The Tucson citizen., 1902-07-04
Why NE JUBlLATE.


When bombs are exploding. hre-
crackers and other Chinese devlltry
going of by the hundred, and the air
is resonant with all sorts of dis
cordant sounds, it behooves the aver
age human being to be philosophical
The London Lancet. the able organ ot
the British medical profession, has an
article in a recent issue on the psy-
cholocv OF iubilation. In view OF the
Dav We Celebrate. and the unearthiS
noises that spring from everywhere
around us, the views expressed by this
solemn and learned scientific journal
NAV prove OF interest to those VINO
can not understand why many people
are unhappy unless they make day and
night hideous with ear-spIitung,
nerve-racking noises.
Recently London celebrated the con
rlusion of the Boer war and the
! declaration OF peace, The din OF 1u-
/ bilation was terrific, and after 1t was
all over the Lancet put on its thinking
cap and tried to find out the true In
wardness of the demonstration. 'Of
course" II says. such exuberance Is
an insanity of the moment, When 1t
Is over. We make excuses and look
sheep faced when brought TO retie>-
ton. hut we are able to settle down
to our prosaic existence much more
quickly than would have been possible
il we had fought against the volcanic
expl sion OF feeling and endeayored
TO cool ourselves by more gradual and
rational methods
Such celebrations are. in the Lancet's
opinion, the ''culmination OF the seis-
mic social disturbance. We shout.
laugh. and sing until the lava OF jubila-
ton runs out and We can rest Tapped
In the peace that follows in On irresist-
able letting-go." Such ebullltions. II
good for the community. involve a con-
fession. according to the Lancet, that
the march of civilization has not mod
fed human nature so much as might
be believed The world is very much
as 1t was long ago There is the same
tendency toward explosiveness and
mind storms. 1t takes very little to
infn Ia
structiveness OF the child or into the
'hooliganism OF the man in the street.
While those who celebrate the
Fourth Of July with cannon n-crac kers.
giant torpedoes and muskets are max
inG the earth an inferno to those who
lpreFAr peace and quietude 10 noise aIa
patriotism, let us console ourselves
with the thought that it might he
worse Unless the Seismic social
distul bance finds vent and the lava
of iubiIation runs out the volcanic
rairi' tlsm of those who signalize he
glorious Fourth" by making nervous
people wretched might culminate in Al
xplosion that would be far more e
structive than our usually disastrous
celebrations.
On the Fourth OF July the average
American noise maker is apparently
the victim of hallucination. He seems
to imagine that he is human Mont
Pelee and that the seismic forces
within must not be repressed. The
human volcano must have its eruption.
despite laws designed to check its per-
nicious activities People who cant
get out of the disturbed region must
bear the consequences as best they can.
Patriotic celebrations. from the
London Lancet'S viewpoint. are safety
valves II some people were not al
lowed to make miniature volcanoes OF
themselves. they would end in a mad
house. Momentary insanity. the Lon
don medical authority holds, Is the
salient characteristic of patriotic cele-
brati0ns. This being the case. we can
all afford to take a more lenient vie "
of the noise makers.
-------- o