E 2. 8 b DISTRICT OF COLUB/IBIA Safe and sane Celebration of Independence Day, 1911 "**fC*i . -tfs^ SAFE AND SANE CELEBRATION OF INDEPENDENCE DAY AT THE NATIONAL CAPITAL WASHINGTON, D. C. PRESS 01" JUDD & DETWEILER, INC. 191 1 J ORDER OF EVENTS, July 4, 1911. Concert, Marine Band, Patriotic Exercises, District Build- ing Day Fireworks, Ellipse, south of White House Concerts, 15th U. S. Cav. Band, Ellipse, and 2d Inf. N. G. D. C, near Bathing Pools Swimming Contests, Bathing Pools Athletic Sports, Potomac Park Canoe Races, Potomac Park Concert, Engineer Band, Potomac Park Fireworks, Ellipse Illumination, Pennsylvania Avenue JOINT COMMITTEE, igii Cuno H. Rudolph, President Commissioners of the District of Columbia, Chairman George W. White, Treasurer, Board of Trade Thomas C. Noyes, Sec'y, Board of Trade Waldo C. Hibbs, Ass't Sec'y, Office Commissioners, D. C. George H. Harries, J. Fred Kelley, Julius Garfinkle, James F. Oyster, Henry B. F. Macfarland, Charles J. Bell, W. E. Shannon, E. C. Graham, Board of Trade Board of Trade Board of Trade Chamber of Commerce Chamber of Commerce Chamber of Commerce Chamber of Commerce Chamber of Commerce CHAIRMEN OF COMMITTEES, igii Committee on Finance, E. C. Graham David S. Porter, Vice-Chairman Committee Committee Committee Committee Committee tests, Committee Badges, Committee Committee Committee on Exercises, on Fireworks, on Music, on Athletics, on Swimming Con- on Medals and on Decorations, on Aviation, on Canoe Races, Henry B. F. Macfarland J. Fred Kelley Julius Garfinkle C. Edward Beckett W. B. Hudson Daniel E. Garges Frederick D. Owen George O. Totten Adrian Sizer PREVIOUS CELEBRATIONS. On July 4, 1903, the first official celebration occurred here, but, while there was a growing desire that the cele- bration of Independence Day should be without noise, the time was not yet favorable for the abolition of the use of fireworks by individuals. The Commissioners of the Dis- trict of Columbia inaugurated this kind of celebration. On July 5, 1908, another official celebration occurred, it being connected with the opening of the District Govern- ment Building. In 1908 the Commissioners believed the time had come for the abolition of noise as an expression of patriotism, and they prohibited by regulation the sale and use of fireworks by other than duly authorized committees representing pub- lic celebrations. With contributions subscribed, as pre- viously, by an interested public, a committee appointed by the Commissioners carried to successful completion a cele- bration, establishing what has come to be known as the "Safe and Sane Fourth," in 1909. The day after this cele- bration revealed the fact that there had been no accidents and no fires resulting from use of fireworks, as against the disasters of the previous Fourths of July. The National Capital was thus among the first to prohibit the use of fireworks, and probably the first to effect the combination of prohibition of the use of fireworks and a public celebration and display. The celebration in 19 10 was similar in its features, and included band concerts, canoe races, swimming races, and other athletic contests ; day and night fireworks, with illumi- nations of Pennsylvania avenue; the marking by tablets of points of historical interest, and patriotic exercises at the District Government Building. There were other interest- ing celebrations not on the official program, including suburban community celebrations with fireworks handled by responsible committees. The absence of casualties and property destruction was again noted. CELEBRATION OF 1911. The third "Safe and Sane" celebration was successfully carried out in 191 1, the features being similar to the celebra- tions of previous years.' There was an enthusiastic com- mittee and the public interest in the events was greater than ever. There were no casualties or property losses from the use of fireworks. Officially authorized displays of fire- works, in addition to the main fireworks exhibition of the committee, took place in suburban sections. Patriotic exercises were held in front of the District Building. The Marine Band, under Director W. H. Santelmann, having volunteered its services, furnished the musical num- bers. Mr. Henry B. F. Macfarland, Chairman of Committee on Exercises, presided. In opening the exercises he said that we of the National Capital would seem to have more reason to celebrate Independence Day than any other city, for this is the seat of the National Government and the place where the Declaration of Independence is kept. The citizens had reason also to be proud of the prominence of the National Capital in the "Safe and Sane" movement and the good results in the way of immunity from fatalities and fire losses. Mr. Ernest Gichner recited the Declaration of Inde- pendence. His delivery was calculated to inspire enthu- siasm, the recitation being altogether from memory. Mr. George W. White, Treasurer of the Committee, es- corted to the rostrum Mr. Justice Thomas H. Anderson, the orator of the day, who, upon being presented by the chair- man, spoke as follows: THE ORATION Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: Permit me to thank the members of the Board of Trade and of the Chamber of Commerce, and also the president and members of the Board of Commissioners of the Dis- trict of Columbia, for the honor of their invitation to ad- dress you upon this recurring anniversary of our National Independence. Memorial