ACCIDENT OR DISEASE.
The automobile and the general development of industrial life have thrown civilized humanity into a new and strange environment which is leaving scars upon each succeeding generation as though it were an awkward boy in athletic sports, Dr. Andy Hall, State Health Director of Illinois, tells us. Dr. Hall has investigated records of accidents suffered by university students and others in his territory, and, as a result, concludes that while the greatest menaces to the health of young people at the turn of the century came from communicable diseases, now they come from new hazards created by man's own inventions. Only one-half of each generation, according to Dr. Hall, manage to escape injury at the present rate of accidents in the United States, and despite-vigorous safety -campaigns, there -is no evidence of a decline in the rate. About a third of the accidents are due to automobile mishaps. The others arise in the home, on the playgrounds and in the shops and factories. Certainly the high accident rate occasions growing concern in the United States, particularly in the industrial centres. It is a subject of constant discussion by business men, health authorities and welfare organizations. Recently an important university instituted courses of instruction in various methods of accident prevention, a demand having come from private employers and public bodies for the services of experts qualified to deal with the problem.
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