The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-07
HOW THE CAPITAL OBSERVED FOURTH Fireworks Display Handled
 By Experts NO BOYS INJURED Not a Firecraker Is Heard and the Celebration Is One of Real
 Pleaure and
 AHfl~ Joy
By WALTER HARPER

reSpondence Ut Is midnight of July l4. I have just come down from Penn
 sylvania avenue and the Washington
 monument grounds, where I witnessed
 the celebra tion of the Glorious Fourth
 as it Is conducted in the capital of
 the republic.
 a The methods here are worthy of the attention and emulation by all the
 cities of the country. There are no
 blinded eyes, nosmaimed limbs, no sor- rowing homes tonight by reason of fn- sane celebration. And Washington Is | just as happy and as patriotic in spirit as 1t would be with It's hand in a sling, plasters on its eyes and arnica
 on its fingers.
 In fact, the celebration was slor- ious. It was brilliant and everybody
 enjoyed it. The rich and the poor en- loved it alike. There were no boys in the parks envious of the richer boys who had fireworks while they had none. They all sat down together on
 the grass on the immense parks, on the steps of the treasury building, along the streets and on the build ings and enjoyed the display of the finest and most marvellous fireworks that the ingenuity of man has devised The fireworks were put off in the lower end of Monument park near the river and in full view of thousands and thousands of people. More than 50,o0O people, perhaps 100000 people. looked on while experts manipulated the dis plays and not one person was hurt. ci Sn far is known. The small boy was happy, and the parents were satisfied. After the display in the park calcium lights attached to the iron lamp posts along Pennsylvania avenue were touched off and they burned for hours while tangled mass of people moved up and down the avenue, completely filling this great thoroughfare from the White House to the capitol.
 The sidewalks are very wide and they were overcrowded with merry
 people. The street was full of auto mobiles and every other kind of ve-
 hicle gaily decorated with flags. Cars crowded to the running board with men, women and children were passing both ways about every minute. And with all this mass of humanity and moving automobiles, motorcycles,
 carriages, rubberneck cars and every other vehicle of locomotion that is known to Washington there was per- | feet order and a most amazing ab- sence of confusion or accident.
 There was not the sound of a fire-
 cracker in the street. Pedestrians were
 free from the disturbance of unexpected explosions under their feet. Automobile
 drivers were uniformly cautious. Every
 body seemed to be considerate of every | body
 All this is not because the people of ! Washington may be better than the peo-
 pie of any other city. There are laws
 here regulating these things and they are
 respected because they are enforced. The absence of grinning speed fiends is one of the remarkable features of Wash ington. There are no traffic men in the
 streets and yet there appears to be per
 feet order I notice that a driver of
 machine desiring to turn across the street or turr back from the right to the left side always either looks back or waves to any machine driver who may be behind him to slow down while he luillS HIS siOWiy dNioSo WllhOhe endangering the drivers or machines that may be on the street.
 Birmingham would do well to pattern Washington's safe and sane method of celebrating the Fourth. It is worth the price. The small boy would object at
 first, but he would soon get used to it, and would really get more fun out of a celebration that is paid for by the city and is really f1rst-class.
 Wealthy citizens of Washington con tribute to the fund that is under the con trol of the city or district authorities. The celebration and exhibits are free to the people and all can enjoy them alike. And it is kind of celebration that every body can enjoy without fear of fatal con- sequences.
 There Is another thing that Wash ington does in paternal way that should be of interest to Birmingham people, and of which I will tell you more in detail when I have all the information.
 The public schools here are not only free to all the children, but all the books even the pencils that are used by the pupils, are furnished free of cost by the city There seems to be but one main requirement of the parent. That is that children must be dressed neatly, not expensively, and must be clean and tidy. This is a good rule and should be re- quired everywhere.
 pr. J. H. Phillips. I believe, has advo- cated a plan of supplying the school chill dren of Birmingham with free books, and believe from what I have learned of the Washington plan that it is good one. There are numbers of children in Birmingham that are not in school for the sole reason that their parents are not able to supply the books and other ma tar lc hat