"This is the lesson of Independence Day this year — a lesson pointed by the fearful experience of Europe and daily driven home by what is taking place about us here. He must be dead, indeed, to every patriotic impulse who holds that what we have won and builded at so great cost and efforts is not worth defending and preserving. He must be mad who thinks we can preserve it or defend it unprepared. Pray God this lesson of Independence Day may sink into the consciousness of the American people before disaster brands in there forever."

The historical pageant, representing the Signing of the Declaration of Independence, was written by Dr. Marion Mills Miller and produced under his direction with the aid of Mr. Joseph G. Cullegan. It was an abbreviated version of the complete pageant which was given in the recreation stadium of Crotona Park, in the Borough of the Bronx, in the evening. (Plate 25.) It was enacted upon the slightly elevated pavement in front of the City Hall steps, immediately under the eyes of the Mayor and official party who sat on a platform built over the City Hall steps. The pageant represented the following features:

"Gathering of 56 members of Congress in the State-house at Philadelphia. Reports of the various colonies on measures for defence and organization of patriotic governments. Great debate on independence; resolution of Richard Henry Lee; speeches in favor of an immediate declaration by Lee, George Wythe, Samuel Chase, and John Adams. Speeches against the resolutions as premature by James Wilson, Edward Rutledge, George Read and John Dickinson, which is greatly resented by opponents of the measure, who declare against steam-roller methods, defeating the will of the people. Nine colonists vote for the resolution which must be unanimous to carry. Meeting adjourned to give minority delegates time to come around. Patriotic appeal for united action by Rutledge. Committee appointed to draft the Declaration. Congress reassembles. Thomas Jefferson reads the draft of the Declaration. All colonies agree on Independence except Delaware, the two delegates of which are divided; George Read stubbornly refuses to vote against the wishes of his constituents, who are opposed to Independence; Caesar Rodney, a third delegate, arrives posthaste on horseback, casts his vote for the measure making it unani

mous.

In the evening there was a "Patriotic Song Rally," one of several held in different parts of the City-under the direction of

Mr. Henry T. Fleck, Professor of Music at Hunter College. It included music by the band and singing by the people.

Exercises at the City College Stadium

In the evening, an elaborate program was produced in the great stadium of the City College under the direction of the Historical Observances Committee. Dr. Kunz was Chairman of the committee, Miss Olga Ihlseng was Executive Assistant, and the other members were Miss Josephine Beiderhase, Dr. Cranston Brenton, Miss Laura Sedgwick Collins, Mrs. Axel O. Ihlseng, Miss Alice Lewisohn, Miss Grace M. Lichten, Mr. O. J. Merkel, Miss Miriam Nelke, Miss Kate Ogleby, Miss Mary J. Pierson, Mr. Joseph Davis Sears, Mr. Henry L. Webb. There were from 15,000 to 20,000 persons present.

The program was as follows:

1. Music, "America," by the band.

2. Address by Dr. George Frederick Kunz, presenting Hon. George Gordon Battle as presiding officer.

3. Address, by Hon. George Gordon Battle.

4. Paul Revere's Ride, enacted by Jean Earl Moehle, assisted by 50 of the High School Boys' Military Training Corps, Dr. C. Ward Crampton, Director.

5. Music, "Suwanee River," by band and audience.

6. Spirit of '76, enacted by members of the Empire State Society of Sons of the American Revolution.

7. Music, "My Old Kentucky Home," by band and audience.

8. Emancipation, enacted by Howard Kyle and others.

9. Music "My Soldier Boy, Good Night," by band and audience.

10. Woman Suffrage, enacted by 26 women and misses.

11. Address, by Mrs. James Lees Laidlaw.

12. Music," America, I love thee," by band and audience.

13. Pioneer Spirit in the Citizen of Tomorrow, enacted by the Boy Scouts of America.

14. Address, by Hon. Marcus M. Marks.

15. Prison Reform, enacted under the auspices of the National Committee on Prisons by Dr. C. Ward Crampton and others.

16. Jewish National Anthem, by the Halvey Chorus.

17. Address, by Abram I. Elkus, D.C.L.

.

18. Child Labor, enacted under the auspices of the National Child Labor Committee.

19. Music, "Invitation to Peace," by the Halvey Chorus.

20. Address, by Hon. John Temple Graves.

21. Peace Tableau, under the auspices of the Joint Committee on Arbitration with Mexico.

22. Music, "Stars and Stripes," by the band.

23. Spirit of Preparedness, tableau posed after Edwin Blashfield's picture, under the auspices of the National Security League.

