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Show BE ALIVE ON THE FIFTH Many happy returns of the day! Every American joins in extending birthday greetings to his country as it celebrates its 172nd anniversary on the Fourth of July. And wishing many happy returns of the day is one way to express that sentiment. We would like to extend the same greeting to the Fourth of July celebrants themselves, and wish That all of them have a happy and safe return from their holiday celebration. Unfortunately, they will not. As the fresh page of July turns up on the calendar, the National Safety Council can predict with grim certainty that 8,000 persons will be killed by accidents during the month. Thousands more will be injured, some of them disabled for life. Many of these deaths and maimings will occur during that annual jamboree of carelessnessthe glorious Fourth. The tragic fact is that this carnage need not happen. Accidents are not acts of God; they are acts of men and women and children who foolishly bet their lives for dubious rewards. The driver who speeds to get to his destination before dark what does it matter whether he arrives 10 or 20 minutes later? The youth who attempts to swim across the lake what is gained by trying to show off in front of a crowd? The father who refuses to deny his children the "pleasure" of fireworks what pleasure will the child derive from sightless eyes? These people and the remainder of the 8,000 marked for accidental death in July are not a strange and nameless breed. They may be the people in your church, in your office, of-fice, in your block, one may even be you if If you are an ostrich-like person who buries his mind in the bromide, "Oh, an accident won't happen to me. It has been said that accidents are no respecter of persons. per-sons. But there is one person who is respected by accidents. He is the man who thinks before he acts, who never takes a chance just for the fleeting thrill of risking his neck, who conducts himself with courtesy and consideration at the wheel of a car. He will make sure that he and his family will have a happy return by exerting a little extra caution to meet the extra hazards during the holiday. He will be under no illusions illu-sions that he is immune from accidents. He will remember that to be safe on the Fourth is to BE ALIVE ON THE FIFTH! |