Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1883-01-17
Gureka Daiip Sentinel.
WEDNESDAY. JANUARY II. 1888.
THE EUROPEAN FLOODS.

~ -
ertv bv the recent extraordinary floods
in Europe has entsiled a property loss OF
nearly $40, GOO, 900. The number of
people rendered homeless and destitute
by the terrible catastrophe is much
greater than it would be in the United
States by a similar loss, the property OF
so many persons being destroyed who
owned but a cot and a meager strip Of
ground.
Not only our Gegman-American fellow
citizens. but the American public at
large, ought to take part in the efforts
being made to alleviate the widespread
suffering produced by the great overflow
on the Danube and the Rhine. We have
never failed to respond to appeals for
help on behalf of the people of Ireland
in their hour of destination and distress,
and we should now show equal zeal and
promptitude in aiding the hopeless and
starving victims Of Fatherland OF large
and estimable portion Of our population.
The causes of the sudden and extra
ordinary floods which have brought
about an ~iDcalculable amount of damage
to property, together with not a little
loss of life, seem to have been specially
active in the western and central regions
of the German Empire and the Danubian
provinces of the Hapsburg monarchy.
The districts bordering on the Elbe, the
Weser, the Oder, the Moldan and the
Vestula have all been seriously injured by
the rising Of these rivers, but it is along
the banks of the Rhine and the Danube
and their tributaries that the most dis
astrous foundations have been expe-
rienced.
There had been, it seems, all over
Central Europe, soon after the begin
ming of the cold season, an unusually
heavy fall of snow. In the Alpine re-
gion particularly, from which the head
waters Of the two rivers last named are
drawn, the snow was piled up in such
abnormal masses as should have led to
the taking Of universal precautions
against floods in the Spring. But before
any extra measures OF preeaution could
be taken, or Were indeed thought neces-
sary, the inhabitants of the Rhine and
Danube valleys found themselves in the
presence Of an appalling catastrophe.
AI-,- -Lr,- r--,l-- 40 r,,I11,, and
marked rise OF temperature, resulting
from persistent s~outherly winds, caused
a rapid and simultaneous melting Of the
vast snow fields Of Switzerland and the
Tyrol. There was at the same time a
violent and long continued downfall of
rain. Under these conditions the in
Vulnerable feeders of the larger water
courses We're swollen into torrents, and
their united outpour assumed the pro-
portions Of a veritable deluge. Some
idea Of the huge volume Of water thus
precipitated into the inadequate outlets
supplied by the normal river channels
may be formed from the fact that. the
Danube is now more than fifteen feet
above its Spring level at Vienna, and
that the Rhine has burst its embank-
ments and widened in many districts
into spacious lakes, engulfng scores of
villages and submerging tens OF thou
sands Of acres of cultivated land. All
the lower portions Of the cities
OF Heidelberg and Mayence and Worms
are almost totally under water.
The river streets of Cologne can be tray.
ersed only in boats, and some of the
towns in its vicinity have disappeared
entirely beneath the food. In one
small agricultural district near Worms
10000 people have been left utterly
destitute and it is computed that in the
whole Rhine country more than a hun
dred thousand persons are in the same
deplorable condition. No less appalling
is the havoc produced in the valley Of
the Danube, and especially in the
neighborhood of Pesth. Looking over
the broad field Of inundation We can
not estimate at less thar q million the
number Of persons impoverished by this
calamity, while Of these a large proper
ton have been stripped of all their pos.
sessions and at this moment are de.
pendent upon charity for shelter and food.
The German Governments and the
German people are making strenuous
efforts to provide for the immediate
needs of the multitude of sufferers.
But Germany, we must remember, is,
at best, a poor country, and the strain
imposed upon her resources by an I'M
precedented burden is more than she
can bear, The income tax returns OF
Prussia show a paucity Of large for
tunes that is truly astonishing, when
compared with the afluenoe attained in
the United States. They show unmis-
takably how meager are the means OF
even relatively well-to-do classes and how
slight q margin is afforded for response
to the most argent and deserving calls
upon their sympathy. 1t is needful,
therefore, that those sons Of Ger.
man fathefland who have prospered in
America should take an active part in
the work Of suocor and benefcence.
When we call to mind the friendly at
titude of the German people to tho cause
OF the Union during our civil war and
contrast the spirit they attested in sub
%stantial ways with that evinced by
France and England, we cannot but
acknowledge that we owe a moral debt
to Germany which is not vet dis.