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Show A SAFE AND SANE FOURTH The American Medical association and' several state associations of doctors, together with newspapers news-papers ,have in the past prepared statistics of the carnage wrought by our celebration of the natal day of the nation. These figures have been given so often by the doctors and the advocates of a saner celebration of the Fourth with so little result that it is indeed wonderful that they Lave not wearied of the task of bringing about a reform. But reformers re-formers are a persistent lot, and in this particular reform they have so many arguments on their side, and so little to be said against their hobby that there is hardly more than one side to the subject. Figures gathered by' one state medical society show that 23,073 persons were injured, and 1,153 of these injuries resulted fatally, in the celebration of the last five Fourths of July. That is a good many deaths to credit up to patriotic observance of the annual recurrence of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It takes no account, however, of the annual losses by fire which result from the celebration, nor of the enormous waste of money which annually goes up in smoke and a big noise, all to teach a very doubtful lesson on patriotism. No matter from what standpoint the question is considered, whether from a mere monetary view or from the broader humanitarian view, the cost of this method of voicing national patriotism is too great. The lives that are wrecked by accidental explosions ex-plosions and the lives that are lost, to say nothing of the financial loss by fires, are too big a price to pay. In the east a number of cities have ordained that no fireworks shall be permitted within the city limits. What is more, the law is enforced. Not only is the shooting off of fireworks prohibited, but their sale is also denied. The reigning authorities in those cities have realized how useless and dangerous dan-gerous the old celebration was, and have taken steps to remedy the evil. Shall Salt Lake lag behind in the forward march, or shall we join the procession of anti-fireworks cities? It is simply a question of keeping abreast of the most advanced thought or falling behind in civic progress. The question ought to be decided pretty soon, for the time between be-tween now and the Fourth is getting short. |