The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, May 09, 1968, Image 2
I»A(;p: 2 -The NcwlKTry Sun, Newberry, S. Thursday, May 0, 1968
un
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COMMENT
on
Men & Things
By J. K. BREEDIN
If our newspapers report cor
rectly that the General Assem
bly of our State has adopted,
even tentatively, a budget of
M-ven hundred million dollar-
not only should the Governor
veto it
in
part, as
the law
Hi
lows, 1
'lit 1
I think
he could
re-
pudiat<
■ tin
■ whole
budget if
it
haves
us
without
a budget
Such
a
midget
is a ne
'll-
t rosily
and
it and
all its spun-
-or- s
hoi Ri
i lie re
pudiated
by
the pc
qke
of the
State.
Wo •
dioul
d be qll
ito ready
to
i -ekeve
any
thing m
this era
of
L: - id''
at .
I ohnsoti,
but novs
and then
ome man, more
oi
i * ■ s sa
Lie ■ ;
and soIh
i 1 r and
in
t Dill'll
with
real it v,
comes (.:
nit
vv.th a sim>thm that makes
; ■ wonder what and win we
have brains.
I think we may be spiritually
related except that 1 cannot
oncei ve and spiritual quality
U all seems grossly physical
anil of close relationship to
old Satan himself.
nuite apart from the com
mon worries, or, perhaps, a
part of tin common Woi ry, i
the widespread feelmp: of in
s’- eu ri t y that prevails.
(>ur p;o\'ern ment seoms to he
i 11p,aped in many wasteful pro-
e i am. ami here and t here one
feel - t hat sonu i hilly n w ron'c,
somewhat like a man !, v n,n
,. hoim with weak foundation.
We ha \ e left the old hail and
a i e st i a ny e. . in the iie\\ 11 a. Is.
,\o w, whether a in y, ro,u p i
end ti r i ny y real mental tram
is open to debate. \\ o M V 1
very common, and wn>t r\ :.- a
y reat st rain on t lie m md and
-n the bod\ .
So far as imi pf u!. im nt a I
t ra , ti i. i "tu t i tied i' i ■ not
n ec e.- - a i i! V a y. i • • a t d e i,,, a a 1111 y
s11 ain. H11.w ; iain ale n ■ t
! 11 i e a i 11 v w o i fit 11
What about the trains? I
is member when severttl trains
came thru South Carolina. We
had a train from Charleston
to Cincinnati; hy Columbia.
And we had a train from
Hraneh vi lie to Auyusta. And
we had a Coast Line train
Imm Charleston to Greenville.
It started as a Coast Line,
then became C t V W C as I
i - ra 11.
( Mie day a train of IMH ctir-
w efjt by ( harloston to Savan-
mih, A las and A hick' I he
iioo fly is. not imw; t Imuyb the
i o.i-\ Line runs biy trains
f i o; 11 \ew \'ork to 1'loiida, by
Charleston; part of .t breaks
at Lloretire and newa’s to Au-
eu-ta by Sumter, Oranyebury
To Silly t be (' Ar W (' at Roh-
oll .
Well, Imre's somethiny about
trains, thouyb 1 must not
i a e r i oo k the Seaboard at Col
umbia yoiny South; and the
Seaboard at Clinton, yoiny to
Atlanta.
Well, now:
"In I Miiireitli, I ml. last Jan
uary, a broken rail threw a
freiyht train off its tracks and
onto another freiyht train.
Tank cars full of ya.s and
chemicals exploded, a railside
factory was destroyed, and
scores of homes were evacuat-
ed when chlorine yas filled the
tracks, for example, were .99
per million train-miles in 1961
and 2.31 in 1966, an increase of
133 percent.
It’s true' that train-miles are
a measure of how far trains
travel and not of how many
freiyht cars they contain. Thus
a 50-car train and a 25-car
train contribute the same am
ount of train mileaye, thouyh
one carries twice as much
freiyht as the other.
Rut Federal officials say that
the me of the' lonyer trains is
part of the problem—the lony
er trains impose wear on the
tracks m proportion to the
amount of maintenance.
Mr. < )’< onnell, whose com
mented on rail safety were con
tained m a letter he sent to
the Federal Railroad Admmis
(ration, .-aid that the basic re-
pctisibility for improvmy rad
a f. t v -mould i ost with rail-
air.
It was an accident that ty
pified, both in its cause and
its potentially catastrophic con
sequences, the nation’s increas
ingly poor record for railway
safety.
There were 7,989 train acci
dents last year, an increase of
71 per cent over 1961. Poor
track conditions, largely the
result of poor maintenance, is
a growing cause. Accidents
caused by track defects in
creased 140 per cent from 1961
to 1966.
However, trains are getting
faster, heavier, and lonyer, all
of which puts greater pressure
on tracks. There are no Fed
eral controls on the length of
trains and a recent freiyht
train in an experiment in a
Southern State stretched al
most five miles across t h e
countryside.
With more and more gasoline
and deadly chemicals being
shipped by rail, the probabili
ties for a tragically lethal re
lease of materials on populated
areas are greatly increased.
At Waterford, Ala. last Nov-
i-mber. a broken rail caused
the derailment of 49 ears, in
cluding several containing yas
and chemicals. Leaking chlor
ine forced 2(HIU persons to flee
their homes, fortunately in
time to avoid exposure.
Last May in Switzer, S. L..
a broken rail caused a pile-up
.d' 20 freight cars, including a
) : ank car of dangerous chemi
cals and a boxcar full of "1 X 1 •
IVr-ons for two miles around
the derailment had to evac-
uat a
The Federal Railroad Admin-
si ration has limited authority
to impose more stringent safe-
tv standards. It investigates ac
cidents and inspects brakes and
(ouplers on rolling stock and
tests signals and other safety
devices. Rut it has no jurisdic
tion over tracks and right-of-
way structures.
