| Show arm d AU all HAPPI 4 V ILI 4 54 F E rt y W wit S by ELMO SCOTT WATSON VATSON ESPITE the determined effort that has been made in recent years to reduce the number dumber ot of casualties which seem to be an inevitable part of our celebration ot of independence ee day despite all the warnings and cautions that ure lire issued 14 1 4 by the authorities before that day each year despite the constantly increasing 4 prohibitions on the use ot of explosives the fact act remains that america Is still a long way from a sate safe and sane fourth concerning which we have been hearing so much in recent years did you know that east more people have been killed celebrating american independence than were in acquiring it did you know that fourth ot of july celebrations in the last four our years have taken a heavier healer toll of american lives than did thirteen of the most important battles of the war in which our independence was won perhaps you did not but here Is the bitter history of independence day celebrations which annually takes the lives of both children and grownups mostly children blinds them maims them or inflicts upon them dreadful bums barns in 1925 1025 a total of deaths resulted from fourth of july celebrations in 1926 70 60 died in 1927 27 0 SO 0 went to their deaths while celebrating our nations birthday and last year the independence day toll of death was official records of the revolution show that 7 americans were killed nt at the battle of lexing ton 49 40 at concord 31 at princeton Irin ceton 12 at cow pens 92 02 at the siege of charleston at bunker nill 11 at ft moultrie le 72 at monmouth 51 1 I at stone ferry 20 at stony point 30 a conning ton 32 at saratoga and 2 at Tre trenton titon that is a total of americans who gave their lives 11 res in winning american liberty from 1025 1925 to 1928 some r americans gave their lives uselessly in celebrating the winning of that liberty take two fourth of july celebrations at random and the be records show that during one of them 22 were killed and were injured for the other the casualty list read dead and 80 injured the total for these two celebrations Is killed nod and injured add to this the casualty list for any fourth of july celebration since 1900 about the time when this safe and sane fourth agitation started and the total will be greater than the losses suffered by the continental army when it was defeated at the battle of germantown or during the siege of yorktown which ended successfully cess fully the american struggle tor for liberty the sufferings of the continentals Continent als during the terrible winter at valley forge have become traditional yet since 1925 more americans have lost their lives during fourth of july celebrations than were lost among tile the soldiery who shivered in the cold on those bleak Pennsyl pennsylvania vanla hillsides hill sides estimates based on government records show that there were killed and wounded during the six sir bears of the revolution when there was scarcely a day in which there was not foght ing of some character going on somewhere in the land lit in comparison with that record look at the figures compiled coin piled by the hie american medical RS association so and the american museum bInse of safety in regard to fourth of july celebration casualties during the lite last SO 30 years and tant means 30 independence days there were ere americans killed in ti I reworks accidents and injured how lucky luchy it was tor for our nilion nation that lint george continental army merely lind to lo fl fight ht for american independence cel if that hint army had lind to celebrate tile hie winning of independence pen dence nc ne cording to our modern methods 4 it would hate been wiped out of existence lo in a ory cry short time indeed now ali p e figures quoted alioe abose are for fireworks ochs iiri denti alone and do not include lie ws N 4 rs as many deaths occurring after july 4 as a direct result of 0 fl fireworks reworks accidents or and deaths from accidents to motor cars from 1903 1003 to 1915 the american medical edical SI association so clation compiled statistics of independence day fireworks casualties and found 1802 deaths and injuries were attributable definitely to fireworks it was an average of deaths and injuries each year in the celebration in 1909 of the glorious fourth persons were killed and injured the fire loss that lay was last year the national museum of safety ordered newspaper reports of fireworks casualties from all parts of the country for june and july the result killed injured 2205 included in the list of dead were 52 62 chalden less than five years old 54 persons burned to death by fireworks or bonfires 20 children burned to death by barm harmless less sparklers spar klers and 21 children died from eating fireworks unloaded guns or stray bullets injured 32 persons last year 30 persons lost one or both eyes and persons suffered injuries to their eyes recently the country was horrified at the casualty list of in an explosion in a hospital in cleveland ohio it has also been horrified from time to time when a fire in a school a tornado or a flood snuffs out from to lives yet it seems strangely unconcerned that aery eiery year more than a persons die and more than are seriously injured in celebrating the glorious fourth fireworks are arc generally held responsible tor for the appalling death list willie while as a matter of fact firecrackers salutes pin pinwheels wheels bombs and account for not more than 5 per cent of the independence day casualties nor have all of the deaths been due to the explosions plo lons of these fireworks many of them result when sufficient care Is not taken to keep fireworks trotti from the smatter smaller children many children have died from eating