Daily Kennebec journal., 1911-03-07
FOUR. JULY TETANUS.
Why Doctors Desire 70 Reform the
Day.

I'll, duty Of th.. medical profession
in tn. matter Of Fourth -of-July tntan-
US is distinctly threrfold. First. it has
ar important function in securing
legislation Which shall prevent injuries
from explosives; secondly. it must
prevent t";anus and other serious com
plicatious resulting from such injur-
les; last. it has the almost hopeless
task Of trying To prevent a fata! Git-
como in ttlosc cases % tetanus which
have been produced by Fourth-of-Jui%
injuries. Certanly the most logical
point Of attack il the celebration it
self That this foolish habit nf an an
nual Orgy Of gunpoWder and hloodsned
is not on" which cannot be broken has
been shown in q number Of comnuni-
ties, Last ye@r the city oi Trenton,
y j. which previously had suffered
severely III proportion to its popula-
tion. adopted 4 prohibtiye ordinance.
suppressed the gunpowder celebration.
and totally eliminated FaUrth-"t-Julv
injuries: the previous year there had
been - injuries reported, with one
death In 1908 cleveland had lo5 in
juries with L. deaths: Il prohibitiSe
ordinance reduced the casualties To
four in laea and one in 1910, with no
fatalities. Baltimore by the same
means has kept down Tho list of in-
iuries, while Washington has had no
injuries for two years These exam
pies, and many others that might he
cited from the experience of smaller
cities aud towns. show that it is per
fcctly possible to eliminate all the
/ inIa a a
long aasociatcd with the Fourth Of
July. to say nothing Of the loss b%
fire nervous strain, squandering OF
money. and the inculcation into I'M
prcssic nablc youths of bad ideas as Il
the free US" OF froarms and explosives.
Restrictive measures give results in
direct proportion to the Nigor with
which they are enforced. but, like most
COMPROMISES. are satisfactory - no
one N"w York by this means reduced
the number of injuries from 5J2 In
1909 to lS5 in 1910. six Of the latter be-
ing fatal: in Chicago the usual num-
Der of accidents was cut 10 less than
half, but still there were &C injuries
with four deaths. Evidently, then, 1t
is the plain duty of every community
which has permitted the use of ex-
plosivts IN Independent day c"lcbrsi :
ton to put an absolute stop 10 the
practice. While an ordinance llUhib~
iting the use of blank cartridges, fire
arms and giant crackers would If en-
forced, abolish most OF the dangers OF
the Fourth, yet experience shows that
such an ordinance cannot be enforced.
Only when the sound of any explosive
means a violation of the law can the
more dangerous explosions be prevent
ed: furthermore. hundreds OF acct
dents. many fatal. are annually caused
BY the So-callcd harmless fireworks
II BOYS are given a mild taste of this
lows uf noise and devastation Whicl
gunpowder can produce, they viii
seek and discover ways OF getting
more: but if for very few years this
sort of celebration can be prevented
the demand for 1t will vanish with the
coming Of n new generation uf small
boys who know not what they have
missed. During the transition period
substitution in the way Of parades
picnics sports and other wholesome
means of entertainment may be ad-
vantageously employed. and in time
these things Will undoubtedly develop
in Il way to make our great natlona
holiday fully as memorable and
much more appropriate day in TIL,
calendar Journal of American Medi
cal Association.