The Washington herald., 1914-07-12
..GIoom. Win" on the Fourth.

To the Editor: / have travelled in all
] quarters Of Washington today and frank
! ly say l never saw a more gloomy popula-
tion or the Fourth of July anywhere
More than half the people l met looked
! bored OF Indifferent TO things in general
( There is a greater display Of patriotic en-
I thusiasm in the Philippine Islands today.
| among people TO whom the Fourth means
/ little or nothing. than there is is the Cap
| ital Of the nation. / was one Of the 20
people to witness the swimming events.
which have received so much praise In
the papers as a part Of the glorious,
( safe ana sane celebration"
! Two little boys standing near me voiced
| the sentiment of many others One said:
I Let's go; this is too slow" ''Whele
shall we gO?" asked the other. and they
were still there when left. That was IL
Where would you go TO find some real life
| like you used to find on the glorious
| Fourth. the day everybody looks forward
| to next to Christmas: when there was
life and enthusiasm everywhere and
eveTybody seemed TO be enjoying them
selves. with the possible exception Of
some old crank who was afraid his house
would catch fire II there was a hreCraCker
! in the block? Better let lots Of houses
burn than to let patriotic enthusiasm die
out among the youth Of our country. For
China is a god example OF this, and lets
a little country like Japan lick her One
careless one in lG0.no0 better he killed IN
the Fourth than that the 99@es careful
ones die of dry rot. II is rank se!tshness
for the older ones to deprive the Youth
Of our land from celebrating ths Fourth
in the good oId-fashioned way just oe-
cause they happen 10 have Outgrown tire
love OF such things themselves
II the number Of autos equa!ed the
number of people who use dangerous OK
ylos!,es. and as little supervision was
maintained in their use and sale. as : the
Cas- in the sale to small children Of the
more dangerous kinds. there would M
doubt be as many casualties by autos IN
the nited States in the same length "
tune as in the Fourth OF July celebration
Some worrout heads may hum with the
racket but they can stand il better than
ration can stand without freedom. at
least one day in the year. so those Il Us
who are not completely Ossited may IN
bend. and there is nothing like racket
To start US OF. and We have to be helping
in the racket to get the beneft of IL
What you do yourself IS worth ten times
what some one DOES for you
We are getting To point in our coLn-
tr,'s history where patriotism needs tc
be fcstered carefully People seem To be
growing more or less indifferent with
kind OF air that saws W nat : the use
Most anv law can pass without any
rr,It show Of approval or disapp-"vaL
even if felt Thou shalt not seems &c
be taking the place Of the liberty and
freedom that our Constitution guarantees
IT. CitZ,nS
move We abolish July as Indeperd-
encs Day. II Is a misnOmer. as there iz
r, I.rcer freedom or independence on
that day. hut we put on an extra force Of
policemen to restrain any OuthuTsts ot
freedom. We are doing everything 10
bring rIr real ladylIke sort of men.
was at the fireworks in the evening
and one man said 10 another Of his 7aTtv-
Il am glad tho rain did not come TIL
after the pictures. For once We saw them
for nothing" So the fireworks were
worth less than ; cents to him. That IL
putting the value too low. but I do not
believe it is worth as much as some Qeo-
ple believe. Still its worth all it costs
and should come out OF the city taxes.
HAL" CHASE.