Anyone At All (1953)

[Music] suppose by some magic we could reverse all [Music] accidents [Music] unfortunately there is no such magic one by one our accident toll mounts up and with the passage of just one average year we record an economic loss of at least 9 B100 million 9,500,000 injuries 95,000 deaths from accidental causes just one year but these are figures symbols statistics who are these 95,000 people anyway what were they like hello Mrs Brooks it's for you hello oh hello dear oh it was sweet of you to call well yes of course it is quite an honor and we're all terribly proud we think he'll be here any minute he's driving you know the north oh that's his gang they're giving a surprise party for him oh Phil planned it you know Phil Phil Hall his best friend oh yes he's back he's here he's here everybody hey oh dear just a moment I think that's him I'll call you back all right now [Music] Mr Brooks yes officer what is it could I uh talk to you and your wife alone it's about your [Music] boy it had been an accident Larry Brooks had been killed just didn't make any sense wonderful guy Like Larry did and why where could you find the answer wasn't even his fault as we found out the next day at the police Poli station it was one of those accidents with so many things to blame that it just couldn't be pinned down to any one cause no one thing to blame except public indifference not even that cuz people aren't indifferent about things like this Larry's mother and father certainly weren't indifferent mother can't you sleep and his friends weren't indifferent we tried to figure out what we could do of course if those kids whoever they were in that galopy hadn't cut in front of look we've been over this a dozen times already and where do we always end up was everybody's fault and nobody's now take that bad shoulder if the road had been in decent shape Phil tell's got a good point about that chapi we got plenty of crazy drivers right here at West High maybe we ought to start at home base at school let's see the principal first thing in the morning all right Phil I agree something should be done what do you suggest yeah I don't know Mr red K well fortunately we don't have to start from scratch there's a good deal of experience we can draw on you know Phil back in the early part of this Century in the early 1900s accidents were really killing people off in our country but here and there people were turning up with constructive ideas you could call them safety Pioneers these safety Pioneers didn't want patents on their inventions they wanted to spread them far and wide and in 1912 they decided to call a meeting to get together in trade information that was the first national Safety Congress and it was worthwhile in 1913 the national Safety Council was established a permanent Council to help anyone who wanted to join the fight to put an end to maming and Slaughter then as time went on the council became the focal point the spearhead of all organizations and citizens interested in safety industries of all kinds both management and workers highway safety groups made up of public officials and private citizens insurance companies Health and Welfare organizations both government and private Farm organizations and the various youth groups concerned with Farm safety service clubs of many kinds Educators and many many other groups and in recognition of its service to the American people on its 40th anniversary the national Safety Council was awarded a federal Charter by the Congress of the United States so you see Phil there is a national ARG organization we can turn to when we need help on safety problems just as we turn to the Red Cross for instance in time of disaster I see Mr red K so I'd suggest you write them see what they've got to say I'm sure the school will go along with it well we wrote the national Safety Council and they came back at us with a lot of good ideas on what other youth groups are doing about safety and out of all these ideas we came up with a really good one our idea a teenage Safety Council and a driver education course in our high school but even a terrific idea takes a campaign to put it over we put the staff of our school paper to work pouring out publicity [Music] copy our fast talkers tackled the local Publishers they were only too glad to cooperate in a big way a lot of the work was done by PTA members on the phone and with house to house door to-door canvasing selling our idea of saving lives through driver education all these things began to add up especially when we put on a [Music] ra well the formal opening drew a big turnout and nobody was disappointed because we staged quite a show we had the school's best drivers put on a demonstration of driving skills and Automobiles donated to the school by local people who wanted to help the same cars we'll use in our driver training classes all in all it was a big day of course there had to be speeches what the mayor had to say was pretty important and while there is no bronze tablet here to record it what we have just seen is in effect a memorial to a graduate of this school Larry Brooks a boy of great promise for whose death I'm afraid each one of us is a little to blame for it has been rightly said that accidents don't just happen nor does safety just happened safety must be planned for and worked for well I guess we'd planned and worked for safety but things didn't stop with our high school there was plenty of action from all the town's people ask anybody around here today yes that's true we did get action in a lot of ways and these youngsters showed us the way I'm superintendent of a large machine shop here in town in an industry like ours you've got a lot of reminders about the everyday importance of safety but one of the things which stands out in my mind was the case of Ed Adams Ed was a fine fellow and he was a top-notch worker one of our most valuable he was going places in our shop until one day [Music] well he left the hospital but he was blind completely cess a man whose livelihood depended on his eyes of course he had workman's