In addition to the foregoing large sums were raised for local celebrations and did not pass through the treasury of the Mayor's Committee. Results of the Celebration The beneficent results of the efforts to promote a rational celebration of Independence Day are indicated by the statistics published in the Journal of the American Medical Association of August 26, 1916, which may be summarized as follows. The figures include return from all the United States: The figures given by the same authority for New York City for the past ten years are as follows: The year 1916 was the first in which not a single case of lockjaw was reported in the whole United States as the result of Fourth of July injuries. A few cases in which it was feared that tetanus would result were reported but the use of antitoxin as a preventive doubtless prevented it. Chairmen of Committees in 1916 As previously stated, the officers of the Mayor's Independence Day Committee in 1916 were Hon. George Gordon Battle, Chairman; Mr. Isaac N. Seligman, Treasurer; and Mr. Carl Beck, Secretary. The Assistant Secretary was Miss Frances G. Ecob, now Mrs. Carl Beck. The Chairmen of the sub-committees were as follows: Aldermanic Committee... Armories Committee. Athletic and Festival Committee. Aviation Committee.... Block Celebrations Committee. Co-operating Bodies Committee. .Hon. Joseph M. Hannon Hon. Douglas Mathewson Charles R. Lamb Historical Observances Committee. . . . . . . George F. Kunz, Ph.D. Illuminations Committee... Industrial Section.... Information Committee.. Manhattan Borough Committee. . Arthur Williams .Edward T. James .Edward C. Rybicki Hon. Marcus M. Marks Col Louis Annin Ames Music and Song Rallies Committee. . . . . . . Prof. Henry T. Fleck New Citizens Committee... Program Committee.. Frederic C. Howe, Ph.D. Edward Hagaman Hall, L.H.D. .. Hon. Maurice E. Connolly . Hon. Calvin D. Van Name ...Edward W. Stitt, Ph.D. The General Committee had about 1,500 members. The headquarters of the committee were in room No. 3, City Hall Mayor's Proclamation On June 15, 1916, Mayor Mitchel issued the following proclamation, which was spread broadcast throughout the City. To the People of the City of New York: The approach of the 140th Anniversary of the Independence of the United States again reminds us of our privileges and duties as members of the Republic; and with a view to the suitable observance of the day, I have appointed an Independence Day Committee to assist in the arrangement of appropriate exercises in various parts of the City. I, therefore, call upon the men, women and children of the City to co-operate in every way possible with this Committee; to assemble at places to be designated by the Committee, and with reverent remembrance of the sacrifices of our forefathers and with gratitude for the blessings we enjoy as a Nation, to take part in a rational and patriotic celebration of the Fourth. JOHN PURROY MITCHEL, Mayor. New York, June 15, 1916. Patriotic Booklet. At a cost of $1,612, the committee had printed 125,000 copies! of a booklet, 534 by 9 inches in size, containing 16 pages and cover, prepared by the Chairman of the Program Committee,, which were distributed through the chairmen of sub-committees throughout the City. The front cover, printed in four colors, bore a reproduction of Trumbull's picture of the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, a United States flag, the seal of the City, the title "New York City Independence Day Celebration, 1916" and the pledge: "I pledge allegiance to my flag, and to the Republic fo. which it stands one Nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." The inner pages contained the Athenian Oath and the adaptation used in the City College (see our Report for 1913, page 135); the Mayor's proclamation; the names of the Officers of the Mayor's Committee and of chairmen of sub-committees; a diagram of the committee's organization; an account of the origin and results of the "safe and sane" Fourth of July celebrations; four pages of sites and landmarks in the City connected with the War for Independence; the Declaration of Independence; the program of the patriotic song rallies held in various parts of the City; and the verses of the popular songs sung at the rallies. General Observances. Celebrations were held all over the City in the morning, afternoon and evening. Their chief characteristics were instrumental and vocal music, speeches, reading of the Declaration of Independence, tableaux and local pageants, athletic exercises and games, and illuminations. There were no great processions, and the pageants were not parades, but were symbolical or historical enactments on platforms or reserved areas of ground. There were no fireworks, and no firing of cannon. Flags were profusely displayed, but the din of firecrackers and other explosives which characterized the evening of July 3 and the day of July 4 seven years ago was entirely absent, due mainly to the enforcement of city ordinances against the sale and use of explosives. Exercises at the City Hall The official central celebration war at the City Hall. The morning exercises at this point were under the direction of the Historical Observances Committee, of which Dr. George F. Kunz was Chairman, with the cooperation of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society and the Congress of the Bronx Open Forum. Mr. Edward Polak was Chairman of the Forum. The program was as follows: 1. Band concert from 10 to 10:30 a. m. 2. "Star Spangled Banner," by the band. 3. Address by Dr. George Frederick Kunz, introducing Hon. George Gordon Battle as presiding officer. 4. Address by Hon. George Gordon Battle, Chairman f the Mayor's Independence Day Committee. 5. Music, by the band. 6. Address, by Hon. John Purroy Mitchel, Mayor. 7. Music, by the band. 8. Address, by Hon. Wm. A. Prendergast, Comptroller of the City. 9. Historical Pageant, by the Congress of the Bronx Open Forum. 10. Music, by the band. The key-note of the Mayor's address was preparedness for national defense. He said in part: "By precept and by practice we teach the new citizens of America, young and old, native born and alien, the civil duties of citizenship. By precept, but in a left-handed fashion, we attempt to inculcate the theory that upon each man rests the moral duty to serve his country as a unit of defense in case of need. But we fail to drive that doctrine home by practice. "We fail to make each boy, as he grows to manhood, and each man, during early prime, understand through practice that with the civil obligation, and equally fundamental, goes the obligation of military service, military service in time of peace, to prepare himself to be an efficient and serviceable unit in the national defense, as a national insurance against disaster if war should ever come. "We fail to bring home to each man in the Republic his personal individual obligation to preserve and apply the ideals, to protect the institutions, to perpetuate the liberties of America by the service of his hands, as the price of his free citizenship. "The only system of defense suited to a democracy is that which rests upon the trained service of its citizens, which treats rich and poor, high and low, alike, exacting from each man only that duty which is common to all others. |