New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-11-11

vate residences, the loss, frightful as it now is.
would have been infinitely more painful. As
Il ia the suffering will not be, we should sup
pose, to any great extent of a specially domestic
character. There will be nothing like the
homelessness and the physical deprivation
which gave 80 tragical character TO the
Chicago fire. Trouble and distress there must
and will be, but not of the most painful and
urgent kind. The losses have largely fallen
upon the very classes best able to bear ana
to recover from them
But it is the commercial aspect Of the case
which is most appalling. The financial re-
sources of Boston are enormous, but she VIII
need them all. Once more our insurance
system is subjected to the severest trial. Inc
dead loss, even if companies promptly pay the
claims of the assured, must be terrible
| fire like this cOmpels us to look the lnduplta-
| Bile weakness of insurance in the face, ana 10
comprehend that while the system may serve IN
| divduals, and while upon all ordinary occasions
| il infinitely ameliOrates misfortune, 1t IN no
way alters the fact of the positive extinction
| of the wealth destroyed. No matter how
equally divided may be the loss, the city VS.
tied by such q conhagration must be by so much
| the poorer as it is uninsured, or insured Withh
| its own borders while the whole country
must be by so much the poorer, as it Is called
upon to contribute to the repair of losses. we
must await the effects which these will have
upon the general monetary interests OF the
country and upon particular branches of trade
| As happened after the Chicago fire, we may
| reasonably anticipate marked decline In the
stock market. 1t will be well, however, to
remember that there is something left over In
Boston vet. The destruction of goods in store
has not, except by the withdrawal of certain
amount of capital, affected at all the capacity
for production. The manufactures themselves
are elsewhere, and their activity cannot fail to
be greatly stimulated. There may be difficult
ties but there can be no permanent paralysis.
The Boston merchants are made Of stronger
stuff than to succumb even to such misfor-
tunes as these We shall see them rise superior
to their calamities and it is almost superiluous
to say, that they will have the sympathy and
the practical assistance of all commercial
classes throughout the land. The pressing
question is that Of the ability of the Insurance
Companies to confront their losses. The
habit of Boston merchants was to insure
mainly in their own offices or in those OF
neighborng towns. The losses are undoubt-
eddy exaggerated, as they always are upon
such occasions and upon the first report. A
careful estimate made by competent person
has been furnished us, and this puts the prob
able loss at S1OO,OO0,OO0 If it should prove to
be no more than this, the large and sound
companies of this city will, we think, meet their
losses promptly and In full. Companies which
were greatly crippled by the Chicago fire may
require all their energy and resources to carry
them through but far as insurance and the
relief which it can afford il concerned, the
outlook is not 50 gloomy rs it might be.
In the hurry of the occasion and before a
calm estimate can be intelllgently made OF the
situation, it is impossible to say III what def
mite way other cities can assist Boston in this
her great emergency. But as a city histori-
cay endeared to the American people, as the
seat of social refinement, of elegant culture,
and of philanthrOpic activity, as the center to
which the results of New-EnglaDd's multi
farious industry naturally tend, she is entitled
to unlimited sympathy, especially from those
who have not yet forgotten the lavish gen.
crosby with which she has come to the assist
ance of more than one of her sisters similarly
afflicted. She has the heart as she Will at
once have the helping hand of the nation.