compensation that was something but to a man like Ed there's no compensation for feeling useless unwanted unproductive we were to find that out somehow or other nobody knows how not even his wife Ed got into the shop after [Music] hours hey Ed what are you doing here hi Charlie I just came to see you to see it Charlie take me home okay Ed okay come on well that happened just about the time the high school youngsters started their safety campaign they asked me to come over and talk to them about industrial safety and in selling them on the idea an idea came to me I sent Hank Bradley one of our best men to Chicago to take the national safety council's training course on Industrial safety and while he was up there Hank got a healthy slant on preventing costly accidents he saw that over the years since the council has been leading the way the accident rate has been steadily going down well what Hank learned through the course he took he liked and when Hank likes something he puts it into action he came back full of ideas which really began to add up in our shop tagging off and locking the main switch on a machine to make sure that no one starts it up while you're making an adjustment getting our women workers not only to wear safety caps but to wear them correctly and here's something that a while back might have met a tragic and costly accident but no more from the word go we're safety conscious so you see this High School school safety campaign has meant a lot to our town if you don't want to take my word ask somebody else me for instance I've got a farm out here on Highway 60 my son was on the committee when these youngsters organized this business his talking about safety every night got me to thinking about it reminded me of Jack Walsh a fell I went to school there was no better Farmer in the whole County than Jack he knew more about Eros control contour plowing and crop rotation and the secretary of agriculture he was a farmer's farmer except for one [Music] thing all right folks let me have your attention if you please we got a very fine Farm here In First Class condition 260 Acres of the finest prop land in the entire State I think most of you know why it's for sale and I think most of you know that any land that Jack Walsh ever farmed is bound to be better land than when he took over that's the kind of farmer he was the very best I don't have to tell you how valuable this property is there was nothing else Jack could have done proper he couldn't find anybody to run his farm and didn't have a son old enough to take it over well as I said these youngsters work got me to thinking so along with some of my neighbors I organized a farm Safety Committee but don't get me wrong what they started hasn't ended with us talk to Mrs Morris here for instance yes I must say that their enthusiasm reached us too the mothers and wives of our town we often hear about the lives lost in accidents and these are terrible certainly but just as tragic as the Heartbreak and suffering families and friends go through popcorn peanut I'm reminded of a dear friend of mine Nora Carlin Nora was such a sweet girl and such fun she and her husband were the center of their group of young people a crowd that loves to dance and swim and ride they had a very nice home just outside of town and two lovely children I say you give the loveliest parties Mrs Carlin that's because you're such a wonderful host Mr car oh than you and then one day something terrible happened to Norah it cause was one of those simple so very simple things [Music] but the Heartbreak and suffering it brought to Nora and her husband was something which only someone who has gone through it can [Music] know of course everyone tried to help but sometimes that's about all you can do try to help remember the summer we all went riding at Point Pleasant that was such fun yes it was such fun wasn't it such fun such fun to ride swim dance a do hand didn't mean anything of course not nobody means anything ever you all say Nora is so brave she's holding up so well a gym he's so wonderful we must all try to make believe it didn't happen well it did did happen it did happen can't you understand and I'm not brave I'm not brave at all honey please don't I can't help it J I just can't help it nor will have to come to terms with her Misfortune Of course but in the meantime every last one of her friends ask are near as many why did it have to happen and we decided to do something about it but not just about safety in the home we knew the job was much bigger than that and that we were not alone in our concern over it well ladies and gentlemen I assume we all know why we're here we're here to let ourselves in for a lot of hard work but we're here with one thought in mind you can't depart mentalized safety you can't cut it up into little pieces and expect to get anywhere well the answer and I think you'll all agree on this is to get together we've got to pull our efforts make this safety business a CommunityWide effort now to do this we've got to have a Safety Council in our town representing industry Business Schools the police department and what have you representing in short everybody now I was remembering uh before you people arrived this afternoon what all this fuss is about that boy there listen to that would you and the mayor's right only I don't deserve the credit Larry is the one who deserves the credit but he's not around to take it I wonder what he'd have to say if he were are you kidding Phil you know what I'd say anybody who doesn't believe in good SA sa practices all down the line is just plain stupid I'll agree and I've got something more to say being on the safe side may take a bit more thought and trouble but it's worth it believe me it's worth it sometimes you feel as though you don't want to live but you get over that what you don't get over is the idea you know most people have because you had it once too it won't happen to me it'll be someone else but the truth is it may be you anyone anyone at all might be in my place right now anyone at all anyone at [Music] all h