The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1872-11-21
Besso1's Rec1Pefative Power.
fTrum the CHICAGO Tribunal

More careful estimates than could be made
while the nre was raging in our sister city now
reduce the losses to eighty one hundred mil
lions VI this sum moderate portion will fall
on the insurance csnipasi-s, aud . very consider
able part Will be bsrne by wealthy estates like
the Sears estate, and the Everett estate, which
VIII stu We left with millions after deducting al
their losses. A statement furnished by the New
iork insurance companies shows that thirty.
eight companies have risks in Boston amounting
70 soI,' cS,soS; twenty-five companies in otheI
States have insurance in Boston amounting tC
Ss5, ,415,sll, and six foreign companies have risk
amounting to S26, ,Z26, ,362. The first il incom
pietes but tends TO show that the al amount o
riske held by all companies in Boston must b,
nearly Two hundred millions, of which thirty
miilions perhaps Will fall within the burned dis
tsict. Inc insurance losses are lessened by the
iact That the heavier losers had practsed what i.
absnrd!y styled '.insuring themselves"
II the total loss in Boston foots up at $4,000,
wv, and the insurance companies pay from So
100000 to $30,0O0OOO as is probable. there is nc
reason to regard the destruction Of the remaininr
sum OF S6O,OoO0O0 or s70,OOO,0OO as any perma
nent blow to the prosperity Of that city. The
net loss will be about half that of Chicago in oul
great fire, and it will fall upon q community av.
eraglng three times as much wealth per capita al
our own. Boston Is the wealthiest city in the
United States in proportion TO population except
ing, perhaps, Providence. Its loss relative its
Resources, is about One-sixth as great as our own
and from this loss it will rise i'm triumph restor
ing its burned district to than former grand
eur and utility, without the necessity of borrow
ing abroad single dollar of capital. Its banks
hotels, churches, public buildings and records
schools, manufactures, retail trade, residence
property, and nearly all its ordinary means Of IN.
d,ustry and enjoyment, are undist:..b,d. Bu,
little more than certain lies of its wh.l.sal,
trade arc impaired, and these viii be promptly
restored. While the losses occur in the portion
Of tho city in which the total, loom up the lary-
est, they render very few people h,irecss, they
bankrupt comparatively few small traders, and
81 far rs Inconvenience may visit the laboring
class, they will soon lie fOrgotten in the inerras-
ed wages which will result from ffis expenditure
Of forty fifty millions in rebuilding the burnt
district, and of like further sum in restoring
the destroyed goods, large portion Of which
were Of New England manufacture.
In all these particulars Chicago was at dis
advantage, compared with Boston, which even
the late appalling calamity will but frebly aid
the latter to appreciate. We had lost our public
records, and therein nearly all the evidences of
title to all the lands. net only in the burned dis
trict but outside Of it. We liad, G00U0 homeless,
poor, not a few of whom had been accustomed to
homes of luxury and live, of ease. The area
burned over was twenty-nine Times as great as
that burned in Boston, and, though mn"I. of 3:
was not compactly occupied, yc. il vas al, occl;
pied, BY sOmethir-
About three hundred acres of our business dis
pactness and in the permanence and durability
of Our buildings, with the hundred acres burned
in Boston, though nO portion Of our city had so
narrow streets, or so generally high structure.
Even prior to the fire We had been large borrow.
ers of foreign capital Bostcn even after re-
oa;ng Will be .",se lender of capital to other
cities and sections. Our public buildings. more
than half our churches, nearly all our hotels all
our Wholesale houses Of every kind, all our banks
insurance companies, newspapers, railroad de-
Pots, and commercial houses generally, were
burned out, and over more than third of our
city, including tho heart of it, Nothing was left
but pavements and pluck. Boston has had a
severe fire, bnt We heartily congratulate the
g Hub" OH being spared from a calamity that can
rival our own of last year. Yet we already begin
to soc, in the rebuilding of Chicago, the rise Of
city more uniformly elegant, commodious, i'm
posing, and agreeable a place of business and
of residence, than could ever have occupied this
site but for the fire. We have not yet reached
the point where the fire appears essential to our
prosperity, or even blessing Of any sort in dis
suise. Yet we do perceive that, at day not
distant, our city will be far nobler one, archi-
than. it could have been without the
lire.
But, while we have been commpelled to plunge
deeply into debt to restore position, Boston
can call in the capital necessary for her wants by
selling some of her government, railway and
State bonds. The sixty or seventy millions will
,Oms to here on the street the moment she asks
Or it. Her great publishing houses, newspapers,
hotels, public buildings record Offices banks,
md twO-thirsls of her mercantile houses are un-
ouchesl. She has reason, therefore, for des-
iair, and will not feel bowed by her disaster
She will do well to wipe out some of her crooked
anes and cow-paths, throw their space inte
broader streets, and rebuild her burnt district
With xre-prOOf buildings Let her allure all
wooden roofs and all Mansards, all wooden floors
'arttions, beams, girders, and supports of every
lind. Let her make her buildings actually fire |
roof by using in their construction the very |
minimum Of cOmbustible matter-iron, slate, tile |
oofs, tile floors, and iron ceilings and supports
'ebuilt in this style, Boston would, in q few |
ears, gravely doubt whether her great fire was |
disaster, or whether it was an Indispensable |
onditiOn to the needed improvement Of the city. |