on wheels. A trnin of sixteen or seventeen cars is crowded with exhibits ex-hibits of government activities by land and sea and under land and sea. At first glance some of these activities activi-ties seem to bo but remotely connected with the theory of "safety first," but all of them directly impress upon tho public mind the necessity and the ways and means of preserving lifo and limb. Among the exhibits are models of warships, war-ships, big guns, rifles, Automatic pistols. pis-tols. Some pacifists who have visited the train have criticised the government govern-ment for sending out what appears to bo merely a military and naval display of a particularly alluring naturo, but the main iuca of the exhibit is to convey con-vey tho idea of preparedness and protection. pro-tection. It might bo romarked in answer an-swer to tho pacifists that our revolu- tionary war was a ''safety first" demonstration. dem-onstration. By it wo obtained our nationality na-tionality and' were taught those qualities quali-ties of honor, courage and doteriniua-i doteriniua-i tion which have mado tho United States tho most desirable country in the world for those who seek safety from oppression, oppres-sion, from suffering and even from death. The American people are the most practical and at the samo time the most idealistic people in the world. The "safety first" crusades are proofs of au intense idealism. Necessarily tho most highly developed industrial nation na-tion in the world, if it have a duo regard re-gard for human lifo, must devise ways of safeguarding lifo and limb amid the inevitable perils of industrialism. All the known devices for life-saviug are to bo found on this train. Even reclamation'- and irrigation are made to servo their purpose in teaching lessons les-sons of preservation and conservation. The champion life-saver on the train is not a human being, but a canary bird. In a cage containing about a dozen canary birds there is one that hns helped to save eighty-seven human lives. The explanation is simple. A canary bird is used as a detector of deadly gases. He will topple over under the influence of gas in a minute or less, while a human being might endure the deadly fumes as long as twenty-five minutes. A caHary bird in a mine working is almost al-most an instantaneous detector of gas. The particular life-saviug bird to which we havo alluded has been in fifty-six mino disasters and has been asphyxiated seventeen times. It is easy to revive tho birds and they suffer no ill effects. ef-fects. This one feature among many thousands thou-sands is cited to show how little the public is acquainted with the means of safeguarding human life and health. And yet most of these methods have been brought to a stage of development that promises much for the human race as soon as they are in general use. Merely to see these devices and methods will so familiarise tho average mind with the idea of "safety first" and tho proveutive measures that can be adopted adopt-ed iu emergencies that all who can owe it to themselves ami their fellow beings be-ings to visit the extraordinary exhibit. |