—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 21, 1962
4
From Where We Stand...
The Real Cause of Farm Accidents
The news story reads, ‘ The tractor
overturned, crushing the diiver"
Rarely is there a mention of the
leal cause of the accident “He was
slightly intoxicated b\ the inhalation of
gasoline fumes ’
Yet all too often the facts of a
farm accident center around what is
commonly known as a “naptha jag”,
the symptoms of which closely resemble
alcoholic intoxication And enough
fumes from gasoline can be inhaled by
a farmer in the act of filling the tank of
his tractor.
The operator of a tractor may not
feel inebriated when he takes the tractor
out into the field A stone lies in the path
of the tractor. Ordinarily he would auto
matically react and stop the tractor or
avoid hitting the stone, but with his
coordination and reflexes below nor
mal, he hits the obstacle and the trac
tor overturns. Another tragedy is re
ported, but no mention is made of the
real cause.
The farm is an exceptionally ha
zardous place with regards to chemical
poisoning This is especially true since
exposure to chemicals is coupled with
use of highly complex machinery and
the absence of safety engineers to keep
constant watch on machinery or pro
cedures
Symptoms of chemical poisoning
may include acute excitation of the
central nervous system followed by de
pression and can occur following expo
sure to several of the chemicals used in
the manufacture of insecticides and
other pesticides, solvents, cleaners, paint
removers and petroleum products. Other
symptoms such as anxiety, jitters, tre
mors, disturbed behavior, exhaustion,
lethargy, weakness, and sleepiness, also
associated with chemical inhalation, can
increase a person’s accident liability.
The exposure to toxic chemicals
does not necessarily have to be severe,
nor the symptoms disabling On the con
trary, a symptom produced by a chemi
cal may be so mild that it is unrecogniz
ed for what it is and may often prove
all the more insidious and harmful be
cause the victim is unaware of the
danger
If you are working around any kind
of machinery, we urge you to be on con
stant lookout for symptoms, no matter
how slight, and ask yourself if there
has been an exposure to a poisonous
chemical through inhalation or eating
of food that might have come into con
tact with a poisonous material.
If there has been any such exposure,
■w e respectfully suggest that all hazard
ous work be stopped until the symptoms
have been checked or are gone
Otherwise there may be another
farm casualty added to the statistics
that make up the appallingly high mor
bidity and fatality rates due to farm
accidents
At least that’s how it looks from
where we stand
★ ★ ★
Familiarity Breeds Contempt
If we alter the phrase “familiarity
breeds contempt" to familiarity breeds
carelessness, we have the basis for a
iii w
mm
large percentage of our farm accidents
We see it on the highway, at work,
at play, and even at home According
to the National Safety Council, drivers
in 65 per cent of all fatal traffic accidents
in 1960 were less than 25 miles from
home Mechanical failure was a factor in
only 5 per cent of Ohio tractor fatali
ties in the last three years About 400
persons drown on farm property each
year, and falls remain the greatest
killer in the farm home.
It is reasonable to assume that
most of the persons involved were fami
liar with their surroundings perhaps
too familiar
In driving the same automobile or
tractor over the same roads countless
times, we tend to become overly confi
dent of our ability to handle any situa
tion. We let down protective defenses,
become less alert, and begin to take
chances.
It isn’t necessary to experience an.
injury to learn the necessity for cau
tion and alertness even in the most
routine tasks It’s the surest and most
painful way, but who can be certain
there will be a second chance 9
Let’s use the opportunity of Na
tional Farm Safety Week to take a criti
cal look at the way we do things The
extra margin of care will pay off.
★ ik ★ ★
Farm mothers who would scream
it they saw the baby of the family
standing on the edge of the kitchen
table stand calmly by while the five
year old brother climbs aboard a mov
ing, lurching, jerking hay wagon for a
ride to the field.
Farm fathers, who caution sons
and daughters to keep away from the
cages at the zoo, think nothing of send
ing a young child into a pen with a
fresh cow, potentially as dangerous as
the wild animals in the zoo.
Parents who would not think of
allowing their children to play in the
street will send children out to work in
a distant field with a tremendously dan
gerous piece of machinery behind a
powerful tractor
And we have seen parents shake
with fright when the baby chews on
a piece of stick he picked up in the
yard, but not look tv/ice when the five
year old brother plays in the wagon
shed where dozens of deadly poisons (or
the nearly empty cans which contained
the poisons) are within easy reach
Safety consciousness is something
we have to learn Young children must
be taught to “think safety,” and they
can not be taught safe farming by words
if they continually see unsafe practices
all around them
We believe farm children should
learn to enjoy farm life, we believe
farm children must learn to do the
work on a farm, we believe farm child
ren must learn to care for farm ani
mals and handle farm chemicals, but
we believe there is an age at which it is
dangerous for children to be given com
plete freedom or complete responsibility.
At least that’s how it looks from
where we stand.
Loncoster Farming
Lancaster County’s Own Farm
\\ eeKly
P O Box 1121
Lancaster, Penna.
