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Show 600,000 4-H'ers Say "Let's Help Correct Safety Hazards" w... ,,. ,m, ft - ft M;-',; Chicago (Special) The largest larg-est volunteer army ever organized organ-ized for a peaceful mission ia now "invading" farms and rural communities com-munities throughout the Nation. It consists of more than 600,000 4-H Club boys and girls whose objective is to show rural folk how to prevent accidents and fires which result in 14,000 deaths and IV million injuries among farm people, as well as destruction destruc-tion of millions of dollars' worth of buildings and equipment annually. an-nually. Falls account for 36 percent of all fatal accidents in farm homes and 19 percent outside. More than BO percent of all fatal accidents ac-cidents in working with farm machinery ma-chinery involve tractors, and overturning accounts for more than half of the tractor accident fatalities. Safety experts give considerable consider-able credit to the contributions made by 4-H'ers for the reduction reduc-tion of one-fifth in the number of fatal accidents to farm people peo-ple in 1951 the last year for which estimates are available from the estimated annual rate in 1941, the first year of the National Na-tional Farm Safety Week, which will be observed this year July 19-25. Illustrative of the 4-H'ers do "approach" to the accident problem, prob-lem, a Tennessee club girl reported re-ported that she picked up broken glass, rusty nails protruding from boards, and other sharp articles in the farm lot; helped her father fa-ther and brother become safety conscious in working with farm machinery; had a ladder with two broken rungs repaired; per- Y --71 I' wrs -1 I - .J I V " J f - -i r i mi l 1 nil it " ' ' suaded her mother to use a step-ladder step-ladder in reaching high places in the house, and to always wipe up grease or water immediately if it is spilled on the floor. A Texas 4-H boy reports that their farm tractor often was filled with gasoline to overflowing when the engine was warm. He called this unsafe practice to the attention of his father and brother broth-er and now the tractor is filled correctly. His small brothers frequently fre-quently asked to ride on the tractor, trac-tor, but this safety enthusiast taught them to understand how hazardous it was to hitchhike a ride on a tractor. Similar reports of the 4-H'ers participating in the National 4-H Safety program are legion. Instead In-stead of using "don't" admonitions, admoni-tions, expressions such as "Let's Correct This Hazard" prevail. Outstanding 4-H records of achievement in safety are rewarded re-warded with awards provided by General Motors for the ninth consecutive con-secutive year. They include sterling sterl-ing silver medals for the blue award group in each qualifying county, and an all-expense trip to the National 4-H Club Congress in Chicago next November for the state winner. Six state winners win-ners will be chosen to receive a national award, which is a $'!()() college scholarship. A handsome plaque, appropriately embossed, will be awarded to the county reporting re-porting the most outstanding county-wide 4-H safety program. The National 4-H Safety program pro-gram is conducted under the direction di-rection of the Cooperative Vision Vi-sion Service. |