The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-06-06
AN VICTORIOUS FOURTH.
How the Holiday Can be Freed From
 its Present Horrors.

It's Present Horrors.
 After the smoke and noise of the last celebration had died away and the re- turns of the annual holocaust were in the Journal summed up the cost of life and limb as it had not been done be- fore and published the totals with their full and dreadful significance. Since that time we have had many reasons for being glad that we did the work and presented it's results, for throughout the country many earnest workers for civic betterments have availed themselves of our figures to use as argument to se- cure the passage of ordinances directed to the prevention of these mournful fea- lures of day of noise and turmoil. From many states have come newspa- per accounts of city councils passing bills directed against the sale of toy pistols, blank cartridges and giant crackers to minors, and quoting the fig ures that we published last August four hundred and six deaths from lock- jaw, sixty from other causes, and 3,9S2 injuries that were not fatal.
 The time has now come to look for ward once more to the coming Fourth, and to see if, in the light of our past experience, a complete repetition of the
 annual calamity cannot be avoided. It is evident that a certain amount of public sentiment has been stirred up in one way and another, but whether it will assume it's activity at the proper time is another question-the most gen. eraI condemnation of the method of eel ebrating the Fourth, and the loudest calls for change are usually heard about August 1. In Chicago last year a pathetic example of this was fur nished. There have been standing on the city statutes of Chicago for many years ordinances providing penalties for the sale of pistols to minors, but their enforcement has never been any,
 thing worth mentioning. In the latter part of June, 1903 after a few prema-
 ture lockjaw cases had followed blank
 cartridge injuries, some desultory ar rests of vendors of these weapons were
 made, but no general effort was made
 to close down on this source of trouble. The small boy had not the slightest diff
 fculty in procuring the materials for :! his destruction, as we easily demon- Estrated by experiment But when the daily papers gegan to fill with reports
 of deaths from lockjaw few days af-
 ter the Fourth, then, and not until then, was any determined effort made
 to stop the sale of toy pistols. At that ] time we found that a boy in knee trous- CTS had to go sometimes to as many as two or even three stores before he could | purchase toy pistol.
 | The lesson is plain. Something must
 be done now to awaken the police de- partments of our cities to their duties 1 in this direction. Last year sixty-four
 per cent of the total injuries and over eighty per cent. of the fatal injuries
 were the results of blank cartridges.
 Nearly all cities, it would seem, have at some time passed ordinances that con- trol their sale, or the sale of the pistols | in which they are used, but, as a rule, the ordinances have remained on the
 books unconsulted and non-enforced. It would not be a difficult matter to re- duce this source of mortality greatly; the pistols and cartridges are sold usu- ally by dealers in sporting goods or in | llOtiOiA 5tlplcosff anu efcIy pOiCcilitll knows all such places on his beat.
 Confiscation of pistols from boys on the
 Fourth would also be of some service Enforcement of the law is the chief thing that is needed Tn Washington, l where these matters seem to be con- I trolled better than in ordinary munici- palities, Fourth of July tetanus Is ex- trernely uncommon, although there Is a fair number during the year from other Tcauses. It seems to us that there is 8 good field for the activities of local l medical societies in this particular branch of preventive medicine. Pass ing of resolutions requesting the en-
 forcement of such laws if they exist, or the drafting of them where lacking, if sent from representative bodies of med ical men to the proper authorities, and if published in the daily papers to cre- l ate popular interest, would not fail to be of effect either immediately or re- motely. It will be found that with few exceptions the daily papers are ready
 and eager to take up this cause and