P O Box 2Gb - Litit/, Pa.
onifcs-
22 10 Mam St
Litit/, Pa
Phone - Lancaster
JOXiness 4-2.0 17 or
1.11117 Ml C-2191
J tcK Owen, Editor
Robert G Campbell,
Advertising Director
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International Unl'orn
Sunday School Le ons
Biblo Material Jcrcmi ih 18 through
:9 20 12, 27 tluough 28, 87, 38 1 8
I)t\otional Heading Psalm 3J 8-12
Patriotism
Lesson for July 22, 1962
PATRIOTISM is called love of
one’s country, but it means
more than that. "Country” can
mean hills and valleys, rivers and
we' sing in our
hymn “My Coun
try, ’tis of Thee
. . But while
these physical
surroundings can
stir our hearts
(and even plain
and ugly land
scapes can seem
beautiful if they
spell Home), real
Dr. Foreman patriotism means
a love and loyalty to the people
who live in the land, our fellow
citizens.
Patriot in Jail
In our time the accusation is
sometimes brought against the
Christian ministry that it is un
patriotic, which in the present
situation usually means “com
munist ” This accusation is wildly
false, but it is not new. Men of
God—mst because they were true
men of God—have been called bad
names like tiaitor, more than
once A notable example is the
Biblical piophet Jeremiah. He
was easily the most unpopular
man in the country. Few believed'
him or believed m him From the
luhng class right down to the
masses, he was considered to he
a bad chaiacter. More than once
he was put m jail or under house
airest as a dangerous character.
Yet he was, as history acclaims
him, one of the great patriots of
the Jewish people.
How do we know he was a pa
triot if his contemporaries could
not see him in that light’ For one
thing, we now know, as his con
temporaries w'ould have known in
time, that he was right What he
said would come true, di4 come
true
Realism
Another reason why we can see
that he was a real patnot was
that he did not pretend that all
was well with his nation He was
brave and clear-sighted enough
Now Is The
f , ‘ Giaze pastille extia heai y and then
destioy old sod” is a veiy common recom
mendation m ieno\ ating an aiea to prepare
toi a new pastuie seeding However, due to
'the diy weather this summei the old pasture
lit, leadv to lenoiate at any time Disc or
(plow the aiea in oidei to kill all present
giowth and then apply lime and fertilizer
according to soil test Seed the new grass
mixuiie duung late August or eaily Septem
hei
To IMan For Kvteuduig Gruzins Season
Tempoi aiy pasture ciops may be seeded
SMITH during August and early September in order
to pionde livestock grazing into late fall;
we could base a veiy late fall with lush pasture conditions
that would le-heve the stored roughage conditions. Winter rye,
Redcoat or Dual wheat, domestic ryegrass, onfield bromegrass
may be seeded for late fall pastures.
M-VX M.
To Inspect livestock
i\ivaj On Pasture
Some cattlemen who rent
glazing land away from home
may find their animals not
setting adequate grass, from
di ougth-sti i< Ken pastures.
Many peach trees and other
stone-fruit trees are infested
to speak out against abuses in
chinch and state. He swung a
strong axe against the trees of
evil that overshadowed the land.
He talked very plainly about the
sins and crimes of men at the top.
He did not even pretend to believe
that his country could come out
victorious after any war they
chose to get into He did not agree
that God loved the children of
Israel better than he loved any
other nation, or that only m Israel
could servants of God be found.
He even publicly called Nebuchad
nezzar, an invading king, a ser
vant of God. About the future of
Ins country he had no illusions.
He saw that their only hope was
to yield to Nebuchadnezzar and
to become a part of their empire;
but this the Israelites could not
think of doing. Their recipe for
national security was military al
liance with Egypt, a suicidal
policy as Jeremiah tried to tell
them. So they accused Jeremiah
of being an enemy of his country.
But how much is a country helped
by people who can never see any
thing wrong in it? _ j
A True Patriot
In all the hullabaloo over Jere
miah, people m his city either did
not know, or would not notice*
some facts that marked the man
as a genuine patriot. For one
thing, he went to some trouble,
to buy land, in an area already
controlled by invading armies.
The prophet thus expressed in *
practical (and expensive) way hi*
conviction that (so to speak) there
would always be a Judah. Fur
thermore, though we know he bad
opportunities to do so, he never
went over or “defected” as w*
say, to the Babylonians. And at
the end, so as to stay with hi*
own people, he chose banish
ment, poverty and death rather
than live in comfort in Babylon.
In the one-sided war between hi*
country and Babylon, he could
see that Babylon was stronger by
far; but his own people were hi*
own, and he loved them.
Prof. Harold Berman one*
said: “If we really want to defeat
communism there is only one way
to do it . . . It is the one thing
that people who talk about fight
ing communism generally fail ta
mention. We must construct *
social order in which the goals of
justice, mercy apd morality tak*
precedence over economic secu
rity, political power and techno
logical progress.” Some would
call the writer of such lines mif
patriot; but what he says is M
the noble tiadition of Jeremiah
the prophet.
(Bused on outlines copyrighted bf
the Division of Christian Education*
National Council of ths Churches- of
Christ in the USA Released b|j
Community Press Service.)
Time . . .
BY MAX SMITH
To l{(-no\ ;ito Old Pastures
with peach tree borer. Con
trol on non-bearing trees re
quires one spray during mid
July and the second one about
the middle of August; use
either 2 pounds of 15% WP
Parathion or 1 pound of 50%
Thiodan WP per 100 gallons
of water On bearing trees
make one application after
hanest but before September
15th using 4 pounds of 15%
Parathion or pounds of
50% Thiodan per 100 gallons
of spraj All fruit growers
are urged to apuly these
sjiraj s