New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-01-29
CATASTROPHES.

C1TASTROPHES
The year has opened with series OF terrible
warnings of the fragmentariness OF human ITO.
The old wear Is uniformly dismissed without
regret as wearisome and Disappointing II not
downright unlncky. The new year Is hailed
with eager haste as one that may be destlDeu
to stand out IN human memory as prlghter
and happier period, in which the depressing IN
fuepces Of unforeseen calamities and economic
disasters NAV be avoided. Eighteen hundred and
eigbty. three. however, has dawned with lead
an skies and portents Of evil. In France the
greatest Republican has been stricken down.
and his death has been followed by many signs
of political incapacity, social agitation and
national dependency. On the Continent the
floods have borne devastation and misery IN
their train. From every quarter there are It'd
ipcs of disaster. The hotel fire in Milwaukee,
the circus catastrophe in Russia, the railway ao-
cident near Tehlchlpa Pass, the loss OF two
stanch ocean steamships, and numerous other
disasters on sea and land, are not only appail-
ing horrors, but omens of depression and gloom.
The wear is barely a month old, yet the cup
of misfortunes seems trimming already. Men
arc already saving in their hearts, 1t will be
Before the agencies OF steam, electricity ana
the public press were multiplied the erect Oh
sudden catastrophes was confined to the local-
tiles in which they occurred. When the tower
in Sloan fell, there was no lack OF talk III the
peighboring villages. aud the runor OF the as
aster was carried beyond Jerusalem INTO the
bilI.countrv. but the world outside did not
know what had happened. Tie collapse OF the
great chimney stack in Bradford Il lie" weeks
AGO was telegraphcd instantly to the ends oil
the earth, so that 1t was known simultaneously
ic Calcutta, the European capitals, San / ran
cisco and New-York that sixty men, women
and children had suddenly ceased to exist IN
the vorkaday world But outside Bradford
there was scarcely single point Of human IN
tere,t in the calamity. Architects may have
been warned against sacrificing the principles
of security to sLapcly proportions, and lie IN
surance canvnssers may have obtained new
fact to lay before working people but the
human suffering which had been caused lett no
IMPRESSION upon the minds OF readers NJ us
lance. Three hundred people are uampled
under foot or burned To death IN clIcpa III
Poland but the fact excites no more emotion III
the heart If an American reader than the foot
ings Of q table of mortality statistics. Fonr
hundred emigrants and sailors are suddenly
swallowed up by the sea- There Is
short controversy respecting compartments
in ships hull and n momentary Gu
riosity to learn what excuse tho COM
mnnder OF the other steamship can oiler Tor
not attempting Tescnei but the hgohg
which WAS cansed IN n single awful instant.
when hundreds of these quiet and SIMPLE
peasants and working people were brought lace
TO face with their doom, is only vague gener-
alization. In week it Is forgotten by the gem
eral pubic
II is Only in exceptional instances that these
tragic occurrences leave any permanent I'M
preston upon the public mind outside the I'M
mediate localities where they occur. The Facts
are known, but the suffering is not brought
close to the emotions and sympathios day
masses, and men are thinking of something
newer and plcasantcr. a month goes by, and
1888 il not considered especially unlucky, but
only an average year, with startling occur
renccs nov and then. but with the usual out
come Of peace. prosperity and security. a
YEAR rolls 10y, aud there Is a vague feeling on DIS
appointment aud depression and an eager nope
that another year will be cheerier and brighter.
There Is invariably speedy reaction from lie
disbursement and sense of insecurity CAUSED
by the yicsstudes of human destiny.
It NAV be that the world as it grows older IL
becoming more and more accustomed to the
conditions of its being. Certainly the impress
,iops of .elplessness caused 10y cataetrOphcS like
those which have been recently recorded are
only vague and transitOry. Tho thrill OF
horror excited by such recltals is felt only mo-
mrntarily; the sense of insecurity and the
feeling of unrest soon pass away. Men
learn to expect catastrophes and t" make allow
once for them 10 the PrOvidential scheme of
the universe. Yet they cannot explain them
That seventy weary travellers and hotel ser
wants should suddenly be exposed To the horrors
of an agonizlng death, that three hundred M II,
women and children should be wrcnchcd ont of
life with fortunes uuspeakable while enjoying
TOWN show in Poland, OF that four hundred
eu,igrants seeking their fortunes III new land
should be drowned before they have fairly
lost SIGHT Of the old country, is rs iuexplicabIo
to-day rs the death of the thirty victims OF the
Tuwer of Sloan was TO the Jews oil old. The
question is no longer asked, IA 1t was then
q Have these men snned or their fathers, that
they should perish SO miseraby ~ But 1t is no
easier now than it was then to reconcile the
yIcissltudes and mysteries oil human late "ith
an ordorly scheme Of government Tor the unl-
verse.