The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-07-05
NORMAL DAY. .|S ENJOYED BY. BIRMINGHAM
Nois Demonstrations Sup
 S2d By Barbecues, Ball v,,ies, Golf, Swimming And ,Sssearing How Dempsey Won SET PROGRAMS ABSENT THROUGHOUT COMMUNITY Just What Fourth Of July Is
 All About Recalled When
 Page Of History Is Review
 ed To Show South's Part

Every man and woman after their own fashion, Birmingham held high carnival Wednesday. Clear as bell al morning and hot as the hinges, the sun and sky smiled on the seek CTS after good times.
 Set programs went out of fashion for the Fourth of July with the pass ing of the stock tie and hustle, anl following same a free for all idea that eschewed the platform o.dtory, cannon firing and march past of fel- low citizens dressed up In soldier clothes.
 h newer day and time the holi- day has become more Americanized than tver-do what suits you. The result was the Fourth In Birmingham was normal, baseball, golf, swim ming, iarbecues, picnics, each man and woman celebrating the holiday In that manner which most appealed.
 What it was all about it is safe to say many did not know and as many did not care; suffice that work was absent for the day and good times were to be had.
 o O o
 Why We Celebrate.
 And while Birmingham was in the midst of its enjoyment of peace and plenty and prosperity, it's merrymak- ing and barbecues, there were some who paused in the midst of their good times to give a thought to the reason for 1t all. Their thoughts went back to what they had read and studied.
 A chapter in the little school his tory of long ago, just the first lines, stamped vividly on their minds then, and as wildly remaining:
 Tt was in the spring of 17S0 when the affairs of the Americans were at their lowest" Just a few words. but they covered q terrific epoch.
 The north had been lost to the revolutionists, New York, Boston, Philadelphia were in the hands of the British, ports, markets and harYests out of their hands. an English fleet patroling the coast, Saratoga, the only American victory of any conse- quence. a fading memory, and the English, under Sir Henry Clinton and Lord Howe, in an evil hour, for them, preparing to overrun the south. Had they held what they had won in the north, practically complete and overwhelming victory, the English flag might be giving over the post
  English moved the war to the south and lost.
 When the affairs of the Americans were at their lowest" the revolution all but lost to the continentals, the war rolled southwark Bombarding the ports, the English effected their landings and established bases of suplies, moved northward with the same barbarous ruthlessness that At tilla applied in Gaul, that von Kluck applied in Belgium, that sherman ap- piled in Georgia--annihilati Then the tide turned. Under Marion, Sum- ter, Jackson, Williams, Pickens and other southerners, South Carolina Georgia and Alabama mustered their plainsmen and mountaineers, their farmers and city men. First mere squads, then companies, then bat talions, and the Revolution was on at least in real earnest.
 Led by Colonel Tarleton and Lord Rawdon, the English commenced their northward march. At the battle of .Cowpens, in South Carolina, tho first real reverse of the English was experienced, their cavalry was shat tered, their infantry decimated, and they fell back for reinforcements The fiasco at Camden, when Gates, who the day before the battle had succeeded Schuyler at Saratoga, was
  forces were cut almost to pieces. Again the armies were rebuilt.
 Tarleton's cavalry was sent to sweep the country side. Battle con- tingents from Alabama, South Caro- lima. Georgia and Tennessee formed small army, and at Kings Mountain the Chateau Thierry of the Revolu- tion was fought. Just as the Amerl- can Second and Third divisions turned the tide in France in June 1918. so the continentals turned the tide of the revolution at Kings Noun tain. Cornwallis' plans were thwart- ed. he was cut off from supplies, ana though he held the field at Guilford Courthouse, in North Carolina Tn his northward march, he was too badly crippled to do much more dam age. Hemmed in at 4orktowh' ilhally he was forced to surrender
 Histories and stories have said the revolution was fought over mo tax ation without representation, put back of it all was but one idea In the minds of the continentals, after thv war had progressed a year or two, the right to vote. The vote has meant much to America 1t IS the lounIauio' iad on which double headers are piayeo, harbecues held, government built and controlled by those who are gov erned.
 So what Birmingham enjoyed Wednesday, consciously or uhcoh- sciously. was in reality commemo- ration; whatever form the celepra- tion took, baseball. swimmine' p'cnio or golf game, under 1t all lay the iron will and fortitude of the men or Kings Mountain, who had died that their children might go to the DOTS on election day. Known in all nlstSry the right to choose their own leauerS