Evening star., 1909-07-06
FIVE LIVES SACRIFICED
IN NEW YORK CITY ALONE
Mother and Babe Blown to Death by
Cannon in Philadelphia.
FIRES NUMBERED BY HUNDRED
Compare the Gruesome Tally With
Washington Safe and Sane
Record of Not One Fourth of
July Accident

Not single accident of any kind due
to the celebration Of Independence day
yesterday has been reported to the po-
lice department from any place within
the District Of Columbia, and of two
fres which occurred last night only one
Of them resulted from the celebration.
That's what safe and sane Fourth OF
July means. The record of unsafe and
insane celebrations held in other cities
throughout the country is contained in
the dispatches from here. there and
everywhere. telling of the dead. the
dying. the blind and the MANNED. and of
immense property losses from fires
started by firecrackers
So far as this community.is is concerned
1t would not seem necessary 10 theorize
any longer. The facts and figures are
at hand.
In former years Washington celebrated
Independence day in the good, old
fashioned way" and outside of certain
regulations limiting the size of firecrack-
ers and prohibiting the use of cannons
and firearms. there was practically no re-
striction upon the amount of noise that
might be made or the manner in which
the celebrants might make it.
Figures Speak for Themselves.
Year after year the result inevitably
was the same. Children and adults were
killed and injured. property was destroyed
and a large majority of the population OF
the National Capital made miserable by
the racket. Last year, when the record
of casualties due to the celebration of
the Fourth in the District was spoken of
as light. five persons received bullet
wounds. scores were more or less seri-
ously burned and there were many fires
within the city limits. This year-but
read the summary of safe and sane
suits once more.
Not single accident of any kind due
to the celebration Of Independence day
yesterday has been reported to the po-
lice department from any place within
the District Of Columbia, and OF two
Ares which occurred last night only one
of them resulted from the celebration.
The above speaks for itself. Those
public spirited citizens who initiated and
carried out the movement for safe and
sane Fourth of July In the District OF
Columbia are rewarded by the results,
their ideas justified, their hard work
amply repaid. And those citizens of the
district who, harping on the quasi-senti-
mental side of the Question, deplored the
passing of the noise and nuisance, who
dwelt on the injury that would be done
to the manliness of American youth by
the restrictions upon explosives who la
bored for full hospitals and shuttered
homes and crepe-draped doors, undoubt-
edly will see the light as well.
Lesson of Empty Hospitals.
And so today official and unofficial
Washington indorses the safe and sane
plan. The most convincing argument in
favor of the safe and sane plan, tried
yesterday for the first time is furnished
by the hospital records. This morning
not one single anxious father or mother.
sister or brother. sits beside cot in a
local hospital. on which which lies
burnt or mangled form. The hospital rec
ords show not one single case of injury,
minor or otherwise. due to fireworks. fire
crackers or firearms
Contrast in more detail. the figures of
last year, when. at the Emergency Hos
pital twenty-five persons We're treated
for burns. decorations and other injuries
caused by explosives used to celebrate
Independence day; at Georgetown. ten.
and Homeopathic. iifty-two. From the
Prov idence. Casualty and Freedmen s
hospitals comes the same encouraging re-
port Not a single Fourth of July
case" say the authorities. and they smile
and indorse the safe and sane plan in no
uncertain terms.
But the National Capital was but one
of two three cities to carry out the
safe and sane idea That the situation
here is no exception is proven by the fact
that up 10 this afternoon the wires had
not carried to Washington from any one
of these municipalities the story of a sim
gle Fourth of July casualty. big or little,
serious otherwise; not the tale of "A
confla grafton great or small within their
limits.
But turn the page-and the record is
not so fair.
New York's Gruesome Record.
They don't believe in the safe and sane
theory over in New York. They are too
patriotic" to degrade the word as they
do. and they believe that little boys as
well as grown ups should be permitted
to handle frecrackers and other danger
Gus things. And what may be their
record. Listen, Here II is,
Five killed, 1877 injured by fireworks,
SO injured by pistols, 23 injured by can
mons and 5 injured by torpedoes. Also,
ll6 fires started by explosives. And yet,
one OF the biggest New York papers,
commenting upon this record, says this
morning that New York broke all rec
ords yesterday for a safe and sane
Fourth OF July"
And that statement was not made IN