Joseph J. O’Connell, Junior,
chairman of the National
Transportation Safety Board,
last week urged the Federal
Railroad Administration to be
more aggressive in investigat
ing and reporting on rail ac
cidents in light of the ‘dis
quieting picture.’ Such factors
as the quality of maintenance
and inspection performed by
the railroads, and the perform
ance of employees, should be
made a part of accident re
ports, he said. He said if rail
road management and labor
cannot reduce the accident sta
tistics, there should be legisla
tion giving the Federal Gov
ernment more power over rail-
safety standards.
The railroads question some
of the statistics but don’t deny
(hat a problem exist.-. Thomas
M. Goodfellow, president of
, he Association of American
Railroads, -ays the statistics
i mnpiled by the National Trans
portation Safety Hoard fail to
take into account the increased
\ oi:ime of business that rail-
1 •.•ad • haw been handling. Rut
he adds: 'We’re not satisfied
with our present safety record.'
In preparing statistics, the
-afety board computed the
derailments per million train-
miles to support its view that
accidents are increasing and
poor tracks are a major cause.
Derailments caused by poor
load management and labor.
Mr. Goodtellow agrees. We
arc confident that we’ll have
labor's full support in reversing
this t
It'll!
i.
he said
But
la!
ir
1 iclieve
s that the
I'h del ;
il (
11
1 Vt
■rnment
s h o u 1 d
t a k i i
■ha i
12
t'
of eilfi
living
rail
•afo!y
. D
t)
na
Id S. 1
Fait t ie
. ex-
• ■rat v.
SI
: ‘ f
1 ! t
Mary o|
the
Rail-
way I
.a 1 't
»r
1
exec ativ
es As
sociu-
lion.
HI id
t il
e unfa\
•oiaide
' -ta-
tidies
Y
ti
l\ t
new
tho e
ry: ng
i a Idle
Mo
t'(
1
for a strong
rail-
r. ad--
afo’
\
law11 o asserted
that '
t he
i a
ilroad-
pi itch
pen-
1,0- o
n -
fo
•y. and
t heir
em-
ployr •
s ail
d
the p
uhlie
pays
the pi
nw
in
deaths
and
injur
it.',' .
Ihli
iidl
th
man
agenm
lit -la-
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“WHATSOEVER
THINGS”
By DONALD E. WILDMON
Sometimes we run across a
story that makes us pause a
while and to think deeper than
usual. I ran across such a story
the other day. Made me stop
and think for a while. Made
me regain some of the hope I
had lost in mankind. Helped me
to keep from giving up on
some who seem hopeless.
One day an Archbishop of
Paris stood in the pulpit of
the world famous Notre Dame
cathedral. He went to preach
the sermon and he began by
telling a story. Thirty years
ago there were three young
tourists who came to this cath
edral, he said. They were cyn
ical, uncouth, vulgar men who
thought all religion was simply
a put-on, a show, a racket.
They got to jesting with each
other and two of them dared
the third to go into the Con
fession Box and make up a
confession and tell it to the
priest as though it was the
truth. They dared him to do it,
bet him he didn’t have the
nerve. But he did it, to win the
bet he did it.
He went into the Confession
Box, made up the lie and told
it to the old priest. The priest,
with wisdom gained through
the years, know that what the
boy was saying was a lie. He
listened to the boy. saw thru
bis arrogance, and then spoke
to the hoy. “Very well, my
boy. Every confession requires
bor sparring is a new effort to
establish strong Federal regu
lation over maintenance a n d
inspection of tracks and all
other railway equipment.
Legislation to do this is
now being drawn up by the
Department of Transportation.
The rail industry is strongly
opposed to it. Labor, which has
sponsored several successful
bills to impose Federal control
in the past, is just as strongly
for it. The legislation may be
ready for submission in this
session of Congress.”
a penance, and this will be
yours. Go into the chapel,
stand before the Crucifix, look
into the face of the crucified
Christ and say, ‘All this you
did for me, and I don’t give a
uamn.’ ”
The boy left the Confession
Box, returned to his friends,
and claimed the bet. But before
his friends would agree they
said he had to go through with
the penance and do as the
priest told him. He had to go
into the chapel and look into
the face of the Crucified and
speak those very words.
The young man went into
the chapel, looked into the face
of that Crucified Carpenter,
and began to speak. “All of this
you did for me, and I . . . ”
He couldn’t say it. He never
said it. He lost the bet. He
got up and walked away.
We may or may not like
that story, but there are count
less thousands who are living
it this very day. They look in
to the face of that Galilean as
He hangs on His Cross and
they utter those burning words
— “All this you did for me,
and I don’t give a damn.”
Most of us will fight back
when the finger is pointed to
us. Yet we dare not give too
much to the Church, or spend
any of our time in worthwhile
projects, or help those less
fortunate. We like to criticize
the Church and those who are
trying. We like to try to stop
the Spirit of the Galilian from
being loose in the world. Sil
ently we speak the words,
“All of this you did for me,
and I don’t give a damn.”
The Archbishop who told the
story leaned over the pulpit
and finished it. “That young
man,” he said, “was this man
who stands before you today
to preach.”
The story is true, bo+h the
part about the Archbishop and
about the words we speak to
the Crucified Carpenter.
PREDICTION
Tornadoes wil! occur in every state of the
Union almost every month of the year. This
has always been the history of windstorms.
If you have never carried protection against
this type of loss, don't push your luck. This
might be the year when adequate insurance
may well be your best friend.
“YOUR PRIVATE BANKERS”
I DS Main Street Phone 276-1 122