INDEPENDENCE DAY CARNAGE,

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 302, 15 September 1908, Page 10

INDEPENDENCE DAY CARNAGE,

; ;54 KILLED, 1140 WOUNDED. ■ ' ' With a burnt-offering—literally burnt ant 1 charred—and the usual sacrifice of child lift (says the New York correspondent of th< " Daii^' Telegraph " on July 6) America .celo Independence Day from the Atlanta to thiji-Pacific. It was no such glorious.and gory 4th- of July as somo which I have described, but it was bad enough in all conscience]'and emphasises the growing national demaniT for a celebration of a more rational character. It'was a case of fiz, boom, bang, bang, Uroin midnight on July 3 till' midnight yesterday. ■ So far as I can ascertain, 48 persons, chiefly little boys, wore reported killed yesterday by fireworks, pistols, giant crackerS f and bombs', 'but to this total must o& added ' other deaths resulting to-day, making .54, while -\the ; number .of people burned, maimed, and lacerated by various explosives; was,- according-to a moderate estimate, Between 1140 and 1150. Thestf are official figures, and take no count" of accidfcnts which have not been-reported. : They do'hot represent a fall in the butcher's bill involved by celebrating the day "when' we turned the English put of America," because miiny of the wounds catiscd by explosions entail lockjaw, and this malady does not appear immediately. To judge from tha experience of previous ,years, the deaths will am'ounfcto a total of 100, or, to put the matter'iii^'nutshell, more fatalities have resulted iti''the piping times of peaco from celo bratingf Independence Day than occurred during'hhe revolutionary wars themselves. Most'lenlightened Americans regret, this crazy way of rejoicing, biit the authorities hesitato to act beyond issuing instruction* how wounds. For instance, everyone is solemnly informed that wounds caused bj; gunpowder must be opened and washed with a Solution-of .carbolic acid to prevent tetanus, and that this must be done "even if great pa'ili is caused and the child cries bitterly. In Ne'V^York. alone, despite hard times, over £2,000,000 'was spent in fireworks, chiefly for' family parties. According to' telegrams which I have received to-day from the chief American cities, the heroic practice of firing loaded revolvers from windows one occasionally* li'itting'wayfarers or even passengers' in pa'ssing trains, is gradually, di» appearing. filbert, a New York youngster, celebrating Day in a backward, accidentally sljtjt his young sister through the head,, killing her instantly. Fire balloons, which htprcvious years have caused serious are now forbidden in overy towh'aiid yjijlage. Fire brigades stood ready for: and _ horsod ambulances wore placed at' .strategic points. ;.* In the rained in the Eastern States, hut the fireworks and explosions and youthful entluisiasrtf were undamped. . Tha Stars and Stripes all over , the country, bands played patriotic airs, and 'patriotic exorcises ' generally • the order of.; thr> day.' ,f lt The "Now York World" to-day, in pleading for the "the carnivnl of crash and carnage," thoughtfully remarks that, despite, ; about hydrophobia, Jul,v 4 causrvo rroro deaths in-America from lockjaw in one year than result from rabies in half a 'Itwn years, and the "New Yol : k America" arguing'in the same strain,"says. "Instead of blowing -up children, - ,let uS~apply a ercmedy to the evils of the- 1 corrosion, oppffssion, plunder, and wV.'raL. according to Mr. Hearst's editorial hencljnian/ "Wienaco the American Republic." "' f; , ' To tell the truth, both Republic's and Democrats would not object- to iCnforcjijg preventive legislation "for: the sake," but they would run the risk of boiiigfcalled "little Americans.",' ■ ; V?" ;.i»' *• \'nno