New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-01-19

The Newhall House fire has been seized upon by
the English press a glazing illustration OF the
rcckessness of American life. Cynical cr0akers who
affect amazement that there should be anybody left
alive in the States ought to find leisure for moraliz-
ing uroh catastrophe closer ut hand, like the de-
sJrucJion of the Newland Mill at Bradford, by the
sudden co lapse of the tower This Of those
great shafts 225 feet high, which be almost
at'every turn in Lancashire and Yorkshire. 1t fell
while the workmen were at their breakfast and the
mills were cOmpaIatvely empty. aud consequently
many lives spared, but even so, thirty or forty
and women pei ished in the ruins OF the weaving
and drawing sheds. The fact that the tower had
been seen to sway heavily with the wind on the
previous night. and that it actually under
vey for defects rs base the responsibility
OF tbu owners for opening the works while there
were serious grounds for apprehension respecting
the safety of tho wOrkmen. The tower, moreover
seems to have been built over u mine, the opening
of which had been filed up with earth. This could
not have been the best foundation for so great q
mass of masonry, and it has been charged that in
the construction of the shaft, stability was sacri.
feed to elegance Of form. Certainly tho fact that
the wind had been blowing on he previous day does
not adequately Ell PLAIN the collapse of the shaft. 1t
may be added in general way, that although his is
q tolerably safe country in which to live, the Eng
lishman hardly afford to dispense with prayers
for safety at night or with thanks for deliverance
In the morning. Railway trains are occasionally
switched into each other; Tay bridges 90 to pieces
without warming colliery explosions cannot be pre-
vented the fire underwriters register heavy losses
and lt is not always safe TO stand under chimney
stack.
If it turns out that certain OK Governor of Mass
achusetts met his political death in his attempt
al Rufl 10 Hafa annfo Ho-Vf
election, his epitaph may well be: Here lies one
who not Long for this world, but was frozen
out of it by IlOar frost.
American cities are lost Just now in admiration of
the long suffering patience OF Philadelphia Never
did body OF million Of people unite in such a
superhuman exhibition of meekness. The mildness
OF their Quaker grandfather5, the gent!eness of
sucking doves are put to shame by it. The water
which these amiabe people are drinking is by all
accounts nauseous beyond description both to taste
and smell. 1t is furnished, as everybody knows,
from tho Schuylkill, stream made up OF the drain
age from nnumerabe gas-works and mines. wash
ings of coaltar carbohc acid and dyesuts from the
manufacturing towns on its banks, and the sew
age Of all the towns which line il closely to its
source. A compound more horrible or poi 'onous it
would be hard to devise. Diphtheria has been raging
rs an ePueHlc III hiittueipiHd loI HouthS anu thc
water is alleged TO Oe the cause Within the last
fortnight 1t has been aggressive in its nastiness
that The inhabitants have been actually compelled
TO give 1t up wholly as a drink. The women have
been melting ice aud snow when it was necessary to
wet their thirsty paatcs; the men resorted with
aacrlty to other modes of relief Further than this,
they have done and Will do nothing. Water from
pure and unIailIng sources could be brought TO
Philadelphia al One-haf the cost of the CrOtOn 10
New-York. Blu. it does not suit the bosses of that
city that the Water Department should be dis
turbed, and the amilbe community submit and
swallow their sickening dose in silence. Ii proposals
were issued for contract to supply the city with
Bourbon whiskey there would be plenty OF takers in
a day. But tnen there is money TO be made by
whisAey.