The Campaign for a 'Sane Fourth' of July
A growing national movement pushes to replace dangerous fireworks with organized pageants and parades to curb Independence Day carnage.
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The recent order of Mayor Gaynor of New York forbidding the sale of fireworks from June 10 to July 10 has started a nationwide movement to make the Fourth of July a noiseless one. Plans include forming a national organization to alert communities to the long list of Independence Day casualties caused by explosives. President Taft has endorsed the movement, stating he is 'heartily in sympathy with the movement to rid the celebration of our country's natal day of those distressing accidents.' In 1909, there were 30 deaths and thousands injured across the country. In Washington state, celebrations have already begun to shift toward patriotic public entertainment, floral parades, and authorized pyrotechnic displays handled by professionals, successfully reducing gunpowder accidents.
“But, gee, ma, how kin us fellers show how we licked the British?”
The 'Sane Fourth' movement of 1910 marks an early attempt at public safety regulation regarding fireworks, a debate that continues today as towns and cities balance holiday traditions with wildfire risks and noise ordinances.
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