Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-07-08
The Way We Look At 1t.

more than twice that number were
killed and nearly four times the num-
her injured This improvement in
vital statistics is due to the advance
of the safe and sane Fourth" move
ment. Thousands have seen the silly
make believe in most of the old-time
performances, and law has restrained
thousands more Hoodlumism of course
continues and always will, for there
will always be towards, fools, and
drunkards who are both, but the indie
pendence days are better for having
agitated against folly.
There were fewer deaths in the cele-
brations this year than in any of the
sixteen years that records of the toll
have been kept with the exception of
1899, when only three lives were lost.
But in that year the injured were re-
ported as 1914. Philadelphia report of
ITO injured was more than that of New
York, ', nIeh had the next largest num-
Der, and it was believed that many
of those included in the list suffered
from minor hurts. The casualty list at
Pittsburg also was high, twenty-seven
with no fatalities. So stringent was the
enforcement in Chicago of the ordi-
nance prohibiting the sale of fireerack-
ers and fireworks that only one person
was killed and three injured slightly
in that city. The names of the two
boys who died Friday from burns re-
ceived in the explosion of fireworks
they had dug from rubbish near an
abandoned factory, were added to the
list however.
Like other of the evils which affiict
humanity. it is the trade tthe demand
for buyers at any cost that builds up
the silly customs. wherever an ordi-
nance prohibiting the sale of danger
Gus noise trash was enforced, the casu-
alties were cleaned from the slate,
even in d city as large as Chicago.
But that is interference with per
sonal liberty and could not be enforc-
ed every day, any more than can the
sale of booze. With the forces of gov
eminent determined, and backed by
courts that have purpose to make vi
citation of the law costly to the violat-
ors, even such a lawless city as Chica-
go can be made, for a day, almost
habitable for peace-loving citizens.
But could it be done every day in the
year while the administration of the
city continues TO recognize as 'neces-
sary evils and to reap revenue from
them in the way of license fees, some
OF the most damnable traffics known
to human depravity?
Under the caption Less Drunken
ness the New York Press relieves it's
perverted mind by the following rum
trust logic:
New York in a year, said Sheriff
Grifenhagen to convention of wine
growers in Sandusky. Whether the Ohio
men believed IL or not, the sheriff
Drunkenness has gone out of style in
this city. In the last 10 years it has
grown steadily less. In spite of the fig
ures on the consumption of spirits, which
show an increase, the fact remains that
few New York men now make intoxica-
tion their pastime. There may be more
drinkers, but there are fewer drunk.
Some attribute the improvement to
the demands of modern business Eff
cheney and alcohol don't get along to-
with their supposedly stronger influence,
have brought about the good results.
Your dancing enthusiast will tell you
that the tango is the foe of the hghhall:
wane before the dancing craze began"
To establish the truth of the matter
it is only necessary to understand that
men who make such statements as the
above have had their appreciation of
values so depraved and distorted by
constant association with men who are
never normal, that they cannot agree
that a man is drunk" unless he is
dead to the world. One might say the
same Of Boston or Chicago. because
when a man slides under the table at
a banquet, the sober walters drag him
away. It is the same in the saloons,
and on the streets the police are edu-
Gated up to the bad Advertising OF
staggering, brawling boozers. Yet in
Mondays Boston Transcript we find
tho following:
Several groups Of tough youths,
who annoyed men. women and chill
dren at Marine Park Sunday after
noon, should be instructed by Mayor
Curley in the meaning of Pro Bono
Publica,' incidentally the title of new
march. dedicated to the mayor, which
was being played by the band while
tie 'roughhousing' was at its height.
There were many thousand people at
the park, but there were not nearly
enough policemen to dispose of the
fist fighters and keep the DRINKS
quiet.
ION the beach at the Head House.
also women coming from the water
and girls sitting on the beach were
insulted by rowdies. Here again police
protection was Inadequate"
There is your specimen of rum trust
law and protection of the public-a