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Show A PASSING TRADITION The traditional Fourth of July our fathers and their fathers knew has largely gone from the land. Fireworks, save for organized, licensed displays, have been outlaw-h1 outlaw-h1 throughout the state, on the grounds of safety. With thm have gone the orations, once commonly held in town squares and fairgrounds in which leaders in government -and enterprise paid their tributes to those who founded the nation, and who gave us the powers of mind and rpirit which made possible the maintenance of our freedoms and the creation of material abundance. Changes in tradition and attendance at such functions func-tions is a thing of the past. These orators, needless to say, were often naive and flamboyant. But still, there was a profound merit in what they said and mean no matter how inept the choice of words might have been. They did paint a picture of the Americal ideal, the American philosophy, the American tradition. And even those who stayed but briefly to hear them felt stirrings of pride in our heritage. All this is gone, or generally so. The Fourth has become be-come just one more holiday. And something vital, something some-thing that was at the heart of things, has gone out of American life. It needs to be restored if we are to save this nation from lethargy and cynicism within, as well as from our enemies without. And it can be if, on this and every Fourth, we give a quiet moment to reflecting on the values val-ues our forbears bought for us with blood and treasure. "We must determine to do all we can to defend those values and pass them on, untarnished, to our children and our children's children. |