Mexico Missouri message. (Mexico, Audrain County, Mo.) 1899-1918, 1907-07-04
ONE GIANT CRACKER
TO CONTAIN is7.soo POUNDS OF
GUN POWDER.
This Is What Il Would Be II All the
Little Crackers Of One Fourth
Were Put Together in
One Tube.

There are-to be eXact-l3, 04S ,537
boys between the ages OF four and 20
years In the United States who are go
ing 20 celebrate the Glorious Fourth.
And this takes no account whatever
OF the old boys, between the ages of
90 and so. with a 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 nlgser-chasers. They
are going TO make a lot OF noise and
a good many boys are going TO get
their fingers and thumbs blown of
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
10 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 of could be concentrated
into one colossal firecracker and that
all the ooys In the United States could
be assembled around II and that at
given moment It could be fired OF.
winding up the whole business OF a
Fourth-of-July celebration at one fell
swoop. There would be one mighty
shock 10 the nerves of nervous old
women and shaky old men. There
would be one big sizz and one big
bang that would be heard all the way
around the world, and then all would
be over; everybody would have cele-
brated; the same amount OF money
would have been spent and quiet and
peace would be resumed. Now. let's
see how It can be figured out.
First OF all. one must ascertain how
many hrecrackers there are in the
United States. One of the largest
dealers says there are now 100. 900. 900
firecrackers In this country waiting to
be exploded on the Fourth OF July.
Another large dealer says this esti-
mate Is too high and places the num-
Der at 20.000,000. When one consid-
ers. however. that there are more than
10000 boys in the country and that
the first estimate allows something
less than eight firecrackers for each
boy. one must admit that the figures
are. perhaps. not so far out OF the way.
But one of the chief aims OF this ar
ticle is conservatism. and. therefore. a
compromise position will be taken and
the average OF two estimates will be
used, which places the number OF FIRE
crackers at 60.000.0OO.
Next. let us see how much gunpow-
der there Is In these 60.000.0O0 FIRE
crackers. The best authorities on this
subject say that In the average FIRE
cracker there IL one-twentieth OF an
ounce Of gunpowder, This calculation
Is based on the number OF ''lady-lire.
crackers" which are the smallest. on
up TO the big cannon crackers. includ.
ing the tremendous Hunt" and Mum
Der is, which contains two ounces OF
explosives. With this good start Il is
simply a matter OF mathematics to
learn that In all the fireerackers Of the
United States there are 5000. 00o
ounces OF gunpowder. which. OF course,
means 1s7. 500 pounds. This has all
been easy. There Is your tireeraeker
All you have to do Is to get your boys
together, apply the match 10 the fuse
wait a second with bated breath and
then
But hold on How about the dam
ageg
For many years there have been
LEANED discussions concerning che
force Of various grades Of explosives
The experts call Il potential energy
Some time nso tive famous French
msn--Iloux and SarFaur~made q -
ties OF experimRnpa 70 determine thi
| snacs extent u tha potential cnsral