Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1907-07-05
ONE GIANT CRACKER
TO CONTAIN 1s7,5oo POUNDS OF
GUN POWDER.
This Is What 1t Would Be II All the
Little Crackers of One Fourth
Were Put Together in
One Tube.

There are-to be exact-13. 048. SGT
boys between the ages of four and 20
years in the United States who are go
Ing to celebrate the Glorious Fourth.
And this takes no account whatever
OF the old boys. between the ages of
20 and so. with few verging on the
| edge OF 80 for good measure These
boys are going TO celebrate in the
good old-fashioned way with firecrack-
ers and toy pistols and cannons and
skyrockets and nigger-chasers. They
are going to make lot of noise and
a good many boys are going to get
their fingers and thumbs blown off
and their faces filled with gunpowder
and their ears trimmed. But that
doesn't make any difference; they are
going to celebrate nevertheless. Now, |
there is no use dragging out statistics |
to show how many boys were killed |
and manned and sent to the hospital
last Fourth of July. You will waste
your Ink In writing down the figures
and your breath in talking about them,
but you will not stop the small boy,
nor the big boy, nor the middle-aged
boy, nor the old boy from celebrating.
All your arguments will have no avail.
Suppose all the firecrackers that
will be fired off could be concentrated
into one colossal firecracker and that
all the boys in the United States could
be assembled around 1t and that at a
given moment 1t could be fired off. {
up the whole business of a / [
Fourth-of-July celebration at one fell
swoop. There would be one mighty l
shock to the nerves of nervous old /
women and shaky old men. There
would be one big sizz and one big v
Bang that would be heard all the way g
around the world. and then all would e
% over; everybody would have cele- h
'rated; the same amount of money
would have been spent and quiet and
'eace would be resumed. Now, let's
zee how it can be figured out =
First of all. one must ascertain how
many firecrackers there are in the =,
United States. One of the largest :,
callers says there are now 10000 900 9,
recrackers In this country waiting to !,
e exploded on the Fourth of July. o.,
mother large dealer says this esti- r.,
Iate is too high and places the num- on
er at 20.000.000 When one consid- No
IS, however. that there are more than 70,
!. 100000 boys In the country and that
e first estimate allows something 10,
So than eight firecrackers for each 20,
", one must admit that the figures u,a
e. perhaps. not so far out of the way. n.
1t one of the chief aims of this ar fes
lie is conservatism. and, therefore. a bu
position will be taken and no,
9 average of two estimates will be
ed. which places the number of FIRE
lckers at 60,0O0.O00
Next. let us see how much gunpow- /
r there is In these 10000 900 fire. sig
ickers. The best authorities on this
Dject say that in the average fire 1
ECKER there is one-twentieth of an 1
nee OF gunpowder. This calculation bur
based on the number of "lady-fire L
ckers." which are the smallest, on phil
TO the big cannon crackers. includ. con
the tremendous Hunt" and Mum IL
IS. which contains two ounces of add
'losives With this good start it is Il
lply a matter of mathematics TO mad
rn that in all the firecrackers of the Pitt
tied States there are 1000 900 is
ICES Of gunpo~der. which. of course. was