The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1910-07-01
U r. OF JULY FIRES.

humiliation and fire and death
If there is anything that is sane in
tn American people it is the grow
ing revolt against our insane a
ner Of celebrating the Fourth of July.
1t might be called "I%ncindiaries'
Day" for on that day the tlrc-fiend
runs riot. No man having any p.blN.
responsibility fails to dread it No
fire department gets through the daE.
and the nights on both sides Of 1t.
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 to exhausted by silly fire
cracker fires the day before to cope
with it. The fire-fighting apparatus
of our cities and towns is SO over
taxed by the numberless calls which
begin on the evening of July 3 tina;
response to possible summons for
help by neighboring towns or cities
is impossible. What fire chief would
dare allow even a hose wagon to 50
beyond immediate recall while al
arms in his own city are coming in
at ten-minute intervals? 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 re-
duce the abilit yof the department 10
cope with actual fires. When the
| gong begins to ring at headquarters,
it's call is as imperative for a rub
bish heap ablaze as it is for the
! home of a citizen. The wear and
tear of the apparatus, and even the
injury to the horses during %thirty-six
hours of almost constant runs, may
be as great for false alarms as for
real ones. 1t seems a sort of folly
| almost too unspeakable to relate, but
there are instances where American
firemen have been killed in u ms to
fires on July Fourth by being thrown
from trucks by frightened horses
swervering from their course, at ex-
plosives 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 OBJ
! %jective demonstration responds to
our present absurd kind of celebra-
ton, falls the heavy hand OF dis
! aster. When our civilization was
not SO complex, it vas possible for
those who had the courage to leave
their homes to the mercy of possible
escape to the quiet of the country.
Not so to-day. The trolley car ana
the automobile follow the seeker af-
ter peace to his country retreats,
throwing explosives at his head as
they roar past in their reckless ire
sponsibility.
And for what? Nobody stops to
inquire. Nobody any longer cares.
We have. gotten wholly away from
the educational significance Of "1n-
dependence day. and lost ourselves
in an orgy of fire and noise.
1t is, perhaps, too much to expect
any sudden return to sanity; blu,
some effort at least may be made by
cities and towns toward leading their
people into more moderate and more
intelligent forms of celebration. II
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 9th.
err to hearts content, without injur'
ing other people or destroying prop
erty by fire. The firing off of ex'
plosives among the closely bull.
shingle rooted frame houses, which
compose the greater part of our cit
les. is wholly in accord with the
reckless spirit of Americans regard
ing fire.
If before, every Fourth of July all
cities and towns were given a thor.
ough cleaning of rubbish, and al
use of explosives then restricted as
to time and place, the police and
public wardens might have at leas'
a fighting chance to minimize the
disastrous result of our public folly
during the years it may require tc
inspire in our people a desire for 9
rational kind of celebration. And
such a desire must be inspired. 1t is
the duty of every city to arrange for
it's people suitable amusement or ex'
ercises definitely calculated to edu.