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One Little Railroad Wreck. Does It Tlake You Think ? We Hope So. There is nothing new in this. * It is the usual story of human lives sacrificed to human enterprise and the right of the dollar. This time the wreck is on the Bal timore and Ohio Railroad. More than fifty are dead—“mainly women and children, which made it hard to identify them, as they had no busi ness cards in their pockets.” The dead were very thoroughly ground up. It was difficult to get various arms and legs and heads and bodies sorted out so as to form a complete corpse for the satisfaction of the bereaved and irritated rela tives. f V Readers, do you know why these women and children and men are dead, ground to pieces? It is because this country—that is to say, the money that rules it—puts profit above human life, dividends above human beings. You are perhaps tired of reading our comments on railroad murders. We do not blame you—we are a lit tle tired of writing them. But we shall write these comments today and many days, and perhaps many years hereafter. It took a great deal of writing and talking to wipe out slavery, the ’ ght of one man to own another"., life. It will take a great deal of writing and talking to wipe out that peculiar property right which gives the man the right to take another’s life. We shan’t worry you with fifteen arguments in connection with this shameful murder of women and chil dren by a railroad corporation. We call your attention to only two. Here is the first one: A light engine and a light train of empty cars ran into a passenger train filled with human beings. They were in the railroad’s estimation cheap human beings, not the very prosperous kind, and they were rid ing in the ordinary “day coaches.” Day coaches, you know, are match boxes that smash like pasteboard when anything hits them. If those had been well-built cars, cars as well built as the ordinary Pullmans, there would have been lit tle and probably no loss of life. There would have been a shaking up. But well-built cars would not crush like eggshells. The dispatch tells us that the en gine which ran into the train went through the flimsy cars, smashing them like paper, without damaging the engine, injuring the cowcatcher, or the engineer or fireman. Do you know why the cars in which those people were killed were like matchboxes? It is because the difference be tween the cost of a good car and the cost of a cheap car goes into the pockets of the men that own the railroads. That difference helps to pay dividends on the millions of watered stock that represent and create the fortunes of the hundred time millionaires. Os course, with Government own ership we should have some stealing, although the people would soon be gin to vote wisely and the railroads would soon be well managed. But under Government ownership no on© would be interested in build ing cheap, flimsy passenger cars. On the contrary, the profit of the graft ers would come from the cost of building the cars, and it would be to their interest to build the cars strong and expensive. The people would be robbed of some money, but their lives would be spared. Now they are robbed of their money and of their lives at the same time. Government ownership would be some improvement, wouldn’t it? One other point: The engineer of the train that ran into the people and killed them says that when his train entered the block at North Tacoma the track was clear. The operator declares that the block was not clear, that “he gave the train the red light.” What does that mean? It means that it is cheaper for this privately o wped railroad to kill women and children than to put in a block sys tem making it absolutely impossible for one train to run into another. Switzerland, dear readers, is a cheap little country. Mountains, glaciers, rocks, hotels, tourists, and honesty are about all it possesses. Switzerland is, speaking from the Rockefeller point of view, a wretched little place. But in Switzerland the government —that is to say, the people—owns the railroads and operates them. In Switzerland they not only have the block signal, but the latest, most perfect automatic system. By this arrangement, when the Baltimore & Ohio engine started to run into the block containing the wretched pas sengers murdered on Sunday, the engine would have stopped of its own accord. The Swiss people run their rail roads. And, naturally, they put their own lives above dividends. They arrange their roads so that when an engine tries to run into a seation of track containing another train the air brakes on that engine are set automatically, and even if the engineer were sound asleep or dead at his throttle the engine would stop of its own accord, the brakes would be set automatically and stop the whole train. You can see that such a system would have prevented the killing of those poor women and children on the Baltimore and Ohio day before But such a system costs money. It is cheaper to grind up a few women and children once in a while yesterday. than to equip thousands of trains and tens of thousands of cars with automatic safety devices. The pri vately owned railroads hire the best lawyers and pay them by the year to fight every claim. Then why spend more money to make the people’s lives safe, when your legal system enables you to kill them safely? Readers, private ownership of public necessities means discomfort every day. Private ownership of public neces sities means robbery of the public every day. It means bribery of your officials as long as they are permitted THE WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN. IOUR LINE Mantels, Tile and Grates Tarred and Felt Roofing Venetian Blinds Building Papers Sliding Blinds Asbestos Building Papers Folding Blinds Builders’ Hardware Door and Window Screens Hardwood Flooring Hot air Furnaces Iron Fencing Weather Strip Gin Saw Fillers Acetylene Gas Plants Paints, Oil, Etc. Lime, Cement, Etc. Fire Clay Pipe Patent Wall Plaster Window Jacks Corrugated Iron Ropfing • Store Ladders V Crimp Iron Roofing Dumb Waiters I THE BUILDERS SUPPLY CO. Ellis Street, 2d Door Above Mclntosh, Augusta, Ga. DR. W. M. PITTS ANTISEPTIC INVIGORATOR The Greatest Family Medicine Dr. W. M. Pitts, who, as the originator of Pitts’ Carminative, has been a benefactor to tired mothers and suffering babes, after a suc cessful practice of Fifty Years, now offers to the public his Greatest Combination of Medicines in PITTS’ ANTISEPTIC INVIGORATOR. It is a great scientific medicine. Although new to the people, it is a great com bination of health-giving medicines, and cures when all else fails. It puri fies the blood, stimulates the action of the liver, bowels, and kidneys, there by"removing poisonous bacteria (or germ) matter from the whole system, to aid nature in her work of restoring perfect health. It tones up the stomach and gives appetite. It is unfailing in the cure of all stomach, bowel, and kidney troubles. The nervous system is restored to its normal condition, and many of the most serious ailments—such as sleeplessness, heart trouble and the like—yield to the healing virtues of the Invigorator. In fact, it acts on every organ of the body, thereby curing nearly all the different diseases of this age. Every drop of blood is affected and puri fied by its use. The blood is the life, therefore if you get the blood pure, all parts of the entire system will be brought under its powerful heal ing influences. Antiseptic Invigorator is rightly named, and it is one of the greatest germ killers and invigorating tonics now on the market, For sale and GUARANTEED By all Druggists. Price 50c and SI.OO per bottle. If your Druggist don’t keep it and will not get it for you we will send it, express prepaid, on receipt of price. Pitts’Antiseptic Invigorator Co. Thomson, Georgia. I Change of Name Having purchased the interest of the Estate of SA MITEL TANNAHILL and disposed of the stock of general hard ware to the Augusta Hardware Co., I will resume my old business of CARRIAGES, HARNESS, SADDLERY, CAR RIAGE and WAGON MATERIAL, LEATHER, SHOE FINDINGS, GUM BELTING, GANDY AND LEATHER - BELTING. THE LARGEST STOCK of DOUBLE and SINGLE LEATHER BELTING in the city. LACING, RIVETS, a e^c - AGENTS for STUDEBAKER WAGONS and MOYER | BUGGIES; the best in the world, and moderate in price. The liberal patronage extended the old firm will be appre- 1 ciated by the undersigned. I Joseph HL Day . I 729 BROAD STREET. AUGUSTA, GA. 15