Days. In celebrating the fourth day of July we but follow an ancient and honorable custom. Ever since the first memo- rial stones of history were set up in the opened channel of the Red Sea, to commemorate an imperishable event in Jewish history, it has been the custom of all nations and peoples to commemorate, in some suitable fashion, the memorial days of their history. Along the pathway of our own eventful history a grate- ful people have erected their memorial stones and set apart their memorial days, in recognition of the two great epochs of our national life through which we have safely passed : The Fathers of the Republic gave us the 4th day of July as a memorial to the achievements of the Revolution, and their grateful countrymen that stately monument that com- mands our view and our admiration from every point of the National Capital, and speaks to us in silent eloquence of its immortal hero: Washington, the Father and Founder of the World's Greatest Democracy. In the onward sweep of our history, and out of the clouds and storms and whirlwinds of war, there was born another great memorial day, that for nearly half a century we have honored and observed by strewing the graves of its fallen heroes with the blooming flowers of May. The Intervening Years. Between these two great memorial days there intervened almost a century of our national growth and industrial development, in which we kept the flag of the Fathers fly- ing triumphantly over every foot of our vast territory in token of an undivided and sovereign nation. Barring the War of 1812 with England, and of 1848 with Mexico, these intervening years were marked by profound tranquillity and marvelous industrial progress. For fifty years follow- ing our independence, says an eminent English historian, "the history of America is a record of industrial progress without a parallel in the annals of the human race." Such, my friends, was our splendid progress and such our proud position at the close of the first epoch of our national existence. Slavery and the Civil War. Then came the Civil War, and tranquil America suddenly became the first military power of the world. The hour had struck when the experiment of free government as established by the Fathers, and guaranteed by the Consti- tution, was to be put to its final and severest test. An irre- pressible conflict between National unity and State sover- eignty that had been going on in the councils of the nation for more than sixty years was to be finally settled by the arbitram.ent of arms. Moreover, there was involved the further and deeper question whether this nation, chosen of God to lead the great family of nations in their onward march to a higher civilization and a purer Christianity, could survive the crucial test of purification essential to its great mission. The evil to be put away was fundamental and older than the Government itself — an evil so at variance with every rational conception of free government as to be a constant and dangerous menace to the peace and perpetuity of the nation. In the dread alarm of war, and under our limitations to grasp the far-reaching plans and purposes of the Infinite, we saw naught but the exigencies and needs of the imme- diate present. We saw the lowering clouds of war, but not the kindly light beyond that was soon to break in blessings upon the nation. We did not realize that the great Master Builder of nations and empires was preparing to purify the nation in the fires of war, in order that we might go forward unshackled and free in meeting the obligations of a new epoch in our national life upon which we were about to enter. Unfortunately the blessings of national independence came to us burdened with a system of servitude that long antedated the Revolution. So repugnant was it to the fun- damental principles of free government that Mr. Jefferson, in his original draft of the Declaration of Independence, embodied a clause strongly condemning it. Although this clause was stricken out, its fundamental principle — the equality of human rights — remained, and hence it was writ- ten, "All men are created free and equal." This funda- mental maxim became the guiding star of public opinion until, in the fulness of time, a Power higher than our own decreed that this inherited evil, whose shadow had fallen across our pathway like the sin of idolatry that had hovered about the camps of ancient Israel, must first be put away that we might go forward. Then it was that Abraham Lincoln, the servant of the Lord and the leader of his people, issued his immortal proclamation that forever redeemed our national honor and made good the basic prin- ciple of our Declaration of Independence. A Turning Point in History. This historic event, not even so much as dreamed of in the beginning, marked the turning point of our history and rang down the curtain upon the closing scenes of the sec- ond epoch of our history. When the great Emancipator 8 unbound the slaves, he unbound the nation as well, and the flag once more waved in peaceful triumph over a reunited country — a country redeemed and purified in the hot blasts of civil war, and finally made fit for its Divinely-appointed mission. Rebuilding. With malice toward none and with charity for all, with victor and vanquished alike rejoicing in the return of peace, the nation entered once more upon an era of unprecedented national and industrial development. With a passion for work and a