i For some years past American chil
j dren have been enjoined to learn to
• swim as a means of lessening the
great number of fatalities In the
water. Swimming pools have been
established in almost all cities. Bath
ing beaches have been manned by life- j
guards to prevent accidents, and '
, every encouragement has been given |
to people to enter the water. The re- j
suit is a great increase in the num- j
her of persons capable of rfiaintalning i
themselves safely in the sea, in lakes
and in rivers, and the percentage of
casualties has decreased. Os course,
drowning accidents continue. Yester
day' in Colorado four young people,
ranging in age from eighteen to
twenty-six, were drowned in a lake
when a motor boat capsized. Such
mishaps have occurred from time to
time throughout the Summer, but in
nothing like the number in former
years.
While not naturally an amphibian
creature, man Is capable of con
quest of the water, and these recent
performances demonstrate a marked
advance in this achievement. At the j
present rate of progress, especially if j
development continues in the estab- |
lishment of pools and beaches for the j
training of the young, in a few years i
the child who cannot swim will be a i
rare exception, and there will remain j
few stretches of water in the world j
unconquered by man.
An Eleventh-Hour Spurt.
Washington’s base ball team is.
