Independence Day : $b its celebration, spirit and significance as related in prose and verse
History
Independence Day : $b its celebration, spirit and significance as related in prose and verse
Fourth of July -- Poetry; Fourth of July celebrations; Fourth of July orations
But although the American abroad may well blush with shame in comparing
our “Horrible Fourth,” our “Tetanus Day,” our “Annual Massacre,” our
“Modern Massacre of Innocents,” our “Carnival of Lockjaw,” our “Bloody
Fourth,” or our “Day of Carnage,” with the fête days of other lands,
let him take courage, for at last it really seems as if “Explosive
Patriotism” were “on the run.” Throughout the Union, scores of cities
have already passed or are considering the passage of restrictive or,
better still, of prohibitive ordinances, and countless organizations are
getting into line in their efforts to substitute attractive features,
such as children’s processions and merry-making, pageantry, musical
festivals, picnics, and other safe observances for our present orgy of
death. In order to show at a glance what has already been gained by
legislation in preventing Fourth of July accidents, let us place side
by side the results obtained a few months ago in two groups of cities.
In the first let us put Washington, Cleveland, Baltimore and Toledo,
which cities protected by prohibitive or restrictive ordinances, gave
last Fourth of July a total of twelve accidents. The other four, New
York, Philadelphia, Boston and St. Louis, which were all relatively
unprotected, gave a total of thirteen hundred and ninety-seven accidents,
or an average of almost three hundred and fifty apiece. Drastic
ordinances and stern enforcement are required if we are ever to down our
National Disgrace.
Let us protect our little ones from death and danger, and then the next
step will be to learn to express “social ideals in action,” for as Mr.
Luther Gulick so well says: “If there is any one thing, any one occasion,
in connection with which there should be national community expression,
it should be in connection with our celebration of American independence.
This constitutes not only the pivotal point in the history of American
institutions, but is the pivotal idea upon which democracy rests.”
Nothing is more inspiring than love of country, therefore let us advocate
a “religion of patriotism” and do away with a false death-dealing
patriotism which, annually, on our National Birthday disgraces us in the
eyes of the whole civilized world.
AMERICANIZING THE FOURTH
(A Suggestion for a Pageant of Liberty.)
BY ROBERT HAVEN SCHAUFFLER
The old, undemocratic idea of honoring the birthday of American
independence is embodied in annual explosions of barbarism which have
already done to death many more persons than the Revolutionary War
destroyed. Indeed, our peaceful celebration seems as much more dangerous
than the old style of warfare as small-pox is more dangerous than
chicken-pox.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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