genius for great undertakings we soon out- distanced all competitors in the production of wealth and in the mastery of conditions that make for the happiness and welfare of the people and for the wider distribution of their products in the markets of the world. The Third Epoch in Our History. With a constantly increasing world-wide interest in the activities of other peoples and in all international questions affecting our own domestic affairs or our relations with other powers, and with an aggressive though peace-loving population of eighty millions of people in i8g8, we could not, in the very logic of our position as the dominant power of the Western Hemisphere, long remain bound by the limitations of a single continent. The time had come Avhen it only required some just occasion to arouse the pub- lic conscience and bring us face to face with our manifest destiny as a Christian nation. Suddenly, and without our seeking, the occasion came when the oppressive hand of Spain was laid too heavily upon Cuba. The war which fol- lowed, and the naval victories of Manila and Santiago, were but the stately steppings of Him who reigns supreme, re- vealing to us for the first time our manifest destiny as a sovereign nation and as a great world power. 9 The Interpretation. I have thus briefly sketched the eventful years that He behind us, to the end that we might see with clearer vision, if possible, that we are not here by the mere accident of history — that this priceless heritage is not ours by the mere fiat of our own power nor by the mere work of our own hands — but as a divinely chosen people to work out a great and glorious end. If you ask what are the chief influences entering into our national life that make this Republic at once the wonder and admiration of the world, I answer, they are to be found in the simple fact that with the rise of this Republic the streams of human progress received into their sluggish currents for the first time the quickening influence and dynamic force of the Christian religion, individual liberty, and national patriotism. Grasp this great truth, and you grasp the mystery — if mystery there be — of our marvelous growth and power. The Result. As the mantle of Elijah falling upon the shoulders of Elisha indued him with mighty power, so the mantle of these dynamic forces falling upon the broad shoulders of the young Republic indued it with a power and influence that made it at once the hope and prophecy of the future. Behold the result ! Our growth in population and wealth ; our advancement in the arts and sciences ; our unequalled development along all lines that tend to the greatness and glory of a people finds us, at the end of less than a century and a quarter of constitutional government, in the full stat- ure of national development and pre-eminent as a world power. Our influence, no longer limited to a single conti- nent, now belts the globe. We have a thousand points of contact with the world's activities and aspirations unknown and undreamed of by our Fathers. Through the medium lO of Steel rails and ocean highways, the clicking telegraph and the whispering telephone, the submarine cable and the printing press, the electric flash and the winged and wire- less messengers of the air we are tenants in common with all mankind in all that makes up the sum total of human knowledge and human acl^iievement. Great Leaders. As we look back across the years and mark these three distinct epochs of our history great deeds and great names crowd the memory. In the roll-call of these immortal lead- ers stand the names of Washington, Lincoln, and McKinley. To Washington it was given to lay the foundation stones and rear the superstructure of the Republic upon the virgin soil of America. All honor to his great name and all praise to those who would teach men to revere his memory and emulate his unselfish patriotism. To Lincoln was assigned the mighty task of preserving the integrity of the Republic and the establishment of a more permanent Union, based upon the fundamental doc- trines of the Declaration of Independence. So well did he meet the heavy task laid upon him that his name is forever enthroned in the hearts of his grateful countrymen. Upon the broad and manly shoulders of the lamented and beloved McKinley was laid the task of lifting the Re- public founded by Washington and saved by Lincoln from its proud position as the dominant power of a single conti- nent to the infinitely prouder position of a great world power. In Washington, Lincoln, and McKinley we have a trinity of names that will live for all time and be the inspiration of their countrymen throughout all generations. Looking to the Future. As we review the past and contemplate the future we may face the coming years with confidence, so long as we recog- II nize the fact that the finger of God is writing our history. So long as we are true to Him, true to the traditions of the past, and true to ourselves we may well believe that this Republic of one hundred millions of people, "representing the most stupendous reservoir of human energy" in all his- tory, has but fairly entered upon her matchless career. Ours is pre-eminently a land of liberty and of oppor- tunity. Liberty has been the yearning cry of the human soul ever since the morning stars first sang together, and will be to the end. In every upward struggle of the race liberty and equality of opportunity have been the pillars of cloud and of