The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1910-06-30
INDEPENDENCE
DAY DISASTERS
FURNISHED by National Fire Protection
Association.)

Independence Day is coming; day Of
powder-poisoning and lockjaw; day of
hospitals and ambulances; doy of mu-
tilation and fire and death.
If there is anything that is sane in
the American people it is the growing
revolt against our insane maner of
celebrating the Fourth of July 1t might |
be called "Incendiaries' Day." for on
that day the fire-fiend 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 firemenI
and fire horses too exhausted by silly
firecracker fires the day before to
cope with it. The fire-fighting appara-
tus of our cities and towns is so over
taxed by the numberless calls which
begin on the evening of July Sd that re-
Spouse 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 beyond
immediate recall while alarms in his
J, 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 reduce the ability of the de-
partment to cope with actual fires.
When the gong begins to ring at head
quarters, it's call is as imperative for
a rubbish heap ablaze as it is for the
home of 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 un-
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 fright.
; ened horses swerving from their course
at explosives thrown under them as
they galloped past.
Never an independence" Day but
sc res of human beings areImade 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 menacine
the eyesight of those passing, while
upon the child, who in his innocent
love of noise and objective demonstra
ton responds to our present absurd
kind of celebration, falls the heavy
hand of disaster. When our civiliza.
ton was not so complex, it was posi-
BILE for those who had the courage t.
o leave their homes to the mercy of nos
q sible CONGREGATIONS to shut them III
and escape to the quiet of the country
Not so today. The trolley car and the
h automobile follow the seeker aftel
peace to his country retreats, throwing
o explosives at his head as they roar
past in their reckless responsibility.
q And what for? Nobody stops to in
quire. Nobody longer cares. We hav,
gotten wholly away from the education
al significance Of independence" Day
and lost ourselves in an orgy of fire
and noise.
1t is, perhaps, too much to expect
any sudden return to sanity; but som,
effort at least may be made by cities
and towns toward leading their peopl,
into more moderate and more intelli
gent forms of celebration. If explo
sives must be used the authorities cai
limit their use to the public parks dur
ing certain hours of the day, where tn
folly-hunters may kill and main them
selves and each other to hearts cor
tent, without injuring other people. O
destroying property by fire. The firinI
off of explosives among the closel,
built shingle-roofed frame houses
which compose the greater part Of on
cities, is wholly in accord with tn,
reckless spirit of Americans regarding
fire.
If before Fourth of uly all cities
and towns were given a thorough clean
ing ofrubbish, and all use of explosive
then restricted as to time and place
the police and public wardens might a
least have a fighting chance to mini
mize disastrous results or our public
folly during the years it may reRuirC
for rational kind of celebration. Ant
such desire must be inspired. It's the
duty of every city to arrange for iti
people suitable amusements or exer
cises definitely calculated to educat,
them in a rational observance OF thi