24. Columbia, impersonated by Madam Gadski, leading the singing of the National Anthem " The Star Spangled Banner."

Athletics and Festivals

A very important part of the celebration of the day was carried out by the Athletics and Festivals Committee, of which Mr. William J. Lee, Supervisor of Recreation of the Department of Parks, was Chairman. Mr. Lee, through his experience in the parks, has developed a system and organization excellently adapted to carrying out one fundamental idea of the Mayor's Committee, namely, to secure popular participation in the celebration of Independence Day. New York City is so big that it is physically impossible to concentrate the activities of Fourth of July on one central demonstration. It is therefore necessary to organize local celebrations in different parts of the City. Mr. Lee's committee held athletic festivals and games in 36 public parks and 5 public baths in which, it is estimated, there were more than 20,000 actual participants, while about 200,000 spectators looked on.

In the Public Schools

An equally important part of the day's observance in New York is always in connection with the public schools. This part of the rising generation was reached through the Schools Committee, of which Edward W. Stitt, Ph.D., was Chairman. Through this committee, thousands of patriotic souvenir programs were distributed among the children and appropriate patriotic exercises were held at various school centers.

An idea of the extensive ramifications of the celebration may be gained from a glance at the list of sub-committees of the Mayor's Committee heretofore given. The newspapers estimated that in one way or another, 2,000,000 persons were reached by it.

Explosives Completely Prohibited in 1917

This year, 1917, the "safe and sane" celebration of the Fourth of July will reach its highest development in New York City in the complete prohibition of the sale of explosives. On April 23, 1917, Fire Commissioner Robert Adamson announced that he had not only decided not to license any shops to sell fireworks, but was considering suspending the manufacture of fireworks until after the war. The reasons are two. Alien enemies may take advantage of the public sale to store explosives, and the powder that goes into fireworks can be employed to better advantage in the army and navy.

LAFAYETTE DAY CELEBRATION

On September 6, 1916, the anniversary of Lafayette's birth was celebrated extensively throughout the country. In New York City, there were several observances, one of them being under official municipal recognition in the City Hall. The American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society was requested to act as official historian of the proceedings in the City Hall, and gives a full report of the exercises in Appendix E. (See plates 21, 22 and 76.)

STATUE OF LIBERTY PERMANENTLY ILLUMINATED

On Saturday afternoon and evening, December 2, 1916, the permanent illumination of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor was inaugurated under the auspices of a committee of 200 citizens of which Mayor Mitchel was Chairman and Mr. Earl Harding was Secretary. The American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society was officially represented on the committee by its President. (See plates 19 and 20.)

The illumination of the statue was provided mainly through the efforts of the New York World, to which we are mainly indebted for the following history of the statue.

History of Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty.

After Alsace and Lorraine, French provinces, had in French eyes lost their liberty, Auguste Bartholdi, a figure to fire young men and old, proposed to France the Liberty Statue.

Bartholdi had lost his Alsatian home in the Franco-Prussian War. He came to the United States to observe the working of the greatest Republic in the world, and had his love for freedom augmented by experiences here. Through all his work and writings and his public acts this love was evident. He lives in the minds of Frenchmen as a great artist, but a greater devotee of liberty.

Mr. Edward Laboulaye, an eminent French publicist and a persistent friend in France of things American, was a close friend of Bartholdi. He it was to whom the idea of the Liberty Statue first suggested itself. He at once unfolded it to Bartholdi, who saw its possibilities. Immediately Bartholdi told France of his conception of the statue.

In 1874 a Franco-American Union was formed in Paris with distinguished Frenchmen and Americans as officers. M. Laboulaye signed this appeal, issued by the Union:

"The Monument of Independence will be executed in common by the two peoples, associated in this fraternal work as they were of old in establishing independence. In this way we declare by an imperishable memorial the friendship that the blood spilled by our fathers scaled between the two 'nations. It is a treaty of friendship which should be signed by all hearts which feel the love of their country."

Bartholdi did not wait. At once he made a small figure of the statue, then he enlarged it. Its grandeur grew upon him. He enlarged it twice again. Meantime contributions began to pour in. Peasants, clerks and vintners, soldiers, market women of the Halles in Paris,- every one in France, it seemed-wished to "sign by all hearts." The gifts were mostly franc gifts, and thousands of sous were received.

The moulding of the statue began in 1875. It was a work of trying detail and exactness. The moulds were cast in the foundry of Gaget, Gauthier & Co., Paris, the statue itself being composed of copper sheets beaten out to fit the moulds. In 1876 a gigantic