That is a mighty big
job for one man to have done."
In 1905 and in previous years the casualties resulting from fireworks
on the Fourth of July averaged from five to six thousand each year.
The humorous weekly _Life_ and the _Chicago Tribune_ had been for some
time agitating a restricted use of fireworks on the national fete day,
but nevertheless the list of casualties kept creeping to higher
figures. Bok decided to help by arousing the parents of America, in
whose hands, after all, lay the remedy. He began a series of articles
in the magazine, showing what had happened over a period of years, the
criminality of allowing so many young lives to be snuffed out, and
suggested how parents could help by prohibiting the deadly firecrackers
and cannon, and how organizations could assist by influencing the
passing of city ordinances. Each recurring January, _The Journal_
returned to the subject, looking forward to the coming Fourth. It was
a deep-rooted custom to eradicate, and powerful influences, in the form
of thousands of small storekeepers, were at work upon local officials
to pay no heed to the agitation.
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