New Britain herald., 1917-06-26
Believes Day Should Be Ob- served With Spirit of Deep Reverence Under Present Conditions.
SUMMON UP SHADES
 OF NATIONS GREAT
b1splay stGratitudlen for Past, Grim
 Responsibility for Prtsent and Un-
 shaken Resoaution for Future," is } E.necutfvds Plea-De1paored Com-
 naezcia,isn and Foolish Waste in x lsoezat Years.

artford. June Governor Hol- emb today issued the following kanrth of July proclamation:
 Next to that most sacred of all eyA which marks the birth of the
 naof the Supreme Ruler of the na- 01 the day which symbolixes the
 Of our country stands dearest In
 nfEections of our countrymen and
 significant in their thoughts.
 ourth Of July, properly christ
 n Independence Day. has. ehnut eur historR possessed . rN pAtriotic and almost fatalis- 13M nad adcAnce. Men arc wont to at. eAper than moro coincidenct to 3panstance that those two revo- ltit3onAx pAtriots, John Adams and 1TADmaa 5eKe1son. passed away upon day half . century after the na- ton which they had nurtnred saw the li8ht, It wAne ID upon tl1is day that tho frst ominous whispArings Of the nation,s rebtrfh n the great civil con- dliet appeared In tho turbulent anti- sslayery msetin4 n Boston n 1s3s. So. too. on this day Mas tho annexation of panaton. rattned by popuIax vote In %40NSA1 WA4A1Op 1VNAG2 - - 54Ssed9xe OAk kA10 same day, thAre wAG olened' fhe treaty 'of spsscs with Mexicc. which deter- naino the AcQuis ltton Of our vast noufheastern empire.
 The gloom of our earliest great x t1 0f b3cod tn. tho civil war. In sNflsich northern arms nr1t came to . gfealixltion of tho stesn chasanter Of 6 pSqbleSn they were facin8. was Snrouxht homo to the people of the north by President IAncoln's message son tho Fourth of July In 1864 follow < fnk faie bA&t1e of Bull Run. while three ytD6xu iatof. on this self same day. the s lieh& of victory broke through the sc1oudp of northern skies by the arl- nouncement of tho decisive conflict of < sGettysburg and the fall of Vlcksburg. ! If sas indeed, with fine reco4nition 0f historical proprieties that our con- kress long ago enacted that each new < gtar be added to tho da& on this day. Thus does the Fourth of July. which witnessed our national beginning seem to have been Hgnalized by unusual z scircumstances by the UnSeen Hand which directs the affairs of men.
 By the easy going carelessness of our good natnred and wonderfully prosperous people. this day has grad- ually degenefated into what is fre- ouently an occasion of unseenly or ill., , advised 5ollification,J often improper ly commercialised by private interests. Our very impulses of patriotism seem 4o have been converted into instru- mentalities of wanton destruction. The toll Of life and property from these sources has been appaling. We learn from the Journal of the American Medical Association that the casala1- ties from the suse of hreworkss toy x pistols and similar instrumentalitief durthg the past 14 years have been over 45, ,0OH the maximum year beine 1908, with $500 maimings and deaths, and the lowest being 1916 with only $50 casualties. There has been like destructive toll of prop erty. According to statisticg collected by one of our great insurAnce com x panies. one celebration of Independ. ence Day has cost in sporadic ant sasT3dsly seathered property losses $1.' ik0. 900, with probably half a millior < dclIars not feported. Tho destructive fire in 1886, which nearly wiped ou the beautifu1 city of Portland. Me. 2 entailing . loss of $10. 100000 was du' to the same cause. When. then. thi statistical authority just referred to tells us that one Ody . C0lcUIAtAoA Wd as costly as a battle in the Spanish American war and, that, leaving out Q account our general national losse of many decades of the past and con N oldering only three yearly celebration .lai few large cities, more person have been killed and injured than tn E casualties in the Revolutionary bat ties of Lexington. Bunker Hill. For Moultrie, White Plains, Fort Washine ton. Monmouth and Cowpens com
 bined, it should give us pause even i
 times of peace.
 ssBut the nation Is now at war tho most colossal war that ever he
 AiGdeured the fair face of this plane
 - war that promises to tax our re
 npurce1 10 the uttermost military, an
 the end of which we cannot now fore
 zee.
 At this hour when we arc eskin
 the farmer to plant, the housewife
 save. the manufacturer to speed U
 production, the idler to work and ou
 young men to fight, it is fitting that
 ak. would that I had the power
 command, that this foolish and war ian destruction of life and propert
 cease.
 . .I count among the supreme a!
 sets of sa great and free people ths
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