The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-05-29

1ho Lesson or the Holoe~ust'
In attempting to review disaster like that
which occurred on Thursday at the little
Roman Catholic church at Holyoke, Mass,
we find ourselves circumscribed both IN the
narration of the events themselves and IN the
lessons and deductions TO be drawn from
them by the fact that we arc repeating i'll
new phase, perhaps, and in a different
locality, the details of an old, old story. An
utter disregard of every precaution for safety
seems to enter into everything we do,
and we never profit by the experiences
of the past, however terribly they may have
moved us mt the moment. An accident 10 apt
to be regarded as concerning only those who
suffer by it. and even the authorities are slow
to enforce rules which will prevent like dis
asters. Though the catastrophe at st. An
drew's church is still fresh in the minds Of the
public it has not been followed by that rigid
enforcement of the law which ought to have
been its consequence. The Department OF
Buildings is still as loosely conducted as be-
fore that disaster, and it is certain
that before many weeks or months or
years at the farthest, We shall have to
repeat the story under circumstances
if unlike yet very like those which sur
rounded that unnecessary calamity. 1t was
an accident that need not have occurred and
the like OF which need not occur again; but
it is hoping too much to hope that some other
wall will not fall somewhere in city where
SO many walls are ready to fall every day in
hn ND cbo ha n
record this needless sacrifice Of human life
until the people and those charged with the
interests of the people learn wisdom from the
succession Of caIamities.
When the truth comes to be known we have
no doubt that the cause Of the explosion in
Washington street, Boston, the other day, will
be found to be one which should not have
existed. In the same way it is plain that the
accident in the Holyoke church should never
have occurred. There is DO reason whatever
for the Examinations which are part of the
ritual of the Roman Catholic Church setting
fire to the drapery which adorns the altar.
The most ordinary precaution, one would
think, would prevent an accident from
such q cause, and the Holyoke calam-
ity must have been owing to the absence
Of any precaution whatever The footliGhts
in theatre are infinitely more dangerous than
the candles and drapery in a church, and yet
we seldom hear Of an accident on the stage,
except as the result of negligence. That there
should be negligence at the altar seems utterly
inexcusable, and We could not have believed
such an event as that of which we print full
details this morning even possible had it not
because the like may occur again, we
are anxious that the whole subject shall
be carefully canvassed and such precautions
adopted as will prevent like disaster in the
future. Legislation may effect something,
but the Catholic clergy cannot afford to wait
remotest possibility Of the drapery in a church
becoming ignited by the illumlnations at the
altar the possibility must be removed. The
first condition of public worship must be pub
lie safety, and if the priests and bishops of
the Roman Catholic Church learn this the
other churches which might otherwise be
doomed to like sufferings. Protestant churches
being less elaborate in their ritual are not so
much exposed to this peculiar danger, but
even they may learn greater precaution from
this calamity. What is needed now is some
practical step toward what We can only call
the prevention Of negligence, and this ap-
plies not only to churches, theatres and places
Of public resort and to those who have them
in charge but TO the authorities which ex-
ecute and the power that makes the law. Let
us learn the lesson Of our misfortunes by
needing it and preventing like misfortunes in
the future.