Vandalism

Think Before You Shoot

That the public is sometimes the victim of its own vandalism, and that serious trouble may result to that public from damage it causes, is reflected in a news dispatch which says a train wreck in eastern Oklahoma, in which three persons were killed and several others injured, was due to a broken insulator on a telegraph pole which caused a short circuit and rendered one line useless. Though the cause of the broken insulator is unknown, it is generally believed to have been the result of someone's target practice — either with rocks or with a gun.

Insulators are often broken by boys shooting at birds on telegraph poles, or a hunter may use one for a target. The result may be that the whole system may be put out of service just when needed most in some emergency — trains may be delayed or, as in the case already cited, wrecked, important information may be held up that could easily involve life and death — any one of a myriad of things might happen as a result.

While the cost of these insulators is only a few cents, the expense of sending a repair man to replace them is a great deal more. Such expenses are losses to the telegraph or telephone company and add to the cost to the public for service, as well as the inconvenience and sorrow they may suffer.