New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-09-04
NEW YORK DAILY TRIBUNE WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER a. 1878

NE
direct interest in saving and prolonging the
lives of patrons; and even where the direct
gain cannot be traced, what Is cast upon the
waters returns after many days. But that Is
very hard way of looking at it. The re-
Spouse of the Mutual Life Insurance Company
to an appeal from polioy-hOlder. who Volun-
teered to 60 to Memphis and minister unto
the sick and dying if he could have the assur-
ance that his life policy would not be vita
ted, is not made In any spirit of calculation
1t is a generous and heartfelt "GOd speed
your
The reports from the Lower Mississippi
Valley are even more ominous this morn
ing than they have been before. In
New-Orleans there were 327 new cases
of yellow fever yesterday. and eighty
three deaths. At Memphis the death
list contained eighty-six names, and the
sufferings of all classes were appalling
The plague has not gained toothold
i'm any new centre of population,
although there is panic at Holly Springs,
Miss, over a bilious fever of a seri-
Gus nature. The Secretary of War
has ordered the distribution of rations
among 1000 of the sufferers at New
Orleans for twenty days He is right,
however, in declaring that the main reliance
for help must be upon the charity of the North,
as the Government has no authority to go on
and distribute supplies.
Senator Blaine's speech at the State Fair
in Minneapolis, which will he found on the
second page of this issue, was addressed to
one of the most prosperous communities In
the country. While other States have felt
the pressure of dull times and untownrd
economic conditions. Minnesota has made no
steps backward, but has moved forward with
stately stride. The Senator seemed to realize
that he was standing before farmers who were
fully conscious of their power. In the course
of his speech, which was vcined with many
strong thoughts, he reminded them that the
Government of the American Republic was
passing under the control of the agTicul-
tural classes of the Mississippi Valley, where
the soil is so fertile and the area so broad
that no man can calculate the possibilities of
the future; and that this transfer of political
power was carrying with it a vast weight OF
responsibility. This was large thought even
for men who live on the rOomy prHiries.
Since the Eurydice and Grosser Kurfiirst
went down off the British coast with
several hundred seamen, no calamity has
occurred which can compare in horror
with the sinking of thet Princess Alice
last evening on the Thames This ex-
cursion steamer, freighted with 500 lives.
had made safely the greater part of the
return trip from Gravesend, when, having en-
tered the northwestern curve OF the river near
Barking. she was struck in the side by screw
steamer, and sunk Immediately. The blow
being so powerful and so unexpected,
there could have been little chance of escape
from a watcry grave. 1t is probable there
fore, that the loss of life, now estimated at
500, will turn out TO be greater when the full
story of the disaster Is known. The acct
dent is akin to that at the SittingbOurne
Junction, last Sunday, where the list of
killed and wounded was likewise hOrrifying.
Both spring from the excursion system,
designed originally TO afford innocent recrea-
ton at cheap rates, but abused in the inter
est of railroad and steamboat companies,
which are more anxious to amass
large profits speedily than to pro-
mote the safety and comfort of their passen-
gers. Hence follow overcrOwding, reckless
sailing or driving, and ;ungovernable confu-
sion in the hour Of danger. The British peO-
pie should hesitate no longer to adopt radical
measures which will insure the tOiling masses
of the metropolis recreation without imminent
risk of wholesale slaughter.