poisonous polson onous oui powder pellets such as are used in dynamite canes even the so called safety spar sparklers klers have fatal to youngsters who have eaten them believing that they were candy put but aside from the dangers of celebrating the fourth there are other reasons why this is au an occasion for a high mortality rate the fourth of july Is the one national holiday in the year when the entire population drops all its workaday cares to swarm to the beaches tile the mountains bains and other places of recreation the result Is an appalling number of find and deaths in automobile accidents which far exceeds the number recorded on any other oilier day in the year so it Is apparent that although a great deal of good has been accomplished by those organizations eions which have sponsored this safe and sane fourth idea and which calls upon every amerlean american to assume the responsibility of being a safety engineer on july 4 there Is much to be done in makari making the celebration of this day more in keeping with the spirit of the occasion one hopeful sign ties lies in the fact that recreation la Is displacing fireworks to a certain extent for the character chur acter of fourth of july celebrations H N changing and for tile the better according to a survey recently made by the playground and pec koc association of america without losing sight of the small boy and his zest fur a good show on this holldiay the association has hai sent seat out suggestions for what it calls constructive community programs which have liven tried and approved by arlous cities and towns during recent years substantial progress liis has been shonn according rig to lo this survey in changing chi cli nging tin the former flamboyant independence day demonstration into oc that to lo fe asree ree at least interpret the local state and national events from tho the standpoint of history and citizenship the alie parent teachers association lias has recommended a rural program as follows at in the morning a band drawn on a truck moves throughout each neighborhood in town A man with a megaphone calls out that games will begin at the school playground at 1030 these games are followed by a parade to picnic grounds where there Is a program ot of community singing and a speaker A two hour luncheon period follows then there are arc contests baseball ara and story telling fo tor r children followed by a patriotic pageant the celebration concluding with a block dance the playground and recreation association of america has emphasized that the paramount opportunities port unities of community celebrations of 0 the fourth of july are to recall with pride and reverence the courage sacrifice slid and vision of the founders of amerlean american independence to reemphasize emphasize re the principles of justice democracy and tolerance upon which tills this government was founded and to encourage their continuance in the present and future through appropriate ceremonies to dramatize the entrance into citizenship of native born who have recently come of age and of the foreign born who hai hae e just been naturalized through games sports picnics pageantry festivals and other spectacles music and brief addresses to bring neighborhoods bo and communities together in unified programs of recreation and entertainment suitable to the day to promote safety especially among children by substituting wholesome and harmless recreation for the use of dangerous fireworks Is there still a need for a safe and sane fourth let the folio following brig associated press dispatch dated july 6 5 of last year answer that question the lives of 0 men women and children were a nations sacrifice to tho the celebration of its 10 birthday anniversary yesterday fireworks claimed their snare share of victims as they always have since the jilted states first began observing independence co day with skyrocket pinwheel and cannon cracker ther then were eleven such deaths in the entire country according to the associated press tabulation lakes and rivers however exacted the heaviest tribute ot of human life on the holiday being reported motor blosor car deaths ranked next in number with 54 heat took 12 lives and lightning a 3 while 4 were killed in plane crashes in addition there were 15 deaths attributed to other causes directly connected with am observance of the fourth two densely populated areas the tha middle atlantic states and the midwest had more that hut the count rys total deaths for tho the day in the former there were GS fatalities which was 6 jorj than occurred in the ibo midwest the mountain states and tho the northwest had the best sectional records with alve deaths in each ea h division everywhere through the midwest the temperature was high contributing both to deaths by heat beat and by drowning the midwest led the coun try in the number er of 0 drow ninga with 38 although tho the middle atlantic area had only two tower fewer the airplane accidents were at jollet joliet ill where a pilot and two passengers plunged to death when the th wing ot of their plane snapped and at beaumont tex ten w where I 1 1 ere ona was killed T r p or nf the motor car deaths came in racer drivers being killed in oregon fanna ani on 11 the number of poisons injured many probably fatally ran into the thousands premature explosion of a truel truckload load of fireworks at lamar a mar alo injured 25 persons as gathered in the public quare to witness as the display in the larger cities she the hospital list of persons injured in observance of the day ran into tho the hundreds chicago with an ordinance prohibiting the sale ale of fire fireworks echoed all day with firecracker explosions plo ard reports from froin police and hospitals indicated the number injured was rob lr tily than in years |
