Norwich bulletin., 1917-06-27
URGED TO CELEBRATE
 FOURTH WITH REVERENCE.
Governor HoIeomb Issues Independence
 Day Celebration.

| sraIltude Tor the past, grim reSpOnSi- = | bility for the present and unshaken
 resolution for the future" Governor ] Holcomb. in proclamation setting | aside the dag for these purposes. asks also that, in the midst of a war that l promises to tax our resources to the l uttermost mill" the day be inexpenu sively celebrated, without the "wanton destruction of life and property" which | has marked Independence days in the past
 The almost fatalistic significance" | of the day is dwelt upon in the proc | lacation which was made. It follows: State of Connecticut By His EEcellency,
 MARCUS H. HOLCONB, Governor.
 A Proclamation.
 Next to that most sacred of all days which marks the birth of the Son of the Supreme Ruler of the nations, the day which symbolizes the birth of our country etands dearest in the affections of our countrymen and most signifi-
 cant in their thoughts. The Fourth of
 July, properly christened as Indepen
 dence day, has throughout our history
 possessed a peculiarly patriotic and
 almost fatalistic significance. Men are
 wont Do attach a meaning deeper than mere coincidence to the circumstance
 that those two revolutionary patriots,
 John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, passed away upon this day. just half
 century after the nation which they had nutured saw the light. It was also upon this day that the first ominous whisperings of the nations rebirth in the great civil conflict appeared in the turbulent anti-slavery meeting in Bos- ton in 1883. So, too, on this day was the annexation of Texas, our second step in national expansion, ratified by popular vote in 1S44, while four years later. on the same day, there was sign wi which determined the acquisition of our vast southeastern empire. The gloom of our earliest great baptism of blood in the Civil war, in which northern arms first came to a realiza- ton of the stern character of the prob lem they were facing was brought home to the people of the north by President Lincoln's message on the Fourth of July in 1861 following the battle of Bull Run, while three years later, on this selfsame day, the light of victory broke through the clouds of northern skies by the announcement and the fall of Vicksburg. It was. in deed, with a fine recognition of his toricaI proprieties that our congress long ago enacted that each new star be added to the flag on this dav Thus does the Fourth of July. which wit messed our national beginnings. seem to have been signalized by unusual circumstances by the Unseen Hand WHICH QlT0CLS the aHd1rS or men.
 By the easy going carelessness of a great, good-natured and wonder fully prosperous people, this day has gradually degenerated into what is frequently an occasion of unseemly or i'll advised, joIlification, often inn properly commercialized by private interests. Our very impulses of pa \ triotism seem to have been convert ed into instrumentalities of wanton destruction. The toll of life and prop erty from these sources has been ap- palling. We learn from the Journal of the American Medical association that the casualties from the use of fireworks, top pistols and similar in strumentalities during the past four teen years have been over 45,000: the maximum year being 1908 with $500 maimings and deaths, and the lowest being 1916 with only $50 casualties. There has been like destructive toGi of property. According to statistics collected by one of our great insurance companies, one celebration of Inde- | pendence Day has cost in sporadic and i widely scattered property, losses S1,- 150,000, with probably half million | dollars not reported. The destructive | fire in 1866, which nearly wiped out | the beautiful city of Portland, Maine, | entailing a loss of 10000, 900 was due | to this same cause. When. then, this | statistical authority just referred to, | tells us that "one days celebration | was as costly as a battle in the Span |
 
 out of account our general national | losses of many decades past and con- | sidering only three yearly celebrations i in a few large cities, more persons | casualties in the Revolutionary battles | of Lexington. Bunker Hill, Fort Moul- | trie, White Plains, Fort Washington, | and Cowpens combined" it | should give us pause even in times of | peace
 But the nation Is now at war-the | most colossal war that ever has dis figured the fair face of this planet a war that promises to tax our re- sources to the uttermost mill, and the end of which we cannot now foresee.
 At this hour when we are asking the farmer to plant, the housewife to save duction, the idler to work and our young men to fight, it is fitting that ask would that I had the power to command, that this foolish and wan ton destruction of life and property cease.
 count among the supreme assets of a great and free people that i'm ponderable thing that we call spirit or loyalty. Even in these days of rig i'd economy and strict frugality, deem it not wasteful, but rather an form of economy, that in each community of our ancient com this day be f1ttingly and celebrated I urge that it be celebrated in a spirit of rever- ence and conservation: that we sum- mon up the shades of the nations Great and make them our oracles, that we scan reverently every we'll established precedent and every sa- cred tradition; and that Independence Day of 1917 in the state of Connecti- cut be instinct with gratitude for the past, grim responsibility for the pres ent, and unshaken resolution for the future.
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