fire that have led the way through all the wanderings and vicissitudes of men. While the advocates of these two great ideas were oft driven from the field, these immortal ideas themselves marched steadily on until, in the fulness of time, they found their first concrete expression in our Declaration of Independence and their first perma- nent habitation under the Constitution of the United States. It was for these eternal verities of natural justice that the Fathers of the Republic drew their swords, and in the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress achieved their final triumph. My fellow citizens : While you may retard, you cannot defeat the progress of a nation builded upon a foundation such as this. You might as well, in feeble imitation of that great Jewish leader, say to the sun, "Stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, moon, in the Valley of Aijalon," and ex- pect the mighty miracle to be wrought at your mere com- mand. While we have now and then experienced an un- stable equilibrium, and may again, we need not fear so long as the love of liberty and the influence of the American home abides and the Constitution and laws of the country are respected and obeyed. New Problems. In the evolution of our history and the history of the world we have finally entered upon a period of readjust- 12 ment both at home and abroad. While we are facing many perplexing problems of our own that we must settle for ourselves, we may confidently trust to the wisdom and common sense of the people for their rightful and timely settlement. As a world power we are likewise concerned in the right solution of the world's problems, in so far as they substantially affect our own interests and the general welfare of mankind. Therefore it is that we are the insist- ent and consistent advocates of international peace through the medium of international arbitration, under the provis- ions of an international code, whereby effect may be given to the findings and decrees of a permanent Court of Arbi- tration to be established as speedily as possible by the con- certed action of all nations. In no other way can the world's peace on a large scale be determined and main- tained. Good Citizenship. Again, in a Government like ours, in which we select from among the people, and not from a preferred class, those who make our laws, and likewise those who execute them, it is the paramount duty of every citizen to under- stand the nature and operation of the Government under which he lives. The mere fact that we are citizens of the Republic, and under the protection of its Constitution and laws, is reason enough for an intelligent knowledge of our system of government and of the machinery by which it is operated, even though we may not, as in the District of Columbia we do not, directly participate in its management. Our Constitution. Considering the object and far-reaching influence of civil government as defined in the preamble or enacting clause of the Constitution itself, and how vital that object is to the welfare of each one of us and to the people as a whole, it is 13 amazing that we were not taught its meaning and required to memorize its constitutional definitions while yet in our childhood as sternly and as solemnly as we were set to study our catechisms. Listen! Its object is to — "establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, pro- vide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to our- selves and our posterity." How simple the language, and yet of what mighty im- port ! Every word breathes of justice, liberty, and peace — the highest aspirations of the human soul. They ring as true as the Ten Commandments, and have the same Divine authority. No man can grasp the breadth of meaning of this preamble to the Constitution without experiencing an uplifting thrill of patriotism and a new inspiration to good citizenship. It will be observed from these opening words of the Con^ stitution that the end of civil government is not simply repression. Its purpose is not merely to restrain the wrongdoer and punish the guilty. These are the mere in- cidents of government. Its highest purpose is the general welfare of the people, and is therefore constructive rather than restrictive. Hence it follows that every undertaking, rightly directed, that has for its object the advancement of civilization and the betterment of the people, whether by the State, by individuals, or by organizations, acting under authority of the State, falls within the scope of the public- welfare clause of the Constitution, and is deserving of our loyal support, uninfluenced by party affiliations, local preju- dice, or denominational doctrines or differences. In thus directing your attention to the scope and purpose of the National Constitution, I would reawaken your in- terest and stir up your minds to a higher appreciation of this great charter of our liberties. It so far transcends all other constitutions ever devised by the wit of man that it has come to be the accepted model after which the organic 14 laws of other enlightened governments are being fashioned in order to meet the ever-increasing demands of the people for larger liberty and the right to participate in the making and execution of the laws under which they live. It is the first organic law in the history of mankind based on natural justice, and therefore its, only prototype is to be found in the Sermon on the Mount, the world's