Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1910-06-23
FOURTH OF JULY FIRES

FOURTH OF JULY FIRES
u Fourth of July is coming; day of
powder-poisoning and lockjaw; day
of hospitals and ambulances; day of
mutilation and fire and death.
II there is anything that is sane in
the American people it is the grow
ing revolt against our insane man
ner of celebrating the Fourth of July.
1t might be called "Incindiaries'
Day; for on that day the fire-fend
runs riot. No man having any public
responsibility fails to dread it. No
fire department gets through the day,
and the nights on both sides of it,,
without exhaustion. 1t Is doubtful
If on some fifth of July an entire city
may not complacently burn itself up
In the faces of firemen and fire horses
too exhausted by silly frecracker
fires the day before to cope with it.
The fre-fghting apparatus of our
cities and towns is SO overtaxed by
the numberless calls which begin on
the evening of July Sd that response
to possible summons for help by
neighboring towns or cities is i'm
possible. What fire chief would dare
allow even hose wagon to go be-
yond Immediate recall while alarms
in his own city are coming in at ten
minute intervalsp Even the large
number Of false alarms, due to the
reckless use of the day, have their
dire significance, for they tire out
the horses and the men, and reduce
the ability of the department to cope
with actual fires. When the gong be-
gins to ring at headquarters, its call
/ is as imperative for rubbish heap
ablaze as it for the home of a citi-
zen. The wear and tear of the appar-
atus, and even the injury to the
horses during thirty-si hours of al
most constant runs, may be as great
for false alarms as for real ones. 1t
seems sort Of folly almost too I'M
speakable to relate, but there are in
stances where American firemen have
been killed in runs to fires on July
4th by being thrown from trucks by
frightened horses swerying from
their course at explosives thrown
under them as they galloped past.
Never an Independence" Day but
scores of human beings are made de-
pendent for life. Life and limb are
jeopardized by explosives thrown
from windows above the level of the
street, setting fire to clothing and
menacing the eyesight of those pass
Ing, while upon the child, who in his
innocent love of noise and objective
demonstration responds to our pres
ent absurd kind of celebration, falls
the heavy hand of disaster. When
our civilization was not SO complex,
1t was possible for those who had the
courage to leave their homes to the
mercy of possible CONGREGATIONS, to
shut them up and escape to the quiet
OF the country. Not SO to-day. The
trolley car and the automobile follow
the seeker after peace to his country
retreats, throwing explosives at his
head as they roar past IN their reck-
less responsibility.
And for what? Nobody stops to
inquire. Nobody any longer cares.
We have gotten wholly away from
the educational significance Of "In-
dependence" Day, and fostP ourselves
In IN orgy Of fire and noise.
s# 1t is, perhaps, too much to expect
any sudden return to sanity; but
some effort at least may be made by
cities and towns toward leading their
people into more moderate and more
intelligent forms of celebration. If
explosives must be used the authori-
ties can limit their use to the public
parks during certain hours of the day
where the folly hunters may kill and
MAIN themselves and each other to
hearts content, without injuring
other people, or destroying property
by fire. The firing off Of explosives
among the closely built single rooted
frame houses, which compose the
greater part OF our cities. is wholly
in accord with the reckless spirit OF
Americans regarding fire.
IL before every Fourth of July all
cities and towns were given a
thorough cleaning of rubbish, and
al use Of explosives then restricted
90 to time and place. the police and
public wardens might have at least
. fighting chance to minimize the
disastrous result Of our public folly
during the years it may require to
inspire in our people desire for a
rational kind celebration. And such
= desire must be inspired. 1t is the
duty Of every city to arrange for it's
people suitable amusements or exer-
q