Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1873-01-01
tGalrhman s. Journal.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY /, 1878.
The Old and the New.

closed remarkable year. lhere nave
been more than usual atmospheric changes
aud phenomena Both this continent and
Europe have been inundated with rains
Italy has been visited with storms that have
submerged aud desolatod large oxtents other
territory, destroyed hundreds Of lives, aud
reduced muiti,udes to pcnury or starva-
ton. Denmark also has found out once
moro how impossible It is to construct bar
riors against the sea, that it shall not pass
Austria and France have suffered largely
By food, and the Danube and the Seine
have both refused to be kept in their chan
nols and have brought terror and waste to
thousands Of human babitations. Nor have
the eements forgotten England but terri
ole storms and winds have swept over that
island, uuroofcd ancient cathodrals, blown
down the halls Of universities, aud prostra-
ted huge piles Of masonry, as if they were
mere straw and rubbish. The remarkable
quantity Of water that has fallen almost
necessarily in this country has been disas.
trous to the crops, and robbed US Of a large
portion Of the expected harvest.
And never before has the Atlantic been so
boisterous aud insaiiate. It's mighty, clam
orous hunger has been fed with steamer af-
ter steamer, with ship after ship, with thou
sands of lives, and in one week with more
than five hundred on the coast Of England
alone, aud still it is as raging and insatiatc
as ever. 1t seems almost as if our adj
yanced civilization was taking its tribute
from human lives and thatit triumphs wit
messed larger holocausts OF victims slain on
its affairs, than were ever offered in the pagan
rites Of Dahomcy or Peru. The telegraph
wires have been burdened with announce
meuts Of disasters by food and field.
Hundreds upon hundreds of valuable lives,
young men and old men, women aud chill
drep, the bridegroom and the bride; the
lover Fastening to his mistress, the man of
affairs to bis Office, the teacher to his
school, the clergyman to his parish, the
statesman to the council chamber, the
long absent son to his mother, have teen
inundated ruthlessly, without mercy, to
to this terrible MOloch Of railroad incapac-
ity and greed. Hundreds aud thousands
have been torn limb from LIMB, mangled,
tortured, slowly roasted to death, burned
alive, that morciess directors might sus-
tain incompetent officials or save the COM
panies triaing expense 10 watchful care
and prevention just as the year is expir-
ing, and its last days fading out, on the eve
Of Christmas, two carloads Of passengers
iourncyng to expectant homes, 10 a neigh
boring State, are thrown from the track
and forty Of them, in a moment, suffered
death by fire, by suIocation, by being torn
pioce.mca aud mangled out of all human
simiitude. 1t remains to be demonstrated
by protective legislation and by summary
Judicial procedures, whether such sacrlf,
cos can be prevented, or whether they are
inscparable from the material triumphs oil
our civilization.
Fire also has been busy on sea aud land
The Missouri, with her two hundred souls
who bad the horrible choice between dealt
by fame aud death by the waves, was no
the FIRST nor the last funeral pyre Of human
victims offered during the year to the passion
for haste and the passion for money, t.
rcck lcssness aud to ayarice, which arc tn,
main characteristics Of the eager American
mind. The Pacific too has been lightodby thu
flames Of some of her COOLEST steamers, or Gil
ed with the disjecia memJra Of their wrecks
OF late our ambitious civilization, with it
magnificent cities and commerce., with it
steam FIRE engines and organized fire de
partmen,s, seems to demand the burnin
sacrifice Of one city year on the altar 0
its imperial pride. Chicago, in 1871, Bos
ton in 1872, were the chosen victims to thi
remorseless deity. We have no Perseu'
no son of Jove, to deliver these fair An
dromedas Of our civilization from the dc
youring monsters Of food or fire. Not
withsiarding the magnitude Of our prep
aratious to resist or subdue fire, when
comes, they seem to be utterly useles
against the onset Of the fire king If on
American civilization would put NOR
money into its structures, it would not nee
to pu. so much into insurance companies an
fire departments. 1t is poor policy to roc
stone warehouses with finder boxes. /
the city of Florence not a building has bee
burned in the last thirty-dve years. Whe
we build better structures, and have capa
bic men at the head Of fire departments
instead Of hacks aud individuals sound o
the main question or true to party, We to
shall find our Perseus to deliver our fai
urban daughters from the jaws Of the fiji
dond. That is, when we put men into o
fee who are skilled and competent in th
specific duties Of the office, rather than
manipulating caucuses aud conventions, "
shall have less to fear from fire and Zoo,
We shall take the cars, or lie down to slice
in the sixth story Of a city hotel, with
greater sense Of security.
But while the elements seem to ha,
combined with the reeklesiness and incom
petence Of men to have secured larger sa,
riGcos Of life aud property than usual
the past year, there have been some sig
nal events transpire in international rel,
tons full Of indications Of hope for Ii
future. TIC matters of difference betwee
this eountry and England, which have bee
fostering for long time in tho Aesh al
blood Of the people, have been happily Sc
tied, and settled by peaceful arbitratio
England has been mulcted in the sum
sl5,5 600, to compensate for the loss
inflicted on our shipping by priyateers itt'
; out in her ports. BY this arbitration sew
! raj principles Of international comfy al
. law have been established, which will