first and greatest constitution. It is under the safeguards of this marvelous charter of powers that our good ship of state, greater in power and moral influence than the combined dreadnaughts of all the navies of the world, for more than one hundred and twenty years has held her course until the thirteen stars lighting up the field of blue of her glorious flag when nailed to her masthead in 1789 have multiplied to forty-six in 191 1, with two more about to be added. Our History. Again, no man can justly claim to be well informed or well equipped for the duties of citizenship who is not famil- iar with the history of his country as well as with its Con- stitution. If I were a Roman addressing you as Roman citizens, and were to make the same appeal to you that I now do as an American to his fellow-Americans, I would be suggesting to you a somewhat difficult task, for the his- tory of Rome, like that of Egypt and of ancient Greece, stretches along a tortuous and checkered path far back into the past ; but the history of your country and of mine is yet fresh with the morning dew, buoyant with the vigor of youth, clean and well ordered in its achievements, and glo- rious in the annals of the human race. But a httle over a century and a quarter have passed since we entered the great family of nations as an independent power, and there- fore but a winter's night, as it were, is required to learn its storied past and become familiar with the lives and deeds of those who have made our country great and greatly hon- 15 ored by all nations and peoples throughout the world. By so much as the knowledge thus gained, by so much will he who gains it be a prouder and better citizen, and withal a happier man, because he thereby adds to his sum of knowl- edge that which no man can take from him and that which will be to him an inexhaustible fountain, from which he may constantly draw refreshing draughts of wisdom and knowledge in the quietude and contentment of his own life and home. The Law. As we love justice and liberty, and the Constitution and history upon which they rest, so should we love and respect the law, for law is the expression of justice and the guardian of liberty. Without law there is no liberty, and without liberty there is no justice. Liberty is the natural cry of the human soul, and the law is its citadel of defense. Destroy this citadel, and liberty would perish and anarchy reign supreme. Pope, in poetic measure, thus accentuates this thought : "Oh, give me liberty, For were even Paradise my prison-house, I would long to leap its crystal walls," Liberty and law are the attributes of Deity, and the -most priceless gifts that ever descended from the hand of God to the human race. Were it not for the law, liberty would degenerate into license, and utter chaos would prevail. As the harmony of the universe is alone maintained by obe- dience to the immutable laws of God, so the harmony of the world and the peace and happiness of mankind can only be established and maintained by obedience to the laws and due respect for the courts, whose duty it is to wisely and justly administer them. i6 Conclusion. Out of the glorious past must come the lessons of the future. An experience of one hundred and thirty-five years has demonstrated the wisdom and the far-reaching states- manship of the Fathers of the Republic in reposing the vast powers of government in three great co-ordinate branches, each acting within its own constitutional limitations and yet working in such perfect harmony as to insure to every citi- zen under the flag the protection of a strong, just, and stable government. To destroy or impair the efficiency of any one of these branches of government would be to destroy the govern- ment itself, and with it the liberties of the people. So long, however, as those charged with public office act within the limits of their legal powers and carry out the positive in- structions of the law we have nothing to fear. For behind the law, which is the shield and buckler against the un- lawful and vicious assaults of unwise and foolish men, stands the sovereign will of the people, quick to give its sanction and support to the reasonable exercise of all the constitutional powers of government for the enforcement of its decrees and the maintenance of public order. To this spirit of obedience to constituted authority and the steadfast devotion of the people to our American insti- tutions and to the scheme of government established by the framers of the Constitution do we owe the fact that we have outdistanced all other nations, ancient or modern, in solv- ing the problems of human government and the betterment of the human race. 17 A DISAPPEARING SACRIFICE. The annual compilation of the deaths and injuries from the insane Fourth has just been completed by the Journal of the American Medical Association for the 191 1 holiday. It shows a remarkable decrease, both in the number of fatal- ities and casualties. But 57 deaths are reported, as against 466 in 1903, and 131 in igio, or the eight-year average of over 200. The number of accidents has also decreased from 5,600 in 1908, the highest, to 1,603 this year. The Journal puts it strikingly when it says that in nine years thirty- seven regiments of American men, women, and children have been mutilated for life, and two regiments have been killed, in the celebration of Independence Day.— From the Pittsburgh Dispatch. JUN 24 bl2 SYRAcust IIS-;; $ 3 :<